EXS 24 Logic Sampler Users Group

Sascha Franck wrote:
> Hi Bill,

G'day Sascha

> We've just had to replace the (broken) Hammerfall DSP in some university
> studio temporarily and the local shop gave us a MOTU 896HD (firewire) for
> two weeks. It just worked nicely along with the G5 (2x2gHz) and Logic (under
> OSX 10.3), latencies were just as low as with the Hammerfall - so, playing
> the EXS and other virtual instruments just was flawless.

So it's not an impossible dream, at least with a 2x2GHz Mac.

> Now, not that it would be a 828mkII, but AFAICS, MOTU allways uses the same
> (or pretty similar) drivers for all their actual interfaces, plus, their
> driver support has been getting WAY better than it was until, say, 1-2 years
> ago. So I can't see a reason why it won't work properly.

That's encouraging. :-)

> I am however wondering - do you really need all those I/Os?

I've got 4 hardware synths, so 8 analogue ins *would* be very convenient 
- I could just leave 'em all plugged in and ready to record. :-)

I reckon it'll be a l-o-n-g time before I trust an all-software setup, 
especially for live use.

> I mean, you were
> just talking about getting your MBox to work properly, which only
>  features stereo I/Os.

Yeah, I know. I'd be constantly plugging and unplugging synths, but the 
rack is arranged so that's very easy to do. But the Mbox's biggest 
advantage... (drum roll...) is that I already own one.

 > That's why I recommended having a look at products such as M-Audio's
 > newer USB/Firewire cards

Yep - good stuff, good prices.

> (sure, there's no Focusrite preamps on them, but after
> all that's just a name as well...

But it *is* a good name. Pity the rest of the box doesn't work properly yet.

> and the 828 doesn't feature any pre's at all).

According to http://www.motu.com/english/motuaudio/828/features.html it 
has "two mic pre-amps with switchable 48-volt phantom power, front-panel 
trim controls and pre-amplified sends." The bulk of what I do is with 
synths rather than miked stuff, so I'd be quite happy with that.

And there are a few other things I really like about the 828mkII, on 
paper at least. If I'm gonna bother to upgrade again I'd like to be 
completely happy with the outcome this time.

Got a "favourite" search registered at eBay. ;-)


Cheers,   Bill