Excuse me for barging in, but...

I have an opportunity to purchase an unused 1296 at a much reduced price, if
I decide I want to negotiate the deal, but first I need to decide if it
really fits my needs.

This is for home recording, band demos and songwriting. My current rig is
fairly bare-bones: Echo Gina 20 bit card, a Lexicon MPX-110 that I picked up
to give me two more tracks via S/PDIF, and a Mackie 1202 VLZ for preamps. It
ain't the best but I've heard worse.

I've also heard better (MUCH better) at a friend's home 'studio', which has
given me the bug to move up to the next level. I want to stick with PC based
recording, but I need more tracks, better converters, and better preamps.
I've been looking at bundled solutions like the Layla and the Digimax, which
would give me more tracks, but I question how much better the quality would
be. So an alternative I'm thinking about is to get something like the MOTU
and add preamps as my budget and opportunities allow. I'm looking at the
RNP, Sytek (which I like on drums), and maybe someday even a Great River.

So from a quality perspective, is the 1296 a good match for this level of
gear?

And is it a practical PC based solution?

My many thanks to all who respond,
Sean

The 1296's convertors are not "Top Of The Line" by today's standards but they
certainly are a big improvement over what your currently using. If you were
using it on a Mac I would say "Go For It" without hesitation but I have heard
some gripes about MOTU's drivers on the PC side. I would investigate that.

the 1296 quality is way above what you currently own. I can't speak for how
well the windows drivers work. But I think the 1296 sounds good.
--Lou Gimenez
The Music Lab
2" 24track w all the Goodies
www.musiclabnyc.com



From: "Sean Conolly"
Newsgroups: rec.audio.pro
Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2003 15:53:07 -0400
Subject: MOTU 1296 questions

Excuse me for barging in, but...

I have an opportunity to purchase an unused 1296 at a much reduced price, if
I decide I want to negotiate the deal, but first I need to decide if it
really fits my needs.

This is for home recording, band demos and songwriting. My current rig is
fairly bare-bones: Echo Gina 20 bit card, a Lexicon MPX-110 that I picked up
to give me two more tracks via S/PDIF, and a Mackie 1202 VLZ for preamps. It
ain't the best but I've heard worse.

I've also heard better (MUCH better) at a friend's home 'studio', which has
given me the bug to move up to the next level. I want to stick with PC based
recording, but I need more tracks, better converters, and better preamps.
I've been looking at bundled solutions like the Layla and the Digimax, which
would give me more tracks, but I question how much better the quality would
be. So an alternative I'm thinking about is to get something like the MOTU
and add preamps as my budget and opportunities allow. I'm looking at the
RNP, Sytek (which I like on drums), and maybe someday even a Great River.

So from a quality perspective, is the 1296 a good match for this level of
gear?

And is it a practical PC based solution?

My many thanks to all who respond,
Sean

but I have heard
some gripes about MOTU's drivers on the PC side. I would investigate that.


Obviously there have been problems in the past with MOTU and PC's, but as I
like to live dangerously I recently Picked up a new MOTU24 IO with the 424
card, It went in first time, and has worked perfectly ever since using both
Logic and Nuendo on the PC! Plus the built in SMPTE sync from any audio
input works perfectly.

So perhaps they have got it together now.



Adam Calaitzis
Toyland Recording Studio
www.toyland.com.au

"Adam Calaitzis" wrote in message
...
but I have heard
some gripes about MOTU's drivers on the PC side. I would investigate
that.


Obviously there have been problems in the past with MOTU and PC's, but as
I
like to live dangerously I recently Picked up a new MOTU24 IO with the 424
card, It went in first time, and has worked perfectly ever since using
both
Logic and Nuendo on the PC! Plus the built in SMPTE sync from any audio
input works perfectly.

So perhaps they have got it together now.

I tried the unit out last night. The 324 wave drivers work in CEP with a few
quirks, but the ASIO drivers hang my win 98 system instantly. I'll need to
try it on Win2000 and see how well that works.

Sean

"Adam Calaitzis" wrote in message
...
but I have heard
some gripes about MOTU's drivers on the PC side. I would investigate
that.


Obviously there have been problems in the past with MOTU and PC's, but as
I
like to live dangerously I recently Picked up a new MOTU24 IO with the 424
card, It went in first time, and has worked perfectly ever since using
both
Logic and Nuendo on the PC! Plus the built in SMPTE sync from any audio
input works perfectly.

So perhaps they have got it together now.

I tried the unit out last night. The 324 wave drivers work in CEP with a few
quirks, but the ASIO drivers hang my win 98 system instantly. I'll need to
try it on Win2000 and see how well that works.

Sean

I tried the unit out last night. The 324 wave drivers work in CEP with a
few
quirks, but the ASIO drivers hang my win 98 system instantly.

Win98!, its now 2003. Stick XP in there.

I tried the unit out last night. The 324 wave drivers work in CEP with a
few
quirks, but the ASIO drivers hang my win 98 system instantly.

Win98!, its now 2003. Stick XP in there.

"Adam Calaitzis" wrote in message
...
I tried the unit out last night. The 324 wave drivers work in CEP with a
few
quirks, but the ASIO drivers hang my win 98 system instantly.

Win98!, its now 2003. Stick XP in there.

If it ain't broke don't fix it! :-)

I've never had a need to upgrade yet. I've had no problems getting
everything working like I want and the only time I reloaded was when I
migrated to a new system. The new system has sockets for a dual CPU, so
that's why I'm looking at Win2000, which is my favorite version to date. My
least favorite version to work on is ME, followed closely by XP. XP works
fine, I just think it's annoying as hell.

Anyway, I'm going to pay for the unit tomorrow. $600 for an absolutely
spotless 1296 and 324 card is worth it in my book, and I was really
surprised that without changing anything else in a rather marginal signal
chain, I could still hear a distinct improvement in the sound. It just
sounds more natural and open to me. Now I just gotta get some decent
pre-amps and I'll be in business.

Thanks to all,
Sean

"Adam Calaitzis" wrote in message
...
I tried the unit out last night. The 324 wave drivers work in CEP with a
few
quirks, but the ASIO drivers hang my win 98 system instantly.

Win98!, its now 2003. Stick XP in there.

If it ain't broke don't fix it! :-)

I've never had a need to upgrade yet. I've had no problems getting
everything working like I want and the only time I reloaded was when I
migrated to a new system. The new system has sockets for a dual CPU, so
that's why I'm looking at Win2000, which is my favorite version to date. My
least favorite version to work on is ME, followed closely by XP. XP works
fine, I just think it's annoying as hell.

Anyway, I'm going to pay for the unit tomorrow. $600 for an absolutely
spotless 1296 and 324 card is worth it in my book, and I was really
surprised that without changing anything else in a rather marginal signal
chain, I could still hear a distinct improvement in the sound. It just
sounds more natural and open to me. Now I just gotta get some decent
pre-amps and I'll be in business.

Thanks to all,
Sean