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Tascam, Motu, or Focusrite

JamesFoxBass

JamesFoxBass

Guest
Jun 13, 2014
202
49
32
Portsmouth, UK
#1
So I'm in the market for a new interface and have been told that for what I want there 3 best offerings come from Tascam, Motu, or Focusrite and are the Tascam US-16X08(Essentially an updated US-1800), Motu 8PRE, and the Focusrite Saffire Pro40 or Scarlett 18i20.

What are users experiences with these AI's and brands?
 
#2
I've had good luck with my Focusrite Scarlett 2i4. I set up a Scarlett 18i8 (not for my friend (a guitarist) and have helped him record with it a bit. It has worked very well for both guitar (mic'ed) and bass (direct and through a VT Bass DI). Not exactly the 18i20 but basically, I've had good experiences with Focusrite in general and if I needed a rack mount unit I would deriously consider the 18i20. Sorry, no experience with Tascam or Motu.
 
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#4
JamesFoxBass said:
So I'm in the market for a new interface and have been told that for what I want there 3 best offerings come from Tascam, Motu, or Focusrite and are the Tascam US-16X08(Essentially an updated US-1800), Motu 8PRE, and the Focusrite Saffire Pro40 or Scarlett 18i20.

What are users experiences with these AI's and brands?
Click to expand...

I never try the three interfaces myself, but I once had a MOTU (Ultralite), which was nice actually, although were difficult experiences for me then, not because the interface,but because of my computer.

From your list I read reviews that MOTU 8PRE has nice preamps (although in the 'clean' side of the things). But I also read good reviews about Focusrite Saffire Pro40 being recommended as 'bang for the bucks' for that kind of interface need. About the Tascam I don't read any.
 
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#8
Dima B said:
Really? Sad. I was curious about Apollo but didn't have any possibility to use it in production for testing.
Click to expand...
The sound is Stellar , the ability to use any plugin (except one) without latency is a god send.
I used it everyday at work in a "Live" context when I got it , I got so many driver stability problems that I worry a bit to use it now.

In a studio situation , if you follow a couple of rules , it is OK.

No CPU sleep AT ALL , it is allergic
Have to follow a specific order to open/close

Stuff I didn't have to worry about any MOTU products , I still have my PCIe with a HD192 and a 2408mkIII , I can unplug it anytime, replug it off then open , it will always popup no problem.
Same with their firewire products.
 
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#9
Cheers everyone, some interesting replies, not a lot of love for tascam though! Might hold off on buying one just now and see what reviews this tascam get's. It's like half the price of the Focusrite and the Motu so obviously I'm damn interested in it!
 
#11
I have a Tascam US-800 that I bought when they were being discontinued a few years ago and I have no complaints about it. Right now I have it on a newer system that has a 1.8 Ghz Intel Core i5 processor and it works great with both Reaper and Audacity. That said, Focusrite is an extremely popular brand anywhere you look so there must be something to their quality and reliability. I will certainly give consider one of their units if my Tascam bites it.
 

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