MOTU 828 vs. DIGI 001 Options

I am looking to get a new system for audio recording. I am leaining towards the Motu 828, but I know the DIGI 001 is a hot seller. Will I sacrifice quaility by going with the Motu 828. Are the Preamps as good? And sound quality?

Mainly, we want to use it to create our first CD. So we'll be recording vocals, instruments etc. Will one lend itself to this application better than the other? What about quality? What about OS X support?

What about for a newbie to learn, is the documenation on the MOTU 828 good enough that anyone could learn it easily, even a newbie, or do I need a book? Do they have books?

I will also use it to sweeten some video work from Final Cut Pro. I here the Motu Digital Performer is great for this, especially since I could mix Surround sound with it. Any thoughts here.

I basically like the MOTU better, but don't want to get something that will lessen the quality of the CD.

I am also looking into this. Heres my posts from another forum.


Does the 828 suck? It seems like alot of people would want to get there hands on it! I need some honest reviews here.


I am very new to the audio recording and editing world but Im jumping into it with both feet and if Im going to do it I wanna do it right. The specs on the Powerbook G4 Im getting are 500mhz, 256 ram, 20 gig HD and DVD drive and a Motu 828 for the ovious reasons. This is a hard to heavy rock band with some acoustic songs as well. The band consists of 1 vocal, 1 electric guitar, 1 bass guitar, 1 keyboard for some intros and sound fx and stuff which the bass guy plays, and 1 drummer with with a standard setup with 2 bass drums and 3 electronic drums going into a mixing board and then to a Roland vs 840 ( I think, which I would like to maybe integrate into the G4/Motu setup [ it has a spdif and optical outs] ) which they are using right now to record and practice with in a small recording studio they are renting. Will this set up be good enough for making an album that doesnt sound like a demo? I plan on learning the ropes from these guys and maybe turning it into a small business or record label ( who knows ). I want to use a laptop for several reasons. 1 I need portability. I will be traveling from Los Angeles to Las Vegas to do recordings with my friends band. 2 I already have a desktop pc. 3 Take it to record other bands (make money to pay for this monster). 4 For fun like watching movies on it. And so on...... Am I wasting my time and money trying to do this or am I going to make an impact worth while? Man, I have so many more questions I need help on but Im to tired to think of them. I just hope theres someone out there that can help. Should I use adiodesk(which comes with the motu), protools, or vegas audio?



Well I just met a guy at a Carvin guitar shop that uses the Motu 828 and hes gonna let me see it in action this sunday when he records some vocals in his studio. He says its good but I wanna see what he uses, what it sounds like, how he uses it, anything and everything....He says hes recorded 60 tracks at once with the Motu and some light pipe device at 24 bit and 96hz.



I have read on the web somewhere that if you have a firewire external hard drive and the Motu 828 running at the same time it can cause latency and other problems because the two devices are then sharing the same pathway via the firewire. Thats why the Motu uses the firewire. It needs to be able to use all that bandwith when it wants to. The recording of audio has to be seemless and real time or else its gonna sound like junk. The same reason you wouldnt want to be running other programs while recording. Well thats my theory anyway. I am not a profesional. Im a very new newbie. Heck, I havnt even bought my system yet. Im waiting to see how that guys Motu performs this sunday and hoping the price of the Powerbook G4 Titanium goes down below $3,000(well the model I want at least). Nowing my luck the price will drop the day after I buy it.


OTHERS POSTS


if you monitor your inputs through your software, thats where you run into latency (delay from sound to hearing it in your headphones)
i was in a session yesterday for a major label artist(christian label) and when i walked in his setup consisted of:
1 - mac g4 titanium
2 - moto 828
3 - firewire club mac external HD
running logic audio.

they decided to track at the studio we were at for the mic selection.
i was playing acoustic and could hear a slight latency on my guitar but not anything that would mess any one up. i was totally impressed. the producer/engineer had to leave for a bit and just unplugged the firewire and power cables and was gone. came back, plugged the two cables back in and powered up and was ready to go in about 5 mins. amazing! and w/ the external drive, there was never a single dropout or hiccup. again, i was blown away!



Alot of people dont like it because you can only monitor 2 channels on input. Its a flaw in the hardware design which has been confirmed by the tech people at MOTU.





Well I hope this helps someone.