PC Connection No.

of slots Analog I/O Total Digital IO ADAT TDIF SPDIF AEAS/EBU Midi A/D Resolution Built-In DSP/Fx Phantom Power Video Price (New)

MOTU 424/2408 mk3 PCIe (424 Card Included) 1 8/8 (1/4 TRS) 30/30 24 Ch. - 3/3 (Optical/8 Channel) 24 Ch. 2/4 None None 24 Bit / 96kHz Yes N/A Video and SMPTE sync $ 950

RME (HDSPs) Raydat PCIe 2 None 36/36 32 Ch. - 4/4 (Optical/8 channel) none 1x (Coax) 1x (XLR) In/Out 24-bit/192kHz Yes No No $ 850

With one Raydat card and 4x ADA8ks you can get a 64 Channel system going 32/32 Conclusion Both brands are famous for rugged reliability. The MOTU represents more value since you get 8 analog I/O with the card for 100$ more than the raydat. The Motu does not have a MIDI I/O, so if a control surface is required you would have to get a separate midi I/O. MOTU 424 normally goes with the 2408 mk3 or the 24I/O as it requires a proprietary connection between the card and the break-out box. According to some on the forum you still require Additional Pre-amps for microphones as the analog inputs are line-level inputs only. (This has to be confirmed). This means that you would need at least another $400 to add say 2 Behringer mic Pres. You now pay for the ADA stage 2x (once in the Mic Pre and again in the MOTU 2408) The Raydat combined with 4x Behringer ADA8000s provides 32 analog I/Os, although you have to add about $880 for the ADA8ks. This seem to be the preferred option, since you get more analog I/O for a similar price.

Definitions SPDIF Sony Phillips Digital interface - is a two-channel consumer format that uses either coaxial phono or Toslink optical connectors, and is useful for connecting DAT or MiniDisc recorders, CD players and rack effects with digital interfacing, as well as a few keyboards or synths that offer digital output options. ADAT Alesis Digital Audio Tape - uses an identical Toslink optical connector to the S/PDIF format, but supports up to eight simultaneous digital audio channels, which is a great way to cater for future expansion without breaking the bank. ADAT normally only supports sample rates up to 48kHz S/MUX (Sample Multiplexing) - technology that can optionally combine two ADAT channels to carry a single 24-bit/96kHz signal, enabling them to offer 96kHz support with half the number of channels. AES-EBU (Audio Engineering Society/European Broadcasting Union), another stereo format complementing more professional gear such as A-D and D-A converters and various multitrack digital recorders, and word clock, for those with lots of digital gear that could benefit from being clocked from one central source. TDIF - The Tascam Digital Interconnect Format (TDIF) is a proprietary format connector defined by TASCAM that is unbalanced and uses a 25-pin D-sub cable to transmit and/or receive up to eight channels of digital audio between compatible devices. Unlike the ADAT lightpipe connection, TDIF uses a bidirectional connection, meaning that only one cable is required to connect the eight ins and outs of one device or another.

Sources http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep08/articles/audiointerfaces.htm SAC user forums OEM Pages

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