My MOTU Ultralite Mk3 Review(-ish)

[Silence]

thanx dude!

it sucks though... p&p is kinda the shit on osx...well...it was

[supamonsta]

ultralite mk II for me since now... 3 1/2 years with not a single bug.

plug and play on os X tiger and leopard (drivers needed, but you install it once and 3 years later you forget that you installed it)

allways 6 audio inputs (4 hardware synths)

use the secret tip "allow computer out" stuff for recording sessions with traktor and live with no problem

motu ultralite is just... 'da bomb' soundcard.

I never used the cuemix console, that is indeed a bit weird to use when you're not used to...

but for the electronic musician, it's 1000% efficient and rock solid

[RonaldDumsfeld]

Sadly I have to report that the new Ultralite Hybrid has a serious issue, i.e. doesn't work at all, if connected via USB.

It has taken a while to tie down the combination that causes the failure and the exact details are thus far unclear.

Users with older systems (XP) are least affected so at first the suspect was Vista/7 or 64 bit. Now however it appears whilst USB hubs identified as ICH8 in device manager are fine at least some which sow up as ICH9 & ICH10 fail hard.

The solution offered from MOTU is to either use the firewire port or purchase an aftermarket USB hub that has been found to work and install that. So we don't know yet if a future driver update can fix it or it's the 'wrong' firewire chip all over again.

This is a bit poor given that the sales pitch on the Hybrid is the added USB functionality but on the other hand I can feel smug having purchased a device with multiple connection options. Firewire works fine for me and it's a nice bit of kit and the CUEmix software excellent.

[swishniak]

ultralite mk II for me since now...
use the secret tip "allow computer out" stuff for recording sessions with traktor and live with no problem

whasat?

[rosti]

I got my Ultralite MK3 (hybrid version) couple of days ago. When i got the unit the CD in the box didn't run on my MAC (it just shows "blank CD") so i downloaded the drivers from MOTU website. There is allso a small scratch in the screen. It's behind the transparent plastic so it got there in the factory. No big deal but still naggidi nag..

There is allso one real problem. It works like every 4th time i boot it up. Like now i try to listen to music from VLC media player and nothing comes out. Could it be that my unit is broken or am i misunderstanding something? OSX sees the card and it's selected in soundsource. Yesterday Ultralite was working on a second go, today i have powercycled it like 5 times and still nothing.. (edit: ok, i closed firefox, then powercycled the ultralite. Now theres sound!)

Allso, i didn't realize that UK has different powerplug than Finland so i cant use the ultralite with the stock wall wart. But thats my bad.

[UNISONDETUNE]

A 99% of the problems of not getting output from the Ultralite are due to the software settings of either your DAW or the CueMix control software. The whole thing is quite mentally challenging, I figured out the CueMix FX is really an onboard mixer but even with every channel set to "MUTE" Ableton would still record input directly from the interface and output sound after it. Seeing it in blocks, it's as if CueMix operates in parallel with any other software.
I have switched to a Macbook in order to use the most out of the Ultralite (drivers gave loads of dropouts on Win7), and it is working great...but I still have not figured out a decent setup for recording vocals with direct monitoring on the Mic Input & the track playing back. I also stumbled in every kind of digital feedback (signal loops from the DAW to the input back to the output and so on ) and found out it was all about misconfiguration. It takes time to learn how to use this powerful instrument, but once you've mastered it - it's really top quality, guaranteed.
Let me know if you have questions.

[stjohn]

I have the 828mk3, but afaik it's the same: No I/O loop with patch chords. Just use Motu's assignable Return, including the DSP effects (here input: 13/14), or Reverb return (input 11/12).

interesting ive never tried this. although im assuming it will have different effects depending on the latency settings?
MOTU are great hardware when they work, but i will never recommend them purely based on their support which is atrocious. Ok, this is technology, people get problems, when others dont. Mac or PC, it can happen on both, but to take months for support to reply, with stupid vague answers that achieve absolutely nothing, but create a conversation that goes around in circles is not on.

It took me half a year to get my ultralite mk3 working smoothly, and i can still meet a few hicups here and there, but it is great hardware when it works.

[andreX]

I use the Ultralight as a mixer, at home and on stage.
The only thing I'm missing are in and out channels for the
firewire signals (i.e. the signals coming via firewire)

What i'm looking for is a way to eq and level the signals
via firewire in the input channels. (there is no "fw in" channel showing up in the CUEMIX software mixer)

Maybe anyone can give me a hint on how to do this?

[mikemc]

What i'm looking for is a way to eq and level the signals
via firewire in the input channels. (there is no "fw in" channel showing up in the CUEMIX software mixer)

Maybe anyone can give me a hint on how to do this?

well sorry, but your question doesn't make a lot of sense because everything is happening via the firewire, input coming in from inputs on the MOTU and output coming from Live/DAW to the MOTU. In CueMix there is a pulldown in one of the menus to select "include input from DAW".

Hope this helps.

[dj_blueprint]

I've had the MK1 without any problems for about 4 years now.

[andreX]

@mikemc

well, for me it does make sense as on a live gig, I use the Ultralight MK3 basically only as a mixer. (replacing the old analog desk I used before)
3 laptops feed the sound into the input, I run the unit using the power supply not connected to any of the three laptops.

Now you´ll say that´s stupid as I could simpy connect it to one of the three laptops and feed this laptop´s sound via firewire.
Thats exactly what i´d like to do but in this case I´d need an input channel that says Firewire 1-2 that I can, level route, eq etc like al the analog inputs.

Like I said, it´s not really connected to any daw, it´s just a digital replacement of an analog mixer (and it´s not supposed to be more, I just love the great eqs ad the routing capabilites.

Thanks for the hint about the pulldown, sounds great, I just can´t find it. Maybe you can give me a hint where it is?

thx,
a.

[Silence]

Whats the roundtrip latency on the ultralite?

[dj_blueprint]

20 seconds

[Silence]

just 20 seconds? thats not good enough, i´d like it to be like 30-40 sec so i can play a bunch of chords and then run to the drums and beat the shit out them


so...latency?...anyone?

[swishniak]

@mikemc

Now you´ll say that´s stupid as I could simpy connect it to one of the three laptops and feed this laptop´s sound via firewire.
Thats exactly what i´d like to do but in this case I´d need an input channel that says Firewire 1-2 that I can, level route, eq etc like al the analog inputs.

a.

if you plug in one of the laptop to the motu you can load up the cue mix program and route things in and out on the motu much easier probably. also for live mixing this could be easier (using the mixes section of cue mix - click the arrow next to the mix tab and choose the output of that bus above the focus button of the bus output channel fader).

for example, you can send the live main mix channel out to analog 1-2. . or alternately choose in the motu audio setup program where the main outputs are being sent to (headphone/ analog 1-2 / 3-3 / etc).

hope that all makes sense..