MOTU announces new 828 interface

[James Steele]

https://motu.com/en-us/products/828/

USB3… no Thunderbolt. Also no AVB. I wonder about the lack of AVB and will it be phased out of future MOTU interfaces? Seems an odd omission.

[cuttime]

It looks very nice. I wonder if this signals an end to the long supply chain issues, or if this new design is an attempt to get around them.

[mikehalloran]

Hardware inserts for the mic channels 1–2 ... about time and might be the feature that causes many to ring the bell. Not so sure about DIY guitar re-amping.

Otherwise, not that much of an upgrade for Mac owners since Core Audio is still USB 2 and there are no claims that this is faster over USB 3. New driver promising lower latency like the M2/4/6 is good and is approaching the theoretical limit of just what can be done here—a few TB3 interfaces are claiming .1–.3ms faster RTL (your ears a few inches closer to monitor speakers for anyone doing the math). Cuemix 5 for for Mac/Win and iOS WiFi might be the biggest selling point.

My gut is saying that this might solve a number of issues over at the Windows corral.

Overall, an impressive step in the right direction, I think.

[HCMarkus]

Hardware inserts for the mic channels 1–2 ... about time and might be the feature that causes many to ring the bell.

Just re-labeled from the I/O the 828ES provides. Still a 28-Input interface that is 26 inputs when the insert/return is used as such.

EDIT: My comment above is incorrect. Looking at back panel, the insert is, indeed, an addition. Mike had it right. 28 inputs regardless of whether you insert on the Mic input.

That said, I'd buy one today if I didn't have an 828ES... it's got all the I/O I need and CueMix looks like it might be more robust than the AVB Mixer. And the foot switch jack is still included.

[stubbsonic]

SW is taking pre-orders and shows a price of $1000 USD (rounding up $5)

[aflynt]

Does this mean that we'll be able to use CueMix 5 wirelessly on the Ultralite MK5 now too?

-Aaron

[utadeer]

I spoke to someone in tech support maybe 2 yrs ago and he said that they were contemplating not developing the AVB system further. I'm not sure where that discussion ended up but it doesn't sound promising to get any more interfaces with that connectivity option, and I'm bummed about that! AVB is working great for me and I have been looking for one more interface to replace my huge bulky analog snake to my recording room.

I'm also skeptical that the "backordered" status on the AVB interfaces at all the major retailers will ever be fulfilled even though they have said more are on the way... but would love to be completely wrong!

https://motu.com/en-us/products/828/

USB3… no Thunderbolt. Also no AVB. I wonder about the lack of AVB and will it be phased out of future MOTU interfaces? Seems an odd omission.

[thracks]

I don't know, but honestly I would've been surprised if they added AVB to the 828 which has been around for a long time in many forms. Seems like when they started with the AVB systems they put them in a separate category altogether.

I'm currently still using my 828x on an Intel Mac mini. Since I've been getting back into external analog gear, my dream would be to have a 1248 and 24 Ai to run everything in at once. I'm getting by fine with my current setup and a patch bay, but if MOTU does a similar refresh for the AVB series I'll be first in line.

[James Steele]

Yeah... I have an 828es that has AVB and it's a good thing, because daisy-chained off of that is a 24Ai which all the outputs of my rack synth modules are attached to. So I need AVB at this point.

[mikehalloran]

Thunderbolt interfaces cannot be used with iOs/iPadOS. Core Audio has never supported TB and Apple does not allow 3rd party drivers except on the Mac.

[thracks]

I somehow completely forgot about the 828es. Nice setup!

[James Steele]

Thunderbolt interfaces cannot be used with iOs/iPadOS. Core Audio has never supported TB and Apple does not allow 3rd party drivers except on the Mac.

I wonder if that holds true for interfaces that have both TB and USB connections like my 828es?

[HCMarkus]

AVB is working great for me and I have been looking for one more interface to replace my huge bulky analog snake to my recording room.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... -interface

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... -interface

In stock!

And if you need a lot of inputs and only a few outputs (for headphones, etc) you could just get the 24ai and hang an inexpensive optical converter off of it, like this $230: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... one-preamp

Edit: as I think more about it, I suppose you need mic pres in your recording room, and unless they were remote-controlled, it would be a pain setting levels. So something like the (unavailable) 8M or B16 would be better.

[mikehalloran]

Thunderbolt interfaces cannot be used with iOs/iPadOS. Core Audio has never supported TB and Apple does not allow 3rd party drivers except on the Mac.

I wonder if that holds true for interfaces that have both TB and USB connections like my 828es?

AFIK, USB versions of the 828 support some functionality over Core Audio but I don't know how much. This is easy to tell by plugging into the iPhone/iPad's USB-C port (or the Apple CCK if Lightning) and see if it shows up. If you have a Mac where the MOTU driver is not installed, same thing.

I can't test Core Audio with my 828mkII since it's FW only and FW/TB is not supported. Hmmm... I have not tested to see if that works over Sonoma with the MOTU drivers yet. It did over Ventura.

[HCMarkus]

Just looking at the MOTU renderings of its forthcoming 828, I noticed the long-time MOTU standard rounded cast metal case has been abandoned in favor of a more typical sheetmetal case.

End of an era.

New model is now shipping; actual photos at Sweetwater.

It is nice to know that, should my 828ES fail and the power supply I have on hand not fix it, a drop-in-place replacement is available, and my studio productivity wouldn't suffer in the short or long term.