Upgrade advice: UltraLite Mk4 vs 828x

[entilza]

Hi team,

I'm about to make a big motu purchase so I'm seeking the wisdom of those who have gone before

I currently use an old 828 Mk2 for playing back 6 discrete surround sound channels from my video editing rig (put simply, I have 6 separate motu "guitar jack" outputs hooked to 6 powered speakers, each channel acts an independent surround sound channel so I can "hear" the surround sound mix live in the edit without using a dolby processor).

I also use the 828 Mk2 to run a Phantom powered condenser mic, some non-powered mics, and MIDI.

I'm now on Win 10 and basically the 828 Mk2 appears to be mostly unusable (a story for another day). I'm assuming this is a driver issue with Win 10 and have decided to upgrade from the Mk2. It could also be a failing unit.

I am tossing up between the 828x and the new UltraLite Mk4, all on USB2.

As I see it, my main needs are:

• Phantom power (at least 1)
• XLR input (at least 1)
• At least 6 simultaneous recording channels (guitar jacks + XLR)
• At least 6 discrete/independent output channels, plus a stereo headphone mix
• MIDI in and out

I was originally focused on the 828x because it is a clear evolution of the 828 Mk2 and I would expect to lose no features. But I was a touch put off by Motu's lack of mention of Win 10 support, given my Mk2 experience.

From what I can see, both the 828x and UltraLite Mk4 both cover my needs listed above. And the UltraLite 4 is newer, smaller, cheaper, and explicitly supports Win 10.

Is there any reason I wouldn't save a few hundred and go for the UltraLite Mk4?

Thanks for taking the time to read!
Ent

[entilza72]

I ended up with the Ultralite Mk 4. While it might explicitly work with Windows 10, the vendor has acknowledged to me that it does not work with the Intel X99 chipset. See my experience and resolution here:
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=63375

Ent.