MOTU Audio Express Review
MOTU’s latest audio box is small, but can it punch above its weight in the portable interface market? Hollin Jones finds out.
Price: £369.00
Manufacturer: MOTU
Website: http://www.motu.com
MOTU’s pedigree when it comes to audio interfaces is among the best around, with its 828 series sitting at the heart of many pro studios. For those with less space and a tighter budget (or for anyone making music on the move) the company also offers smaller solutions, its latest being the Audio Express, a hybrid FireWire/USB 2.0 multi-channel audio and MIDI device with some interesting features. Lightweight yet very solidly built, it would slip easily into a backpack but also comes with a half-rack mounting kit for securing it into a rack module.
One of the things the Audio Express can claim that is rather unusual – especially in a portable unit – is hybrid connectivity. There’s FireWire 400 (over which the unit can also draw power) and USB 2.0. A power supply is provided too, and the dual protocols give you the choice of the rather quicker FireWire or the more widely used USB 2.0. It’s a six-in, six-out device, so you’re not going to run into any real bandwidth limits even when using USB 2.0. On the rear panel you will find dual hybrid XLR/jack inputs, two 1/4-inch line ins and S/PDIF I/O as well as four independent 1/4-inch line-out jacks, a footswitch input and MIDI I/O ports. All of the physical audio I/O channels are available at the same time and operate independently, so there’s no need to choose whether to use it in one mode or another as there is with many other compact units.
Audio I/O is a familiar concept, but the Audio Express has some tricks up its sleeve when it comes to mixing. It essentially operates in a number of ways depending on the context in which you are using it. The front panel provides immediate, hands-on access to the volume of any input without you having to go to the computer, and you can control the mix volume independently of an input’s trim level. By pushing and holding the knobs on the front panel you can access a secondary function and so control not just level but also phantom power, mix, volume and pan for each channel.
There’s a CueMix DSP application provided so you can set things up in more detail. It runs under Mac OSX or Windows and enables you to get more creative with routing. You have the option of creating different mixes for different outputs, so you could, for instance, create a balanced mix to send to a PA in a live situation, but a different mix to go to the monitors. You can set up mixes for the main outs, line outs, digital outs and headphones, both onstage and in the studio, so there’s a lot of flexibility to give different people a mix that’s right for them. This is really useful, but usually found only in larger units. In practical situations it makes the Audio Express a very versatile box that punches well above its weight.
Stand alone
The other side to the mixing element of the unit is that it works even when not connected to a computer, so when it’s sitting there acting essentially as a mixer rather than an interface you still have control over all four mix busses and their volume, mute and solo parameters. The small physical size of the dials and the absence of backlighting on the left side of the front panel could make mixing on a dark stage a little trickier than is strictly necessary, but given that this is kind of a bonus feature, it’s certainly well worth having. The panel to the right contains detailed information about the current sample rate, levels and what is operating and currently selected. Although again quite small, this display gives far more information about what’s going on than you would usually find on such a compact device.On the record
Another issue that frequently comes up in recording is latency, but the Audio Express enables you to use its own audio mixing features to monitor your recording signal directly rather than through the DAW software, which is where latency generally arises. We tested this and it worked perfectly, the high-quality preamps offering crystal-clear recording quality all the way up to 96kHz. The combo inputs also have a -20dB pad and are capable of dealing with either active or passive inputs. The analogue trim circuits apply trim before the mixer and mix levels are controlled separately from trim.There are a couple of other interesting nuggets, such as a DSP-driven phase-lock engine that allows extremely accurate digital clocking, plus the ability to sync to SMPTE time code without a dedicated synchroniser unit. There’s a bundled MOTU SMPTE Console that enables you to connect other devices to your computer using the film industry’s standard protocol. The CueMix software also includes an onscreen tuner and some excellent audio-analysis tools, including real-time FFT, spectrographic, oscilloscope and linear-phase analysis.
For more I/O you can add a second Audio Express, and the drivers are written to ensure that audio streams from the two will not drift out of sync. You also get a bundled copy of AudioDesk, a fully featured and sample-accurate DAW workstation for the Mac (sorry, Windows users) to get you started. This is nice for Mac users but not especially a deal-breaker, since you’re almost certain to be running some flavour of other DAW in any case. Still, it would be nice if Windows users got something as well.
Express delivery?
The Audio Express is an excellent portable recording solution, with a feature set that you might not expect to find in a device this compact. The audio recording quality is excellent and there’s zero-latency monitoring thanks to its onboard mixing features. There’s a surprisingly fully featured set of I/O to be had, and even if the example setups on MOTU’s website may be a little optimistic in their scope, it’s certain that you can plug a lot of stuff into this box and it will all work without hassle. The key is in the independence of the audio channels and the ability to mix and route them separately, not in an either/or manner as you sometimes find on smaller units. The facility to mix directly from the front panel is certainly a plus and does make it possible to use as a live mixer and audio routing box onstage, even when it’s not connected to a computer. At its heart, though, this is a very powerful and remarkably accomplished audio interface that will give you lots of routing and recording options while taking up hardly any space. Use it as a hands-on mixer or with a professional recording console and you will find that it’s equally at home in either situation. MTM9/10 Verdict - An excellent portable audio interface with some additional pro-level features and intelligent mixing and routing options.
WHY BUY
+ Very portable+ Dual connectivity for use with different computers
+ Works as a standalone mixer
+ Great feedback on front panel
+ Very powerful and flexible creation of multiple mixes
+ Independent channel operation
+ Excellent sound quality
+ Easy to use
+ Good software control panel
+ Advanced SMPTE controls
+ Expandable
WALK ON BY
- No bundled DAW for Windows- A backlight on the front-panel knobs would be nice
Score: 9/10
This review first appeared in Music Tech Magazine issue 100
Filed under
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Audio Interfaces,
Hardware
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