MOTU UltraLite mk3

[cpettifer]

Hi folks, I know some of you use MOTU gear, so I'm wondering if it's possible to use one of the MOTU interfaces, such as the UltraLite-mk3 hybrid (which is the one I'm considering buying), in a particular way. It's really to do with how to mix / run multiple live instruments / vocals and mix this with computer audio and a click track... So here's my potential setup:

Inputs (real or 'virtual')

1. Acoustic guitar plugged into an input
2. Electric guitar (microphone on amp) plugged into a mic input
3. Possibly vocal microphone plugged into a mic input (undecided on this one)
4. Ableton Live running a backing track in stereo (multiple tracks, some main Live outs as stereo)
5. Ableton Live metronome / click track (i.e. looking to use 3 outs total from Live)

Outputs / mixes required

1. Acoustic guitar and electric guitar mixed together (either mono or maybe stereo) - mono
2. Vocal mic (if plugged through) - mono
3. Ableton Live main stereo mix (i.e. no click track) - stereo
4. Monitor mix, which is both guitars, microphone (if used), Ableton Live stereo mix and Ableton Live metronome / click track - mono or potentially stereo

I've been reading the MOTO UltraLite manual, looking at videos off the MOTU site etc and I'm unsure whether what I want to achieve is possible. If I am just running Live, then I guess I can just assign the Live tracks to outputs on the UltraLite and then the audio comes out of there? If so, how do I then mix in live instrument inputs at the same time and also assign these to different outputs / mixes. I'm a little confused! I really want to be able to use the MixFX software that would come with the UltraLite to mix the guitars / vocals and Ableton Live together into my various outputs. Is this possible? How does it work?

I was a bit confused as to whether the 'Return Assign' was any use to me in this setup?

Anyway, hoping someone might be able to answer my queries.

[cpettifer]

Are there not as many UltraLite (or other MOTU interface) users out there as I thought?!

[cpettifer]

I've just been thinking about the setup question and wanted to clarify something. I don't want my guitar / vocal audio to go through Live, just be processed / mixed by the UltraLite. My query is really trying to understand how audio from Live can be mixed with audio from external instruments at the same time - and can I mix more than just two channels of audio from Live (i.e. click send too) with live instruments, all using MOTU's CueMix FX software or something?

[hacktheplanet]

The Ultralite has 2 combo inputs (XLR, 1/4") and 10 line inputs. The combo inputs have gain and pad controls on knobs on the front, as well as phantom power switches. The rest of the inputs are plain ol line inputs. Since you have a handful of instruments to record, you might consider something else. The 8pre has 8 combo inputs. It may be more suited to your needs. Or, just buy both.

As far as mixing goes, it's pretty easy to grasp. Basically, all your sources are input to Live, and you mix them in Live. You can use the cue mix software, but you'll be better off using Live. Plug your guitar in, set the level, set up the input and output channels in Live (according to which you will use on your interface), and you're good to go. Takes all of 10 seconds.

For in-the-box stuff like samples and loops, you just play them. Unless you want to use an external mixer or something, everything just comes out the master channel.

[AtmosTrio]

Ultralite will be perfect.

[cpettifer]

So do I need to mix everything in Ableton? I didn't want to do this as I want to use multiple outputs for different things, i.e. send both guitars mixed to one set of outputs and the Live mix (backing track) to another set, then my monitor mix, which is both guitars, plus Live and metronome, to another mix. Can I use the CueMix FX to deal with all this?

Perhaps I need to find a stockist locally and go and have a look!

[AtmosTrio]

The Ultralite mkIII provides four independent latency-free stereo mixes with EQ/Compression on every channel. Any input can be mixed in any combination to any set of outputs. You never have to monitor your input signals via software again.

PS--It will work as a stand-alone mixer--no computer needed.

[cpettifer]

Right, I think this answers my question:

http://www.motu.com/techsupport/technot ... -in-cuemix

So the outputs in Ableton Live will go to the Bus Mixes in CueMix? I then assign the Bus Mixes to particular outputs within CueMix. So I guess I need to do some audio routing in Live - i.e. where I want my backing tracks and click tracks to go and then mix the other stuff (guitars and vocals) in using CueMix.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this sounds like it will do what I want to do.

[colcob]

You can't route computer audio to multiple buses/outputs within the cuemix software alone, but you can easily do what you're after by having multiple output channels in ableton which you can set up to send whatever you want to your different outputs.

So you want 4 different output mixes from cuemix, so you'll set up 4 mix buses and assign them to the outputs you want, and set the levels, eq, compression etc. for your live instruments for each bus in cuemix.

Then in ableton you'll set up how you want computer audio assigned to those outputs. Say you just want to mirror the main mix on all 4 of them, you'd just create 4 audio tracks with 'master' as the input and your 4 output pairs as the outputs, you could then adjust the relative volume of the master mix in each output with the track faders (note there is no control or visibility of DAW audio within cuemix).

If you want to set up different mixes of computer tracks for your 4 outputs, then set up 4 return tracks with their outputs set to your 4 outputs, and use then sends on each track to set up the monitoring levels you want for each audio track. To assign ableton's click track to an output, just set the 'cue' output channel to whichever output pair you want it on.

I think the main thing I found a bit confusing is that the DAW audio kind of bypasses cuemix entirely and goes straight to it's output as defined in Ableton, so you don't see it as a track in cuemix.

[cpettifer]

Thanks so much for this - I think this is exactly what I needed to know. I'm so glad you've just posted this as I literally, 30 minutes ago, placed an order for a MOTU 828... so I'll be trying this for the first time at the weekend!!

[henke]

Go for the Ultralite ! the combination of sound, price, features is pretty perfect.

Robert