Guys if you want a audio interface Motu bat well above their weight.  I have an ultralite and whilst the preamps arn't gold the different options available so you can connect better preamps make this a humdinger.

IMHO the octo core or anything with multiple preamps except perhaps the presonus stuff are not worth the money.  I base this argument on what do you want? 50 cent preamps or do you want the money spent on better clock components and converters.

I have a test list showing the various specs of most of the audio interface on the market if you are interested I will post a link.  Sorry I'm on my tablet and I don't have access to my favourite list but if you are interested let me know and I will post the link.

Peace Ben 

fireberd


I bought an Octa-Capture about two months ago, to replace a dead Saffire Pro 40 (firewire).   Craig Anderton has a very in depth review of the Octa-Capture on harmony central. 

Indeed I do...it's a pro review with specs and all that good stuff.
I've been very happy with it. You can't go wrong with either the Octa or the RME so the feature set is what will make the difference. My fave Octa-Capture features:
 
* Auto-sens. At first I hought it was a gimmick, I was wrong.
* 5-pin MIDI I/O
* Expands the V-Studio 700 with zero issues
* Eight mic pres with individual phantom power for each mic
* Doesn't take up much space
* Low latency

Anderton

fireberd


I bought an Octa-Capture about two months ago, to replace a dead Saffire Pro 40 (firewire).   Craig Anderton has a very in depth review of the Octa-Capture on harmony central. 

Indeed I do...it's a pro review with specs and all that good stuff.
I've been very happy with it. You can't go wrong with either the Octa or the RME so the feature set is what will make the difference. My fave Octa-Capture features:
 
* Auto-sens. At first I hought it was a gimmick, I was wrong.
* 5-pin MIDI I/O
* Expands the V-Studio 700 with zero issues
* Eight mic pres with individual phantom power for each mic
* Doesn't take up much space
* Low latency

Hey Craig,
Have you expanded your V700 with an Octa-Capture with the latest firmware without any issues? If so I would love to see what your settings and physical interconnects are to compare them to my failed attempts to get this to work properly with the newest firmware. They used to work flawlessly together. Now it is a disaster still and no support from Roland. I am about ready to dive in and try to beat on it again to make it work right but any help would be greatly appreciated.


Ken

How are the OctaCapture preamps compared to the old Laya24? Noticeable difference?

The preamps on the OCTApus are pretty much neutral (which is what we want) except when you boost the gain, you can hear some white noise but the gain has to really be pumping... you should do some other gain staging prior to the preamp though if you need to pump the gain that high.... 

Below these extreme gain settings, the OCTApus is very quiet.

Jim

inaheartbeat

Hey Craig,
Have you expanded your V700 with an Octa-Capture with the latest firmware without any issues? If so I would love to see what your settings and physical interconnects are to compare them to my failed attempts to get this to work properly with the newest firmware. They used to work flawlessly together. Now it is a disaster still and no support from Roland. I am about ready to dive in and try to beat on it again to make it work right but any help would be greatly appreciated.


Ken

First of all, have you downloaded the 2.0.1 driver for the VS-700? If you're still on 2.0.0, then trying to do expand will give a "version does not match" error message.
 
Second, in Preferences, Sonar does not show the words "Octa-Capture." The OC I/O is referred to as "VS-700 EXP" so if you just glance at preferences, you might not think the OC is there.
 
If you have the 2.0.1 driver and are still experiencing problems, circle back and we'll go to the next level. Do remember the VS-700 and OC USB have to feed off the same USB contoller.
 
Everything works perfectly here, so it's definitely possible :)
 

 

Lanceindastudio


The RME is the bets choice, but OctaCapture is the next choice imho!

Lance

+123456789

Anderton

inaheartbeat

Hey Craig,
Have you expanded your V700 with an Octa-Capture with the latest firmware without any issues? If so I would love to see what your settings and physical interconnects are to compare them to my failed attempts to get this to work properly with the newest firmware. They used to work flawlessly together. Now it is a disaster still and no support from Roland. I am about ready to dive in and try to beat on it again to make it work right but any help would be greatly appreciated.


Ken

First of all, have you downloaded the 2.0.1 driver for the VS-700? If you're still on 2.0.0, then trying to do expand will give a "version does not match" error message.
 
Second, in Preferences, Sonar does not show the words "Octa-Capture." The OC I/O is referred to as "VS-700 EXP" so if you just glance at preferences, you might not think the OC is there.
 
If you have the 2.0.1 driver and are still experiencing problems, circle back and we'll go to the next level. Do remember the VS-700 and OC USB have to feed off the same USB contoller.
 
Everything works perfectly here, so it's definitely possible :)
 

 

Craig,
My bad on the way I worded this so let me be more specific. I am trying to use two Octa-Captures together at the same time rather than a VS-700 and an Octa-Capture. I have had major problems making them play together since I updated the firmware and driver to 2.0. They had been working perfectly with the original 1.0 drivers and firmware.


Ken

So, if you use many VSTi's in a project and then use lots of VSTs to mix, I have found that in order to track MIDI performances in real time and get the latency manageable, I need to DISABLE all FX in the bins to be able to use a controller to record a MIDI track without much latency.  This wasn't working for me so,

I setup another computer to RUN a VSTi in standalone mode and then split my controller MIDI output to both computers... 

this way, I am able to keep my SONAR track mixed with all of the FX, listen to it and then play my new TRACK part and use the standalone computer to trigger the sounds of the MIDI PART and then only use SONAR to record the MIDI part.  I have both audio outputs being sent to an outboard summing mixer so I can monitor my new part and hear the project audio at the same time.

Works like a charm and I have SUPER LOW latency this way since my standalone VSTi COMPUTER is running nothing else other than a standalone version of my VSTi.

Disabling the FX in SONAR is the only other option which took the groove out of the project.

WORKS GREAT by the WAY.

Jim

Anderton

inaheartbeat

Hey Craig,
Have you expanded your V700 with an Octa-Capture with the latest firmware without any issues? If so I would love to see what your settings and physical interconnects are to compare them to my failed attempts to get this to work properly with the newest firmware. They used to work flawlessly together. Now it is a disaster still and no support from Roland. I am about ready to dive in and try to beat on it again to make it work right but any help would be greatly appreciated.


Ken

First of all, have you downloaded the 2.0.1 driver for the VS-700? If you're still on 2.0.0, then trying to do expand will give a "version does not match" error message.
 
Second, in Preferences, Sonar does not show the words "Octa-Capture." The OC I/O is referred to as "VS-700 EXP" so if you just glance at preferences, you might not think the OC is there.
 
If you have the 2.0.1 driver and are still experiencing problems, circle back and we'll go to the next level. Do remember the VS-700 and OC USB have to feed off the same USB contoller.
 
Everything works perfectly here, so it's definitely possible :)
 

 

Hi Craig!
 
I hope your system (VS-700 + Octa-Capture) still works as nicely as described and you might help me out as I cannot get mine to work even reasonably.
 
FYI, I did read the manual, install everything as documented (2.0.1 driver), hook it up accordingly, set sync source to DIGITAL 1 on the VS-700 ...
 
What I get is a totally mediocre / practically unusable latency i.e. I have to increase the ASIO buffer so much (up to 1024 as 512 still pops and cracks) that the latency is beyond anything you could use for tracking real instruments.
 
This really puzzles me as the Octa-Capture did work nicely when paired with the VS-100 in my mobile rig, but with VS-700 it does not (same PC, only longer COAX cable and different USB 2.0 hub ... but I tried to swap the later 2 without success).
 
Is my PC so under-spec'd for VS-700 + OctaCapture (manual say Intel(R)Core(TM)2 Quad or better) or is there something else that's wrong ...???
 
I'd very much appreciate help from your end or from other fellow VS-700 owners
 
Rob