buying MOTU ultralite will firewire 400 work?

blech77 · Post by **blech77** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 12:31 pm

hi
i'm thinking of buying MOTU Ultralite
quick question ....is it a firewire 400 cable or firewire 800 cable

my laptop ONLY has firewire 400 slot...is that good or bad?
does it affect speeds/latency or anything?

seems like motu ultralite is the choice for all you people
very tempted to get it...

BinaryB · Post by **BinaryB** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 12:46 pm

For Audio 400 is fine 800 is overkill.

I have always used 400 -> 800 cable for M-audio or ProTools soundcards and HDD's

IMO that MOTU is better hardware though.

hacktheplanet · Post by **hacktheplanet** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 12:50 pm

The Ultralite isn't even designed to work with Firewire 800. If it were, it would come with the 9-pin connectors instead of the 6-pin connectors. You can however, plug it into an 800 port with an adapter cable, because 800 is backwards compatible with 400.

Buy the Ultralite. It kicks ass.

jr · Post by jr » Mon Nov 20, 2006 5:18 pm

it is firewire 400, 6pins to 6 pins cable for bus power, no need external power supply. 6 to 4pins cable need connect externel power supply.

adi · Post by **adi** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 8:26 pm

i would seriously hold off on buying this if you don't even know if it's 400 or 800 -- do more research, dude. seriously -- before dropping $500+ on a piece of gear you should have a solid idea of what you're getting yourself into. personally, i think the ultralite is not worth the cash and i'd take an audiofire over it any day of the week.

BinaryB · Post by **BinaryB** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 10:57 pm

AUDIOFIRE Looks good, great company

but i like the Motu better.

but i aint got either.

start with the best, get to know it and dont upgrade unless you know what you are doing or you like that more than making music.

rbmonosylabik · Post by **rbmonosylabik** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 11:02 pm

adi wrote:i would seriously hold off on buying this if you don't even know if it's 400 or 800 -- do more research, dude. seriously -- before dropping $500+ on a piece of gear you should have a solid idea of what you're getting yourself into. personally, i think the ultralite is not worth the cash and i'd take an audiofire over it any day of the week.

how is it not worth the money?

adi · Post by **adi** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 9:19 am

because, to my ears, the audiofire stuff has better conversion. the ultralite is a bit better than the firebox (not by much, though...and certainly not $200 better than the firebox), but not on the rme/audiofire level. i don't like the pres on ANY of this stuff, so for my money i would just get the best conversion for the money and buy some better pres (maybe APIs or Seventh Circle). the pres on the ultralite aren't any better than the audiofire or rme pres to my ears, and i don't care for any of them (but if you're going to use the pres, they are all pretty much the same). so the best conversion for the money turns out to be the audiofire, so i find the ultralite and the rme gear to be overpriced in comparison.