Motu

What other gear will you be using? The Traveler has 4 mic preamps, so consider if four inputs is adequate if you are not planning to use additional preamps.
 
dantewaters said:
Well I will be using -

Stereo Mic - http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=workaround.jsp&A=details&Q=&sku=68195&is=REG

Shot gun - http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=workaround.jsp&A=details&Q=&sku=367747&is=REG

Lavs - http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...ser_EW100ENGG2_A_Evolution_G2_100_Series.html

My biggest motivation is that it is portable and can work as a stand alone device.
Click to expand...

Stand alone but not a recorder AFAIK. You need something to record into such as a laptop. Is it battery operated? I don't think so but I'm not sure
 
I believe the Traveler is a stand-alone mixer, but not a recorder, as Steve said. While it has a second firewire port to connect a firewire drive or second interface, I don't think that doing so gives you stand alone recording capabilities--you still need to be connected to a laptop AFAIK to record.
 
I have a Traveler. It's a nice interface with somewhat decent (but not extremely high-gain) preamps. You DO need a computer to record to (you can use it standalone to do a 2-track mixdown to a MicroTrack via SPDIF, which is a pretty decent setup). And I wouldn't count on a laptop bus-powering BOTH the Traveler and a FW HD.

But with the included AudioDesk, or with BoomRecorder, etc., it's a nice cmputer-based multi-track setup. Remember, it only has 4 preamps... there are a recent plethora of 8-preamp FW-based interfaces from MOTU, PreSonus, ART, etc... but I don't think any are bus-powered.
 
dantewaters said:
So then the best thing would be then is to connect it to a solid state recorder like a marantz?
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No that would be a waste. It's an interface not a mixer. If you want to mix your sources down to two tracks then get a mixer and feed a recorder. If you have a Mac your better off getting the MOTU and Boom Recorder. If your on the PC? If you don't have either then forget the MOTU it won't be of much use.
 
It's not ideal, but doable. The benefit of the MOTU+MicroTrack combination is that you can have a SPDIF digital connection between the two, and really take advantage of the better analog circuitry and converters of the MOTU (as compared with the handheld recorders). As far as I know, the MicroTrack is the only device in its class that offers SPDIF input.

But, as has been said, the MOTU is NOT an ideal mixer. It DOES function as a standalone mixer (via the CUeMIX DSP), but the controls are not particularly convenient. So: this type of workflow is doable, and especially in a situation where you won't be riding the levels, it can be pretty useful. But a dedicated mixer will have better metering, better controls, limiters, more gain, etc. So; if that's what you've got, and you have to make it work, it can work. But if you're in the process of building a sound setup and investing in other equipment, it's not a good starting point to base other purchases around.
 
So what would you recommend I don't want to tote too many things around.

ullanta said:
It's not ideal, but doable. The benefit of the MOTU+MicroTrack combination is that you can have a SPDIF digital connection between the two, and really take advantage of the better analog circuitry and converters of the MOTU (as compared with the handheld recorders). As far as I know, the MicroTrack is the only device in its class that offers SPDIF input.

But, as has been said, the MOTU is NOT an ideal mixer. It DOES function as a standalone mixer (via the CUeMIX DSP), but the controls are not particularly convenient. So: this type of workflow is doable, and especially in a situation where you won't be riding the levels, it can be pretty useful. But a dedicated mixer will have better metering, better controls, limiters, more gain, etc. So; if that's what you've got, and you have to make it work, it can work. But if you're in the process of building a sound setup and investing in other equipment, it's not a good starting point to base other purchases around.
Click to expand...
 
if you do decide to record to a laptop, i would highly recomend the metric halo 2882 with dsp
mhlabs.com

more expensive than the motu, but the UI mixer is very customisable. in addition, the dsp is onboard the unit. parametric eqs, gates, compression etc which is very useful for live events. you can send tracks with fx to monitors and record another mix and iso tracks dry for post. it takes no resources from the computer.
 
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