ProTools 002 vs. MOTU 828

[toecat]

Just so you know PT free will work with MOTU. I have hear the pre-amps on the 896 were good, better than the 001. You may want to look into Logic. You can set yourself up with the 828, Logic control and Logic audio cheaper then the 002. If you go with MOTU you will need a midi interface. The 896 & 828 do not have it. Mackie will be release Mackie control shortly, it will work with DP if you want the control surface.

Toecat

[pk_hat]

also,

the 002 has MIDI I/O, whereas the MOTU doesn't.

[WheelSpoke]

This is not an effort to avoid my personal painstaking research of comparing the two products... well, yes it is. [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]
However, I wondering what the differences are between the two..(besides the obvious like number of pre's, and rackmount etc..) On initial sweep, I plainly noticed:Firewire! and "works with other software".. (anyone run PTLE through a MOTU 828?)
Anyway, is there anyone that owns the two or has used the two (meaning PTLE 001 since 002 is just out) that might want to share some thoughts.?

Thanks.
Donovan

[WheelSpoke]

Just so you know PT free will work with MOTU. I have hear the pre-amps on the 896 were good, better than the 001. You may want to look into Logic. You can set yourself up with the 828,
Logic control and Logic audio cheaper then the 002. If you go with MOTU you will need a midi interface. The 896 & 828 do not have it. Mackie will be release Mackie control shortly, it will
work with DP if you want the control surface.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Actually, I don't use a keyboard or midi devices... It looks like the logic control uses midi to connect to the computer. So, I guess if I don't want to use the controler then I'm in it for the price of a MOTU and software.

Eventually it would be nice to have MIDI... what are the options to run midi on a TiPowerbook? I imagine there are some PCMCI options out there.??

Donovan

[DesertDude]

midisport

another expensive I/O option that does not work with ProTools [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

[DaWhole9]

Originally posted by WheelSpoke:
Dawhole9... can you explain what the Mbox is used for in your setup? Why do you have this in your mix if you have DP and a 828 rig? (or maybe you don't have a 828 rig?)

thanks again,
This might add another possibility to my studio woes!
Donovan

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I have 3 setups....Studio....2 02R's, MOTU DP, MOTU 2408 Mk II, 2 MOTU MTP AV's (16 midi ins and 16 midi outs) TONS of keys, modules, and drum machines(MPC3000, JV's, etc...)....Smaller studio MOTU 896, 1 02R, Triton, MPC2000...I do most of my tracking here. Then my home facility. TiBook 800 and Mbox. DP and PTLE. Initially I was just going to use this for writing. Just getting basic ideas grooves and a few guitar tracks down. Then I'll go to the main studio, fire up the MPC3000 and add the meat. Well I started to fool around with the projects at home, when I realized that I could FINISH mixes there and not just start them. I have no MIDI on my TiBook. I don't want any, strictly audio. I was going back and forth between getting the 828 or the Mbox. Because I just needed 2 in 2 out, the 828 was overkill for my needs. If I need more I/O I have another 02R sitting in storage, and I could grab it, but I don't want too much at home, I would never get out of the house....I do mainly R&B and with the amount of vocals in an average song being around 32-40 tracks alone, 24 tracks wasn't cutting it. 32 still won't cut it. So DP became the workhorse. The Mbox is strictly a 2 channel A/D and D/A....A pretty nice one too....If it were firewire and they figured out a way to chain up to 4 together then that would be VERY cool...need a few more ins, just pick up another box. This is how the MOTU stuff works. If you find yourself needing a lot of I/O, then just grab another box. Plug it in and you get another 8 channels in and out. I think 6 828's can be linked together for 48 ins and 48 outs....3 896's 24 i/o @ 96K....Digi, can you chain more than one Digi 002 in the same system? Don't think so. This again is why it's more like a TDM system. What are your needs by the way? What type of stuff are you doing? track counts? The MOTU is a great and STABLE system....it's not as fragile as the Digi stuff. There are far fewer system conflicts. My studio machine has my Internet setup, Final Cut Pro, Photoshop, Quark, Digital Performer, Toast, Jam, Peak, all running under the same extension set. No seperate extension set for audio and the rest of the system like I have to do with Pro Tools. The MOTU boxes don't have MIDI built in, but DP does support just about any MIDI box and MOTU boxes have the BEST timing in the industry.

[manowar]

to be fair, this should be 001 vs 828 or
002 vs 896

the 828 was the answer to the 001. same thing but firewire.

the 896 is the portable, 8 mic pre box. more recent. and was an answer to the suggestions of users. more mic pres, still small enough to travel. the 002 IMHO was an answer to that. Rather than make a digi version, they gave the control surface with it.

seperate software is not a bad thing, if i wanted to go to logic, i can use my 896's with it. digi is tied, so you cant even listen to something without a box attached (although, to hand it to them, it is the ultimate copy protection)

but to say MOTU's support is bad is just not correct (or it has been massively changed). i've called their help desk 3 times, and get a PERSON ON THE PHONE IN 2 RINGS! All 3 times, the error was my mistake, and fixed in 3 minutes.

MANOWAR!

[Jamble]

I really like using my 828. I got so sick of CPU noise problems that in one of my studios I set up a Mac Cube, and 828 and I'm jammin'! I'd be very willing to pay Digi a few hundred dollars if they'd open that box up to PTLE. As much as I like MOTU hardware, I still prefer PT software. Maybe some day they'll let us use our hardware of choice.

[DaWhole9]

Originally posted by WheelSpoke:


Anyone know about this? Are PTLE files completely proprietary?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">No they are standard SD II format audio files. All major apps use these including DP, Logic, Cubase, etc...The things that wont transfer are plug ins, eq, automation, things like that. Once you get them in DP, then it is no different then if you had recorded them in DP editing wise. Are they 16 bit or 24 bit? I don't have PT open right now, but can you export an OMF file? If you can, then DP will import them. The best thing you can do is go to the MOTU-Mac forum and post this question. ([email protected]) There are people who do just this and will be able to guide you through it as painlessly as possible. Good luck and have fun.

[P_J]

DP can read PT's Time Stamps, so you can move your PT recorded tracks to DP and spot them into original time stamps (time code). That way you don't need to bounce them first.
I used DP first with 001 and it wasn't 100% stable. After I moved to Motu's 828 I haven't had any crashes. DP 3.02 with MOTU's hardware is very stable and powerful (I'm using it with dual800).
Learning curve is a bit slower than in PT, but after you get familiar with it, you'll never look back on PT LE (TDM/HD is a different thing).