windsurfer25x
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Anyone using a Steinburg MR816 X?
I was just talking to a guy at a local store. He said that this interface sounds better than his Apogee Ensemble and that he's going to sell it and get this instead, it's also half the price!
Yes it has some special features and integration for Cubase but it can be used with anything, kind of like the V-Studio stuff and Sonar.
Anyways, I was just curious if anyone else had tried this?
Thanks.
Aaron
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Jim Roseberry
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Re:Anyone using a Steinburg MR816 X?
2010/02/03 21:21:42
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Yes, it's absolutely killer at the new $700 price point.
Low round-trip latency, solid drivers, good converters...
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David
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Re:Anyone using a Steinburg MR816 X?
2010/02/03 21:55:16
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yes, I have mine for a couple of weeks totally loving it. I was using a mackie onyx 1220
I run a lower latencies and the sound is awesome. ( my room is very well treated :)
It is simple to use , nice to have the built in reverb for monitoring.
I can only compare preamps with the mackie which are good but i do like the mr816 better. They are not as harsh but nice and clean.
The only problem I have is that , if I shut off the mr818 before shutting down my computer the computer will lock up and I am unable to shut down my computer through normal ways.
I absolutely recommend it!
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windsurfer25x
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Re:Anyone using a Steinburg MR816 X?
2010/02/04 13:07:37
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The only negative thing I've read about it thus far is that there is no way to bypass the internal pre's. So if you have a nice outboard mic pre you want to use, plugging it in a line in will not bypass the pres.
Not a huge problem for me seeing as I only have one nice pre... a UA Solo 110, but I suppose for the guys that have quite a few nice pres it might be a problem
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Jim Roseberry
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Re:Anyone using a Steinburg MR816 X?
2010/02/05 05:47:55
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The only negative thing I've read about it thus far is that there is no way to bypass the internal pre's. So if you have a nice outboard mic pre you want to use, plugging it in a line in will not bypass the pres. FWIW, You'll find that same scenario with almost all units that have onboard preamps. The MOTU 896HD was one of the few exceptions (allows total bypass of each onboard preamp) The 896mkIII (unfortunately) eliminated this feature.
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David
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Re:Anyone using a Steinburg MR816 X?
2010/02/05 22:19:14
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If you only need to use 2 preamps you can use the effects return on the unit, (Channel one and two have an effects send/ return)
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jyoung
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Re:Anyone using a Steinburg MR816 X?
2010/02/10 16:20:20
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I've been using the MR816 CSX for about a year now. Excellent unit, solid drivers, and pres are very good. A great value IMHO. The added bonus for me is the tight integration with Cubase 
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jjs77
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Re:Anyone using a Steinburg MR816 X?
2011/03/08 15:47:08
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Jim Roseberry
The only negative thing I've read about it thus far is that there is no way to bypass the internal pre's. So if you have a nice outboard mic pre you want to use, plugging it in a line in will not bypass the pres.
FWIW, You'll find that same scenario with almost all units that have onboard preamps.
The MOTU 896HD was one of the few exceptions (allows total bypass of each onboard preamp)
The 896mkIII (unfortunately) eliminated this feature.
Hi Jim, I'm seriously considering the MR816x and in researching it read a lot of posts about this bypass issue. I own an avalon 737sp with 1 xlr out and I'm wondering what is the best way to connect it to the mr816x. Should I be considering a fireface instead because of this? I use the avalon a lot, but really like the idea of having decent pres for stereo recordings. I also record real drums though samples and triggering is becoming very very attractive (a whole other topic of confusion for me in choosing the best interface for my needs). thanks in advance and best wishes, dave
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Jim Roseberry
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Re:Anyone using a Steinburg MR816 X?
2011/03/08 19:50:45
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Hi Dave,
The only way to completely bypass the MR816's onboard preamps is to use the channel inserts on inputs 1 & 2.
If you have the budget for a Fireface... those are excellent units.
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rumleymusic
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Re:Anyone using a Steinburg MR816 X?
2011/03/10 12:34:36
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I wouldn't recommend running an external pre into the preamps of the 816. I tried it a couple times and even with the pad and the gain all the way down, you run the risk of clipping the input. I eventually decided to run anything other than mics into an external converter and go in digitally.
The Steinberg has a fantastic sound but a few drawbacks. One is that the driver development has traditionally be rather poor. It has the highest rate in instability of any interface I have ever used. XP drivers are solid, Win 7 drivers (esp. 64bit) need a lot of work. Preamps sound very nice, but like most inexpensive interfaces get noisy at high gain.
A minor gripe I have, is the digital connectivity is not so well thought out. You can't use 8channels of ADAT and spdif at the same time, you have to cut it to 6. There is also only 1 ADAT out so 8 channels of digital IO at 88.2/96 is not an option. Which limits its use as an external pre/converter.
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