MOTU FireWire audio interfaces

The sound quality on the mk3 is very good, it's I/o flexibility is nearly perfect, for my needs (live sound) I would love to have 8 mic pres not 2 and dedicated gain control knob for each of the 8 line inputs (or at least one knob that could access each line input gain and shuttle between them. my only real disappointment is the lowest latency setting of 64 samples per buffer this setting is not quite fast enough for a pro musician I normally run at 16 and if I want to run big multichannel shows I might drop to 32 samples per buffer. the 828 mk3 has not proven to be stable until I drop it 96 samples per buffer. UTILIZATION Motu Hybred 828 mk3 Audio interface will take some getting use to. Why the special 9 pin to a 6 pin fire wire cable, when it would have been better and more convenient with a standard 6 pin on both sides cable type. The cable works fine when positioned in a certain way to fit. Although many computers are discontinuing firewire, for audio fire wire has more bandwidth. When the 828 Hybred mk3 works it' sounds pretty good. It replaces my Emu 1818M that I loved and had for many years. It took some time for Motu to release new drivers for this unit, once downloaded it works fine. Customer service at Motu was fine, I was able to speak with a tech who helped on the configuration before the latest driver release drivers for Windows on 8/09/2011 (version 4.0.48697) from Motu Download sight. GETTING STARTED Getting started for me was a tough task, but after some reading of the manual (which is easy to understand) i got the hang of it fast. OVERALL OPINION Overall, Very solid piece for an awesome price. CueMix FX is great and anyone not using it is not using this thing to it's fullest. I can use the CueMix FX to monitor artists using EQ, Comps, & Reverbs with no latency while having my DAW have a 1024 buffer and making it super solid and reliable. It also takes care of talk back and basic volume controls, eliminating the need for any external central station/big knob controllers. Front two inputs are very handy and DO NOT overide analog 1 & 2 on the back. Just really, really feature loaded. On the BAD side...the LED's on the front are useless and the knobs on the front feel really sketchy. The software can control everything and you never really need to touch those though. I have mine hooked up via USB to W7 32bit w/ Samplitude 11.2 and it's been perfect. No crashes, no ASIO dropouts, nothing. GREAT piece at a great price.