[mark_m]

Royer has a newer ribbon mic (R10) for around $500. I use a pair of them for piano and they sound excellent. Have not tried recording sax with them as my piano is at home and I play and record my saxes in my studio a few miles away.

 

[mark_m]

From everything I've heard, it sounds like those MOTU pres are pretty damn good and clean. They seem to have really knocked it out of the park with that M4, looks like crazy good quality for the price.

I upgraded from an old Scarlett 8i6 to an MOTU M4 a few months ago and I love it. I use it for vocals (with a Rode NTK and with or without an Avalon 737SP) and sax (Shure KSM-32). Could not be happier. I use an Antelope Discrete 4 with my Royer R10's at home for piano. Happy with all of it! I do really like the KSM-32, which is kind of medium diaphragm, for sax.

The M4 sounds really really good. I didn't expect much difference coming from the Scarlett but its a leap not a baby step.