MOTU 828Mk3 Hybrid FireWire/USB Audio Interface

No longer available at zZounds
Get 8 analog ins, 2 front-panel preamps, and ADAT and SPDIF I/O. Route any input to any output. Dial in the onboard DSP effects. This robust interface rocks!

Make the MOTU 828Mk3 Hybrid FireWire/USB audio interface the hub of your recording studio! With both FireWire and USB2 connectivity, almost too much I/O, mic preamps, and built-in DSP effects and mixing, the 828Mk3 Hybrid is more than capable of processing and routing your audio signals wherever they need to go. The 828Mk3 Hybrid lets you interface every instrument, microphone, monitor, pair of headphones -- you name it -- with any computer, in your studio or elsewhere. Do all your monitoring, live mixing, recording, and processing from the 828Mk3 Hybrid.

Get a closer look with this video from MOTU:


Lots of I/O

The 828Mk3 Hybrid lets you record at up to 192 kHz resolution with 28 audio inputs and 30 outputs to cover all your gear: you get 2 mic/guitar combo-style inputs with preamps, 8 balanced analog ins/outs, XLR main outputs, 16 channels of ADAT optical (8 channels at 96 kHz), plus S/PDIF, word clock, and MIDI.

The 828's XLR main outputs, surround output, and two front-panel phone jacks with independent volume control make monitoring a snap, while the two front-panel mic/guitar inputs help you plug and play with all your controls right in front of you. When you plug in to MOTU's 828Mk3 Hybrid, you also tap in to the awesomeness of V-Limit, a hardware limiter that helps prevent digital clipping from overloaded input signals as high as +12 dB above zero, with no distortion.

Adjust all analog inputs with surgical precision, since each one is equipped with digitally read more controlled analog trim controls that you can tweak in 1 dB increments. You can also adjust the audio interface's mic/guitar input trims using front-panel digital rotary encoders, as well as trim all 1/4-inch TRS inputs from the included cross-platform CueMix FX software, which also controls all of this interface's DSP mixing and effects.

For cross-platform compatibility with just about any audio software, be it Mac- or Windows-based, the 828Mk3 Hybrid also comes with WDM/ASIO/Core Audio drivers. When not connected to a computer, the 828Mk3 Hybrid doubles as a standalone rack-mounted mixer, for even more flexibility in your studio setup.

Onboard DSP Effects and CueMix Software for Flexible Routing

Monitoring with the MOTU 828Mk3 is super easy, thanks to the CueMix FX digital mixer and a slew of onboard-DSP-powered effects. Record, monitor, route, and process all your live inputs without experiencing latency or hogging your DAW's CPU. The 828Mk3 Hybrid interface ships with MOTU's CueMix FX software, which you can think of as your personal assistant for tweaking effects, adjusting gain levels, and more. You can even use CueMix FX on an iPad for controlling the 828Mk3 Hybrid from afar.

Dial in DSP-driven EQ, compression, and reverb -- the 828Mk3 Hybrid includes Classic Reverb, vintage compression (automatic gain control) modeled after the LA-2A optical leveling amplifier, and 7-band parametric EQ modeled after British analog consoles.

Features:

- Versatile audio interface with USB2 and FireWire
- 28 Inputs and 30 outputs (at 44.1/48 kHz)
- CueMix FX mixer with onboard DSP effects works with or without a computer
- Included CueMix FX software includes reverb with sends/returns, plus EQ and compression on every input and output
- Front-panel access to all settings
- Work with up to 8 separate CueMix FX mixes at a time
- 2 Front-panel jacks provide hi-Z 1/4" guitar input or XLR mic input with phantom power, pad, and gain
- Mic/guitar instrument sends add analog outboard effects to the 2 mic/guitar inputs
- V-Limit overload protection prevents digital clipping
- Analog I/O: (8) 192 kHz/24-bit analog ins and outs on balanced/unbalanced 1/4" TRS jacks
- Precision digital trim on all analog inputs
- 16 channels of ADAT lightpipe, 8 channels of SMUX (96kHz) or 2 pairs of stereo TOSLink
- Sample-accurate MIDI
- Separate XLR main outs and front-panel headphone jacks with independent volume control
- Stereo 96 kHz/24-bit S/PDIF I/O
- Word clock in and out
- SMPTE in and out
- Includes drivers for Mac and PC: ASIO, WDM, Wave, GSIF, Core Audio, and Core MIDI
- Supports all popular Macintosh and Windows audio software
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For support or warranty questions, please contact the manufacturer:
Phone: 617-576-2760

MOTU 828Mk3 Hybrid Audio Interface

The MOTU 828mk3 Hybrid connects via FireWire or hi-speed USB2 to a Mac or PC computer and delivers 28 audio inputs and 30 outputs with on-board effects and mixing. Apply hardware-based effects to all 28 inputs and 30 outputs via an on-board DSP-driven 8 stereo bus digital mixer with 32-bit floating point precision. Effects include Classic Reverb(tm) with tail lengths up to 60 seconds, 7-band parametric EQ modeled after British analog consoles, and vintage compression (automatic gain control) modeled after the legendary LA-2A(tm) optical leveling amplifier. Effects can even be applied when the MOTU 828mk3 is operating stand-alone (without a computer) as a complete rack-mounted mixer.

Connect a wide variety of studio gear to the MOTU 828mk3, including microphones, guitars, synths, keyboards, drum machines and even effects processors via 8 balanced TRS analog in/out, two banks of optical (ADAT and TOSLink formats) and S/PDIF digital I/O. Monitor everything via XLR main outs, surround output and two front-panel phone jacks with independent volume control. Two front-panel mic/guitar combo inputs are equipped with transparent preamps, digitally controlled trim with plenty of gain, XLR mic input, true high-impedance guitar input, individual 48V phantom power switch, 20 dB pad, and V-Limit(tm), a hardware limiter that helps prevent digital clipping from overloaded input signals as high as +12 dB above zero with no distortion. Additional protection can be applied with Soft Clip(tm).

All MOTU 828mk3 analog inputs are equipped with digitally controlled analog trim controls that allow adjustments in precise 1 dB increments. The mic/guitar input trims can be adjusted using front-panel digital rotary encoders that provide feedback in the front panel LCD, while all quarter-inch TRS inputs can be trimmed from the included cross-platform CueMix FX software. Different trim configurations can be saved as files on disk for instant recall.

Additional advanced features include 192 kHz operation, Direct Digital Synthesis(tm) (DDS) precision clocking, direct SMPTE time code sync (no extra synchronizer needed), MIDI I/O and much more. The 828mk3 provides CueMix FX and drivers for Mac (OS X) and Windows (XP and Vista) for cross-platform compatibility with virtually all audio software via WDM/ASIO/Core Audio drivers. The included AudioDesk(r) workstation software for Mac provides 24-bit recording/editing and 32-bit mixing/processing/mastering.

Reviewers gave this product an overall rating of 5 out of 5 stars. (12 ratings)
Submitted September 11, 2012 by John M in Lexington, KY

"Incredible Equipment and Top Notch Customer Service"

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
I didn't get my 828MkIII Hybrid at zZounds, but since I am a long time customer of zZounds and this is such a great unit I wanted to submit a review. I can repeat all of the previous accolades. This is a great sounding unit and the DSP effects are actually quite good. The many routing options make it easy to use the built in DSP for monitor mixes, but they can also be patched in to anything going in or out of your DAW. I have a Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 I love, but bought the MOTU to use as my main interface primarily for the dual ADAT inputs and the 8 line inputs. I run the Pro 40 in through ADAT and then run my ISA 1 and Langevin Dual Vocal Combo and any other pre amps I am using into the MOTU line ins. I have to add one other comment about MOTU support and just the character of the company. At 11 months my power supply mysteriously started failing (I say mysteriously because everything goes through a Furman PL Plus DMC) I was a bit taken aback that something that major could fail after less than a year and started worrying about the quality. Well, the great news is MOTU warranties for two full years and is going to replace my unit. But even more important, MOTU is so confident of their hardware and they stand behind it to the tune of replacing any hardware product that is out of warranty for a flat fee of $99.95! You read that right, even if my $750 828 MkIII hybrid was out of warranty, they would replace it for less than $100. You cannot do an better than that! My one read more and only comlaint is the knobs are so tiny, they are difficult to use if you are using the unit stand alone.

Musical Background:
Musician, sound and recording engineer, studio owner

Musical Style:
You name it...
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