Review: MOTU 896mk3

[Tweak]

Review: MOTU 896mk3

The Motu 896mk3


There are a lot of audio interfaces to choose from these days. Many excellent values. This makes the choices difficult, even for the well researched studiophile. I hope this review gives you the information you need to make this choice. The MOTU 896Mk3 is a recent upgrade to MOTU's Firewire line. Previously, the unit was known as the 896HD. It is the most expensive of all of MOTU's Firewire interfaces, weighing in at $999 street. To go better than this you have to go to MOTU's PCI/PCIe interfaces that use "Audiowire" connected to the 424 card.
Features
The 896, like the 8pre has 8 mic/instrument preamps. That is about where the similarity ends. The 896 has two ADAT i/o ports that allows you to expand up to another 16 analog inputs (at 44.1 or 48 kHz sample rate), if you buy optional ADAT converters. You also get s/pdif coax in and out and AES/EBU in and out. The latter is like a more professional version of s/pdif, which uses special XLR data cables (that look exactly like Mic cables). Some 2 channel converters use AES/EBU, like my Lucid AD 96/24, so this was a plus for me. If you don't have plans to get gear with AES/EBU on them this is a feature you will never use.

Read the rest:

http://www.tweakheadz.com/reviews/review_of_the_motu_896_mk3.html

[DR]

How would you compare this device to the 828 mk 3? Are there big differences between the two?

[_controlfreak]

The 896 is for people doing hardcore audio, live or in studio. 8 preamps, AES/EBU, but no MIDI. The 828 is intended to be more of a "centerpiece" item for a home studio (although there's no reason you couldn't use it live - but that's neither here nor there). With the 828, you get a couple mic preamps to use, but the I/O are mainly lines for your external preamps, keyboards, etc. It also has MIDI, bringing someone's setup full-circle.

The 896 is more utilitarian: It would do well for a TV shoot, live recording, or someone who doesn't have a lot of gobbledygook strewn about the room. You could use either one interchangeably to an extent (except for the MIDI part). I see an 828 in a rack with synths, amp modelers, preamps . . . the 896 would be the one in the high-end flight case attached to a massive snake and run by an A/V masochist who loves using words like clock, sync, and time code.

Long story short: the 896's purpose is more precise (i.e. narrower). The 828 is aimed at composers and performers with a wide variety of devices. Kind of like comparing a Swiss Army Knife to a 4" bowing knife.

[Pr0ject2500]

Hey _control freak! I am looking to buy the MOTU 896mk3 to use as my main audio interface and i was wondering if the inputs allow for an electric guitar? The reason i am asking is that all the inputs are XLR (balanced) and using the guitar i am obviously going to use a mono cable (unbalanced). Another reason i am asking is that some other audio interfaces i was looking at (Phonic Helix Board 18 Firewire, Mackie ONYX 1220i Firewire) all have a Hi-Z input dedicated for the electric guitar or bass. So if I plug an unbalanced cable into the MOTU interface will there be any sort of signal degradation? I really ike everything i am reading about the MOTU 896mk3. I apologize in advance but as you can tell i am new at this.

Thank You.

[Tweak]

and i was wondering if the inputs allow for an electric guitar? The reason i am asking is that all the inputs are XLR (balanced) and using the guitar i am obviously going to use a mono cable (unbalanced).

If you look closely you will see that the inputs are on "combo" jacks which accept both XLR and HiZ 1/4" instrument plugs. The 896 is designed to take guitars and basses as well as Mics. I also connect my synths directly to these jacks.

[Pr0ject2500]

My Thanks to you "_control freak"! Looking forward to using this interface. I do have one other question though. The iMac i have (early 2009 24' model 3.06 GHz, 8 GB RAM, 1TB HDD) has an optical audio out and in. Can i use these for recording instead of the firewire ports or do they serve a different purpose (for playback i imagine)? If i can use them is there any advantage to using them over the firewire ports?

Thanks again!

[_controlfreak]

You're welcome, but it was Tweak himself who answered your question. Don't use your optical inputs/outputs. They're digital. You'd need an A/D converter to use them (the 896 will already be doing your A/D conversion).

In other words, use the Firewire port! They'll stream all of your audio channels in and out simultaneously. The built-in soundcard is limited to 2.

[Pr0ject2500]

Thanks again "_control freak" and Thank You "Tweak". Now that i have understood this i have what i hope is my last bothersome question: Can i record each channel on the MOTU 896 mk3 to an individual track in Logic Pro 9? So i guess my question is can i multitrack with the MOTU 896 mk3?

Thank You for pandering to this neophyte.

[_controlfreak]

^Yes, that is what the 896 is designed to do.

[Pr0ject2500]

My thanks to both "_control freak" and "Tweak" for helping me out with this. Helped me alot. By the way Tweak, your article on mics came in very handy . I read several reviews on the Shure KSM32 and the Shure SM81 which i think i will eventualy purchase. Do you or anybody else have any opinions on the MXL Genesis. I have read mixed opinions. I've read that it has a warm tone overall with silky highs and a subtle yet pronounced low end(being that it has a tube) but that parts are cheap because it is manufactured in China. Any thoughts?

[_controlfreak]

^That, a Rode K2, or an M-Audio Sputnik would all be great choices. I'm not sure how much you'll like them (or any decent mic) through the 896mk3's preamps. They're fine workhorse pres, and great to cut your teeth on . . . but you'll want to add a better mic preamp (1-2 channels) to your short list.

[Pr0ject2500]

That sucks...I've alos heard good things about the preamps on the 896mk3. The MXL genesis and the KSM32 both come with power supplies though...shouldn't that be sufficient? The 896mk3 has phantom power...shoudn't that be sufficient or is just the quality of the preamps that you're referring to?

[danng]

Hello!

I am looking to buy a firewire interface with an intent to eventually record live drums (as well as guitar, MIDI, vocals etc.) I most likely will be using 7 microphones for the drums in total. Would the MOTU 896mk3 be a good (i.e. decent preamps at not too high a cost. I know the interface is ~$1000) way to go as far as getting enough preamps for a larger number of microphones being used at once for recording drums? Or do people normally buy preamps separately and plug them in through the analog ins (if using an interface where there are not enough inputs with built-in preamps available) for each of the drum mics? My dilemma is that I will not be recording live drums right away, and don't want to buy more than I need at first. But I also want to think about what I WILL need in the future. Would first purchasing the MOTU 828mk2 and daisy-chaining something like a MOTU 8pre expansion to it using the second firewire port on the MOTU 828mk2 later on be a viable option when I will have the need of more mic preamp inputs for recording drums?

Thanks in advance.

[Tweak]

You can daisy chain an 8 pre and an 828mk3. The 8 pre is older and does not have the dsp effects the 896mk3 has, though if you connect by ADAT and not by daisy chaining the 8 pre can use the 828's DSP. However, the 896 has 8 input meters on the front panel, which i think would be helpful when you do record drums. You'd just turn the knobs on the front panel to set gain. In terms of drums and real time band recording I think the 896 wins. It usually best to buy the i/o you will eventually need now, rather than later. You might find you don't need to expand at all or can do so inexpensively with an ada8000.

Now if you were going to buy all external preamps (which would be expensive) then the 828mk3 would be it. But it only makes sense to go with external pres if they are significantly better than those that typically come with audio interfaces. For example, 4 RNPs (8 preamps) will run you about $1920 for 8 channels total.

828mk3 and 3 RNPs=$2100
828mk3 and 8 pre=$1500
896mk3 and behringer ada8000 $1200 (connected by adat)

[danng]

Thank you for answering the question. That definitely solves my problem knowing that.

[ts-12]

does it work win windows? or is it like 828mk2 and some other motu interfaces that are full of driver issues and are well-known for their audio glitches, pops, and squeals?

[Tweak]

I've not tried with a PC. If I were shopping for an interface for a PC in this range I'd look at focusrite and presonus. But for a Mac, I'm with Motu.

[jmillard]

I just introduced the MOTU 896mk3 to my studio as THE interface to my PC... i used to use a mackie ONYX satellite, so this was quite the upgrade. I will say that it was incredibly easy to get connected to my PC and even easy to get working with Sonar7... However, I think at this point I sit here with the operation manual and what apparently is a ton of required time in figuring out all the possibilites of this device.

The software that ships with the MOTU makes it incredibly easy to manipulate from a nice program on the PC... I think trying to accomplish what the software does on the actual unit (which IS possible) would be nightmarish. Currently I am getting some strange artifacts on the left channel in Sonar and likely will be chasing this down for quite awhile... never have I hooked up a NEW piece of equipment to my setup and all the 1's and 0's worked nicely right of the bat... so I accept this challenge. ( I am thinking of moving towards the Mac... someday... ).

If anyone else out there has hooked this device up to a PC running Sonar... id be up for some conversation... or any issues you may have had and the solutions... as fun as it is chasing these little byte mites out of the machine... its more fun actually recording the music... and not worrying about things working correctly!

This is a sexy device... and so far I am extremely happy with it... first few attempts at getting some tracks down,and things sounded great. It even made my AKG Perception 200 sound better than it ever has...

-J

[BUGBASS]

I have a 896Mk3 and two 8pres. I tried to hook up one 8pre to the 896 using ADAT, but it wont work. What can be wrong here?