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Almost 10 years with my MAudio Audiophile 192 PCI card. Time to move on. Need more than two inputs for flexibility. So many USB/Firewire interfaces to choose from. But I don't want to go backwards in quality sound. So I have studied the market and have selected the: MOTU Audio Express What do you think??
BIAB – 2026, Reaper (current), i7-12700F Processor, 32GB DDR4-3200MHz RAM, Motu Audio Express 6x6 - My SoundCloud.
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Its obviously a decent bit of kit.
I have firewire Focusrite stuff. The firewire on my PC eventually went down, see firewire likes to be treated like a lady and does not like its plugs yanks out and shoved back in without power down - eventually it screams and feints. Had to buy a firecard.
USb2 is old tech but may be absolutely fine for data flow, I do not have the intelligence ot understand the bandwitdth signal flow stuff.
A general point, I find the silence on all cards to be different, some are fireside warm and others cold and clinical like a operating theatre. I suppose I have upgraded my sound card 10 times or so since 1951, it has not been necessarily true that the more money I paid the 'better' the silence. When I say silence I really mean the general character that imbues a card - aurally. The character that is present both in the silinece and in the way it serves up the sounds.
JMD you did not say what requirements you have for inputs and outputs, maybe you wish to plan for a few extra inputs, just in case? It's just a consideration.
One thing I have done is route my stuff through, a patch bay to bring all the inputs from the back to easy access front. I find that useful here.
Z
Win 11 64, Asus Rog Strix z390 mobo, 64 gig RAM, 8700k
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The input is much appreciated. thanks.
BIAB – 2026, Reaper (current), i7-12700F Processor, 32GB DDR4-3200MHz RAM, Motu Audio Express 6x6 - My SoundCloud.
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I see the unit you want has both firewire and USB, that's cool. Between that and Focusrite products, you should be good on whichever you purchase.
Boring rant: Back when those M-Audio interfaces came out, I had a GadgetLabs 8x8 PCI new in 1999. M-Audio kind of became popular and GadgetLabs went out of business. The card ran very well and I just switched to the Focurite this year since it was hard to make GadgetLabs work on newer operating systems and music software.
 Steve BIAB/RB 2022, Pro Tools 2020, Korg N5, JBL LSR 4328 Powered Monitors, AKG/Shure Mics.
PC: Win11 PRO, 4 TB M2 SSD, 2 TB HD, 128 GB Memory
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I like that the MOTU has both firewire and USB.
I have a Focusrite Saffire Firewire interface.... 2 inputs and 8 assignable outs. I have them set up as 4 stereo pairs.
If I had to buy again, I would likely go with USB since it is not a picky as FW can be with wanting the proper chip set to work the way we need. I guess I have been fortunate because it is solid on my stock Dell off the shelf lappy and the same on the custom machine I built from various parts.
As far a music sound quality..... there will be no difference. Or...lets put it this way, there shouldn't be any difference. Digital is digital.... regardless if it's a $40 gamer sound card or a top of the line studio 64 input interface costing thousands. Sampling rates, bit depths, should all be the same from the cheap cards to the high dollar studio stuff. Of course, I'm not saying here that a $40 gamer card is as good as a nice interface, because there's no way I'd want to use a $40 gamer card for recording..... no way......... I'm only saying the digital stuff happening inside is the same.
MOTU is good stuff to my understanding.... It looked like you came up a bit short on inputs though. They claim 6 inputs, but only 2 for low impedance mics and 2 were line in and then SPDIF.....
Don't let all that stuff about 4 unique mixes to the outputs fool you..... that's internal to the interface in it's control panel (software) and it's generally a pain to set up and run... because you also have your OTHER mixes.....into the recording DAW to consider as well.... in my Saffire, I too have the ability to patch different mixes to the 8 outputs..... however, I went in when I first got it and set them up as stereo outs in pairs.... 4 pairs. I have not gone back in since to do a single thing to change it. There's also likely some DSP FX in there.... EQ, verb, comp..... word of advice.... leave them off or go very, very light. Get the FX in the DAW.
All in all, I think the MOTU will be a nice interface. It supports ASIO..... so that's my first and most important point. It has phantom power, 2 easy inputs, and dual firewire/USB.... it would work in my studio.
Plus....and importantly..... it looks cool with all those pretty lights and bar meters on the front. Place a LAVA light strategically on top or beside it, and that will improve the sound quality by another 50% or more.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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It looked like you came up a bit short on inputs though. They claim 6 inputs, but only 2 for low impedance mics and 2 were line in and then SPDIF..... I'm confused. I have a condenser mic (Rode NT1A) with a separate preamp unit (VTB1). Can I plug the Rode into the preamp than the line out from there to the line in of the Motu? And can my dynamic mic (SM57) go into a line in? Or should all mics go into a low impedance input.
Plus....and importantly..... it looks cool with all those pretty lights and bar meters on the front. Place a LAVA light strategically on top or beside it, and that will improve the sound quality by another 50% or more.
Ain't that the truth.
BIAB – 2026, Reaper (current), i7-12700F Processor, 32GB DDR4-3200MHz RAM, Motu Audio Express 6x6 - My SoundCloud.
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“As far a music sound quality..... there will be no difference. Or...lets put it this way, there shouldn't be any difference. Digital is digital.... regardless if it's a $40 gamer sound card or a top of the line studio 64 input interface costing thousands. Sampling rates, bit depths, should all be the same from the cheap cards to the high dollar studio stuff. Of course, I'm not saying here that a $40 gamer card is as good as a nice interface, because there's no way I'd want to use a $40 gamer card for recording..... no way......... I'm only saying the digital stuff happening inside is the same.”
You are disregarding the importance of A/D and D/A conversion. There is a world of difference between low end and high end interfaces when it comes to conversion. "Digital" is not just digital. That's why pro studios spend big bucks on D/A converters, clocks, etc.
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“I'm confused. I have a condenser mic (Rode NT1A) with a separate preamp unit (VTB1). Can I plug the Rode into the preamp than the line out from there to the line in of the Motu?” Yes, you can. Be aware that you are introducing another link in your signal chain using the VTB-1 though. It will probably introduce some noise into your signal. It's a great little pre (I have one) for the warming effect of the tube, but it's not the quietest box around. Try it both ways. “And can my dynamic mic (SM57) go into a line in? Or should all mics go into a low impedance input.” The 57 is a low impedance mic. Use a low impedance mic input. “Impedance Rated impedance is 150Ω (310Ω actual) for connection to
microphone inputs rated low impedance.”http://cdn.shure.com/specification_sheet/upload/81/us_pro_sm57_specsheet.pdfRegards, Bob
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Great.
Here is what the MOTU has:
Two mic/guitar combo jacks - provide hi-Z 1/4" guitar input or XLR mic input with phantom power, 20dB pad, Precision Digital Trim, and plenty of gain.
Stereo analog inputs - on line-level, balanced TRS quarter-inch jacks. Great for keyboards or other line level-input signals
For my mic and guitar inputs it looks like only the two should be used? Unless I use the line in for a condenser mic with a preamp. Is that right?
BIAB – 2026, Reaper (current), i7-12700F Processor, 32GB DDR4-3200MHz RAM, Motu Audio Express 6x6 - My SoundCloud.
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Great.
Here is what the MOTU has:
Two mic/guitar combo jacks - provide hi-Z 1/4" guitar input or XLR mic input with phantom power, 20dB pad, Precision Digital Trim, and plenty of gain.
Stereo analog inputs - on line-level, balanced TRS quarter-inch jacks. Great for keyboards or other line level-input signals
For my mic and guitar inputs it looks like only the two should be used? Unless I use the line in for a condenser mic with a preamp. Is that right?
How many sources do you intend to record at the same time? If it's just a mic and guitar, plug the mic into the XLR with phantom power, and the guitar into the high-Z input. If you're running your LDC through the VTB-1, use a line level input on the Motu.
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It is done! The Motu will arrive next Tuesday from Sweetwater. Thanks all. I will be back with questions as they arise.
BIAB – 2026, Reaper (current), i7-12700F Processor, 32GB DDR4-3200MHz RAM, Motu Audio Express 6x6 - My SoundCloud.
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I can vouch that the Sound Quality of the mic pre-amp varies wildly from interface to interface.
My cards I've had during my PC based home recording years, and the reasons I've changed:
Sound Blaster AWE - no mic preamps
Changed to the next in line to have front-of PC connection
Sound Blaster Live Platinum
Changed to the next in line to have in-built mic preamps and move between desktop and laptop for recording PCs at will
PreSonus Firebox - 2 mic preamps that were pretty noisy
Changed to the below because my laptop with firewire became my only recording PC and it died, and laptops with TI firewire chipsets were then astronomically priced
Tascam US-800 - either 6 or 8 really clean pre-amps but the worst driver software ever written for a soundcard.
Switched for more inputs so that I don't have to patchbay anything, or swap-in/out and to just plain get rid of that Tascam US-800
Focusrite Scarlett 18i8
The Scarlett 18i8 seems to have pretty clean pre-amps.
As for needing your VTB-1, you don't need it with the MOTU as 90 dB stated above.
The MOTU should hold it's value very well. I've had my hands on MOTU stuff but never had the right amount of money at the time. One thing that might be really useful to you is that it can be used completely stand-alone as a line mixer. You never know when that might come in handy. Just one such example: If you ever play out with a small band or sit in but can't take an amp and need to rely on amp simulation, then you should be able to use this for a 'more me' monitoring mixer if the FOH engineer will give you a copy of his main mix. The other nice thing about MOTU stuff is that they have proper VU meters on all the inputs - this is still unfortunately rare in I/O devices.
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It is done! The Motu will arrive next Tuesday from Sweetwater. Thanks all. I will be back with questions as they arise. Got a FedEx message that package was delivered to front door. But wait, at the same moment I am looking at my front door and there is no package!!  So a "ticket" has been opened. I am told the driver now has two days to figure out where he left my package. If I don't see it arrive in the next two days I can then call FedEx again. Merry Christmas.
BIAB – 2026, Reaper (current), i7-12700F Processor, 32GB DDR4-3200MHz RAM, Motu Audio Express 6x6 - My SoundCloud.
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It is done! The Motu will arrive next Tuesday from Sweetwater. Thanks all. I will be back with questions as they arise. Got a FedEx message that package was delivered to front door. But wait, at the same moment I am looking at my front door and there is no package!! So a "ticket" has been opened. I am told the driver now has two days to figure out where he left my package. If I don't see it arrive in the next two days I can then call FedEx again. Merry Christmas. Bummer. I read that the thieves are extremely active this time of year - they drive around looking for packages on porches and grab them. Merry Christmas, right?  I hope I'm wrong, and you get your Motu soon. Regards, Bob
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My neighbor one street over (same house number different street name) delivered the unit this morning.
1 hour with Firewire - no joy
5 minutes with USB and I was up and running.
Dan
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Good to know the neighbors are honest .. or maybe they're just Focusrite fans.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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My friend at Sweetwater, Chris, says his engineers want to talk with me about the Fire wire. Those guys are pretty good!
BIAB – 2026, Reaper (current), i7-12700F Processor, 32GB DDR4-3200MHz RAM, Motu Audio Express 6x6 - My SoundCloud.
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Those guys are pretty good! Agreed. I've been working with them on my high end purchases of the last year, the monitors, 6i6, and a guitar.
Steve BIAB/RB 2022, Pro Tools 2020, Korg N5, JBL LSR 4328 Powered Monitors, AKG/Shure Mics.
PC: Win11 PRO, 4 TB M2 SSD, 2 TB HD, 128 GB Memory
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Those guys are pretty good! Agreed. I've been working with them on my high end purchases of the last year, the monitors, 6i6, and a guitar. I have been doing business with them for years. They are very good at customer service.
Back in my day the only time we started panic buying was when the bartender shouted "last call"!
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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I 've purchased a few things from Sweetwater. Nice guys to work with. I always pay the extra 4 bucks or so that requires a signature at delivery. Ray
Asus Q500A i7 Win 10 64 bit 8GB ram 750 HD 15.5" touch screen, BIAB 2017, Casio PX 5s, Xw P1, Center Point Stereo SS V3 and EWI 4000s.
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