MOTU AVB / Thunderbolt / USB interfaces

Started by Kevin M, February 01, 2014, 07:50:11 AM

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Kevin M

I've always liked the MOTU interfaces and looks like their 828 model has gotten an update to Thunderbolt:

http://www.motu.com/newsitems/introducing-the-828x-with-thunderbolt-technology


It also supports USB 2.0 still, but no more Firewire in the 828 model.

montyrivers

Thunderbolt is pretty beast.  I just wish I saw more wide adoption of it outside the mac pro.  Can't seem to find a windows laptop or system with it pre installed.  Also, hopefully the chipset isn't a convoluted mess like firewire ones.  Sharing storage on to firewire hubs almost always causes audio interfaces to pop and click (which is why many digi firewire interfaces have a piggy back port for hd's). 

Thunderbolt is a ton of bandwidth, complete overkill.  That by itself has me sold, I just hope it's adopted better than firewire was...  USB 3.0 is still flopping around in the mud as far as digital audio goes as well.

Elantric

#2
www.extremetech.com/computing/88370-sony-vaio-z-thunderbolt-price-macs-look-cheap


The MOTU 828  Thunderbolt makes sense since all new Macs have Thunderbolt ports.
HP and Dell have announced 2014 workstations which will have Thunderbolt.
The drive for 4K video has made Thunderbolt 2 the new high bandwith I/O standard

www.anandtech.com/show/7230/asus-introduces-z87deluxequad-worlds-first-thunderbolt-2-certified-motherboard

www.anandtech.com/tag/thunderbolt


For those that might not be too familiar with the standard, Thunderbolt is Intel's high-bandwidth, do-everything connector, designed as a potential future path for all things external to a system—displays, USB devices, external storage, PCI Express, and even graphics cards. Thunderbolt supports up to 10Gb/s bandwidth (uni-directional) for each port, which is double what USB 3.0 offers, but the cost to implement Thunderbolt tends to be quite a bit higher than USB. For that reason, not to mention the ubiquity and backwards compatibility of USB 3.0 ports, we haven't seen all that many Thunderbolt-equipped Windows laptops and motherboards; mostly the ports are found on higher-end motherboards.

For those that need high bandwidth access to external devices, however, even 10Gb/s may not be enough—specifically, 4K/60 video resolutions can require around 15Gb/s. As we've previously discussed, with Thunderbolt 2 Intel is doubling the bandwidth with Thunderbolt 2 up to 20Gb/s per port (bi-directional) by combining the four 10Gb/s channels into two 20Gb/s channels, thus enabling support for 4K/60 support. The ASUS Z87-Deluxe/Quad motherboard is the first motherboard to support the standard, and as expected you get two 20Gb/s ports courtesy of the single Falcon Ridge controller. Combined with the HDMI port, that gives the board the potential to drive three 4K displays at once. And if Thunderbolt 2 support isn't enough for your enthusiast heart, ASUS is also including their NFC Express accessory for Near-Field Communication.

Here's the short specifications summary for the Z87-Deluxe/Quad; we're awaiting further details on expected availability and pricing, but given the Z87-Deluxe/Dual runs $350 we'd expect the new board to come in above that price point.

2 x Intel Thunderbolt 2 ports
1 x HDMI port
4 x DIMM slots
3 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 slots
10 x SATA 6Gbit/s ports
8 x USB 3.0 ports with USB 3.0 Boost
8 x USB 2.0 ports
ATX form factor


scratch17

#3
Elantric wrote in (a different topic)
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=14614.msg104670#msg104670
Quotefor any given year, RME Audio interfaces have the lowest audio latency

The new MOTU  AVB / Thunderbolt interfaces have round trip latency of 1.4 ms. @ 96 khz sample rate with a host buffer of 32 samples when connected via Thunderbolt. I'm not sure what they spec out to when using USB.

The sound quality of these interfaces is getting really good reviews on Gearslutz. They use the same chip sets as the new Apogee interfaces, which cost more without AVB (Audio Video Bridging).

AVB has the potential to add scalability to any setup with virtual plug and play ease of use. It is cross platform and manufacturer agnostic. I suggest that anyone with a project studio check AVB out.

AVB is a fairly new industry standard, not a MOTU proprietary technology. Check out the Presonus AVB products on their website.

I'm probably going to get a MOTU 16A (16 x 16 line level TRS, 8 x 8 ADAT optical at 24/96). I'll use my Mackie ONYX 1620 as an 8 channel mic preamp, connecting its recording outs to the 16A's analog inputs. I'll connect my MOTU Traveler MK3 via ADAT optical to the 16A. That gives me a 24 x 24 setup with 12 mic preamps.





Hamer Duotone, Brian Moore i213, Taylor 710 BCE 

VG-99, FC-300, RMC Fanout
RJM Mastermind GT10
Kemper Profiling Amp
Radial JDV Mk3, X-Amp
Mesa Recto Pre + 20/20
68 Fender Bandmaster (AB763)
Marshal AS80R

UA Apollo X6, Twin X, Logic Pro, Luna, Melodyne Studio

scratch17

Hamer Duotone, Brian Moore i213, Taylor 710 BCE 

VG-99, FC-300, RMC Fanout
RJM Mastermind GT10
Kemper Profiling Amp
Radial JDV Mk3, X-Amp
Mesa Recto Pre + 20/20
68 Fender Bandmaster (AB763)
Marshal AS80R

UA Apollo X6, Twin X, Logic Pro, Luna, Melodyne Studio

Elantric

#5
QuoteAVB is a fairly new industry standard,
more details on AVB and AVNU.ORG

https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=10349.msg74592#msg74592

Elantric




Mitch Gallagher gives a thorough overview of MOTU's UltraLite AVB, a hybrid USB and AVB audio interface for Mac and PC. After the video, click the link above for even more info on the UltraLite AVB.

fokof

#7
Waiting for my Ultralite AVB .

Always been a MOTU Man.

Love the possibility to use iPhone & iPad to mix WITHOUT the need of a CPU.
Can you imagine the footprint of that + small router ?

BTW Audinate (Dante) is supposed to make their product compatible with AVB.

Since we're on the Interface section , I must say that I also have an UA Apollo quad at work wich I use for inserts on the M7CL.

fokof

Got the Ultralite a couple of weeks ago , Very very very nice unit  :o

Super flexible , can be used as a standalone digital console.
EQ , HPF , LPF , Comp and even gate on all Ins and Outs

Hook up to a router and everyone in the band makes their own IEM mixes with iPad/iPhone.

As opposed to older MKIII MOTU units , no cpu hooked needed.
You can send pre or post FX to outs or CPU.

As my last 20 years experience with MOTU : very stable and strong drivers

I'll use this guy for my Live setup instead of my Apollo.


Elantric


fokof

After a couple of months , I must say that it is an absolute fantastic unit.
The most flexible you'll ever see.

You can send pre/post processing to CPU , to IEM etc....

The fact that you can use mobile device WITHOUT CPU attached is Effin cool.

That level of flexibility come at a price : it is a bit complicated.
I can easily see people who are not into techno stuff loosing their hair.
If you can make your way around a VG99/VB99 , you'll be OK :)

And as usual , the MOTU drivers/software are super stable.

admin

#11
Now MOTU USB Audio interfaces have  IOS and Android support

http://cdm.link/2018/08/motu-audio-interfaces-touch-console-ios-android/






Shingles

So far as I can tell, this sadly doesn't support my MOTU 828x which has both USB2 and Thunderbolt and is only three years old. I think it's the AVB interfaces only.
Nik
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