Product: MOTU 896
Price Paid: US $575
Submitted
02/12/2006
at
05:02pm
by
Cliff James
Ease of Use
:
9
This is the older 896, not the new 896HD. It's pretty easy to use. I've owned the firepod at one point and it seems like this one is about as easy to use, but feels like a more 'pro' unit. The manual is fine.
Sound Quality
:
9
I really like the sound of the preamps on the 896 - very clean and pro sounding, better than the firepod, at least to me. No noise - it's a pro unit. Currently pretty good deals on ebay too. It's comparable to the firepod and the tascam fw-1804. All three are about the same price on ebay. The firepod and the 896 both have 8 mic pre's while the tascam only has 4. All record at about the same level - probably can't go wrong with any of them. the firepod and the tascam both do not have meters on the front.
Reliability
:
9
Built like a tank - really quality gear. Love the big meters on the front, and the zillion input/output configs you can do with this. All balanced and clean and pro sounding. It's a 2 rack space, black, sturdy knobs. When you pick it up on your hands you can tell it's one serious piece of recording gear.
Customer Support
:
9
don't know - they had the latest drivers and I downloaded those no problem. There are a lot of good forums for motu gear
Overall Rating
:
10
Great piece of top-quality pro gear - comes with 8 mic pres - it's simple to use and get a great sound out of. I've had no issues with it and it's currently half the price of the 896HD. I don't need to record at 192 - 96hz is fine, at least for the rock and roll stuff that I record. It's firewire so if I ever need more channels I can chain them together.
