Simon, right, my 828 is the hybrid one. Good thing too! I bought it thinking that firewire would be the cat's meow...turned out to be a dog even with a SIIG card with the TI chipset. Gave up on firewire and switch over to USB, no problems since.

The only on-going problem I've had with the 828 is teh display screen in it. Takes a while for it to warm up to be able to see it. Sometimes I have to let it warm up and then turn it off then back on to see it. Seems to be a well known issue with the 828 Hybrid. Next time I'll go with Focusrite.

Haven't used the 802 in a long time. These days its mostly a place holder to raise up the Motif, Fantom and Oberheim rack stack above the back of the keyboard so I can see them.

Know what you mean about VSTi's, got quite a few myself. But there just something about a hard synth that rings true to me. I'm a sucker for dials, sliders, buttons and flashing lights!

Jeff

Win11, Intel i7 7700K 4.2Ghz, 32Gb RAM, 2x1Tb HD, 500Gb NVMe, BIAB/RB 2025, MOTU 828MK3 audio, MOTU Midi Express, Yamaha Montage 7, DX7II, TX802, Motif XS Rack, Roland Fantom XR Rack, Oberheim Matrix 1000, VoiceLive3 Extreme, Kontakt 6, SampleTank 4.3