jimmarchi1's MOTU Music Gear Setup

this simple utility box divides your midi signal 8 ways and buffers it and corrects and glitches before sending it out.... all channels go to all outs so don't get it messed up! but its really useful for a static studio setup where every channel is permanent. This thing just works great and runs off the power from the output device!

If you already have an AVB equipped centerpiece unit that will run to your computer via thunderbolt, this and the sister 24Ai input unit is a great addition to your studio. Fantastic converters.AVB allows you to send a huge channel count along with word clock data at ridiculously low latency.

The AVB connection will occassionally fail at power on and you'll need to fiddle around for 5 minutes to get the network running. That's the only issue I've ever had.

UPDATE: the networking issues disappeared a few years ago with a really solid firmware update on all of the motu avb gear, still happy with these converters, you need to spend a lot more to get better sound... also, whenever I've had an issue, even though its invariably the host computer's fault, motu tech support is right there 9 to 5 eastern time and they ALWAYS help me solve the problem or at least bandaid it well enough to meet my deadlines

Setup was a bit of a hassle and having to update firmware via ethernet is a pain having gone laptop now but overall a great interface. This has a little bit of everything as the centerpiece of your home studio. Lightning fast thunderbolt, decently fast USB, a couple really transparent mic/instrument preamps, 8 line ins and outs for synths.... stereo FX send (you have to use line ins to record and monitor the return though)... dual headphone amps. MIDI. Onboard DSP which I haven't fiddled with too much yet. Expandable with other motu products over AVB or with anybody's preamps and converters over spdif, ADAT/smux or AES/EBU. Paired with a good rack of focusrites over SMUX this thing can do a lot... I'll probably be getting a new one to use as my gateway to the computer with this slaved over AVB when MOTU gets around to making a thudnerbolt3 version. I highly recommend this interface to anyone who doesn't want to get caught up in the apollo plugin racket. If your PC is fast enough to run all your plugins native in real time and you're using a lot of hardware synths like I am at home? Get a MOTU.