Ableton Forum

Hi
Contemplating on buying an Apogee Duet/Quartret after being blown away by the sound quality on Ableton.Been a user of Motu Ultralite 1 since 5 years.

My dilemma is:

1.Should i buy the Apogee card ?
2.How does Ultralite compare to an apogee.Is it worth the upgrade in terms of sonic capibilities?Will the difference be massive or negligible?

I did an extensive google search and most of the formus said RME compares to Apogee

I have a Multiface 1 (old generation from 2005)with cardbus slot connector thru firewire.How will the older generation Multiface compare to the new generation Apogee Duet/Quartret or Motu Ultralite Mark 1

Another problem is hooking up the Multiface 1 to the 2011 MBP as no cardbus slot(just firewire) .If the multiface is truly worth the sonic arsenal..any hack/patch recommended to bypass their proprietery cardbus firewire interface and connect to onboard Mac Firewire port


Too many questions..Utterly confused!

Please advise

Look into "Multiface Disconnect Mode". I'll be honest to be quite confused about the documentation, but if I understand it correctly: You can configure the multiface to be an AD/DA convertor. You do this with the totalmix software. After that, you can pipe the Lines over ADAT without requiring the PCI connection.
Can't go wrong with Apogee. They have a great service and their products sound excellent.
Coming from RME, the Ultralite might be step down. But it really depends of what you actually hook up to these things.
The 828 with the Multiface would give you a lot of Line I/O's.

I want to use it with Ableton live for live Djaying
using the multi outs connected to different channels on a DJ mixer for mixing

I still use a Multiface 1, I have yet to find any information that the latest Multiface 2 is a big enough improvement to motivate a switch. You can use the multiface in "Disconnect mode" but I haven't tried it. If you want to connect it directly to your 2011 Mbp your going to need the RME expresscard and (unless your mbp have an expresscard slot, the bigger ones do I think) you'll nedd a thunderbolt to expresscard adaptor. Could be the bones of €500.

if it's primarily for live DJ work then the small differences in audio quality won't matter, nobody will hear them.

Hi
My motu card is giving some problems hence the necessity for a backup sound card

It does make a huge difference on playback.I was playing on a motu ultralite and then a dj took over after me with an Apogee Duet and the speakers just exploded with the clarity and punch of each track.

djsanjeev wrote:It does make a huge difference on playback.I was playing on a motu ultralite and then a dj took over after me with an Apogee Duet and the speakers just exploded with the clarity and punch of each track.

was he playing exactly the same tracks as you, in the same format, at the same level?