1 Topic by margaretwarren (edited by margaretwarren 2024-08-14 03:59:52)

  • Registered: 2024-08-13
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Topic: MOTU 624 vs RME UCX ii (or other options?)

So I'm looking to upgrade my interface. Been working with a Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 for 5 years now and am not happy with the driver stability. I switch between Mac and PC often, so stability on both is a must. Is the RME UCX ii really worth nearly double that of the MOTU 624? Is there anything else in this price range I'm not seeing? Particularly looking for something half-rack sized (the babyface pro just looks like a cable octopus sitting on a slope game desk) with super low latency, ADAT in/out (to utilize my Focusrite's i/o) and good driver stability.

2 Reply by ramses (edited by ramses 2024-08-13 11:20:36)

  • ramses
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Re: MOTU 624 vs RME UCX ii (or other options?)

1st of all welcome to the RME user forum.

May I ask, how many and what type of I/O ports you need? What use cases do you have?

I do not know what you heard about RME .. let me perhaps give you a short intro what I can say about RME after many years of use.

Compared to the competition, RME products are very good in all areas (hardware, drivers, software, documentation, support).

The products are very well designed. They have the advantage of being built internally with FPGA chips. These are programmable CPUs that also handle communication with the computer. This means among other things that RME is not dependent on 3rd party suppliers of communication chips (which causes sometimes issues or slower RTL times).
Any errors on the recording interface side can be fixed by RME through flash updates which reprogram the FPGA(s).
Some products offer FX, then they have a 2nd FPGA for that purpose, which is BTW being used in some product, to support the new Room EQ feature and cross-feed. The UCX II is also one of the interfaces supporting Room EQ.

In addition, there is the unprecedentedly long driver support, for some products already over 20 years. It should also not be underestimated that the digital mixer software (TotalMix FX) has been optimized for over 20 years and is in use for all products. As a rule, products from other manufacturers do not have such a high level of maturity and ofter a much shorter product lifecycle (after that no support or significant changes). RME is known for adding here and there additional functionalities to make the interfaces even better.

The products also boast excellent technical data. The UCX II you mentioned has preamps that are comparable to the flagship model UFX II with a 75 dB gain range. And it has features that were previously reserved for the flagship products UFX II and UFX III: DURec (Direct USB Recording). You can record directly to an external USB stick or hard disk. Either use the UCX II standalone as a recorder or use DURec as a backup parallel to DAW recording.

The UCX II can also be used stand-alone (without a computer) and can be operated via the display. If you use the ADAT port for a preamp, you still have the AES port free to use in the future for connecting e.g. one of the reference converters (ADI-2 DAC FS, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE or ADI-2/4 Pro SE). Those devices have very nice features for your monitoring with active monitors and headphones.

The offering also includes software as DIGIcheck NG, which is free of charge, a collection of audio analysis tools..
Also available TotalMix Remote, using this softare on remote computers in the network you can remote control TotalMix FX on the computer where the recording interface is connected to.

I used different solutions in the past, also Focusrite (LS 56). RME is by far the best and a reliable solution with extremely well driver and software support.

Running out of time this morning .. sorry can't "polish" the text. RME products and the UCX II in particular, are a good choice.

My setup here: https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/ent … iii-en-de/

For further comparison of different RME FW/TB/USB recording interfaces (legacy and current), see my Excel here:
https://forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.php?id=35156

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub14

3 Reply by vinark (edited by vinark 2024-08-13 07:34:18)

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Re: MOTU 624 vs RME UCX ii (or other options?)

The rme is worth it, and I do like my Babyface for its form factor. The 624 is not available anymore so a little bit unfair to compare. The 828 is about the same price as the ucx. But not driver wise. Although honestly my ultra lite mk3 FireWire worked fine.
Totalmix is so much better then the motu mixer, at least for me.

Hi Ramses we posted at the same time. Not trying to add or improve on your answer

Vincent, Amsterdam
https://soundcloud.com/thesecretworld
BFpro fs, 2X HDSP9652 ADI-8AE, 2X HDSP9632
  • ramses
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Re: MOTU 624 vs RME UCX ii (or other options?)

vinark wrote:

The rme is worth it, and I do like my Babyface for its form factor. The 624 is not available anymore so a little bit unfair to compare. The 828 is about the same price as the ucx. But not driver wise. Although honestly my ultra lite mk3 FireWire worked fine.
Totalmix is so much better then the motu mixer, at least for me.

Hi Ramses we posted at the same time. Not trying to add or improve on your answer

+1 nP :-)

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub14
  • JSR
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Re: MOTU 624 vs RME UCX ii (or other options?)

I moved to RME RayDAT almost 10 years ago and have not had a single issue with stability. I connect I/O over ADAT in the same way as you propose to re-use the Focusrite. Up to that point I had spent a lot of money on other interfaces, but also wasted a lot of time troubleshooting driver issues. In the meantime, none of these other products have manufacturer support, and also Firewire itself (for my MOTUs) has been deprecated in the OS.

The extra cost for RME is easily saved in terms of never having to worry about drivers or the planned obsolescence of other manufacturers' products.