Comments about:

Motu 828mkII goes to USB

Usb ...yuk

I second that. Welcome to the Microsoft effect. Microsoft gets behind USB2 and every mobo maker puts it on their product for that sole reason. And a la peanut butter sandwich - instant standard!

The fact of the matter is that us audio freaks make up a very small portion of the buying public. Most people are just gonna use the connectors that their puters come with. Oh well. Their loss.

Scott

USB + Audio = Death.

Why would any end user torture themselves that way?

BTW I use a MOTU 828 mkll (firewire, that is.).

Hi from a newbie to Macmusic. I have two Motu 828, one mk!! the other the original model.
I want to transfer 16 tracks from two ADAT tape players to my G4. Do I hook up each 8 track deck to a separate 828? Is there a trick to getting the 828 to sync? Please help.java script:emoticon(':-/')

I understand that USB 2.0 is actually pretty fast & It is actually faster than firewire 400 - I don't know that it's any faster than firewire 800 but I am not even sure if there are that many interfaces that even support firewire 800.

USB2 is NOT, and I repeat, is NOT faster than Firewire 400...
Yes USB2 is 480mbs as compared to Firewire400's 400mbs...That is a difference of 80mbs...
The catch is that USB2 sucks a considerably higher amount of system resources as compared to Firewire...Hence, making it far less stable...As well as taking a considerable amount of performance from the system's CPU, RAM, etc...
Don't believe me(?)....Research it...Or worse yet, try it...
All and all USB is for mice, keyboards, etc...And NOT pro multi-track audio...
One to four tracks at a time...Maybe...
USB SUCKS (In a literal sense)
Although all this being said...MOTU was just offering what people (And only God knows why) were asking for...
And i give the company a thumbs up for making that offer yet keeping the "old" and far superior Firewire 828MKII...
'nough said...
My rant is over...lol
All the best....Barry ';o)

PS: The RME Fireface is the only true Firewire 800 interface I know of...
My recommendation...?
Metric-Halo all the way...Well worth the extra $...
Although MOTU is the best bang for the buck...

This post has been edited by bls2112: Mon 27 Mar 2006, 18:27

FW 400 = 400 Mbs (theory)
USB 2.0 = 480 Mbs (ditto)
FW 800 = 800 Mbs (ter)

Save USB is not efficient as a streaming protocol, at the opposite of firewire. Fw just work better. CPU load is also something to think about as bls2112 pointed out.

There is a reason why you get a small number of tracks at the same time on USB 1 and 2 in regard to the current 16 in FW 400.

I have owned two USB audio devices and used with a mac. Totally unreliable. CPU spikes WILL cause audio dropouts. I would advise against anyone purchasing a USB audio interface, regardless of the number of channels.