The MOTU is a lot less and seems to have more features but I guess to fork out that kind of money for either which one do you think would have more life support.   I've never had a MOTU or an RME.   RME seems to always support their legacy products with drivers.  Does MOTU have that history?

cannot speak as to motu...
 
that was in the running when i bought my babyface pro.
 
all i can say is, the rme just blows me away with it's sound,
the software is DEEP, and it's cool to have effects that don't print, or do,
and zero latency monitoring (practically) is sweet too.
 
 

I'm a MOTU guy... Ultralite AVB and it is flawless with ultra low latency nice software and excellent support. As for long term support, I would take a look at MOTU's driver download page and base your decision on that. Same as for any other manufacturer.

MOTU has had very good support and drivers for the past 8 years or so. The only better brand on the PC for drivers is RME. Having owned MOTU products before, I can definitely say the sound of the new RME units are a good step up. The build quality is also quite a bit better, being manufactured in Germany rather than China.

Jim Roseberry wrote a lengthy piece on the MOTU.
It's a quality piece of gear.
I have the RME UFX (studio) and Babyface in the office.
Never regretted paying what "quality " costs.
For me the convenience of having my studio rig recognize the Babyface instantly when it's in the office for updates is "priceless"!
But, If I was shopping, I'd check the MOTU out.
RME drivers are flawless.
Sounds like the MOTU drivers are as well.
T

If you want a low priced, high quality interface, I HIGHLY
recommend the Audient ID4 or above.  For $200 for the ID4,
you get class A Preamps and converters, and a JFET DI
and Neutrik on the Mic input on the ID4, has DAW parameter Control,
and it's built like a tank!  And you get $500 worth of plugins!
It's a STEAL!  Pure quality for peanuts by comparison.  Don't take
my word for it, check out the reviews!

rumleymusic
MOTU has had very good support and drivers for the past 8 years or so. The only better brand on the PC for drivers is RME. Having owned MOTU products before, I can definitely say the sound of the new RME units are a good step up. The build quality is also quite a bit better, being manufactured in Germany rather than China.

My MOTU Ultralite AVB says "Made In USA" on the box....
 
https://imgur.com/a/thtTz
 
 

cclarry
If you want a low priced, high quality interface, I HIGHLY
recommend the Audient ID4 or above.  For $200 for the ID4,
you get class A Preamps and converters, and a JFET DI
and Neutrik on the Mic input on the ID4, has DAW parameter Control,
and it's built like a tank!  And you get $500 worth of plugins!
It's a STEAL!  Pure quality for peanuts by comparison.  Don't take
my word for it, check out the reviews!

 I have Steinberg UR22  that is a nice unit.   My concern is 8 years from now will a unit be a doorstop.  With RME that is not the case.  Interesting that as long as board have PCI slots my M-Audio cards still function. Those were only $99.  My Yamaha SW1000XG at $500 became a doorstop when they wouldn't function with an nVidia 2 chipset or an Intel 915 chipset.  Yamaha is the king of no legacy support.

My MOTU Ultralite AVB says "Made In USA" on the box....

 
Well, that's new.  Maybe it was just the 828mkii I used to have.  I stand corrected. 

 I have Steinberg UR22  that is a nice unit.   My concern is 8 years from now will a unit be a doorstop.  With RME that is not the case.  Interesting that as long as board have PCI slots my M-Audio cards still function. Those were only $99.  My Yamaha SW1000XG at $500 became a doorstop when they wouldn't function with an nVidia 2 chipset or an Intel 915 chipset.  Yamaha is the king of no legacy support.

Yeah, it doesn't help that Steinberg IS Yamaha now. I had an MR816x that had no more support after one update for windows 7.  The drivers were terrible on any Windows operating system.  It gave me so much trouble on one gig, I immediately replaced it with a UFX.