Know A Great Pci W/ Pre Amps?, looking to spend around a grand... Options

[islo]

I'm on a search for a clean sounding and versitile sound card. It'd be nice to have midi channels on it too, but not totally nessesary. I realisticly can only see utilizing about 8 tracks at a time, more than that is probably overkill. But most importantly, I'm thinking it'd be handy to have built in pre-amps (and firewire?). Due to me rack mounting my desktop PC, and I want to be ultra mobile, and ultra slick.

Now I was looking at the presonus FIREPOD, but I read only 2 of the 8 ins are at line level, and also that it's made not too rugged like. Also I took a guander at some Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU) 828MKII 24/96 and others like it... still I find ify reviews and that's why I'm (hear?) HERE!!!

Please submit your opinion, and experiences you've had!!! What's the best buy and why?

We all know we can expect to run into SOME issues with ALL gear... But I'm talking about very reliable, and VERY CLEAN sounding gear -- okayyyyy.... you goooooooo, NOW.[B][COLOR=blue]

[cornutt]

I use the 828 (predecessor to the 828MKII), and I've been very satisfied. Also, though the manual is a little obscure, MOTU's tech support is excellent.

I also have the original 828. I find the mic pres to be just mediocre (with a Rode NT4). Other than that, it's a good-sounding box. I'm currently toying with the idea of buying separate mic pres. You can get two channels of decent mic pre from the likes of Focusrite or Studio Projects for about $200 US, and they spit out line level so I don't have to use the pres on the 828. If you only need one or two channels of mic pre, that's the way to go instead of shopping for an interface with good mic pres (which will set you back a bundle).

I'm not aware of any PCI card made anymore that has mic pres on board. The inside of the computer is a terrible place for a high-gain amp like a mic pre. The PCI interfaces that still offer mic pres have them mounted in an external interface box.

Re MOTU's tech support: They are excellent *when* you can get their attention, which some people have had trouble with. Having said that, I've never had an issue with either my 828 or my MOTU MIDI interfaces that couldn't be answered by reading through the FAQs in the support area.