Motu 828mk3 anyone? (cuemix)

[JonWormwood]

I know MOTU doesn't have the best rep but I'm looking at one for it's 'digital mixer' capabilities to use it for live in-ear mixing. Anyone have any experience with cue mix and running ~16 tracks with eq/compression? (thanks to the dsp of course)

 

[Adrian Warren]

The Motu stuff is great for functionality and usually runs very solid. I owned a Motu Ultralite couple of years ago and I really enjoyed the cue mix software for latency free monitoring, however mine didn't have any dsp effects at the time. Try contacting the Motu support and ask them how well it would run under your circumstances.

 

[JonWormwood]

The Motu stuff is great for functionality and usually runs very solid. I owned a Motu Ultralite couple of years ago and I really enjoyed the cue mix software for latency free monitoring, however mine didn't have any dsp effects at the time. Try contacting the Motu support and ask them how well it would run under your circumstances.

Thanks Adrian.

Looks like I can't contact support unless I have a registered product at MOTU.

How did you feel the converters were in the Motu unit? I had a 828mkii years ago before I knew anything.

If it's any good I might get two for my own personal rig.

 

[Adrian Warren]

I had a 828mkii years ago before I knew anything.

Same for me with my ultralite. Black Lion Audio gives a bit of information on the motu converters. They also mod the older mk2 units which might be interesting for you. http://www.blacklionaudio.com/content.php?p=10

Another option would be rme interfaces which have better sound quality, very similar in function and also come with a monitoring and routing software.

 

[JonWormwood]

Same for me with my ultralite. Black Lion Audio gives a bit of information on the motu converters. They also mod the older mk2 units which might be interesting for you. http://www.blacklionaudio.com/content.php?p=10

Another option would be rme interfaces which have better sound quality, very similar in function and also come with a monitoring and routing software.

FF UFX would be my first choice but I don't want to put a $1800 interface into the touring rack just yet. Plus I can get a 828mk3 for around 500.

Another big thing is it's USB and FW. We use netbooks live (no processing only MIDI and WAV playback) and they never have FW ports on them. Benefit to the netbook is we have 2 and if they both incinerated themselves I can get a replacement for 200 bucks at any pawn shop. (atom dual core and 1gb ram)

 

[aortizjr]

I have a MOTU 828mk3 Firewire. It has been extremely solid for me and sounds definitely good enough.

The CueMix is really cool because it actually maintains its state after power states and can be run without a computer. The interface is sorta clunky but not awful.

A couple things though....

1. The DSP can only be active on inputs or outputs. So you either have EQ/Compress on the way in and print it, or on the way out if just for monitoring.

ie. Tracking vocals... I want a dry feed but a wet mix for headphones. I have to set up a mix of just vocals... send that to an output that I can EQ/Compress/Reverb up.. whatever and then mix that separately with the mix coming from the DAW. My Behringer heaphone amp lets me do this with the aux... no biggie.

ie. Full band... you will need an external mixer to re-mix the headphone feeds with a bunch of custom mixes for each instrument if you want it wet. Or track it wet, which works well too.

2. The DSP really only has enough juice for I think one band of EQ and compression on each channel, based on the manual. Channel not being defined to include the ADAT channels and such either.

Personally I have never maxed it out. The MOST I have ever run with FX was 8 channels coming and recording it wet. It was for a jam party and I just left things recording... I don't remember all the details... Jameson punched me in the face hard that night. I even hooked up a Behry BCF2000 to it so there were faders, awesome!

Usually I just use it for overdubs. Full bands or drums, I do everything in my DAW with low buffers.


For an in-ear system... I think it would be successful depending on how many FX you think you will need. Album quality I think would take so much that it may not do it. But better stage sound than every F'n venue I have played in should be trivial... and easier to move around than a traditional mixer.

 

[JonWormwood]

I have a MOTU 828mk3 Firewire. It has been extremely solid for me and sounds definitely good enough.

The CueMix is really cool because it actually maintains its state after power states and can be run without a computer. The interface is sorta clunky but not awful.

A couple things though....

1. The DSP can only be active on inputs or outputs. So you either have EQ/Compress on the way in and print it, or on the way out if just for monitoring.

ie. Tracking vocals... I want a dry feed but a wet mix for headphones. I have to set up a mix of just vocals... send that to an output that I can EQ/Compress/Reverb up.. whatever and then mix that separately with the mix coming from the DAW. My Behringer heaphone amp lets me do this with the aux... no biggie.

ie. Full band... you will need an external mixer to re-mix the headphone feeds with a bunch of custom mixes for each instrument if you want it wet. Or track it wet, which works well too.

2. The DSP really only has enough juice for I think one band of EQ and compression on each channel, based on the manual. Channel not being defined to include the ADAT channels and such either.

Personally I have never maxed it out. The MOST I have ever run with FX was 8 channels coming and recording it wet. It was for a jam party and I just left things recording... I don't remember all the details... Jameson punched me in the face hard that night. I even hooked up a Behry BCF2000 to it so there were faders, awesome!

Usually I just use it for overdubs. Full bands or drums, I do everything in my DAW with low buffers.


For an in-ear system... I think it would be successful depending on how many FX you think you will need. Album quality I think would take so much that it may not do it. But better stage sound than every F'n venue I have played in should be trivial... and easier to move around than a traditional mixer.

Hey thanks so much for the in-depth review concerning my OP.

Here's what I gathered from the MOTU website

"DSP resources for mixing and effects
The CueMix FX flexible effects architecture allows you to apply EQ and compression on every input and output (up to 58 channels, depending on your interface), with enough DSP resources for at least one band of parametric EQ and compression on every channel at 48 kHz. However, DSP resources are allocated dynamically and a DSP meter allows you to keep tabs on your interface's CueMix FX processing resources."

Which leads me to believe I could put EQ and comp on every input (including optical A and B)

For our needs, I'd have to hook up our digimax fs or my octane so I'd really need the cue mix DSP can work on those inputs.

Now typically I'd monitor thru the DAW but I'm just looking for the best LIVE solution. The seller to me with the 828mkiii hybrid is it can be used standalone WITHOUT a computer if need be and the DSP.

I'm really starting to hate venue monitor sound and I feel like for a little more (and only a few more mins setup time) we wouldn't rely on some half drunk sound guy.