**838 Mk3 Warning**

dmacintyre · Post by **dmacintyre** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 12:57 pm

I've been having a problem with my 828 Mk3 which involves a periodic pinging sound and high pitched whine which is accompanied by total loss of output. It requires a reboot to clear. I emailed tech support who confirmed it is a known issue which they are working on. It sometimes doesn't happen for a few hours but other times, like now, it is happening every 5 minutes.

If you need your interface to be working properly and consistently, do not buy one of these units yet. I think I'll stick with it as MOTU will probably get it resolved but it is starting to become a huge pain.

David

nooneknows · Post by **nooneknows** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 1:12 pm

David,

I posted this issue some weeks ago here: http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27101 after I first received my 828mk3.

MOTU sent me some Beta drivers that lessoned the issue quite significantly... but it was still there... but the mk3 was then usable. Read over my post above for all the tests I did and what I determined about the issue.

In the end I returned the mk3 for this reason, and the Master Vol. attenuation issue... went with an Apogee Ensemble... the difference in quality is rather significant.

Hope this helps

dmacintyre · Post by **dmacintyre** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 1:23 pm

Thanks for that.

Sorry, I missed that post. I may have to reconsider keeping it - the attenuation issue is one thing but the random pings are another. I have work to do and it is now pinging and locking up every few minutes. I sold a Duet to buy this (I was happy with it but I needed more I/O). Not sure what to go for - the Ensemble is a bit out of my budget and my faith in MOTU is a bit dented. The Ultralite I had before had issues at 44KHz and had to be returned, now the 828 is faulty. The massive volume output of the 828 also fried my ribbons so it's been a rather expensive mistake (thanks MOTU

).

Hmmm, not sure what to do now.

Thanks

David

nooneknows · Post by **nooneknows** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 2:09 pm

Hi again David,

Yes, the Ensemble is / was out of my budget as well... but I just got to thinking about quality and stability.

This is how I made my decision... I'm sure that the mk3 will eventually be very stable... but why spend $750 on the mk3 when I was thinking of eventually upgrading to an interface with great pres, and better converters. Why spend the money on the mk3 and then upgrade in a year or 2 and spend another $2K? More importantly, why continuing dealing with faulty interfaces and sub-par mic pres / converters when I can just spend the extra money now, and have great quality sound (now).

You do have other less expensive choices though... with very similar quality to the Ensemble:

Fireface 800... which I have borrowed from a friend... it's very solid, works great... I didn't settle on it mainly because I like the front LED's / of the Ensemble (and mk3) and I needed something that would allow me to monitor a 5.1 setup easily, like the Ensemble (and mk3). The pres on the Fireface are amazing as well. The 800 has the 2 channels of ADATs, the Ensemble only 1 channel... and the 800 also has MIDI I/O. The 2nd channel of ADAT is a main reason why the mk3 was so desirable... but I settled for 1 channel of ADAT on the Ensemble for the reasons above.

TC Electronics Studio Konnekt 48: This interface looks great... even has a nice remote... can do all the Ensemble and the Fireface does... and has the 2 ADAT channels... etc. The big issue here is that it looks like overall TC has NOT fixed the driver problems... look on the forums at TC... people are very upset. It's unfortunate because the interface looks great.

I've also heard great things about the Metric Halo interfaces... that the pres are actually just below Apogee... for much less money.

Anyhow, I was in your position just last week. I picked up an Ensemble to try through GC Pro and of course it was rock solid so I returned the mk3, but not after much thinking and agonizing over the price of the Ensemble. I'm very happy with my decision.

BTW, realize that I went through 4 mk3's ... the first had the screeching so I tried another... 2nd one seemed to have NO screeching at all... but after a day of use... it just died on me... that is is took 5 minutes to boot up, was not correctly recognized by my G5, etc. so I returned that one. The 3rd was screeching again like crazy... so as a last resort I tried a 4th... and same issues... so obviously as I thought before it's the interface / firmware / drivers... but if you read my other post it's so random that I did actually think it was a faulty interface... otherwise I would NEVER have gone through all the trouble of exchanging... Anyhow, once again it got me thinking about quality and how this was scary... 4 interfaces, 1 dies, the others are unusable... not something I want to buy and have to deal with 2 months down the road... or even 1 year down the road... right after the unit goes out of warranty, hah.

Good luck

dmacintyre · Post by **dmacintyre** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 2:40 pm

Thanks for all that info!

I sold a Fireface 400 because it is not compatible with the Agere chipset that is in the iMacs at the moment (it just does not work, period). I sold the Duet because it didn't have enough I/O and the extension cables just got in a tangle at the back of the desk when I had to change connections (which was frequently).

I'd keep the 828 if I knew the problem was going to be fixed permanently in a week or two but it might be months. Perhaps never if they can't get to the bottom of the issue.

I need to go back to the drawing board and start assessing interfaces again

D.

dmacintyre · Post by **dmacintyre** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 7:40 pm

What about one of those 003 (rack). I can get one for around $1k and it will give me Pro Tools to mess around with. Any experience of running that with Logic / DP / Live as well as PT?

D.

jeff sanders · Post by **jeff sanders** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 7:47 pm

i have mine plugged in but not mounted in rack just in case i find i must return the unit. im optimistic motu will resolve the problems with software updates but not certain it can. im patiently awaiting a definitive answer so i can either exchange it or rack it up.

nooneknows · Post by **nooneknows** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 11:17 pm

David,

I haven't used the 003... I usually stay away from anything Digi, not because it's low quality, just because I'm still bitter about them taking over the world... hah

dmacintyre · Post by **dmacintyre** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 11:31 am

Decided it's going back to the dealer while it is still within the return period. MOTU might issue drivers which resolve the issue tomorrow or it might remain unresolved for a while. I just can't afford to wait until it is fixed - the thing is unusable at the moment.

Now to continue wasting my time trawling around for another interface - if only the Duet had an extra couple of inputs and MIDI in.

D.

maxpatch · Post by **maxpatch** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 10:01 am

I'd be wary of using Digi gear for anything other than Pro Tools. I have an M-Box 2 Pro and it's a great little interface. I like having 2 headphone sockets (on the front), 2 instruments ins (again, on the front), MIDI, etc... and of course great integration with PT. BUT, the I find the Digi drivers to be flaky with anything other than PT. Just listening to music from iTunes through the M-Box and suddenly the sound will break up, distort digitally and then vanish. In order to get it back I have to go into system prefs and reset to using built in out-puts, power down the M-Box (a hassle in itself since there is no ON/OFF switch - you have to unplug the power), unplug the Firewire cable, plug the power back in followed by the Firewire, wait for the green light, reset System Prefs. Life is too short. Likewise, using Logic will sometimes just lose the M-Box mid session and you have to go through a similar routine. DP seems to be fine with it but then to get Pro Tools to work you have to restart the Mac. If I was a cynic (surely not) I would suspect Digi of deliberately making it difficult to use anything other than PT.

I'm seriously thinking of getting an Ensemble to complement my setup. I'll take Word Clock from the Apogee into the M-Box, SPDIF from the M-Box into the Ensemble and have the Ensemble connected to my powered monitors. This way I'll be able to run everything - DP, Logic, iTune, system - through the Ensemble and keep the M-Box just for PT.

dmacintyre · Post by **dmacintyre** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 10:06 am

Yes, having looked into it, I'm gravitating towards the Ultralite or back to the Duet. I would like the Duet to have at least one more pair of analog outs and a MIDI in but for the money, it's pretty rock solid. It was an expensive and fleeting trip into 828 territory for me I think.

D.

sustainiac · Post by **sustainiac** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 11:08 am

Just a dumb bit of advice.

Running my 828 MKIII with Macbook Pro I also get random periodic noises in the audio.

Solution - turn OFF the Airport Wi-Fi connection fixes the problem.

dmacintyre · Post by **dmacintyre** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 11:14 am

sustainiac wrote:Just a dumb bit of advice.

Running my 828 MKIII with Macbook Pro I also get random periodic noises in the audio.

Solution - turn OFF the Airport Wi-Fi connection fixes the problem.

Does the audio ping, whine, then drop out altogether and can only be reinstated by switching the unit off and on again?

D.

sustainiac · Post by **sustainiac** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 11:26 am

IN my setup - Macbook Pro Tiger OS - I get a periodic screech in the audio path - it never locks up - just appears as an audio anomalie - sounds like sync gets lost or similar crap sound.

Turn Off the Macbook Pro built in Airport Wi-FI, and -

(tada)

Stable sound - no problems - just great audio.

So I just use the CAT-5 Ethernet connection instead if I'm recording audio.

that was my solution

dmacintyre · Post by **dmacintyre** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 11:29 am

Ah, it sounds like a different issue. I reported mine to MOTU and it's known to them.

D.