Black Lion MOD: Digi 002 Rack or MOTU 896?

[tunekicker]

Hey all,

I currently have a Digi002 Rack. Thinking about having it modded by Black Lion Audio. I've also thought about buying a MOTU 896 and having it modded by Black Lion. This would leave with two independent recording rigs with great quality, and the ability to use the MOTU to pipe 8 tracks to the 002 via ADAT.

I've also thought about just buying the MOTU, having it modded, and replacing the Digi002. My thinking on this is that I'll have a primary rig that has 8 great pres, great clocking/conversion, and has better clocking options [BNC wordclock] than the 002. I know I'd lose the ability to use PT LE, which is certainly something to consider, but I'm curious about the differences from a pure hardware perspective (drivers included...)

Any other differences worth noting? Any other boxes in the same price range you'd recommend?

[Tibbon]

From my experiences the Digi002R driver is horrible, and by that I mean... WTF was digi thinking? Why couldn't have they done like the rest of the world and written a better core audio driver?

[tunekicker]

"Core audio"...


So you're running a Mac? Interesting that I have the same opinion of the drivers for the PC.

I've especially found the ASIO driver less than stellar with other programs. I record in both Pro Tools LE 7 and Sonar 5, and when working with Sonar, I've had to close and open Pro Tools just to set the 002's buffers, sample rate, and clock source correctly before going back to Sonar. Pretty lame...

Anybody had better luck with MOTU's drivers, esp. with Sonar? If I ditch the 002, Sonar will be my primary DAW software, so I want to make sure it will work well before I jump ship. I'm still not sure I want to give up running PT too, but if I can get a system that is more reliable and has better hardware (i.e. better clocking options and more pres...) it might be worth it.

Interested in your input.