
The sample clock is very low jitter (for an interface in this price range) and even offered a vast improvement in sound quality to my Delta 410's DAC's when the 828MkII was used as the master clock. I do not have an ADAT Lightpipe source however, so I cannot report on that capability. I can record from all 10 analog inputs simultaneously and flawlessly. This equates to about a 3ms output latency (reported as 5 in Lives audio preferences). He did, and I brought home the 828MkII, and never ever looked back.Īs far as latency is concearned, I normally run 48kHz with a 256 sample buffer. I owned that audio interface for about 3 hours, then I called Guitar Center and asked the manager if he would kindly stay open after hours, because I needed to return my new Firewire 410. QED.I bought a Firewire 410 almost 8 months ago, very shortly after they were released.
MOTU 828 3 DRIVERS
So this is a massive improvement - the drivers are razor sharp.įor the price, this is a true winner. I know, I know, it is a system wide thing - but with the old 896HD I could never achieve much below 6ms in a useful setting. I got it down to something silly near 1.5ms with running just audio. How does that grab you? That's with a large-ish (24 tracks) Cubase 8 project, lots of plugs, compression & EQ on everything, Kontakt, synths, etc. Well, believe me, running the 828x on Thunderbolt is nothing less than stunning. The quest for low latency is one we're all after. Additionally, these features let you walk away from the computer completely if you need to take the interface out to a recording session - all the features are available with the MOTU running as a stand alone piece of hardware.
MOTU 828 3 PC
You could for example, use the Cue Mix / 828x to provide some nice mix glue on the final output, without straining your PC or Mac.
MOTU 828 3 SOFTWARE
The Cue Mix software can be pretty invisible if you are working with your DAW, but it adds some really nice features (that you can add in the background without using DAW resources) such as EQ, Reverb, Compression. Of course, any of the MOTU models with optical will do this, so the 828x is brilliantly expandable.

Now, this is brilliant! Basically the MOTU Cue Mix software will see the satellite as an extra 8 ADAT inputs on optical, and will offer all the tasty trimmings of said software to my old hardware. It can, with the addition of a £3 optical cable, be used as a satellite to the 828x, giving me another 8 channels :) Talking of expansion, I was thrilled to realise that my old trusty 896HD does not have to go to the dump or eBay. To be honest, if I was using this in a studio situation (vocals, guitars drums etc.) I would probably add a pre-amp expander you'd need more physical inputs anyway.

Note I really only use the line inputs for recording modular synths and drum machines, so I can't really comment on the pre's on the model, as I have yet to plug a microphone in. This unit sounds great an improvement over my previous model - the difference soundwise is marginal, but perceivable.
MOTU 828 3 MAC
Having used my trusty MOTU 896HD for over 10 years, I thought it was time to update, since I have a new Mac with Thunderbolt.
