MOTU M4 Unbox and Workout

[@smalltown4855]

Came for the interface, stayed for the song at the end. Nice one.

[@bzakie2]

Great song. For someone who said they’re not a good singer....you’re an awesome singer dude.

[@nateplaysguitar3600]

I would buy the song shiit😂😂

[@christianbeaumont5318]

yeah, great track and sounds a bit like Belle and Sebastian "The Boy With The Arab Strap".

[@luisalmeida2866]

Not a good singer, but gets the job done :D

[@motuTV]

We love this review on the MOTU M4! If you have some time, please let me know how I can personally get in touch with you about this specific unit you have. Matt - MOTU

[@YHRS]

Hey thanks so much! That means a lot, especially coming from you :) You can contact me at the (rather lengthy) email address [e-mail] if you'd like to get in touch personally. Thank you!

[@motuTV]

@@YHRS Thank you so much - I'll be in touch soon!

[@heroes_and_villians]

motuTV I just picked up an M4 because of this review!

[@Adamjohnnnn]

@@heroes_and_villians Same here!

[@SlinkiestTortoise23]

@@motuTV Are you gonna sort out his wobbly knob? Nobody should have to suffer their knob wobbling! What a great company if you do!

[@FireMcFoxlin]

Amazing video, thank you so much! This has been the most informative video on how the actual device performs and a great review without giving it like a review score. Definitely an interface I’m going to be getting.

[@CaptainJCRage]

absolutely the best review of this unit I found so far. Subbed to your channel.

[@YHRS]

Awesome, thank you!

[@wahleed4915]

Man, The song. I genuinely thought it was a song on spotify so I started looking for it like for 20 minutes. Lovin It!

[@sabatheus]

Specialization is for insects! Play all the instruments! Also, great review of the MOTU M4. I'm sold.

[@gamingmarcus]

Great review! This one is definitely on my list. One positive I'd like to mention from a different review is that despite being USB powered this thing has a really impressive headphone AMP. It can drive virtually any headphone, which is often times not the case with competitors like the scarlets

[@devinbehrens9931]

Definitely picking up either an M2 or M4 because of this review. This video was extremely informational and helpful. Thank you!

[@RicSolivan]

Stopped by for the MOTU M4 tech review, which was fantastic, but was blown away by your talent and fantastic song!

[@YHRS]

Hey thanks so much! This made my day 😊

[@amsmarle]

Almost certainly the best Audio Interface video review I have ever watched. You have done a great job on this video, you have covered everything for me and because of your comprehensive coverage I am going out to buy the Motu M4. It will hopefully adequately replace my Audient ID22 (I need an extra input) Thanks a lot for your hard work Alan

[@YHRS]

Wow, thanks so much! I'm so glad that it was helpful!

[@TechButler]

Love your reviews. I just bought the M2 before watching this and this helps. Very in-depth review that covers so many things others don't.

[@highmentalabilities]

This was an excellent, very authentic, and very helpful review. You're also an awesome singer, very much was a pleasure listening to the song you sang.

[@harryknapp6418]

you modestly did yourself a disservice as this was one of the best reviews I think I have ever watched. thank you.

[@h0laPlaneta]

Thank you for commenting on the cable length! You saved me some wasted days waiting for a longer one to arrive.

[@johanrynjah8241]

You went a further step than what the manufacturer intended this device for. .and you came out great . . . .

[@manuelmetallica]

This is how it is done! I want to buy one of these and now i’ve some knoledge about it, thank you brother 👍

[@gafarbello107]

Just ended up purchasing one of these as an upgrade from my 2i4 (2nd Gen) loved the crispness of everything at the end. Sounded super nice with the track at the end. Definitely got a subscriber now with how well you did everything!

[@stephenfell4338]

Hi what did you set it to on initial set up after installing the driver up to that point I was in but he never compared different settings what did you settle for ?

[@jearperry]

Came also for the interface but liked what you do and enjoyed it. I subscribed.

[@TheOakRoom]

Thank you. Props to your talents and skill: Appreciate the natural approach to talking about the way this is used as part of the 'creation' process. My interest is peaked.

[@mohamedzeddini4446]

ma man, you're a complete band !!! what a talent 🤩

[@MusiclyricsByECDaleyC]

Great insight into MOTU, and your vocals fit the song well. Love what your doing, very helpful for me my friend!

[@JameyAston]

This was a very well done video. Very informative and well edited. I liked how you faded the song samples quickly and focused on the interface instead of the songwriting. Even though your sample tune was pretty catchy! You did a great job of illustrating the features of this unit and not getting bogged down or distracted. Thank you!

[@YHRS]

Thank you so much, I really appreciate your kind words!

[@dk2428]

I want to start recording and let me tell you right away, this channel is a goldmine! Finally i've found someone who actually reviews te product instead of trying to sell it. On top of that, i think you're a very accomplished musician! Love the song! I'm going for the M2.Tnx a lot for another excellent review!

[@Breakbeats92.5]

Dude, for a more in depth review check this out. (KZbin blocks url's in comments so copy and paste this: -MOTU M2 USB-C Audio Interface - REVIEW and Measurements!- After this clip I was like, yea, I'm buying that. I know you didn't ask for it but as someone who has been doing it for a while I want to give you some advice. Every pro was once a beginner and every veteran was once a rookie. Copy your idols until your own unique voice emerges. Anyone who doubts you is a dick. If you need anything let me know.

[@stoqpotz]

damn dude, your song in the beginning was a straight BOP.

[@spastor92]

Very good review, and very good real demonstration of the features, i think this motu is the best choice for quality and latency for the price, also the screen for level input is a very nice feature

[@jimmyquail1]

got my M4 this weekend mostly because of you. thanks

[@RADERFPV]

How do you like it? Is it holding up well? Thank you.

[@DeanDetton]

Impressive!!❤. Waiting for my M4 to arrive. Excellent technical demonstration and you’re quite the versatile musician! Nice work!

[@FunkOsax]

Really appreciated the way you went about this review. Excellent. I'm a sax player on an extremely limited budget, and have been dithering about which unit to buy. This has helped me to decide on the Motu M4

[@JWDigitalArchiving]

Amazing choice.

[@mikeheaphy]

Terrific job all around. You nailed every aspect of this box that someone would need to make a decision. Your musical talent only proved that you know what you are talking about... Excellent, I just subscribed.... and Best Regards !

[@bluesman608]

Nice, nice, nice. Great song, review and demo of how to use an interface. And you did it all in one tee shirt. Bravo!

[@YHRS]

Thank you kindly!

[@user-hn9mt8ti3o]

Now that was a thorough and practical review. Thank you so much for sharing! That tune of yours does stay in mind after watching :D

[@joldschool64]

Man you take me back to the 60s

[@YippeePlopFork]

Thank you so much for such a thorough review. I had this device short-listed for use with my iPad when I'm travelling and want to just throw some ideas around. I'm happier and more confident in my final choice now that I've seen this review. Thanks again!

[@radiantsignals3279]

Just found this YT review after researching the MOTU interfaces. Holy cow! Very nice review and examples. VERY well done my friend!

[@RADERFPV]

I've had the m4 for a week now, absolutely love it! Took me a little bit to get it working right on my windows 10 pc, but once I got it configured correctly, its been rock solid. The pre amp is so crystal clear for an interface in this price range. Love it!

[@davidbazomusic]

What about latency on DI working with VST like Guitar Rig or Bias FX? What is your experience? My M4 needs a large buffer size (above 128) to sound properly with no clicks on complex sounds. 🙄

[@RADERFPV]

@@davidbazomusic Hi David, hope you're having a great day. There could be a number of things going on, but I'm a little concerned when you say you're trying to process "complex" sounds with a low buffer size. Let me ask, is this your first interface, or are you coming from a past interface like Focusrite, or something similar? If you had luck with prior interfaces using only a 128 sample rate on the same computer, using the same plug-ins, then maybe the motu just isn't cutting it for you. That would be a real bummer. But let's walk through this, because I doubt if that's the case. You mentioned it clicks on "complex" sounds at 128 or below, how complex of a sound are you talking about? You don't want to have too much going on with low sample rates, especially if your pc/laptop isn't top notch. I'll explain how I record with the motu, and all other USB interfaces. Please keep in my mind that I'm on a home built cheap computer - A ryzen 1600 AF with a 2660 Super graphics card, 256GB SSD - my pc is very basic. During the recording stage, when I'm laying down tracks, I use either 44.1khz or 48khz as my sample rate. 44.1 if I know for sure I won't be "stretching" the audio at all in any way, 48 if I think I might have to stretch out 1 or more tracks a bit, because I'm terrible at managing BPM, ha ha. I typically choose 128 as my buffer size, and try to work everything else around it. I never go below this (and I know most do) for one reason - because I want to make 100% certain that every little bit of every little thing is being captured accurately while recording. There's no going back if the recording gets captured poorly, so I don't risk it. At this stage, I will only enable the main amp head in my vst and nothing else. This is very important. No boost pedals, no compressors, no delays/reverbs, no IR's, nothing else at this stage. If you only use 1 or 2 plug in "features", such as a noise gate and the main amp head, you should be fine at a 128 buffer size. It doesn't matter what the tone and sound is like at this stage, we only care about the dry recording. Sometimes I don't even bother adding a vst at this point, because I'm so used to jamming out riffs and whatnot unplugged. Too me, the sound doesn't matter one bit at this stage, just the dry recording itself. Also, I don't do any EQ's or anything at this stage yet either - all dry. Then after I lay down all of my tracks, I up the buffer size to 512. Then I start adding all of the stuff you would normally use in a guitar FX chain, and on all of your buses. Add a little compression if needed, some EQ, maybe a Tube Screamer, throw on some reverb, load up them IR's, and all that jazz. All of the other stuff gets done at this time too, like EQ shelving, pre and post effects, and so on. A 512 buffer has always been enough for me personally, but perhaps you may need to go to 1024 if your PC is sluggish or the number of VST's and whatnot is really high. Also, the number of tracks and buses/routing in your project will always make a big difference too. You should be able to load up all you want, because now you're doing it during the playback/mixing/master stage, and not while recording. This is where you'll dial in your tone. I used Guitar Rig a few years back, and I do recall it being quite CPU intensive. You'll definitely just want the distortion engaged while recording with a plug-in suite this big, else it will likely bog your system down a lot during recording. I'm happy to help with any other questions. I apologize if you know all this stuff already, I'm not sure of your experience.

[@davidbazomusic]

@@RADERFPV whether or not I do know about this stuff already isn't relevant (I do, BTW), but the interest and the effort you took to answer a complete reply like this one is indeed relevant. So much. For me and also for any other user. Big THANKS for your time! 🙏 I've already subscribed to your YT channel in order to follow you and know more about your projects. Back to the subjec.;-) See, I enjoy plugging my instruments in DI just to try, explore, select, search sounds and even jam just a bit sometimes with all those amazing virtual guitar modelers ( what a great period to be musician with all this available stuff, isn't it?), say Amplitube, Positive Grid, Waves GTR, etc. During those explorations on just those plugings alone, not into a project, just performing, I found some patches with lots of effects going on to clip on the M4 (just few days with it yet) at 44.1 and 48 KHz and 128 buffer size. Some few patches do this, mostly do fine, but still... Seems weird to me as I don't recall this behaviour on my two other Steinberg audio interfaces. Heck, I'll have to check this out on them, maybe I'm wrong. I'm currently using an Intel i5 with 12 GB and a Samsung 256 SSD under Windows 10. Neither a state of the art piece nor an ancient piece of gear. 😁 Nevertheless, what are your general impressions about latency behaviour on the MOTU M4 and it's performance under Windows 10 in particular? For me, in these few days I must admit I expected more of the "best in class" low latency USB budget AI statement that MOTU uses to refer to this device. Other than that, the unit is superb by all means. Thanks again for you input mate!

[@RADERFPV]

@@davidbazomusic Hi David, thanks for the sub, really appreciate it, just got you back! Oh, I see what you're doing then, okay. Yeah, that's going to be real tough for any USB interface really, that's very demanding on it and your PC too. Perhaps the Steinberg's are just a little better in that department. For what you're trying to do, I'd really consider a PCI-IE based interface. I've only tried 2 of them on a couple of friend's PC's over the years, but wow, they sure could handle a lot before you'd notice any signs of crackles, pops or dropouts. That's probably the best way to go for what you're trying to do honestly. I've been pretty happy with the latency on the M4 all in all. I haven't been getting mind blowing low numbers, but they're pretty good. I think at 44.1/128, I'm at about 5.8ms round trip dry. When I add a couple VST's only, it goes up to around 6.5, sometimes up to 7. I'm okay with numbers below 10ms, but anything above that starts to bother me some. Especially when tracking fast licks. I have done what you're doing a couple times though with it - loading up my audio assault suite, and setting up everything to have the tone and effects I want, along with playing around with some of them and the IR's. For this (not recording, just jamming), I usually up the buffer to 256 on this and the old AI I have. It seems to handle most of what I can throw at, while still not being too bad on latency. It's been the sweet spot in keeping the latency tolerable, while still being able play with quite a few things loaded. It sure can be a struggle at times, but it's a lot of fun too.

[@davidbazomusic]

@@RADERFPV My pleasure mate! Yep, you are rigth, I had a Terratec PCI card audio interface in an older windows machine, pretty cool indeed, but less flexible than any of these little USB C boxes which you can use in both a desktop and a laptop aside, and take with you everywhere. I normally used to keep the 256 buffer size for any kind of use in my older Steinberg sound card and I was hoping to be able to use a lower buffer size with the M4 for these tasks, but it seems is not the case. Any latency under 12 ms is valid to be able to perform with VSTs instruments, and certainly anything under 10 ms is adequate. I just was hoping to find in the M4 a fixed buffer setting to deal with *any* kind of task/use and not to be messing with it so much. What you suggest makes sense and it's probably the way to go with any USB AI in this price range, though.

[@sanssun5050]

This review is so good that you knew that I'm wearing the same shirt as yesterday.

[@flyingpass4923]

Awesome review, and you did a great job with everything, including the song. This was the push over the fence and resulted in a purchase of the M4. Can't wait for it to arrive. Thanks and keep up the great work!

[@YHRS]

Glad it was helpful!

[@timmark4190]

This is the best review. Explains the product on how to use it. Really well made video. Thank you

[@d3vi0uz1]

Forget the MOTU. Your song is pretty awesome. Getting some Pink Floyd vibes.

[@YHRS]

Haha, thanks so much!

[@alexingebretsen8044]

Excellent video and editing. Just bough the Mark of the Unicorn M4 and so far im very pleased. Thanks for the helpful review. You earned another sub! keep it up :)

[@TheREALiizak]

Happy New Year and thx a lot 4 that great right-from-the-beginning-overview! I´m just thinking about buying my 1st 4-IN-interface in that 3-number-priceclass and found your infos very helpful! Thx again, take care & PEACE! Martin Wiesbaden/Germany

[@bumerangrabaciones]

I'm waiting for mine, thanks for all your work in the review 🖖

[@tadmorta]

Terrific review! Thank you so much for covering this, I always wanted a MOTU interface (back in collage I was dreaming about having the traveler) and it's so nice to see this model! I currently use the Steinberg ur22 and I'm not a big fan of it, even though it does its' job... So would definitely be looking into getting my hands on one of these! I also adore your studio setup, it is a true joy to watch your videos. Thank you and waiting for the next one...

[@YHRS]

Thanks so much, Tal! I always appreciate your comments and feedback :) Judging by my experience with the MOTU M series so far, I can definitely recommend them. I did send this unit back due to the loose gain knob, but I'll be replacing it without hesitation.

[@tadmorta]

@@YHRS In fact, as soon as you said that the one knob was a bit wobbly and loose I thought that you got a faulty unit.

[@ivonsmith2024]

That was great - Ive been looking into a Scarlett then I saw the M2 and now the M4 - it seems like the M4 is gonna be on my shopping list very soon! Thank you for a such a practical informative well informed/informing review! I learnt a lot of procedure plus about the M4 unit too. Now Im gonna go find one and start making music!

[@sebastiennudo7792]

Man, your voice is fine. Nothing to be ashamed of my friend! Keep on singing buddy 😃

[@theloniousleedexter]

Thanks for your positive, honest presence! The review was helpful and the real-time usage and varied application of the interface's features really sold it for me! Exactly what i needed!

[@scott_pinzon]

Wow, thanks for this thorough and very real-word review. You seem like the ultimate "reasonable guy" who just wants to know how the unit performs (some reviewers seem like they are itching for an excuse to drop a snarky comment, to prove they are "cool"). I deeply appreciate all the effort you put in; by going start to finish with the unit, I feel like I know exactly what I'll encounter if I get one. Very, very helpful; kudos to you!

[@jubilantyogurt]

Yeah, instead of being all super analytical, we get to tag along this friendly guy, as he tests his new equipment. Not only tests, but actually shows how to get started with Reaper. Not only that, he records an entire song. Definetely subscribing now.

[@abilliardson263]

Great review and nice songwriting!

[@mskman83]

Holy smokes what a great review and production. You inspire me brother. Everything but that hat. Broncos fan here. Lol. I think I'm going to upgrade to this interface.

[@louis6331]

I just bought one of these M fours and I haven’t hooked it up yet because I haven’t have the time. But, it is seemingly as you’ve tested it to be a very come patible and very how should I say price range E great buy for something that is this low in price to what you get for your money. I’m going to hook it up with in a week and a half g as successful as you are because it really sounded pretty great I must say. So thank you for what you’ve done on putting this out there and I agree with you that for this price range for an interface instead of the old pins going back-and-forth I like the idea of the software that will give you a much better version as it’s with digital high and lows as opposed to pins.Thank you very much sir I appreciate it God bless and have a great day.

[@xed530]

One man band, you are so cool

[@DirectorsGarage]

MOTU has been doing these interfaces for 30 years. Sound quality is top grade to my ears, very low noise floor. I bought the 2x version, but I'm doing vocals only. I agree about the display. This is how we need to meter. It reminds me a lot of the Sound Devices MixPre series (less the touch screen).

[@zeppo20]

I bought one M4, I´m very impressed, I had a audient id4, that was very good, but this one is stellar.

[@luisalmeida2866]

Sounds better than id4/id14 MK II indeed.

[@rokinrandy]

I just bought the Motu. Finally upgrading from the legacy pci delta 66 omni breakout mixer. its still a tank! The knob build quality of the knobs had me focusing on the focus box. It almost kept me from the motu until I watched the video. It convinced me to spend even more on a ten foot usb cable from Amazon and opted to spend more on the M4 so i can record drums with my blue tubepre amp.

[@vikramjitbanerjeetuki]

Digging the George Harrison vibe of the song👍

[@christopherkouri2317]

Great video, super informative. And a great song to boot! Nice vocals btw 👍

[@jameswallace5967]

Awesome video. I just got my MOTU M4 today. I'm very impressed with it too.

[@raysissum]

Great review, you're the best at doing this type of review, goes well with a Krause review, thanks.

[@TonysMusic1974]

I have been considering getting an MOTU M4 but this video sealed it for me :-)

[@papacobito]

Very good review, very helpful. Also the music sounds awesome and nice voice. Well done

[@djipi9523]

Big Pink Floyd influence with a little Bowie side, well done that's nice, and I'm now convinced for the MOTU.

[@germangomez7704]

Muchas gracias por tu review.

[@alexmarianoribeiro]

Fortunately buying today. I'm suspect talking about MOTU. I had Audio Express for years and and now there no more steady drivers available for MacPro. So i've found M4. The best replacement for me. My productions have external sounds too. The connections in 3/4 are very welcome like in Audio Express. Thanks for the review

[@SidFi20]

I appreciated the longer format overview. Very nice. Thanks! Very impressed with the song and mix!

[@YHRS]

Thank you so much, glad you liked it!

[@cortical1]

I love MOTU products. I have the higher end 828es and it sounds like a million bucks and looks and works amazing. Their MIDI Express XT is also pure gold. For this price, anyone would be CRAZY not to consider this audio interface.

[@SS-pl4mj]

Oh my word what a review. Colossal effort. Your video is one of the reasons I bought the M4 though I’m still getting my head round it. In particular the loopback feature doesn’t seem to be detected by Logic, I would also expect it to be plug and play without any issues but I find I have to restart the computer each time o connect it or it won’t work properly. Great work!

[@truthtakestime9164]

Nice presentation. Good job on the song too.

[@martinhoquintelafernandez6478]

Oh so this man just made a hit better than the 90% of music history by himself in 2 days. Genius

[@petjobedet4650]

Brilliantly simple- came away thinking Maybe I could record my own stuff after all these years.

[@YHRS]

That's great to hear! There is a lot of fun to be had making music at home.

[@Kurtdog63]

Thanks so much. I have some experience in recording, but zero experience using an audio interface via USB. Taking a serious look at this model. Love the meters. It seems to set it apart from other budget friendly interfaces.

[@4lf4s4bb4th]

I really love this review, too many very helpful details about this interface, your song, wow, pretty amazing too

[@javierf55]

I'm getting the Motu M2 because of this video. It's the best review I've seen. @motutv should be so greatful with you. Really like the latency results, the visual levels, the ability of switching phantom and Monitoring options per line, how it looks, etc. A great, great interface. I'm getting it for recording my guitar rehearsals, so I'll record it using a VST for guitar which I think it will be the free version of Komplete Irig 5. Many thanks for the best honest and professional review

[@YHRS]

Thanks so much!

[@ivandubinsky1857]

Thanks for a nice review. I have ordered one of these (after finally locating a dealer that had them in stock) and am really looking forward to putting it through its paces.

[@ivandubinsky1857]

I've had mine for a while now...no wobbly knobs. :-)

[@anthonyholmes71]

Man, this is a great video. Your knowledge and talent are awesome. Thanks for taking your time to make a perfect demonstration video.

[@YHRS]

I appreciate that!

[@anthonyholmes71]

@@YHRS I'm going to get a MOTU M4.

[@ForTiorIJohnny]

i´m glad i found this video. i wanted to get me the M4 next month, but now i know it doesn´t make any sense in my case. i have the Presonus Studio 68, which has pretty much the same features, plus spdif in and out. and the overall roundtrip latency is the same as the M4 on the same settings. it´s still a great interface, though. also great review. thanks for all the effort.

[@Finians_Mancave]

Great video. Just subbed! As far as the MOTU box vs your old RME -- sure, any newer audio interface, including those on a budget tier, will sound cleaner than even a top-tier interface from 20 years ago (For example, when the Fireface 800 came out). Just a quick look at the audio specs will show AT LEAST a difference of 10 dB in the dynamic range! I'm no engineer, but my guess is the converters, the preamps, and the newer electronics ALL play a part in that. We've reached a point in audio technology where the weakest link soundwise is no longer your interface, no matter what budget you're at.

[@wisconsinmel]

This was an awesome and so well - done review of the Motu M4!!!

[@HarmoActive]

Thank you for this thorough review! And your song, playing and singing are really cool, too!

[@DonnDeVoreMusic]

Listening through my new MOTU M2 that just arrived as I was watching this video. very happy with it so far. had to get a USB-C to USB-C cable to attach to a Macbook Pro 16. headphones are loud as heck.

[@patrickkoenigsfeld1253]

Amazing video. You are multi talented and can communicate your knowledge to us noobs. Subscribed and liked. Well done!

[@malcolmh5736]

Seems great, thanks for the vid. I really wish it came with a type-C to type-C (and longer) in this day n age

[@PabloTerraga]

Thanks for your video! Now I'm sure I'm going to get my Motu. Just have to decide between M2 or M4 :)

[@rapparkaljafigge]

Great review and an awesome song!

[@J1Z06]

Admirable,guitar,bass,drums on your own!! very cool! great vid! liked/subbed

[@Fishplants]

Will buy one , great review and awesome song. I wish more reviews was like this 🙂 Awesome job

[@Fishplants]

Got it yesterday, compare it to my old avid mbox 3 ( last update 2014) it's amazing, DI much better and the display is just gold. Worth every penny

[@YHRS]

That's great to hear! Upgrades are exciting when they make a noticeable difference.

[@SonicVision]

Great review, Multi-talented yet down to earth presentation covering pretty much everything except I had hoped you would try a lineput into the front jacks as well.

[@erwickdsouza]

Leaving a like for that stellar intro

[@pktrsho6055]

First, let me say that Sir you have a great singing voice. It reminds me of David Fagen. And Second, as a musician myself, I love this thorough and useful review of the product. So tired of reviews from people that don't really know how an audio interface actually works. Already ordered from Sweetwater. I hope my knobs are nice and stiff. LOL

[@YHRS]

Oh man, thank you so much! I ordered a replacement M4 from Sweetwater, and it arrived in perfect condition. Here's to hoping that yours arrives in a similar perfect condition!

[@batphink2655]

This was a really good review and thats a really nice song. I bought an Antelope Zen Go and it was broken with loose rattling parts inside so we checked 3 others in store ,guess what...? same problem so I avoid them now! So they lent me the M4 for a month and I love it so far!

[@eddiethatch1999]

Good stuff. Like others have said, it's nice to see the thing in actual use instead of tech report or a sales pitch. One thing I don't get, and it's likely just me and maybe some of the old and grumpy analog guys who are still alive... but metering? Everyone is loving the metering. I have almost gone entirely without WORKING metering my whole life. When it did work, at first I thought, "That's neat" but then ended up never really paying much attention to it. As your own example proved, your ears told you when it was clipping. The meter did not. Maybe with consistent and working meters, I could learn to appreciate them. What I was impressed with, was that you had a Fathead up at that point and you had usable gain on the pre. Clean gain for a ribbon mic on a $200 interface? Not too shabby. What is curious is that you didn't experience the clipping phenomenon with other mics, is that correct? A question I have that no one has addressed on the M2/M4 is about the character of the mic pre. Is there any at all? Is it just "clean?" Which is fine. With Steinberg and Focusrite (now even SSL) adding character functions to their interfaces, it would be great to hear about this concerning the MOTUs.

[@YHRS]

I think that you've brought up a very good point. And one that I'm on the fence about 😊 My main attraction to a meter on the interface is just to know when I'm clipping on the front end of things. That's one thing that you can't undo without retracking, so it can really be a bummer to realize in post production that something was clipping or distorting during tracking. Things get loud during tracking and sometimes (well, most of the time) I'm not too sensitive to things crackling or distorting a bit in my headphone feed. I guess that's one definite weakness of a 1-room, 1-dude setup like I've got here...the control room is just as loud as the tracking room 😁 In retrospect, I think that the clipping that I was hearing was low-frequency distortion caused by a loud source and a ribbon mic that puts out more low end than a freaking tuba. It might have even been the headphone output that was distorting because I didn't hear the distortion nearly as bad when I was editing the video. I think I have more experimentation to do once I get the unit back from exchanging it due to the bad gain knob. Thanks so much for your great comment, it'll give me food for thought for a follow-up review!

[@danreavey2062]

Great review, thanks. My new Steinberg UR22c has intermittent audio dropout problems on W10 and their support is not good. Thinking of swapping for an M4 and this review has help a lot 👍

[@MorbidManoeuvres]

Great thanks, Will this connect directly into my MacBook m1 2021 14inch ?

[@RX93akhrouk]

I ordered M4. now I got a notification that delivery arrived. so I can't wait to try! !

[@dreamabyss5423]

Where did you get it? All of the normal channels are showing out of stock.

[@ummeroinvestidor]

This song is amazing, well done... hugs from brazil, dude!

[@abyde]

Great review and I really enjoyed your song! I ordered an M2 earlier today and I can't wait to try it out!

[@YHRS]

Awesome! Thank you! That should make for a great centerpiece for your home studio.

[@abyde]

@@YHRS it definitely does! I upgraded to the M2 from a Scarlett Solo and the difference in sound quality is huge. So much more detail in the entire frequency spectrum. I can see why the M2 and M4 are flying off the shelves!

[@robinlavender2501]

Best review I have ever seen on any audio interface. By going through the process as you did, it gives us a real world view of the interface. Good Job and Thank You!... I am seriously considering the MOTU M4 or M6 to replace my Presonus. Driving factors for me are being able to Independently apply phantom power to the mic inputs. even the Presonus 1820 applies phantom power to ALL preamps at once. No good, when we want to have certain things running at the same time. The metering is outstanding, and the quality of the converters and preamps is very nice indeed.

[@YHRS]

Thanks so much! And I wouldn't worry about the phantom power thing. Unless you're using certain vintage ribbon mics, almost all modern mics are phantom safe. You can always double check with the manufacturer, but I can't name a single modern ribbon or dynamic mic that doesn't block DC voltage. Enjoy the M4, it's really a great interface!

[@robinlavender2501]

@@YHRS I have some vintage mics that absolutely do care about that phantom power.... Thanks though!

[@AlessiaandFamily]

Hey how to adjust the volume line input 3 and 4 ?theres no volume knob in back

[@RaghuRoxx]

They are direct lines so i don't think you can control the volume levels

[@SiestaUK]

Awesome vid! Really appreciate the effort you put in :)

[@YHRS]

Thanks so much, I appreciate it!

[@RecordingStudio9]

Well done and a great song.

[@YHRS]

Thanks Vatche! It's good to hear from you!