Motu Track16 Review

To read the full detailed review with sound samples see:  MOTU Track16 Review

Track16 is the latest addition to Motu’s range of audio interfaces. The numerous features announced by the manufacturer are very appealing. Let’s see how they translate in the real world!

How Does it Sound?

 

Test system MacBook Pro QuadCore i7 2.7 GHz OS 10.6.8 Motu Track 16 Motu CueMix FX 1.6 52865 Logic Pro 9.1.7

 

Let’s make a first attempt with a Cort Jumbo acoustic guitar (thanks to Nico for his guitars and his presence in front of the mic!) captured by a TLM-103, a mic with an excellent signal-to-noise ratio. Note that you can’t achieve max gain via the control on the interface itself and once you close the window (for example to get free space on your screen), there is nothing on the interface to recall CueMix…

Now let’s have a listen…

…

Conclusion

Let’s start with the negatives, for example the bulky and rigid D-Sub cable that takes a lot of space on a table or mixer. That’s certainly a pity for a product sold as a desktop interface. Moreover, sometimes there are audio clicks and I was not able to find the reason why (except when you power on/off). The main drawback is the buzz followed by clicks when you increase the trim setting of the Hi-Z inputs. The quality of the mic preamps equals the quality of similar interfaces at the same price-point. You’ll be able to work without constraints, even if the preamps don’t quite reach the performance of the ones on comparable RME or TC interfaces. However, an ideal solution would be to add an external preamp via the ADAT interface.

Putting that aside, this audio interface offers many advantages. First of all, the number of ins/outs and the way they can be managed from the interface itself. The construction seems pretty sturdy, which is reassuring, especially considering that in this price range you can find several plastic boxes with knobs that fall off… The software is quite impressive, even if it lacks some features, like a real routing matrix for example. Nonetheless, the eight buses, high-quality effects, measurement tools, SMPTE LTC sync, the possibility to save setup presets, etc. make the combination of CueMix FX and Track16 a very useful tool.

Advantages: 

• Perfect construction
• Impeccable “toggle display” function
• Quality converters
• Immediate mute of the current channel by pushing the knob
• Excellent display features
• 32-bit, floating-point internal processing
• Powerful and effective CueMix FX software
• Zero-latency monitoring
• Working with a 32-sample buffer size is not a problem
• Perfect design
• Quality of the effects
• Eight independent mixing buses
• SMPTE (LTC) sync via single 1/4″ jack
• Audiodesk 3 included
• 24 bits/192 kHz
• ADAT S/Mux

Drawbacks:

• Audio clicks from time to time and when powering on/off
• Strange behavior (buzz and clicks) of the Hi-Z Trim controls without a signal present
• Floor-noise of the preamps is a bit high
• No real routing matrix
• ADAT switching system not always reliable
• D-Sub cable: too rigid and without color marks

To read the full detailed review with sound samples see:  MOTU Track16 Review