AD/DA convertors

[JDunkley]

Hi all this is my first time on this forum and it certainly looks like a wealth of information. Its going to take me days to catch up with all of this.

At the moment Im running a Mark of the Unicorn 24i/o and a MOTU lite but am looking at upgrading my convertors.

Ive been a Logic user for years now and am more than happy with it and dont want to go down the pro tools route.

My question really is how do people here rate the MOTU gear and if I was upgrading what should I be looking at to make a significant difference? At the moment the Apogee gear is looking interesting but is there anything else that might be worth looking at or am I fine with the MOTUs?

I still use an analogue console so having a minimum of 12 ins and 24 outs is still very much of interest to me.

Any ideas?

[lawrence_o]

There have been sooo many posts already about this. Do a quick search...

Most comon brands in the top end are:
- Prism
- Lavry Gold
- Weiss
- dCS
...

Then there are
- Apogee
- Lavry blue
- cranesong
- DAD

THen there are
- Digidesign
- RME
- Mytek
- MOTU
...

And so many others I forgot. Just search. :-)

[DeepSpace]

Hi, and welcome.

If you get acquainted with the search feature, you'll find that there are a number of threads in which converters from MOTU, Apogee and others are compared, including some in which audio samples have been posted.

You'll discover that there are a good few board members that like to 'dump' on MOTU - though on more than one occasion some of those same members have had difficulty picking a MOTU-converted track from tracks posted which used converters from Apogee, RME and others.

You'll also find extensive discussion of the Black Lion Audio upgrade for a number of models of MOTU converters, and a number of members who were very satisfied with the result.

The truth is that while there are better converters out there, it *is* possible to get creditable results with MOTU - and unless it's likely that they are presently the weakest link in your signal path, you may get a greater improvement by investing in upgrades elsewhere in your signal chain. But of course that depends on a number of factors including what else you are using, and you've not yet told us much about that.

[jdjustice]

Originally Posted by DarkSky

The truth is that while there are better converters out there, it *is* possible to get creditable results with MOTU - and unless it's likely that they are presently the weakest link in your signal path, you may get a greater improvement by investing in upgrades elsewhere in your signal chain. But of course that depends on a number of factors including what else you are using, and you've not yet told us much about that.

i totally agree with DarkSky. the MOTU converters are not crap; in fact they are quite usable IME.

....once you let us know what other gear is involved we can make a better-informed suggestion as to where you could best use an upgrade.....


cheers,
~j.d.

[JDunkley]

Firstly thank you all for your answers and opinions and, yes I will be making use of the search fuction.

I thought Id address some of the questions Ive been asked in return though. Im mainly working with Rock and Metals acts and the guts of my system is a DDA QMR, Obviously the MOTUs Id already mentioned into a G5 running Logic 7.1. I also use a Summitt TBA2, Joe Meek VC1 and a focusrite green Eq as preamps if Im tracking anything less than drums.

Hope this helps.

Im pleased to hear that some people couldnt hear the difference between MOTUs and higher end gear.

[matt_l]

Hello everybody,

I would like to jump in here as a new guy asking the same question. I have a MOTU Ultralite into a P4 2.4 ghz/4 gig ram/XP Pro/Sonar 5 Pro (soon to be ver 6).

I am a one-man-band using BFD for drums; live bass/guitars/vox; and soft synths for everything else, so I only need two Pre channels to lay down tracks. Call my genre "classic prog rock." I mix ITB for now.

For mics I have a 57, 421, and a condensor TBD, probably AT 4050 or 4060. Aside from the Ultralite, I have NO dedicated outboard gear. Like the person who started this thread, I am seeking advice on the best upgrade path.

I have searched the whole forum for days and there is TONS of info on converters, preamps, comps, etc. In fact, that is the problem - it's too much and I am suffering from information overload (but really, how cool is that!).

SO, if you were me (and maybe this scenario applies to JDunkley), would you use the MOTU converters and invest in a Pre like something in the 500 series - the lunchbox (or OSA) thing looks very sexy, two P-1s and Buzz essence comps, ooh yeah - or ditch the MOTU stuff before upgrading the input signal chain?

If the answer is get converters first, what then, given that I need two channels and am not likely to be tracking/mixing for $$$ any time soon. That said, I am picky and want to blow myself and my jaded musician friends away if possible (that remains to be seen, I guess my talent will matter at some point).

I was actually looking at the 24io as a signal source to do some summing OTB.

In short, what I want is *balance* in my gear investment - I am totally willing to spend spend spend, but in in a way that makes sense.

As always, TYIA for your expertise.

Matt
Glendale, AZ

[DeepSpace]

Matt,
Whilst I'm not familiar with the Ultralite, in my experience, the converters in current MOTU gear are better than the preamps. So it's likely that you would get a more significant improvement by getting some classy preamps and running them to the line inputs of the MOTU converters.

Given that you don't yet have any outboard and your mic collection is modest, my advice would be that those things should be a higher priority than a converter upgrade at this point.

Not much point in having converters that cost 3k and running a 1k microphone through a 1k preamp to deliver the signal to them. In general the further up the signal chain you invest, the greater the benefit.

[feyshay]

Originally Posted by DarkSky

Matt,
Whilst I'm not familiar with the Ultralite, in my experience, the converters in current MOTU gear are better than the preamps. So it's likely that you would get a more significant improvement by getting some classy preamps and running them to the line inputs of the MOTU converters.

Given that you don't yet have any outboard and your mic collection is modest, my advice would be that those things should be a higher priority than a converter upgrade at this point.

Not much point in having converters that cost 3k and running a 1k microphone through a 1k preamp to deliver the signal to them. In general the further up the signal chain you invest, the greater the benefit.

Dark Sky is right on, Matt. You're looking at $1000 for a single channel preamp, $1000 microphone, $1000 for 2 channel A/D, $1000 for 2 channel D/A. Then save up for a compressor. That will suit you quite well.

[matt_l]

Yes, I see your point, and thanks.

I will re-think my priorities on year-end purchases.

For microphones, I use the 57 and 421 in the usual way, on electric guitar. Perhaps I should consider a Royer 121, it seems that it has become a std lately.

For vox and other recording needs, I am less sure. My budget might stretch to AT 4060 territory; I have yet to research the best options in the 1K to 1.5K range.

For some reason (the sexy factor maybe) I have fixated on high-end Preamps/Comps/EQs as my next investment.

Time to up the budget, perhaps . . .

Matt