qwasar_trinity's Reviews

One of the best, multi-purpose and affordable interface card for your home studio by far!

Shortly, its just a perfect audio card for home user! :) First, pros. Easy to install, easy to setup. This little sister of the Motus more and more expensive professional cards is actually a big MOTU too! The card sound is just incredible: very clean, with fine details, rich, structured and enough powerful! I think it`s just sounds like a more expensive cards. Yes, its already not a regular budget class interface. I compared it with an old, but still very good semi-professional E-mu 1212M PCI card - the MOTU M4 card sounds almost on the same level of the quality, with details and rich timbers (some of tiny differences can be heard listening a high-range HI-FI/professional headphones). Very good preamps, mic recording is really nice with low noise level. You can connect to M4 the consumer powered loudspeakers as a second pair for the testing your mixes. You can insert any line sources: synthesizers, CD/DVD/Tape players, analog amplifiers, etc. Amazing and enough high performance interface - my mid-sized projects in Reaper DAW could be working fine even with 64 samples at 44kHz without the clicks/pops, etc. (tested on Win10 x64 Pro, i7-9700K). It can be setup for work with hardware I/O and virtual I/O as well. I tested M4 in multi-client mode, with game emulators and PC games - all working fine and very nice! Ok. A bit of cons. Some little issues with build quality (wobbling buttons). And It doesnt have any proper mixing/routing software (all are physically), but you just can resolve it easy by installing the VoiceMeeter Banana/Potato, for instance - an excellent applications for you needs here. Yes, the M4 as any professional cards I know, just dont like the hibernation state of the system. But if you dont hear any sound in that case you can just reboot the card with onboard switch on/off. Anyway, it have a very nice quality of the rotary knobs, bright LCD with full color and useful indication for the signal graphic. Even with those a bit wobbling buttons I give it a five stars, because this card` SOUND and possibilities - far higher of the budget-class gear as I mentioned earlier! Bravo, MOTU and thank you! Wow so many letters here... Anyway, thanks for your time =)

UPD. First great feature: loopback (you can easily record voices, system sounds, game, BGM simultaneously. Ideal for video tutorials, streaming, blogging, etc. And the second feature is using M4 as sound mixer/router/adapter. MOTU M4 card just can work without the PC and USB power! I don 't know how it called be correct but this feature allows you using the card as sound "router". For instance, you can use your favourite studio monitors even with the digital TV tuner! Just connect all components and ... don' t switch power on of the card. Only one important thing - in that case you can't able to control the volume with the card. Use the sound source for it. And I noticed strange thing - I got the sound from the digital tuner when it was connected to M4 through the RCA monitor outs (!). I asked about it the MOTU support team and waiting for the answer.

Outstanding dual DX7II FM-machine!

I have one. Yes its too bulky and big synth, faded backlit display and a bit complex logic of the synthesis system. But the sound.. THE SOUND of it is just incredibly cool for the digital synth. I found some of the really nice libraries that have so analog-like sounding programs plus a bit of authentic sounds from the famous retro synths like a Roland D-50, Emulator II, Oberheim XA, Roland Juno and Jupiter series, Korg M1/Wavestation, Yamaha CS series ... I even didnt expected such a solid and really deep basses, beautiful motion pads and famous DX-pianos (i.e. FM-tines). Also me really like the keyboard feel. Back the day in 1989-1990 it was too expensive (Yamahas flagship synth) for most user. But today Its an affordable powerful synth workstation especially if you making the music with 80-90s taste or authentic retro-like game soundtrack with FM sounds. And yeah, the SY77 have such a fine design too!

For home music production and listening

If you are about a serious music production at home or just listening music in the HI-FI - its your choice. I use it with Yamaha MSP 7 Studio monitors and the sound is extremely high quality: very detail, enough bassy, punchy and transparent. I found this card complex ideal for the recording, mixing, pre-mastering and even for the listening you favorite music and songs (the high quality DSP effects onboard will help you to correct the sound for your wishes and needs). But the cons is its drivers. Esp. for the modern PC and OS, sometimes it can work unstable or even crush. Anyway, this is very nice card with an excellent sound quality if you find the good pair of the reference class powered loudspeakers. And if someday I will want to replace it I think it will be only the card by Lynx Studio, RME ...

True Samurai with surgeon katana!

I really love this synth! It sounds so powerful, smooth and alive even compare it to the new JD-XA, System-8, which seemed to me a bit sterile, unnatural, even borring (for that price!!). JP-8000 can sounds gently crystal clear and transparent, drivy and aggressive... This machine not only for the Trance guys and girls! Pop, jazz, fusion, rock, hip-hop... It can produce anything else - sweet power mono leads of 70s, warm pads and groovy chords of the 70s, 80s, 90s, deep-deep basses (be careful with your windows)), cosmic sound fx of early 70s, some nice percussive, pluck and FM-like and sweet nostalgic 8bit chip sounds too. If you are familiar with sound programming you can make just any type of the sounds. More than this, its a super MIDI-controller - so many knobs and faders. Great sound, build quality, ergonomic and cool design (for me). So many legendary and famous bands, musicians used and uses the JP-8000 even today. Plus its a true samurai - "Made in Japan" =)