I am very happy with my Motu 16A, and I have used RME devises before with no issues. But I am using a PC
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My New Studio Build (perhaps overly detailed)
- Thread starter silky smoove
- Start date
I am very happy with my Motu 16A, and I have used RME devises before with no issues. But I am using a PC
Likely a pair of Clarrett 8PreX interfaces, 16-channel snake box and a monitor controller.
I could move over to UA Apollo, but their conversion and preamps isn’t on a quality level commensurate with the price point. You’re paying for DSP and a plugin dongle. I have enough plugs and don’t need the onboard DSP.
I could move up to Metric Halo, which is precisely what I want to do, but at this point I can’t justify the cost. I’m trying to pay down the remainder of my studio expenses, have a few more studio pieces to buy, am buying a truck next year and dropped $5,000 on a custom bass build a couple months ago, so... Now is not the time.
Both are great brands, especially RME, but not high on my radar. I should give them another look. Thanks for the reminder.
@Highroler79, how are you using your 16A? As a dedicated converter and monitor controller with 16 channels of input (i.e. preamps) outside of that?
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Woah woah woah, you can't just drop that bomb on us and not clarify as to whay bass you are waiting for!
Let's hear them details
Dingwall Super J in pearl white, tort guard, lightweight swamp ash body, birdseye maple neck and fretboard, 3X FDV pickups, Glockenklang preamp with active/passive push-pull, 3X series/parallel switching, black hardwareWoah woah woah, you can't just drop that bomb on us and not clarify as to whay bass you are waiting for!
Let's hear them details
It looks like Antelope Audio had a unit called Goliath that would be perfect for my studio, but it was discontinued. It typically sold in the ~$3,500 range which would be fine. Now they only offer the HD version, but not being a ProTools user it holds no interest for me. Also the $7,300 price tag is too much to stomach.
I run my late 2015 Clarett 8PreX with a 2017 MacBook Pro. It sits in a rack case on the floor quietly working without any issues. Just sayin.
I need 16 channels of input, and after my experience with the Element 88 I'm no longer sold on the idea of using two eight channel devices with one setup as an aggregate. I'm leaning towards a dedicated 16-channel converter. The MOTU 16A is looking very appealing as a standalone interface (converters and monitor control) that I could feed with a pair of eight channel analog preamps.
It’s best to go with what your gut tells you rather than always second guessing if you made the right decision.
Requiring many drum inputs always complicates things.
This is exactly the issue. With a typical one-up one-down kit I'd end up with nine mics (kick_in, kick_sub, snare_top, snare_bottom, tom_rack, tom_floor, hats, OH_L, OH_R). On a kit with three toms I'm at 10, and with four toms like the one I recorded a couple weeks ago I'm at 11 just for drums. If the group has their act together and can record drums, bass, keys and guitar at the same time like the one I did last month then I end up using a lot of tracks (in this case it was 9 drum mics, 1 bass DI, 1 guitar DI through a modeler, 4 keyboard DIs, 1 keyboard MIDI).
Pretty sure you covered this in one of this epic thread's installments, but do/did the Apogees bedevil you when used independently, or only when used as a Mac aggregate device? In my one adventure w/ aggregate devices on a MacBook Pro, it was glitchy.
One of the issues I've had with them (lack of direct monitoring on interface B when in dual mode) is the only issue that can be resolved immediately by removing one of the interfaces. That said, the issue is only present on the B interface, so removing it doesn't improve the situation.
Curiously these aren't truly an aggregate device, but I can't think of another way to describe the setup. They each have their own Thunderbolt connection to the computer, and then there are four ADAT cables linking the two interfaces together. According to Apogee they're supposed to work like one big interface at that point, not a main interface and its aggregate.
Maybe this is *insert preferred deity here* telling you to stop wasting time and buy the Metric Halo. Life's too short to argue for months with vendors.
New studio addition finished. Fun build. Took too long.
Got a message back from Apogee saying that they're sending my request for a full refund to their management staff. At least they didn't immediately say no and move on. We'll see how this goes.
I sent a message to Focusrite inquiring as to whether or not direct monitoring of the input signal is possible on the headphone outputs of the second unit should I connect to Clarett 8PreX units together via ADAT, and if custom mixes of the input signal could be built in the Focusrite control software from all four headphone outputs. This is functionality that Apogee has promised me should work, but does not and is an absolute necessity for me. Waiting to hear what Focusrite has to say.
Alternatively I've pieced together all of the components I would need if I were to get away from traditional all-in-one interfaces and move to a dedicated converter interface with external preamps, a monitor controller, headphone amplifiers, patch bay, etc. My return would be about $2,400 and the cost to go this route would be about $3,800. A noticeable jump up, but not a dealbreaker. This route would require me to rethink my studio rack. It's a 16-space rack that can't be any taller, nor do I have room add a second rack.
Lots to think about at this point, but all of it is speculation until Apogee gives me an answer. I still contend that if they have some magic bullet that will resolve the issues I'm having with their interfaces and restore the functionality to an as-advertised condition I will be happiest by just keeping what I have. I love the feature set, I love the advertised functionality, and I love the sound quality. Here's hoping that's the resolution, but if not, here's hoping they give me my full refund.
I sent a message to Focusrite inquiring as to whether or not direct monitoring of the input signal is possible on the headphone outputs of the second unit should I connect to Clarett 8PreX units together via ADAT, and if custom mixes of the input signal could be built in the Focusrite control software from all four headphone outputs. This is functionality that Apogee has promised me should work, but does not and is an absolute necessity for me. Waiting to hear what Focusrite has to say.
Alternatively I've pieced together all of the components I would need if I were to get away from traditional all-in-one interfaces and move to a dedicated converter interface with external preamps, a monitor controller, headphone amplifiers, patch bay, etc. My return would be about $2,400 and the cost to go this route would be about $3,800. A noticeable jump up, but not a dealbreaker. This route would require me to rethink my studio rack. It's a 16-space rack that can't be any taller, nor do I have room add a second rack.
Lots to think about at this point, but all of it is speculation until Apogee gives me an answer. I still contend that if they have some magic bullet that will resolve the issues I'm having with their interfaces and restore the functionality to an as-advertised condition I will be happiest by just keeping what I have. I love the feature set, I love the advertised functionality, and I love the sound quality. Here's hoping that's the resolution, but if not, here's hoping they give me my full refund.
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I just went through a period of issues related to Waves plugins, Logic, and Catalina. Changes are extensive with Catalina. Every plugin company said don't upgrade to Catalina till they let me know.
Logic was crashing, it was rescanning all the AU's every time I ran Logic, plugin manager issues, plugin files and licenses seemingly randomly couldn't be open. In the last two weeks the MacOS, Logic both had new revisions, Waves Control has three new versions. I think that there was a file organization problem on my system. In the end, I resolved the issues by removing every cache and did a clean install of all the V9/V10/V11 Waves products after removing all the old ones. Everything is fine now.
There are so many things that can go wrong. Add external hardware to the equation and the potential for issues goes way up.
Just to be safe, I'd ask Focusrite if they have tested and certified the product that you are interested in under Catalina. I haven't had any issues with my unit but still...
Logic was crashing, it was rescanning all the AU's every time I ran Logic, plugin manager issues, plugin files and licenses seemingly randomly couldn't be open. In the last two weeks the MacOS, Logic both had new revisions, Waves Control has three new versions. I think that there was a file organization problem on my system. In the end, I resolved the issues by removing every cache and did a clean install of all the V9/V10/V11 Waves products after removing all the old ones. Everything is fine now.
There are so many things that can go wrong. Add external hardware to the equation and the potential for issues goes way up.
Just to be safe, I'd ask Focusrite if they have tested and certified the product that you are interested in under Catalina. I haven't had any issues with my unit but still...
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Apogee has been telling me to hold off on Catalina, but that they're getting very close. I haven't checked with any of the plugins that I use frequently. I've been avoiding it. Seems like a big OS change.
