MOTU 192HD

OK simple question:

Does it sound really really good?

I record classical music as well as rock and roll.

Should I just save up more and get an Aurora?

Backstory:
I have 5 DAL Card Deluxe cards.
Upgraded machine to Core 2 Quad last year, Win 7, 4GB RAM, having compatability issues.
Cards are old, so thinking maybe I could use and upgrade.

PCIe is my preferred way to connect.

Never had these, but i was searching around some time ago, for what it's worth if i had to choose i would go for Aurora 16-VT Version if the cash permits, from users it seems a good bang for the buck, compared to all the other High "High" end brands out there, doesn't have the looks but that's not what we're looking for, on the other hand don't know much about their drivers, that's one major thing as you know, i'm sure you could try to have a demo unit of these, so you can make sure all the Pros and cons...

PS: I remember Motu 192HD had fans right?

riggler said:

OK simple question:

Does it sound really really good?

I record classical music as well as rock and roll.

Should I just save up more and get an Aurora?

Backstory:
I have 5 DAL Card Deluxe cards.
Upgraded machine to Core 2 Quad last year, Win 7, 4GB RAM, having compatability issues.
Cards are old, so thinking maybe I could use and upgrade.

PCIe is my preferred way to connect.

Click to expand...

Hi riggler,

may I suggest another brand-it is RME from germany (www.rme-audio.de/ click on the upper left corner to get it in english).

They have a really big assortment of interfaces and are very often used for classic recordings here by german engineers.
I have used them a lot of times and was always happy with them.
They are known for great audio performance and really good and high-stability drivers on either mac or windows-based computers.
You can get them for nearly any sort of Firewire,USB,PCI(e) and so forth and have a good price to quality relationship.

Best regards,

Udo.

RME keeps coming up!!! OK I will check it out! A while back I was stoked reading on the Hammerfall cards. But I never heard much commentary on the conversion.

The Aurora keeps coming up as a great option as well. I have heard and do like those boxes.

Thank you for the responses gentlemen.

As an alternative, why not downgrade to win xp, should that by any chance fix your compatibility issues?
Win 7 is good, but it doesn't contribute in any way to audio processing...

I did revert to XP 32 bit just today in fact, and still had the same issues. I believe it is one of the cards causing the problems. I sent an email to DAL support. Maybe they can check them out!

If it turns out not to be a faulty card, then get your motherboard manual and check what is being shared with each slot on the motherboard - you may get a shock to see what interrupt is being shared with your sound card! Often there are one or more slots that aren't shared with anything else (or are shared with a serial or parallel port that isn't in use and can be disabled in the BIOS), and these are probably the best slots to put your card(s) in. Sometimes swapping the card into a different slot can solve a lot of issues.

Also, (and this has been the cause with a few issues I've seen in recent months) it might be worth downloading a Memory testing tool and running through all the tests on your memory - a faulty memory module can cause the most bizarre errors that often seem totally unrelated to memory, yet turn out to be exactly that.

I have a 48i/o system of MOTU HD192's and think it sounds pretty good. The converters arent as forgiving as my apogee rosetta 800's, so if you hit the in or out too hard, you hear it.
I also have an Aurora16 in another rig, and I'd have to say that it's my least favorite out of all three. It's a little thin for most applications (I record rock music).
Since I cant help myself with all of this DIY stuff, I'm going to attempt to add transformer balanced in and out to my MOTU rig to bring it closer to the Burl audio sound.  ;D

Ah, transformers on the way in sounds neat! I fixed my compatibility issues with the card deluxes! It was simply the buffer size needed to be bumped up a little! Who knew?!!

Get the MOTU. Buy some rack cases and evaluation cards from various A-D / D-A IC manufacturers. Get a stack of transformers and discrete op-amps. Follow the schematic and wire in your DOAs so they bypass the bland ICs on the eval boards. A fun one I haven't tried would be a Neve BA283 driving an LL1066. Mind you, most D-As have balanced outs, so you'd need two BA283s If the DOAs have identical offsets, you can ditch blocking caps prior to the transformer

Another vote for RME
Have been using them for 6 years now, Hammerfall card and now FF800

Rock solid and they sound great to me, no classical recordings but a few
acoustic guitars / drums and a cello !!

MM

I love the Aurora, it comes so close to my Cranesong Hedd that it's not funny.  Haven't heard newer RME stuff, didn't like the older stuff.  Prismsound Orpheus is also divine if the I/O options work for you.

Best of luck,
Ruairi

I've been working with an HD192 for a long while.  It's been solid.  As stock it was a little dark sounding.  Having it modified by Black Lion was a worthwhile improvement, if you get an HD192 I highly recommend it. 

Ended up going with a Lucid 88192! Selling the Card Deluxes, but I DID get them working finally by increasing the buffer sizes. Got a Lynx AES16e to get into the computer. Can't wait to make music!!

But thanks for all of the responses guys, great stuff!