Motu ultralite mk3 - is it worth it?

[darkstar]

My presonus firepod died,2 days ago.And yes,I saw many post about same problem,so,no more presonus gear for me,in my life.

I am deiciding right now,and narrowed my choice between Fireface 400,and Motu ultralite mk3.

I have both,pc and mac,so platform is not a problem.

Read forum all night,many users reported some strange pop clicks with motu.Other bunch is telling that motu is cloudy.Third are saying that drivers are no okay.

However,I have good deal for motu,and ff400 is maybe out of my league right now,it is too expensive.

I would mainly record synths,voice,and sometimes make some field recording.I will make much editing,and some part of production at home.At studio,I have rme ff800,and must say,I am not impressed.It sounds...sterile for me.However,never had a problem with drivers,NEVER single glitch.

Please give me some input on those.Is new steinberg interface worth looking?
I need something that have 2 preamp,and 6 inputs for example.

Thanks

[darkstar]

no one?

[jbuonacc]

i've had an original UltraLite since they were released, never had a problem (running XP sp2). plenty happy with it. of course sound quality is subjective, so i don't know what to tell you regarding that. never any driver or functionality issues, though i'll see what happens when trying to use it with Windows7.

[shanabit]

The mark III stuff from MOTU sounds decent IMO. MKii, not so much

That said, I just bought the Steinberg MR816, it sounds better than the MOTU stuff

I could have bought the MOTU units, chose not to this time

[darkstar]

at the moment,I took maudio 1814,to finish some projects (my presonus died in midlle of work).

I am considering maybe even yamaha N series?What do you think

MOTU ultralite,
Yamaha N 8
FF 400
Steinberg (yamaha) card,I don't know exact name?

thanks

[shanabit]

Originally Posted by darkstar

at the moment,I took maudio 1814,to finish some projects (my presonus died in midlle of work).

I am considering maybe even yamaha N series?What do you think

MOTU ultralite,
Yamaha N 8
FF 400
Steinberg (yamaha) card,I don't know exact name?

thanks

N Series has the SAME Pres/AD/DA as the MR816 units.

You can get into the MR816 rather cheaply now

with 300 off rebate and you can find 15% online coupon as well.
So thats
1000
150 coupon =15%
850
300 rebate
550 cant beat that

[darkstar]

oh,but I am not in states....I live in Serbia :)

And where is that rebate?

Thanks

[Phaidon]

Originally Posted by darkstar

oh,but I am not in states....I live in Serbia :)

And where is that rebate?

Thanks

The rebate is available thru all Steiny distr.
Talk to your local distributor or you can even buy it from Thomann and be eligible anyway.

[badhorsie777]

Very happy motu ultralite mk3 user here... I got it for three things:

-Tons of ins and outs (I have external pres I wanted to utilize easily, and a spdif for a stereo converter)
-Great price/features... seriously, great ratio here
-Drivers (I'm on a mac) - several guys I know and respect tell of long track records with MOTU driver development. I have found this to be the case, as well - rock solid for me.

If I had a bit more cash, or no external pres, either one of those things would have pushed me somewhere else. I also highly recommend an Apogee Duet - a studio friend of mine has one for his home recordings, and it sounds and works AMAZING. But, a few inputs wouldn't cut it for my needs. That steinberg interface mentioned above was a serious contender for me, but it's pricier. Is it worth it? Probably. But when/if I spend more, I'm going all pro (probably Lynx aurora or apogee rosetta w/card).

This was a FABULOUS stop-gap purchase for me. I'm not itching to swap it out at all.

-Matt

[rydan]

Running a UltraLite mk3 with my macbook. Absolutely solid performance.

I used to have a 896HD and the mk3 is much better sonically, at least to my ears. I think the mk3:s sound just fine.

[Dysanfel]

You can't go wrong with I either. In my opinion get the one you can afford and best meets your studio needs.

[jrwaltb]

The Motu MK3 has a new hybrid option with one firewire and one USB2 connector ...I m running the UL MK3 firewire on windows 7 and its great... It sounds really good..(Its different then the MK2) I love it, the interface is really solid and the DSP is very good. The only thing is no company run forum..Latest drivers are amazing compared to what I have owned..(maudio firewire 2496 and emu 1212m).

[loop]

how much dsp fx can you use simultaneously?

[Tomer1]

CueMix FX™ -- flexible 10 input/14 bus mixer with on-board DSP effects, including reverb with sends/returns, plus EQ and compression on every input and output.

1 reverb,24 eq and comps.