#183

Thanks for all the info you’ve been sharing here on this thread, very helpful! Curious about the MOTU interfaces, do ALL of them have DC coupled inputs and outputs?

#184

As an RME user, I’m no MOTU expert, but I don’t think all of them do, especially a lot of their older stuff. Someone else here can chime in, but mostly MOTU themselves do a pretty good job of documenting which ports on a given interface are DC coupled, so really just head over there and read the spec sheet to find out if the interface you’re interested in has DC coupled I/O ports.

Edit: of course MOTU aren’t the only ones doing DC coupling (and even some ports on the RME devices are DC coupled too) - Presonus offers it as a feature on certain interfaces, and I’m sure you’ll find many other vendors who provide it, at least on certain I/O ports.

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#185

MOTU interfaces only used have DC coupled outputs, not inputs.
But that may possibly have changed with their newer models although to be honest I’d be surprised if this was the case.

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#186

Note that it’s only the outputs that are DC coupled on the MOTU interfaces! I’m pretty sure it’s the same for all the other brands, AFAIK the only way to get DC input is to use an expert sleepers module.

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#187

What is the rationale for choosing an interface with DC coupled channels instead of using Expert Sleepers modules and the ADAT channels? I suppose the ES-3 (and ES-6 if you need it) add an extra $200-300 (plenty of used seem to be floating around) and consume some HP, and many interfaces have a bunch of extra outputs you might not otherwise use. Is that about it?

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#188

For me the choice centers around the fact that I bought the MOTU long before I had a modular and before the ES-8 was a thing. If I had no other needs outside of modular then I guess I would go ES. Otherwise, my Ultralite is very handy and capable for everything else I use it for outside of modular.

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#189

I started with a MOTU 828MKII then moved to an RME Fireface 800 and then on to an Antelope Orion 32.

Moving to the RME from the MOTU was a huge leap in sound improvement I thought. I eventually bought a second Fireface as I needed more inputs in the studio and had them tied together which worked pretty great. I got a good deal on the Orion 32 (and again needed more inputs) and so I went for it but I still kind of miss the sound of the RME conversion to be honest. I remember it being kind of warmer, which I know is the worst word (!!!). The Orion almost seemed more transparent but a bit cheaper sounding, but not cheap. The RME always felt a little tighter/solid soundwise. I still have both Firefaces and think about A/Bing them and switching back but the convenience of the Orion is nice. I would recommend the RME if you can get your hands on one. Made my old MOTU sound so cheap. FWIW…

#190

Just to defend the MOTU (not that you are wrong - just making a distinction), all the MkII MOTU interfaces are known for lackluster conversion. And that’s probably being generous. The MkIII interfaces are generally well regarded and the new generation use Sabre chips which bring them into the high-end territory, conversion-wise.

Anyone considering purchasing a used MOTU: I would avoid the MkII if you can. They are very cheap, yes. But if you can swing it, go for a MkIII or newer.

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#191

Good point. Mine is probably 15+ years old at this point. Should’ve pointed that out.

#192

I use 2 motu 16a and have it set up with all of my synths and modular hooked up at once. I can do a full on midi song and and mix all my synths, drum machine(separate channels per sound) and modular, plus sends to delay and reverb with little latency live and if you turn(and correctly set up) abletons delay compensation there is no latency on the recordings. The AVE series is supper easy to set up and add audio I/O. It captures modular levels perfectly and can send modular level audio if you have a full signal. I do not record or send cv with it.

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#193

Thanks for the input here!

I actually have a MOTU Ultralike mk4 that I love and use at home. And maybe the answer is that this is about as good as it’s going to get size-wise, but what I was really hoping for was something that I could travel easily with.

The RME baby face looks great and smaller (at least a little?), but I am not sure it’s worth the money unless I want to favor it over the MOTU for non-travel purposes as well.

This all said, since I started to just accept that I will likely need to bring something on the larger side with me if I want to travel with an interface & don’t want to spend a ton more money, I started to look at the Digitone’s capabilities as a 2 in / 2 out interface. Seems like a 4 track synth with one stereo send for roughly the same size as my existing MOTU interface is a win win for when I’m away from my larger setup.

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#194

I’d say pontentially, but know that the overbridge/interface features for elektron are not typically applauded for their quality. My experience on the ob 2 beta was better than 1 with my heat (which had tons of sample dropping clicks and pops and really high latency). I need to do more testing of the new version, it may be rock solid now and the past experiences and reading up about it online put a bad taste in my mouth.

Another thing to make sure of is that things could be routed the way you want it (as send and returns). I believe it can but I’d say double check.

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#195

Good call outs on broth fronts.

I’ve been playing with it the last two nights. Quality has been fine (to my ears at least?). Definitely no pops or anything like that. A little quiet, but I can work with it. (Again, this is for playing around while traveling; not sure I’d switch to it full time at home :sweat_smile:)

As far as routing goes, it does work the way I want, although it wasn’t necessarily straight forward to figure out. There is a setting now that allows one to turn off routing internal voices to main out, which means that I can control that via sends from ableton. The other gotcha here is that I needed to create an aggregate interface combining the Digitone & built in speakers (headphones) out, so that I don’t have to rely on the mix on the digitone to listen. Sort of convoluted but it works!

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#196

Do the digitone’s inputs work in stereo? The digitakt’s ins seem to sum to mono. Which makes the “audio interface” usage somewhat limited.

#197

yeah, it’s a good question, and I don’t know the answer.

I assume that if using it purely as a 2 in / 2 out interface, it would do no summing; it’s just two separate mono channels that could in essence be used as a single stereo channel if that’s what I have in mind.

I assume that if I use the inputs and mix to master in the box that it would sum, similar to the way that Digitakt does for recording samples.

Again, ^ all speculation at this point. Since I don’t mean it to replace my studio setup I’m content with limitations so long as I can jam & record some “drafts” on the road.

#198

Hey,
im looking for a mixer (with faders) wich offers (minimum) 5 stereo channels/ 4 stereo and a couple of monos would do as well…
and 3 sends.

any ideas welcome

#199

Was asking initially about DC coupling regarding inputs as I was hoping to be able to use a scope software on the computer. Right now, envelopes and LFOs look strange, is it because the inputs on my interface are not DC coupled?

#200

Define strange? If you crank them up to audio rates, do they look less strange?

#201

They dip down before going upwards into their shape.

And its a 0-5v Env/lfo from Stages. I didn’t try to put them up into Audio Rate.

#202

AC Coupling acts as a high pass filter, which effectively makes envelopes and LFOs look strange. Given that all soundcard inputs are generally AC Coupled, that’s the likely culprit.

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