Desktop Audio Interface - UAD Apollo or something else?

[Shredder777]

So that's not as good as the Motus.

On the mac the motu is better. I dont know if the motu was tested on win in GS. Some people claim motu has latency issues on win.

Its possible the motu is better on win, but there was only like .5ms difference between the HD8 and the UFX3 at 48K and even closer at 96K.

If I had done the comparison right I would have bought an 828 and an HD8 and kept the one I liked more. RME is really expensive in the USA and a 3K UFX3 was out of the question. The lower tier RMEs don't have as good conversion.

 

[Sascha Franck]

I dont know if the motu was tested on win in GS.

I did, but just briefly, without any actual sequencing to happen (just installed the driver on my wife's Win10 machine and did the Oblique utility test). To get as low as on Macs, you need to use their tool to select low safety buffers, which might have a negative impact on performance (on Macs, you can't switch, seems to be low safety buffers all the time).

 

[MirrorProfiles]

There's no way an Apollo has ANY issues with latency, unless you're stacking up devices in front that add latency. So much about latency is exaggerated IMO. Its been a solved problem for me for like 15 years

But it looks like with UAD plugins available Native, I'd be able to run those SSL strips off my Mac rather than the Apollo, which would be nice.

Can absolutely recommend something like the 1176's or Distressor for tracking vocals (and other instruments) through. So handy to shape the dynamics a bit on the way in, its definitely the thing I miss most about the Apollo. The reverbs and delays are also outstanding and very nice to monitor through. The RME DSP FX are functional but its more akin to using Reaper where I'd just rather not unless I absolutely have to. After switching from UAD Console, I'm almost contemplating a HW compressor just for tracking vocals and bass through.

 

[Shredder777]

I did, but just briefly, without any actual sequencing to happen (just installed the driver on my wife's Win10 machine and did the Oblique utility test). To get as low as on Macs, you need to use their tool to select low safety buffers, which might have a negative impact on performance (on Macs, you can't switch, seems to be low safety buffers all the time).

If that is the case, it would be faster than RME usb on win and would be the title holder. Its probably not a coincidence they did not test it on GS.

I like the HD8. Sounds amazing, has loud preamps. I like the appearance and UI. It was $800 and came with a perpetual Studio One license.

The cons? It gets quite warm after being powered on all day. Unknown reliability and warranty support. I haven't done any music production with it yet so I have just surface level impressions of it. Just using it to play VSTs and using the mic input for zoom calls, and for using it as a mixer for other audio sources.

I chose it over the MOTU because I have more confidence of warranty support from FMIC than I do MOTU.

 

[Jarick]

How can't you get lower with the Motu? I can run my M2 at 32 samples all throughout on an M3 Macbook air (but an M1 should be absolutely sufficient) in Logic, resulting in a RTL value of 3.5ms at 44.1.

Motu latency is low enough for me to notice. It’s not an issue or factor for replacement for me.

Going from 1.2ms to 1.0ms for instance wouldn’t really impact me as I wouldn’t notice.

 

[Shredder777]

I did, but just briefly, without any actual sequencing to happen (just installed the driver on my wife's Win10 machine and did the Oblique utility test). To get as low as on Macs, you need to use their tool to select low safety buffers, which might have a negative impact on performance (on Macs, you can't switch, seems to be low safety buffers all the time).

Here is the MOTU M2 on win RTL. This is the reason I went with the HD8.



The HD8 is better on Win according to this. At some buffer sizes much better, but its impossible to make a real comparison. Like I said, I don't think the Win results are representative of Mac.

M2 48/16 4.2
HD8 48/16 3.9

M2 48/32 5.8
HD8 48/32 4.250

M2 48/64 9.1
HD8 48/64 4.75

M2 48/128 15.9
HD8 48/128 7.2

M2 96/32 ???
HD8 96/32 3.67

HD8 is very good, but not quite at RME level.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Btw, the Motu has some severe drawbacks (at least the smaller units):

- No dedicated direct monitoring level control. Sucks big time.

- Some attentuation of the master out when you switch direct monitoring on. Sucks as well.

- Recording offset (of 45 samples in my case) which also results in wrong latency values reported to the host (reported: 2.5ms, real latency: 3.5ms). The recording offset can be adressed globally by most hosts, but you shouldn't have to do it in 2024, especially as Motu is a wellknown and established company.

I have been onto all these with their support. Mailed back and forth several times with a really nice dude. But it didn't help, they didn't adress any of this through 2 driver updates. Pretty meh.
Fortunately, for me these things usually don't get in the way, but I will purchase something new for my home studio and only use the M2 on the road one day.

 

[Shredder777]

Btw, the Motu has some severe drawbacks (at least the smaller units):

- No dedicated direct monitoring level control. Sucks big time.

- Some attentuation of the master out when you switch direct monitoring on. Sucks as well.

- Recording offset (of 45 samples in my case) which also results in wrong latency values reported to the host (reported: 2.5ms, real latency: 3.5ms). The recording offset can be adressed globally by most hosts, but you shouldn't have to do it in 2024, especially as Motu is a wellknown and established company.

I have been onto all these with their support. Mailed back and forth several times with a really nice dude. But it didn't help, they didn't adress any of this through 2 driver updates. Pretty meh.
Fortunately, for me these things usually don't get in the way, but I will purchase something new for my home studio and only use the M2 on the road one day.

If you are in Europe, the RME stuff is much more affordable.

I can 95% recommend the HD8 for win, but I haven't used it for production yet, so I don't know how much load it carries at each buffer size and if it has any dropout issues.

 

[Sascha Franck]

If you are in Europe, the RME stuff is much more affordable.

Well, I planned on a 2nd hand first generation Babyface (they're quite affordable and still very, very decent, including years of driver support to come), but then I learned their Hi-Z input was only at 430kOhm. That ruled it out as I need to be able to use it just on its own on the road.
The Babyface Pro FS however is almost 4 times as much as the Motu M2 I bought. Might still be my next interface.

 

[Jarick]

I got a < $20 SPDIF to ADAT converter off Amazon to be able to run the Axe 3 in digitally. Was shocked to see it worked immediately without any issues at all. Easy to adjust the levels in console too.