MOTU 896mk3 Hybrid Reviews

4.2/5.0 based on 5 customer reviews

Sweetwater Advice

Tim Holsinger

I use the 896mk3 in my home studio and it works great! Very reliable while recording and the 896mk3 gives me a great sound on my recordings. The onboard effects and MOTU's CueMix FX software really make this a great audio interface.

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Customer Reviews

John Ware
from Damascus, MD USA
February 21, 2013Music Background:
füll time pro musician, session musician, composer/arranger

Excellent piece

I got really great advice, as always, from my Sweetwater rep Mark Bruhn. i needed a firewire interface with spdif for my outboard preamps, and went through 2 (yes 2!) Focusrite Saffire Pro 40s in less than 2 years. i lost all confidence in Focusrite, and was looking for something that i could rely on every time. i do a lot of collaborating and recording tracks for others, and i can't afford to shut the studio down for weeks at a time, and having a backup that i use more than my main was not a good option for me.
this thing is super solid, the preamps, while not quite as clean as my dedicated pres, are audibly more transparent than the Focusrite, and i very much prefer the hardware/software mixer with eq and compression on the way in, if i care to use it. just being able to set a high pass filter on the way in is huge in getting a cleaner sound right off the bat-saves time and energy during mix down, and having it be adjustable for that exact take is really just perfect for me.
these are all small things that i do in my workflow constantly, and it saves me time to automate them as much as possible, and not do it "in the box" unless i choose to.

the only reason i give it 4.5 starts instead of 5 stars is because of the manual. the manual tells in great detail all the things that this is capable of, but it doesn't tell HOW to do a lot of them, just that you CAN do them. when i call MOTU tech support, many of the functions seem to be a mystery to their techs as well. like using the spdif and AES/EBU simultaneously. the tech told me it wan't possible, even though the manual claims it is, for instance. i had to figure it out myself, without their tech support or their manual's help-but again with my top notch sales rep, Mark Bruhn.
since the manual wasn't very helpful to me, the learning curve was a little steeper than i expected, but i was able to get it totally up and running within a few days, and within a couple of weeks of sessions, i became very comfortable and fast at doing what i need to do to get my work done and back out the door.

from
January 17, 2013Music Background:
Recording engineer, musician, A/V tech

Not impressed

Thought I was making a good investment with this one. Did the research before I pulled the trigger. The layout and feature set are great. Obviously one of the few boxes out there with USB and Firewire. Unfortunately after using it a few times I just don't feel like it's worth the $1K price tag. The preamps are noisy and the gain is controlled by rotary encoders rather than real pots so there is a click or pop in the audio when adjusted. Not good for live recording where you need to adjust the gain on the fly and there are no second takes. I also didn't think the audio going in or coming back out was clean enough. Just seemed distorted to me. Couldn't find any real S/N or THD specs for this box. The DSP mixing seemed to be pretty good but has it's limitations. Read the manual before you buy. I'm bummed about sending it back but at least Sweetwater was cool about it.

Gary
from Long Island
November 13, 2012Music Background:
Semi-Pro Musician

Great Audio Interface

The 896mk3 is fantastic and exceeded my expectations. Sounds great and no problems. Works great with Windows 8 or standalone.

Tim
from Seattle, WA USA
August 23, 2012Music Background:
Pro Musician, Recording Engineer

Amazing Interface

The 896mk3 is a dream come true for mac users. I have yet to encounter a single issue after almost a year of using it with Logic.
I/O connections have been flawless.
It has as good of preamps as you will find on a firewire/USB interface.
It is solid, it feels like you could smash bricks with it and then boot it up ready to record.
I would say it is one the best Firewire/USB interfaces on the market. Highly recommended.

from
April 13, 2012Music Background:
Pro Muscian

Amazing!

Versatile and powerful interface!