MOTU 624 Review
Thunderbolt/USB 3.0 Audio Interface with AVB
Highlighted Customer Reviews
Showing 1 to 2 of 2 Reviews
Works with Thunderbolt 2 on Windows 7
MOTU 624 - Thunderbolt and USB Audio Interface with AVB Networking and DSP (16 x 16, 2 Mic)
Reviewed by Edward on B&H Photo Video
Just purchased the Motu 624 after scouring the internet for days looking for information on a Thunderbolt audio interface that would work with Windows 7. Information on this topic is very sparse since nearly all Thunderbolt interfaces are being used on Apple Macintosh PCs. Motu lists Windows 10 as the minimum requirement for using this unit on a Windows PC equipped with Thunderbolt. I am using this interface on an HP Z-238 workstation running Windows 7 64 bit with the HP Thunderbolt 2 PCIe card installed (HP part #F3F43AT). The interface is working just fine with no evident issues and very low latency. I am using the latest Motu Pro Audio installer package (v4.0.82000) and the drivers it installs work fine on Windows 7 64 bit, running Pro Tools 12 as my DAW and using Apple's (MD861LL/A) Thunderbolt 2 cable. After doing some initial latency tests using Oblique Audio's RTL utility I can report that the Thunderbolt connection shaves about 1ms off the latency times versus using USB 3. Not a huge amount but significant if you are comparing 4ms vs 5ms (25% less). For users of Windows 7 make sure that your PCs motherboard supports Thunderbolt and also be sure the PC manufacturer offers a Thunderbolt card for that system. Thunderbolt on Windows 7 and early versions of Windows 10 works in BIOS Assist mode as opposed to the newer Native mode. This requires that your BIOS and motherboard chipset support Thunderbolt. Also, Thunderbolt PCIe cards, at least on my PC, require an addtional connection between the card and the motherboard via a jumper cable supplied with the card which plugs into a multi-pin header on the motherboard. The printing next to the header on my motherboard specifically states Thunderbolt. As far as I can tell, the whole Thunderbolt situation on Windows PCs is a bit murky and not very well documented with little technical information available. I hope this review helps those of you considering a Thunderbolt interface on a Windows 7 platform. As for my initial impressions on the 624 interface itself, I am impressed. The unit is very well constructed and has a myriad of routing options via its internal mixer. My initial test recordings (Pro Tools 12) using a Rode NT1-1 are very clean so Motu appears to have done a great job on the pre-amps and converters. Their web browser based control software works wonderfully and their drivers appear to be solid and optimized. All in all a great upgrade from my previous interfaces and well worth the investment. ... More
Noisy Preamps
MOTU 624 - Thunderbolt and USB Audio Interface with AVB Networking and DSP (16 x 16, 2 Mic)
Reviewed by tAp p. on B&H Photo Video
Preamps add some noise to sound
Ads
