How low does your latency go before you get crackles and pops with a maxed out project file?

Echosystem - you're right that the drivers for Echo cards are good and reliable but I have had a lot (I mean several dozen over a 18 month period) of negative experiences with the echo (pcmcia) cards (maya etc.). The drivers were fine but the hardware was really flaky and often they just plain didn't work out of the box. Also, they really are not the cheapest and when you're spending that sort of money I would save up a little more and get a motu - it's like people who buy £30,000 japanese "sports" cars, instead of spending another £5,000 and getting a porche - if you get what I mean?

MOTU have notoriously bad Windows drivers man.
They are getting better... ALOT better, but I still hear gripes. Some guys on ITM organised a group buy for ultralites, at least half of them complained about it. I'm yet to hear anything about the Echos.

Also, an AudioFire 4 is well below the range of the cheapest MOTU stuff.

quote:

Originally posted by echosystm How low does your latency go before you get crackles and pops with a maxed out project file?

ive got it set to 10ms (dont see the need to have it any lower) and havent had any stuttering at all, thats using cubase and more recently ableton, i do run a lot of CPU intensive stuff like z3ta+ and SIR reverbs.....

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quote:

Originally posted by echosystm MOTU have notoriously bad Windows drivers man.

Says who? My 828 had the most seamless installation of any interface I've tried to date. Required a reboot, but other than that it was just a couple of seconds to install and it was working on bootup. Never had even the smallest problem (even though I have *gasp* a non-Texas-Instruments firewire!).

I've heard of some strange issues with the Ultralite, but that would be product-specific.

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I just always hear people saying "If you have a Mac, get a MOTU. If you have a PC, STAY THE F*CK AWAY". Heard all kinds of things from connections to the card dropping out completely, low latencies impossible to keep, etc.

I know MOTU have improved them ALOT though. You've probably just been lucky to have had one of the ones that didn't have problems, or you bought it late enough that the drivers were actually stable already.

Don't be a smart ass about the TI firewire thing. If you can get a board which is otherwise identical for LESS, which is guaranteed not to have any problems with any firewire cards, then you would have to be retarded not to buy it "just in case".

Sorry echosystem but you're plain wrong - I'm with diginut on on this and I don't even own a MOTU unit.

I think you talk about a lot of things on this forum that you've read somewhere rather than actually done or used yourself.........

I have installed MANY (over a hundred) motu units and I really connot recollect any issues apart from early 2408 mk1 with crappy converters, but even then the drivers for both mac and PC were never an issue.

You always had to wait about 6 months for the correct driver when apple or MS brought out new operating system but you can't really blame hardware manufacturers as new Vista users will testify

SOS: "This is the first time I've had the chance to try out some MOTU audio interfaces, but I was keen to do so, partly because as Mike points out in the main text they have attracted a reputation of being problematic when used with PCs."

I see statements like that everywhere.
I DON'T see statements like that everywhere for Echo, infact I see the complete opposite. Same with RME. Hence, I made a logical assumption.

quote:

Originally posted by echosystm MOTU have notoriously bad Windows drivers man.

Web definitions for notorious
ill-famed: having an exceedingly bad reputation; "a notorious gangster"; "the tenderloin district was notorious for vice".

Key word: reputation.

quote:

Originally posted by DJ RANN I think you talk about a lot of things on this forum that you've read somewhere rather than actually done or used yourself.........

Such as a Firewire audiophile? Asus P5B-E motherboards? KRK monitors? (last 3 things I talked about).

I've used them all and I'm pretty sure I only talk in ABSOLUTES when I have personal experience. Nothing I have said here was absolute, I was commenting on their reputation.

Last edited by echosystm on May-10-2007 at 09:44

In 99% of all posts pepole complain about their problems with certain gear. All those who don't have problems don't post anything at all.

And I rally can't take someone serious who takes CM and SOS as his "reference". Reading monitor-tests on SOS gives me the creeps (does this guy actually have ears).

To that MOTU discussion: I installed a 40 channel MOTU-PC-system at my mates pro-studio, guess what, works like a charm even on lowest latencies (which aren't even necessary).

Now the ball's in your court.

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quote:

Originally posted by John Doe Reading monitor-tests on SOS gives me the creeps (does this guy actually have ears).

Agree x10000000000

But... I figured, with soundcards, it either works or it doesn't. Since there isn't really any subjectivity I assumed reviews are pretty safe to believe? Anyway, don't reply to that.

OP: you can choose to ignore what I say, it's up to you! Bar my experiences with M-Audio stuff and crappy firewire controllers, the rest is just bad press.