MOTU back orders

[Phil O]

I was recently in the market for a MOTU 8A. The usual suppliers all have this item listed as back ordered. Then I noticed that much of the MOTU hardware is back ordered. After calling several places that listed the item but didn't indicate back ordered on their web site, they too said, "sorry, back ordered." Finally I spoke to a guy who said there's a chip shortage due to a chip factory fire and MOTU doesn't yet have an estimate of when products will be available.

Does anybody have any info on this?

Your friendly neighborhood Phil

[HCMarkus]

Don't know about the reported fire, but MOTU is definitely having supply chain issues.

They DO have power supplies that fit the Pro Audio line models using internal power supplies which can be purchased directly from MOTU for $30 + Shipping. I bought one to keep on hand, as the power supply is the part most likely to fail, and I couldn't get a replacement 828ES (due to aforementioned availability issue) if the one I own stopped working.

[BobK]

The fire was at the AKM (Asahi Kasei Microelectronics) factory:

https://info.fusionww.com/blog/fire-at- ... r-industry

In October 2021, Metric Halo said they expected at least an 18 month delay before AKM converters would be available, and they weren't certain that any specific part that they use would be available again.
So for the mk4 upgrades for their ULN and LIO interfaces, they re-designed the converter boards using different chips.

[Phil O]

Thanks for the replies.
As a workaround I opted for the least expensive option that would get me by. I picked up an M6 from Sweetwater for 400 bucks. Not what I wanted, but I will make do.

Your friendly neighborhood Phil

[mikehalloran]

The Ms that I have looked inside use the Cirrus Logic processor. I've assumed that the M6 is no exception.

[Phil O]

The Ms that I have looked inside use the Cirrus Logic processor. I've assumed that the M6 is no exception.

I'm not familiar with this product. Is this a good thing?

Your friendly neighborhood Phil

[mikehalloran]

The Ms that I have looked inside use the Cirrus Logic processor. I've assumed that the M6 is no exception.

I'm not familiar with this product. Is this a good thing?

Your friendly neighborhood Phil

192kHz 24bit near-zero latency with CoreAudio over "Fast USB 2". Slightly lower latency and Loopback enabled with the MOTU drivers (Mac). Has the Input/Direct Out Mix/Blend control like the M4. That knob has spoiled me forever.

Downside is that, unlike many other MOTU units, there's no built in mixer. 1,3,5 Inputs are hard-panned L, 2,4,6 are panned R over USB. Not a problem with any DAW more sophisticated than GarageBand: Mono track wil see Inputs 1–6 individually; Stereo tracks will see the M6 as 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 as you would expect.

At least 30 other interfaces since October 2019 are using this chip family but only NI and SSL admit it. Last I checked price, the 8 channel version used in my AIR was $8.35 @ min 1000 from Mouser. From a price/performance standpoint, that's insane which is why so many adopted it including Mackie, Presonus and dozen or more others.

Although the 8 channel version of chip includes 4 mic pres, 2 DIs, 2 Line I/Os, MIDI, 2 'phone amps, that's only the starting point. How the manufacturers handle form factor, input gain, how many I/O channels are offered, MIDI, whether they include the Mix/Blend (MOTU doesn't on the M2, Focusrite Scarlett Gen 3 doesn't offer it at all), Mac drivers or no (most don't) etc. is up to them. This is why I recommend buying the feature set that works for you.

My M•Audio 192|14 Air is similar to the M6 except that it offers an additional pair of DIs on TRS, MIDI is on a pair of dongles (easily misplaced) and the mic pre gain staging on 1–4 is downright weird. OTOH, it was out a couple years earlier. Although I prefer the gain staging of the M4, that pair of DIs with Gain controls eliminates using a step up transformer for our keyboards on the Line Ins while leaving the CombiJacks 1–4 for microphones. I do use an active DI on Line In 7–8 for my iPad, cassette decks etc.

Had MOTU released an M8 with that extra pair of DIs or CombiJacks, I would have bought it. Although I am now used to the mic pre staging on my AIR, I still don't like it. I dislike the MIDI dongles, too, even though replacements are cheap if you can't recall where you put the damned things.

[Phil O]

Thanks for that thorough response, Mike. You the man!

BTW, I love the loopback feature on this thing. I have been using Rogue Amoeba's LoopBack and I will continue to use it for special situations, but for the simple stuff the M6 handles it just fine.

Your friendly neighborhood Phil