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Motu 896HD for $400
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Old 6th March 2012   #1
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Motu 896HD for $400

Hi I've been doing a lot of research on different firewire options for my home studio lately and had some questions. I'm currently in the process of upgrading most of my studio equipment and plan on buying a Shure sm7b, a golden age pre73, and constructing a small vocal booth. I am running pro tools 10 w/ windows 7 64 bit on my desktop computer. I found a pretty good deal on craigslist where I can buy a Motu 896HD for $400 but I saw a lot of people online saying it sucks compared to all the other options. I was wondering how everyone on here thinks it compares to other firewire's in this price range like the focusrite saffire pro 24 and the presonus firepod. Since most of the time people criticizing it seem to compare it to higher end (at least too expensive for me) products like the fireface 800 and stuff. Overall I just want to know if I can get one of these Motu 896Hd's for $400 if it's worth it. Also how do people feel about the preamps on this interface? Would it be worth buying the golden age pre 73? Thanks!

Things to note:
-I basically only record aggressive rap/hip hop vocals and never really need to use more then one channel.
-My budget for an interface maxes out around $400 unless I don't need to get an extra preamp as well then it's probably closer to $800
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Old 6th March 2012   #2
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896hd is a great affordable interface for what it does, but it doesn't sound like it's what you need. Meaning you're paying for 8 mic pres but only using 1.
I'm not familiar with the saffire pro 24, but might be better suited to your needs. Maybe even the RME Babyface, which I'm sure would be a great card, just not sure about the pres on that.
So no, an 896hd for 400 is not a bad purchase, just hopefully you can make use of it's features.
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Old 7th March 2012   #3
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Hmm I've never heard of the RME Babyface before but it looks like it's a USB interface and I was hoping to either use a firewire interface or PCI card since from what I've heard they perform slightly better in terms of latency and such. Also that seems a little pricy... Even though the Motu is an 8 channel do you think since I could get it for so cheap it'd be worth it or would I be better off looking for something else?
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Old 7th March 2012   #4
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theoretically the MOTU 828 MKii (f/w, I think they might have made a USB version) could be picked up 2nd hand for slightly less then 896HD. It has a pair of mic pre's plus 6 additional line in's. A not beat to crap one should be able to be found for between $2-300.
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Old 7th March 2012   #5
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I have an 896HD and its a fine unit. I paid $1000 for mine new a few years back. Its super reliable.
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Old 7th March 2012   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by oretez View Post
theoretically the MOTU 828 MKii (f/w, I think they might have made a USB version) could be picked up 2nd hand for slightly less then 896HD. It has a pair of mic pre's plus 6 additional line in's. A not beat to crap one should be able to be found for between $2-300.
Yeah but that'd only be like $100 cheaper. Do you think it'd be worth it? Cause if I ever do decide to upgrade the Motu 896 HD would probably sell for more. Also how are the pre amps on it? Is it worth it to buy the golden age pre 73? I've heard it goes really well with the sm7b. Thanks for all the input so far!
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Old 7th March 2012   #7
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There's a common misconception that FW or PCI(e) is better than USB. In terms of the needs for audio interface it's not really true.
RME is 100% reliable and outstanding quality (not sure about the specifics of the Babyface though).
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Old 7th March 2012   #8
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Originally Posted by kevinkace View Post
There's a common misconception that FW or PCI(e) is better than USB. In terms of the needs for audio interface it's not really true.
RME is 100% reliable and outstanding quality (not sure about the specifics of the Babyface though).
Yeah I definitely heard both sides of that argument and I don't think USB would really hurt the quality of my audio since I'm only recording one track at a time and according to the guy at guitar center the only time your audio will suffer is if you're recording more then a usb can handle. But yeah the RME is still pretty expensive too, I'd be willing to get it though if I didn't need to buy an additional preamp to get the best sound. Does anyone know how the preamps sound on either the Motu or the RME babyface?
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