MOTU 4pre USB / FireWire Audio Interface Reviews
Portability, flexibility, and convenient simplicity - MOTU's 4pre hybrid recording interface gives you all of this and more. Whether you have a FireWire-equipped Mac laptop or a PC tower with USB ports, recording with your MOTU 4pre couldn't be easier. Like the name suggests, the 4pre sports four studio-quality microphone preamplifiers. What's more, each input features a combo jack, giving you inputs for your mics, instruments, and line-level sources. And housed in a handy all-metal half-rack chassis, the MOTU 4pre is ready to go where the music takes you.
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Highest Rated Reviews
MOTU 4pre
Great unit. I recently downsized my home recording studio and sold an MOTU 896Mk3 Hybrid interface unit. I wanted a small unit and bought another well known and popular brand. The recording latency was over twice what I had with my old MOTU unit, along with control program headaches and the recorded audio did not sound full fidelity. I sent that unit back and bought the MOTU 4pre as a unit with 4 preamps was all I needed, plus familiarity with the MOTU "Cue Mix" control program (which can be confusing). Latency is back to 2.8ms (64 buffer) same as its big brother 896Mk3 Hybrid. I've done one CD project for a client and it all worked out perfectly.
Sturdy build. Very flexible.
The build quality of this unit is amazing. Every input/output is super sturdy. The audio quality is good - not quite as good (imo) as Apogee. Motu, however, doesn't have stupid break-out cables. :)
This interface is terrific, for recording AND live performance. I highly recommend it.
Great Box
I've been waiting to review this product for a couple months. I don't generally give 5 star ratings to anything, but I find something new I like about this thing every day it seems. If all you want is a simple I/O box with decent preamps, there are other options for a smaller price (although there isn't much in the way of half-rack 4 preamp selection). I take it on the road with me, use it as my main interface, can run different headphone mixes and pair of monitors, mix without a computer (which is handy because my laptop is always crashing on me and I don't have to stop the device if I'm just using it for monitoring). Also, the software that comes with it is fabulous. I don't think there is a feature I haven't used, and there aren't any features I need that I feel it is missing (other than midi, but I would rather have a different box for that anyway. If it's what you need, get it. Motu rocks.
MOTU
Great computer interface. Portable as well, you are only as good as your equipment!
Great interface!
Great piece of gear! love the pre's that it comes with, not much to complain. Only thing I didn't like was the facet that you couldn't 'monitor mute.' Meaning you can't separate your main headphone output from the main mix knob. Unless you do it within the box but still a hastle.
excellent sound
this interface is everything promised.
it does its job very well and very smoothly
when it is paired with a good mic, the sound quality is superb.
the controls are a touch confusing and require some getting used to but i imagine with a brief read through of the instructions, the problem would be solved.
all in all, a solid, quality, very nice, well featured interface.
and a decent deal on a motu interface
Awesome Little Unit!
This thing is chock full of features. I like having the option to use USB or Firewire, and the preamps sound great to me. It was actually more compact than I had expected, which was great. The main reason I chose this was because I needed something with more than 2 mic pres but I didn't quite need 8 at the moment so this little 4Pre has been just great. I also love that MOTU allows for daisy chaining so that if I find that I need more inputs someday, I can always add them onto this. Also, this was a significant upgrade from my old MBOX2. It runs great with my Pro Tools 9 setup and I have not experienced any issues. However, the only thing that had bothered me was that the Hi-Z inputs are a little unpredictable,so with a guitar that has a very hot signal, the signal cannot be controlled well. Also, the pad does not activate unless you are plugged in via XLR, so in order to solve this issue I just run guitars through a DI box and then I can attenuate accordingly. This has not affected the performance of the inetrface, soI am still very happy with it. I think that anyone who is looking for a high quality interface that is still within a decent price range, I highly recommend it. It will more than get the job done!
This is a great little audio interface!
Motu’s 4pre works great for me…being somewhat of a recording novice,
I was hoping for an audio interface that will simply work with my mediocre laptop.
The 4pre has 4 mic preamps with INDEPENDENT phantom power for each input channe; unlike some other brands clamming to have 4 inputs yet supplying phantom power for only 2 of those. The 4pre then does allow me the freedom to do multitrack recording with all 4 inputs simultaneously. This was a serious consideration when I was searching for the right audio interface. The manual for the 4 pre is straight forward and very useful, which is what one would think since Motu is a much respected audio device manufacturer. I am currently using the 4pre with Reaper DAW software without problems…therefore; I would recommend this audio interface to anyone....
From Dave
MOTU 4PRE
Got this for my home studio and boy am I satisfied. There's a bit of a learning curve but once you get it down you'll be very satisfied. Hooked it up to my Presonus Eris E8's and the sound is phenomenal. S/O to Sweetwater tech support for help with the setup. Ive been a Focusrite guy but Motu may have changed my allegiance.
