828 mk3 is real

bralston · Post by **bralston** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 1:44 pm

I have a feeling that 828mk3 overview shows us new software that MOTU did not show at NAMM with DP6 and that is a new version of Cuemix called Cuemix FX. Since this Cuemix for the 828 is all new...I have a feeling DP6 will have the same one. It even looks like the DP6 interface a bit.

Very cool

Rainman · Post by **Rainman** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 1:54 pm

I think you're spot on in that Bryan.

Dubnick · Post by **Dubnick** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 1:56 pm

One sort of wierd thing: the compressor for the new cue mix is apparently a variation on the forthcoming MasterWorks Limiter, but it appears that the cue mix version allows for more control than the DP6 version. Obviously, the LA2A it's modeled on is not the most flexible compressor in the first place, but why allow for more tweaking/flexibility in the Cue Mix version than the actually DP 6 one. Maybe I missed something?

pcm · Post by **pcm** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 3:24 pm

I would say that all of these are works in progress. Notice the timing of this announcement - AFTER NAMM. The only reason I can think of for that is that the product does not actually physically exist yet. Vaporware, basically. Otherwise, they would have at least announced it, no?

alobonzo · Post by **alobonzo** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 4:41 pm

Hi,
Well this new 828 Mk3 is amazing!
Low Jitter ensures the highest converter performance so I'm sure it will sound better than before.
I hope that Motu make a usabe driver as they do with the "old" interfaces because believe me, the Presonus driver development is very bad and very slow, and they haven't been able to put the 16 adats of the firestudio at the control console yet!
The new DSP FX onboard is a challenge on every channel, if the interface work as it seems it's gonna work and the drivers ... will kill other brands, I'm sure.
Well done

motuhelper · Post by **motuhelper** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 8:02 pm

Hey PCM,
Found this on Gearjunkies.com...

Availability:
The 828mk3 will ship in February 2008 for a list price of $795.

Cheers

OldTimey · Post by **OldTimey** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 9:16 pm

that's a sick price!

sdemott · Post by **sdemott** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 8:42 am

Not trying to be a downer, but MOTU has never impressed me with their audio interfaces. I've yet to hear one that sounds any better than 'alright'. To me it looks like a poor mans Metric Halo interface. The metric halo mobile i/o boxes have done all this for a while, only several giant steps ahead in terms of quality.

I sometimes wish they would devote more resources to DP and offer one or 2 interfaces 'for the hell of it' and move on. Being as small as they are I sometimes get annoyed that they dilute their resources so much and we wait years for things like BWF support or a decent included reverb plug.

I realize there is a certain amount of instant revenue generated by the interface sales, but from a business standpoint...I'd be more concerned with those leaving DP for Logic or PT/LE than people buying a non-MOTU interface.

Maybe it's just me - but leave the interfaces to the companies that are making great interfaces and focus on making DP the best DAW around. Then maybe we wouldn't be years behind the other DAW manufacturers on things like supported filetypes, plugin management and file/soundbite management.

Okay - ending my rant...I played with Logic 8 yesterday and was thoroughly ashamed of how behind DP was in some areas. Little carry over I think.

Dubnick · Post by **Dubnick** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 9:04 am

sdemott wrote:
I realize there is a certain amount of instant revenue generated by the interface sales, but from a business standpoint...I'd be more concerned with those leaving DP for Logic or PT/LE than people buying a non-MOTU interface.

Maybe it's just me - but leave the interfaces to the companies that are making great interfaces and focus on making DP the best DAW around. Then maybe we wouldn't be years behind the other DAW manufacturers on things like supported filetypes, plugin management and file/soundbite management.

Okay - ending my rant...I played with Logic 8 yesterday and was thoroughly ashamed of how behind DP was in some areas. Little carry over I think.

My guess is that the revenue stream from interfaces is more consistent and maybe higher than DP and besides, almost every DAW maker is more in the hardware business than software (Digi is selling the LE, M-Powered and TDM hardware, Apple is selling Macs and with Cakewalk having a large stake of it's business owned by Roland, it is likely going to be used to sell Edirol stuff). In a business sense, MOTU's focus on interfaces is a smart move. Plus, one advantage MOTU seems to have over hardware makers who come into the interface market, is their software dept. ability to make strong drivers. Unfortunately, they seem to be a small company perhaps and the shift in focus has perhaps slowed up-keep and development of DP, but that's to be expected if one looks at the reality of their situation. What I find a bit frustrating is that the least amount of energy seems to be dedicated to fixing long term bugs.

As far as DP's feature set relative to others, I am going to say something that's not going to be very popular on this board, but I say it as someone who own's and uses DP 5.11, Logic 8 and PT LE 7.4 W/MPT all on Macs and as someone who doesn't own a PC at all:

Cakewalk's continually expanding feature set for Sonar is putting nearly every other DAW to shame.

This isn't saying anything about it's stability or reliability, which are just as important if not more so, but if we're talking about feature set alone, you have to hand it to Cakewalk for pushing things, especially on native systems. I own and regularly use Logic 8 to mix, but it's still in the dark ages as far as a lot of the audio editing and audio editing workflow is concerned. MOTU could easily tweak some aspects of it's existing audio editing workflow to make it on par with PT (for instance, being able erase and move transient markers in the arrange window should be a no brainer and now even Logic, which has no Beat Detective equivalent, has a version of PT's tab to transient function) and one would hope they do. I'm sure I'll get a ton of crap for saying Sonar is out front when it comes to feature set, but I think it's hard to dispute. I'd love to be proven wrong.

motuhelper · Post by **motuhelper** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 9:12 am

sdemott,
Which MOTU interfaces have you owed or tried?
The HD192, the Traveler? Have you been involved in converter shoot outs?

The 828mk3 appears to be unbeatable at that price point. Metric Halo
can't compete with that.

Please send us a link to the projects you've mixed lately so we can get
a gauge of how good your ears are.

Thanks

David Polich · Post by **David Polich** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 10:15 am

sdemott wrote:
I sometimes wish they would devote more resources to DP and offer one or 2 interfaces 'for the hell of it' and move on. Being as small as they are I sometimes get annoyed that they dilute their resources so much and we wait years for things like BWF support or a decent included reverb plug.

I realize there is a certain amount of instant revenue generated by the interface sales, but from a business standpoint...I'd be more concerned with those leaving DP for Logic or PT/LE than people buying a non-MOTU interface.

Maybe it's just me - but leave the interfaces to the companies that are making great interfaces and focus on making DP the best DAW around. Then maybe we wouldn't be years behind the other DAW manufacturers on things like supported filetypes, plugin management and file/soundbite management.
.

MOTU makes a LOT more money on their hardware than their software. They are basically a hardware company. As far as myself and a lot of other users are concerned, MOTU "is" a company that makes great interfaces. If you're desperate for better sounding converters, than you pay at least double the price for that, if not more. In their price range, MOTU's interfaces are excellent and give you more bang for the buck than anyone else I can think of.

DP6 is a significant improvement over DP5 - but I suppose DP will "never" have enough features. Why someone can't make great tracks with DP, even as it is now, is beyond me completely. Ten years ago we didn't have anywhere near this capacity in digital recording. Memories of 100Mhz Macs and 140MB hard drives fade quickly, I guess.

Count me in for the 828 Mk3. I'd rather save some money and apply that to, oh I don't know - something like my house payment.

kgdrum · Post by **kgdrum** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 10:44 am

motuhelper wrote:sdemott,
Which MOTU interfaces have you owed or tried?
The HD192, the Traveler? Have you been involved in converter shoot outs?

The 828mk3 appears to be unbeatable at that price point. Metric Halo
can't compete with that.

Please send us a link to the projects you've mixed lately so we can get
a gauge of how good your ears are.

Thanks

not to get in a p***ing match with anyone but I do agree with sdemott and I am sure his ears are excellent as well

I had the original 896 and my RME FF800 was a Major Upgrade.
if it's about performance ,sound quality ,clock etc....not just a price point there are some really good options out there
Motu's interfaces have been very good products with the focus on value but the alternatives are very good ,such as Metric Halo,RME or Appogee not to mention the Black Lion Mods,if the choices available were no good no one would use them.
I do hope the next generation of Motu's I/O's will address some of this and be improved on as it will give us more choices................KG

Shooshie · Post by **Shooshie** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 10:48 am

Geez. I hate comparisons between DP and Logic, because I always feel like I've gotta say something, and it never comes off sounding very authoritative, because everyone's opinion of the best DAW is based on their own usage, which doesn't have anything to do with the next guy's usage. For my buck, DP rules. Logic sucks, and sucks bad. Yeah, it's got some minor features that are pretty handy, but some of the major things, like editing MIDI, are just mind-bogglingly poorly thought-out. How does anyone get anything done in that app? Obviously they do, but I think they have to work too hard. Ok, that's my opinion. Next!

Shoosh

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 11:07 am

Gee... I don't know. I think my HD192 sounds pretty good.

sdemott · Post by **sdemott** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 11:27 am

motuhelper wrote:sdemott,
Which MOTU interfaces have you owed or tried?
The HD192, the Traveler? Have you been involved in converter shoot outs?

The 828mk3 appears to be unbeatable at that price point. Metric Halo
can't compete with that.

Please send us a link to the projects you've mixed lately so we can get
a gauge of how good your ears are.

Thanks

Look - really don't want to go down the "whose ears are better...who knows more" because you only end up offending people.

A large part of my business is audiophile location recording of classical music. The MOTU interfaces are just not up to the task. They smear the low end, have a sterile high-end and a veiled middle.

I have never owned a MOTU interface because in my tests they never compared. I have, though, tested most of them going back to the original 2408. They are 'alright', but my needs are significantly better than alright.

If you must hear some work:

The Entrance of the Queen of Sheeba (Handel)
http://www.fountainpenmusic.com/demo_sheeba.html

Concerto in E-flat Major for Trumpet & Orchestra, Allegro (Haydn)
http://www.fountainpenmusic.com/demo_concerto.html

Ubi caritas (Durufle)
http://www.fountainpenmusic.com/demo_ubi.html

I will say this - the samples are MP3s, so the extreme ends are a bit smeared and some of the detail lost from the encoding (original files were 24/88.2k). They do, however, give a fair representation of the original recording. Please listen on good speakers. They were mixed at a calibration level of 78dBspl, for those that want the full effect.

And for the record - I'm *not* saying Logic/PT/whatever is better than DP. I was stating that I had an eye opener yesterday that helped explain (at least to me) why more people where not moving to DP. I left PT/TDM years ago for DP and haven't looked back. A friend just went Logic in his space and I helped him setup/calibrate.

I'm simply angry at MOTU for being behind the curve (in my mind) with DP5. DP6 is a huge leap forward. But it's not here yet.

And that's where I end this. I'm not getting into a fight over this. My point stands. The MOTU interfaces may be good at the price point, but that's like saying Apples suck because Dells are cheaper. You can buy at a price point or at a quality/feature point. The latter usually being the more expensive, but consistently better choice.

Of course, if it's not your bread & butter...you want to keep the costs down because you can't recoup $2k on esoteric gear, but you can eat $750 as a hobby expense.