MOTU 896HD Review
Recently, I recorded an album for a ska band. I used the MOTU 896HD with a Creation Station Dual Core 2.6. I was amazed at the functionality of this interface. I started out with drums. After miking the drums, I still had two mic pres available to do scratch tracks for guitar and vocals. We ended up even keeping the scratch guitar track!
On the front panel of the interface, there are eight switches for phantom power, one for each channel. This was extremely convenient when I was recording the trombone and trumpet. I used a combination of an SM57 and a ribbon mic. I didn’t have to worry about frying the ribbon mic with phantom power because of the individual switches. Also, the bassist was unable to come to any studio sessions, but he had an old ADAT. So I sent him rough mixes, then he recorded the bass parts on the ADAT. I used the ADAT Optical in on the 896HD to transfer the files over.
While using the 896HD, I discovered that it worked flawlessly with all the DAWs I own. I like to record in SONAR and mix in Nuendo. Even though I didn’t have a chance to use it, this interface also has AES/EBU I/O, and word clock I/O. Especially at this price, the MOTU 896HD is perfect for my studio!
