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Audiofanzine FR
Published on 12/10/08 at 18:11
Best value:
Excellent
(Originally written by mrpoulpy/translated from Audiofanzine FR)
I bought it as a replacement when I sent the MOTU 896HD I use in my portable setup in for repair (I heard that the MOTU service is not very fast).
I thought this card made approximately the same as the MOTU, and considering I was only looking for replacement gear I didn't want to spend too much money on it.
I planned to use it mainly with a notebook and an 8-channel ADAT preamp/converter in a 16-input portable system for concert recording.
I thought this unit would fulfill all my needs.
I used it with Cubase SX3.
UTILIZATION
First problems. It includes two installation CDs not labeled very clearly. Now that I think about it, I believe one of them included a Cubase light version with some old drivers and the other one only newer drivers (??). Or only USB drivers? Could be...! I don't know! After a while I decided to download the latest driver versions from the manufacturer's website. But nothing was clear or easy to understand! It was the first time I had to check all versions and wasn't sure of what would work. Since I had problems with this card right from the start, I went looking for a version that would make everything work... nice try!!
I can't recall anymore, but I believe the system doesn't work when both USB and Firewire drivers are installed. It wouldn't be a problem if it were written somewhere.
There isn't much to configure, so the setup is pretty easy.
GETTING STARTED
That's the main problem.
I had problems (noise and crackles) even with the largest buffer size. A digital problem I couldn't explain. I tried it out first with my main studio computer (a very powerful quad core!), then with my notebook, and then with another notebook. There's no way you can use it in real-time. It's impossible! I tried out a reverb thinking that I would be able to set a high latency with such effects. It worked fine for five minutes, but then it started to crackle until I reset the sound card (an unexplainable digital problem once again). I also noticed that the sound card made the system crash when the computer went into sleep mode. Not immediately. Actually, everything seemed to work fine after waking up, but there was no sound coming from the software. And when I tried to restart the system crashed. Then, when I started the computer up again the sound card wouldn't find the ADAT converter anymore. And I had to restart the system again. In short, a real nightmare for live applications.
And notice that this notebook was new (virtually no software installed).
As a summary:
- latency : system crashes even with the highest latency time
- Number of simultaneous channels: 16 recording channels (playback didn't work properly)
The sound seems to be ok: I could even mix a whole song. Nothing special to say about the sound. Anyways, I honestly believe that all these interfaces, from Behringer to MOTU, provide the same results. I haven't been able to compare with RME but I don't expect a real difference.
If it turns out that my unit was faulty and it actually works fine with all other users never mind my review.
OVERALL OPINION
I used it two days at home, I went on tour one week, I used it three times for live and studio recordings and then I packed it up again.
I took it back to the dealer very pissed. I ordered a MOTU 8PRE instead and I got it pretty fast. I only paid the price difference (the MOTU is more expensive).
For a slightly higher price I had a device without AES-EBU, Midi, Wordclock, or SPDIF but easy to install, stable and with a very low latency!
I usually say that cheap products also work well. My Behringer ADAT interface is the proof of that. I use it with my MOTU and it works perfectly as long as it is synchronized via ADAT or wordclock. We also bought Phonic mics for the rehearsal studio. They are cheaper than microphone cable (they are actually sold with a cable), are unbreakable and as good as a PG58. But in this particular case, buying a cheap product was a mistake! And the USB mode was even worse. I guess it has the USB option so they can write "universal sound card" on the box.
I bought it as a replacement when I sent the MOTU 896HD I use in my portable setup in for repair (I heard that the MOTU service is not very fast).
I thought this card made approximately the same as the MOTU, and considering I was only looking for replacement gear I didn't want to spend too much money on it.
I planned to use it mainly with a notebook and an 8-channel ADAT preamp/converter in a 16-input portable system for concert recording.
I thought this unit would fulfill all my needs.
I used it with Cubase SX3.
UTILIZATION
First problems. It includes two installation CDs not labeled very clearly. Now that I think about it, I believe one of them included a Cubase light version with some old drivers and the other one only newer drivers (??). Or only USB drivers? Could be...! I don't know! After a while I decided to download the latest driver versions from the manufacturer's website. But nothing was clear or easy to understand! It was the first time I had to check all versions and wasn't sure of what would work. Since I had problems with this card right from the start, I went looking for a version that would make everything work... nice try!!
I can't recall anymore, but I believe the system doesn't work when both USB and Firewire drivers are installed. It wouldn't be a problem if it were written somewhere.
There isn't much to configure, so the setup is pretty easy.
GETTING STARTED
That's the main problem.
I had problems (noise and crackles) even with the largest buffer size. A digital problem I couldn't explain. I tried it out first with my main studio computer (a very powerful quad core!), then with my notebook, and then with another notebook. There's no way you can use it in real-time. It's impossible! I tried out a reverb thinking that I would be able to set a high latency with such effects. It worked fine for five minutes, but then it started to crackle until I reset the sound card (an unexplainable digital problem once again). I also noticed that the sound card made the system crash when the computer went into sleep mode. Not immediately. Actually, everything seemed to work fine after waking up, but there was no sound coming from the software. And when I tried to restart the system crashed. Then, when I started the computer up again the sound card wouldn't find the ADAT converter anymore. And I had to restart the system again. In short, a real nightmare for live applications.
And notice that this notebook was new (virtually no software installed).
As a summary:
- latency : system crashes even with the highest latency time
- Number of simultaneous channels: 16 recording channels (playback didn't work properly)
The sound seems to be ok: I could even mix a whole song. Nothing special to say about the sound. Anyways, I honestly believe that all these interfaces, from Behringer to MOTU, provide the same results. I haven't been able to compare with RME but I don't expect a real difference.
If it turns out that my unit was faulty and it actually works fine with all other users never mind my review.
OVERALL OPINION
I used it two days at home, I went on tour one week, I used it three times for live and studio recordings and then I packed it up again.
I took it back to the dealer very pissed. I ordered a MOTU 8PRE instead and I got it pretty fast. I only paid the price difference (the MOTU is more expensive).
For a slightly higher price I had a device without AES-EBU, Midi, Wordclock, or SPDIF but easy to install, stable and with a very low latency!
I usually say that cheap products also work well. My Behringer ADAT interface is the proof of that. I use it with my MOTU and it works perfectly as long as it is synchronized via ADAT or wordclock. We also bought Phonic mics for the rehearsal studio. They are cheaper than microphone cable (they are actually sold with a cable), are unbreakable and as good as a PG58. But in this particular case, buying a cheap product was a mistake! And the USB mode was even worse. I guess it has the USB option so they can write "universal sound card" on the box.