I've been holding off on upgrading my interface for far too long.
 
The MOTU 8M caught my eye a few months ago, as it offered Thunderbolt AND USB 2.0 connectivity - and has all the I/O I need. But they hadn't released Windows drivers until just recently.
 
My PC doesn't have Thunderbolt. And for all I know, this might never be an option for my Windows lifestyle.
 
I thought I'd simply use the USB 2.0 option in the 8M, until one of two things happens - either 1) Windows manufacturers get on board with TB - or - 2) I buy a Mac. 
 
I'd love to hear from the more technical folks on the forum. I really need a new interface, as mine is slowly fading away. I've consulted the forum for advice in the past, regarding interfaces/thunderbolt/USB - but now that MOTU has drivers, I'd really like to act quickly. Thanks
 
 

This is exciting news. I use MOTU now, but I am somewhat su****ious of their commitment to Windows drivers.
 
It will be interesting to see how this works out, but the fact that they have Windows USB drivers and not Thunderbolt indicates to me that they have abandoned the idea of monitoring round trip through the DAW in favor of the CueMix hardware mixer approach.
 
That seems like a 2005 mindset to me.
 
It's 2014 and I want 2.0ms round trip through the DAW.
 
:-)

I'm picking up a 1248 in  a couple of days and hope to play around with it over the holiday's.  I'll report back on my impressions.
 
Cheers,
 
jayson

I went ahead and bought the 8M from Sweetwater. Right out of the box, I had to update the firmware (in order to use it in a Windows environment). First impressions are good. It's a solid machine.It has all the I/O I need. The USB drivers appear to be solid (knocks on wood), though I haven't maxed out to record 24 simultaneous inputs yet.
 
My other non-DAW computer is a macbook is from 2012 (pre-Thunderbolt). I have Logic Pro X, but only use it to pass projects around within the band. But the 8M works great on it too. I'll be waiting until Apple gets the Skylake chips later this year before I buy a thunderbolt computer. I'm curious to know if the MOTU 8M thunderbolt will work in Bootcamp, or if I'll have to depend on Logic for more and more of my work.
 
The MOTU can also pass audio via Ethernet (on any current Mac as long as it also has Thunderbolt). And I believe it does this without any additional AVB switches. I'm not 100% on the details, because I don't intend to use this function anytime soon.
 
The fact that it is web-based means I can more easily control monitor mixes through a separate laptop or tablet or smart phone. Now if only I had a better web-based remote control for Sonar's transport, then I'd be set (I currently use Splashtop remote desktop for this though). 

I hope you like it for many years to come.
 
If you have a chance I am very curious to learn the answer to this question: What is the total round trip latency in Windows when using a 64 sample buffer when doing a loop back test?
 
 

New thunderbolt 2 Asus card for PC:  http://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/ThunderboltEX_IIDUAL/
 
under 100 semoles!

I've had thunderbolt built right in to my Gigabyte motherboard for almost two years.
 
The big question is: will the Thunderbolt on my motherboard actually perform while running Windows?
 
Then the other question is: Will MOTU ever provide a Windows Thunderbolt driver? MOTU never delivered on their promise for full featured 1394 Firewire. MOTU abandoned Windows Firewire yet continued to advertise a full feature set for two or three years after they knew what needed to be done.

mike_mccueThe big question is: will the Thunderbolt on my motherboard actually perform while running Windows?
 
Then the other question is: Will MOTU ever provide a Windows Thunderbolt driver?

Yep, those are on my mind as well. I'd read that in order to use TB for audio like this, it needs to be part of the motherboard. The add-on cards may still be great for file transfers though, and I'll have to look into it either way.
 
To be perfectly honest though, I bought the 8M under the assumption that I'd be working on a mac by the end of the year. For now, the USB/Windows is working. I'm holding out hope (but not holding my breath) that maybe, just maybe, MOTU will have a TB driver that I can use in 'Windows' via bootcamp. I would make a joke about having my "Cake" and eating it too - but I'm just not that clever.
 
The ball is really in "Windows" court as far as I'm concerned. If MOTU saw a market for Windows/TB drivers, they'd almost certainly provide one. Maybe there are super secret projects underway to bring TB or ethernet audio to Windows, who knows?
 
 

Little bump on this thread. Motu recently launched the ultralite avb and they updated their USB drivers on windows BUT no support of audio over avb-ethernet on windows yet! Avb is an open standard and looks very effective and this little unit by motu seems to suggestions that prices might drop a little.
 
Will windows manufacturers adopt this standard more seriously or not? Is avb on windows 10's roadmap at all?