MOTU 2408mk3 Modification Review


"BLA people seem very down to earth and answer my emails quickly. I sent the unit in without the PCI card to get the ins and outs done as well as the clock. It took about a week. Just a note: I wanted to make sure everything was upgraded including the headphone amp because I work in headphones allot at night. Can't wake up wifey and kids. Matt assured me that the whole unit would be moded. Ins Outs Headphone amp and clock. OK cool. I will go forward.

You can tell they are a small company/group of techies that seem to know what they are talking about. Some of the answers to my questions could have been in Klingon and I would have said OK sounds good.

The "bad" stuff:
I got the unit back with this switch placed on the front. 'What the *%$@! OK it better sound good.' I did not know this would be done and wish I was told up front but I probably would have sent it in anyway.

It came with no instructions so I had to figure out what this new toggle switch was for. I figured out it was to switch between different sample rates. OK cool.

I hooked it up and I started hearing pops and clicks. I started getting pissed that I did this to myself but I must say that the sound was nice except for the pops of course. I hooked up my Rosetta to see if the clock was the problem and it got rid of the pops. It sounded delicious by the way. I emailed Matt about the clock issue.

He offered to have it returned at his cost to fix it saying that something must have happened in shipping. OK I like the accountability.

Then I get another email explaining that I must have not received the instruction sheet. He said that I must set up my software to 'EXTERNAL WORD CLOCK' Not internal. Strange but it worked and got rid of the clicks and pops. COOL!

The good stuff:
The thing sounds incredible. I'm going to sell my Rosetta! The real test is in the results. See I don't care if it sounds amazing through my monitors or headphones. What I care about is can I make mixing decisions based on what I am hearing. The answer is a resounding YES!!

My Dynaudios are translating the details terrifically and my very expensive Sennheiser HD 600 headphones finally seem worth the money.I have remixed two old tracks in two days and they are translating very well.

I am trusting what I am hearing and fixing little problems that I could not hear before. The detail is awesome. Some people sound under whelmed but this was not the case with me. As soon as it hit my ears I said Wholly Crap! Night and day to me.

I also own an RME Multiface which I was using while my 2408 was at BLA. My modded MOTU now blows the RME away. This is no easy feat seeing that the RME is a really good sounding unit.

As far as clocking to external clock it seemed to work well with my Rosetta. In fact I could not really tell the difference between the new clock and the Apogee which is why it will be on ebay soon."

--Danny Rivera
soulseeker.com