Jarick
Rock Star
- Messages
- 3,237
Glad to see we have a recording section now!
After I dropped $1,000 on new monitors, I got the bug to upgrade my audio interface. I really liked my Yamaha USB mixer, but I had a feeling it's a weak spot in my signal chain, and it lacked some features. My requirements were:
So I got the MOTU M4, and so far pretty impressed. It's a hefty unit with a metal case so it feels fairly durable. The knobs are outstanding, knurled metal like a Tele, and they are super easy to adjust with one finger compared to little plastic knobs. It has all the things I need in terms of controls. There's a full color LCD screen that has very granular metering compared to other sub-$500 interfaces.
Sonically, it sounds a little clearer than the Yamaha mixer, both on monitors and headphone outs. The headphone amp is pretty clear as well, reminding me of the Schiit Magni 3 amp I will sometimes use for listening to music. There I can turn it up louder seemingly, but it sounds clear and doesn't seem as loud.
Works great with my Fractal FM3 via the line input, and having the level monitor is great. I can see that I should be running at line level with +4 output, and that's getting me to just below yellow levels on the meter. I like being able to toggle inputs for direct monitoring, works very well.
Running the guitar into the Hi-Z input on the front works great. I like that I can do this in addition to running the stereo line in from my modeler on the back as well, so I'm not fussing with the levels or setup.
Using it with Neural DSP plugins, the latency is insanely good. I'm running it at 48 kHz sample rate and at 32 samples for 0.7ms nominal latency which is crazy low compared to everything else I've used. No audio drops yet at least just running Plini as standalone. I think with my Audient Evo 4 I was running something like 192 samples and closer to 5-10ms latency. It's almost as immediate as running directly into a hardware modeler. Oh, this is through a low end Apple M1 Macbook Air.
I'll keep checking back here with my thoughts over time but I'm really impressed so far, especially for under $300.
After I dropped $1,000 on new monitors, I got the bug to upgrade my audio interface. I really liked my Yamaha USB mixer, but I had a feeling it's a weak spot in my signal chain, and it lacked some features. My requirements were:
- Quality input metering, so I can ensure I'm not clipping, especially when using modelers without level indicators (HX Stomp, Iridium)
- Blend knob for direct monitoring vs computer playback, so I can run the hardware modelers without latency
- Separate controls for monitor and headphone volume control, so I'm not constantly plugging and unplugging them
- Stereo line inputs on the back, so I don't have to run inputs across the desk
- Bonus for having a high impedance guitar input on the front so I can run my guitar in for playing through plugins
So I got the MOTU M4, and so far pretty impressed. It's a hefty unit with a metal case so it feels fairly durable. The knobs are outstanding, knurled metal like a Tele, and they are super easy to adjust with one finger compared to little plastic knobs. It has all the things I need in terms of controls. There's a full color LCD screen that has very granular metering compared to other sub-$500 interfaces.
Sonically, it sounds a little clearer than the Yamaha mixer, both on monitors and headphone outs. The headphone amp is pretty clear as well, reminding me of the Schiit Magni 3 amp I will sometimes use for listening to music. There I can turn it up louder seemingly, but it sounds clear and doesn't seem as loud.
Works great with my Fractal FM3 via the line input, and having the level monitor is great. I can see that I should be running at line level with +4 output, and that's getting me to just below yellow levels on the meter. I like being able to toggle inputs for direct monitoring, works very well.
Running the guitar into the Hi-Z input on the front works great. I like that I can do this in addition to running the stereo line in from my modeler on the back as well, so I'm not fussing with the levels or setup.
Using it with Neural DSP plugins, the latency is insanely good. I'm running it at 48 kHz sample rate and at 32 samples for 0.7ms nominal latency which is crazy low compared to everything else I've used. No audio drops yet at least just running Plini as standalone. I think with my Audient Evo 4 I was running something like 192 samples and closer to 5-10ms latency. It's almost as immediate as running directly into a hardware modeler. Oh, this is through a low end Apple M1 Macbook Air.
I'll keep checking back here with my thoughts over time but I'm really impressed so far, especially for under $300.
Even though i probably can set up an aggregate device outof the two.. I tried once and it works great but confuses me when all channels are grouped together and numbers change.
