I’ve noticed the MR816 is not available from a few vendors. This typically indicated a product is discontinued. I am wondering if anyone has heard anything about an update? I had hoped for thunderbolt/usb3 and midi I/O in a refresh of this interface.
Anyone have any thoughts?
Thanks
-R
The MR was discontinued almost immediately, for reasons unknown.
The closest you get to a “refresh” is the oddly-similar looking Steinberg UR824:
Currently Steinberg has no Thunderbolt I/O’s, as far as I know. It’s got to be FW if you want high performance.
Quite on the contrary. The MR series is alive and well:
http://www.steinberg.net/en/products/audio_interfaces/mr_serie/start.html
http://www.steinberg.net/en/shop/buy_product/product/mr816-x.html
I can’t see any mentioning about it being discontinued. That being said, it appears that the CSX model isn’t available on the Steinberg shop anymore. This may indicate that something is in the works.
If Steinberg were about to replace the MR816 Series with a Thunderbolt option, it would be decent of them to tell us. But that, maybe, is hoping for too much. An official clarification, at least, would be prudent.
By the way, how do you define “almost immediately”? The MR series has been around for tears (much longer than the UR series, in fact).
Steinberg is just selling off old stock. The CSX (my model) isn’t available at all, even on Steinberg’s store, and they haven’t shipped an MR unit to music stores in years. It’s not alive and well, it’s moribund.
I’m not sure about your “almost immediately” gripe; the MR816 hit stores circa 2009, I picked mine up in 2010 in what appeared to be the last big shipment to stores, and the UR series—a nearly identical interface—replaced it shortly thereafter. So it had a life cycle of only about a year as Steinberg’s flagship interface. It seemed oddly brief, especially for such a GOOD interface! It was the only way to use Direct Monitoring on a Mac, for instance.
But honestly, thanks for digging up that link; I’d heartily recommend the 816 X to users, as long as the drivers are maintained by Steinberg.
Thanks for the input on this, guys. Currently none of The MR series are available on steinberg’s US online store. I’ve held out for a new version of this interface for a few years now because I did not feel that FW was the future. USB 3.0 would be a good connection, but it seems like nobody aside from RME is putting out a USB 3 interface.
I currently see a lot of thunderbolt interfaces popping up and it is my hope that steinberg will release a TB interface. The UR series looks pretty good, but like the MR816, it does not have any midi I/O. I am mainly looking for 8 solid preamps at a working joe price and the MR/UR both provide that. I will hold out for a bit and see what they put put next.
Didn’t know where to put this,but here goes.been using my mr816csx for 5 years,been working great.now I have a 816x for 8 more channels.i do not need direct monitoring so I just want to FireWire it.so do I go computer to #1 on the 816csx,#2 816csx to #1 on the 816x or #2 on the slave unit?
I just received a reply from Steinberg support, sadly, confirming that the MR816 series interfaces are discontinued (no longer being made). Well done Steinberg. Do you realize that you have wrecked any usefulness of the Control Room feature in Cubase? As far as I know, the MR816 interfaces are only ones that allow you to use the Cue Sends in the Control Room with Zero Latency monitoring. This is the single most important part of the Control Room. Without Zero Latency monitoring, the Control Room is of little or no use!
To add insult to injury, Steinberg is selling off the reaming stock at full retail price. I’ve never seen a manufacturer selling off discontinued products at full retail before!