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.

[Maskedsam]

After sales support is attrocious.

I'm in Australia and have gotten one standard reply to an issue I'm having with my ultralite mk3 hybrid. No thought was put into the response and I've now been waiting 2 weeks for a second response. Impossible to reach by phone also. (and yes I've been polite with them)

I wish i'd never come near this piece of rubbish and I'll spend the rest of it's life helping others stay clear of this dog of a machine.

[Daniel Flores]

Using two Ultralite Mk3 daisy chained with zero problems and I love the DSP compressors/limiters. They just sound great IMHO. There are many other features I use when checking Phase problems and dynamics which are on board helping tools in the MK3.
I used to own the original ultralite but MK3 sounds clearer and they don't lack of low end anymore. For me there was a huge difference when comparing V1 with Mk3 and as I use a buss comp for my mixes (from the Ul mk3 to TK audio bc1 and back) I need the sound to be a clear as possible.
It's as good as anything out there regardless what people might tell you this is an amazing sound card.
I'm using Xp sp2 with Studio one pro 1.5.

BTW, I have recorded and mixed over 30+ albums with both Ultralite Mk1 and Mk3 and never heard had problems with clicks or bad drivers.

[Goa-Dubs]

Yeah ive got two mk 3 s and two laptops.mac book and pc.They work on both but work best on the mac ive found.Great sound and i use the built in mixer and dsp s all the time.Amazing eq s,really flexible so you can chisel your sound like software plugins.compressor and limiters have taken the place of my hardware versions.You can really boost you input and output signals.Usefull.And they can (and do) be used stand alone.No computer,yeah!!Reverbs are lush.Great then......

[007]

Perfect timing to see this thread.
I was debating on the UL MkIII or the M-Audio Profire 610, similar features but the latter being quite cheaper. I've read praises and rants about both units, so my investigation goes on..

[Daniel Flores]

Drivers Version 4.0 are now available for all MOTU fw/usb2 products to download at their site (you will need to open an account). It showcases a number of improvements.
Cheers!

[cragto]

What benefits do the new MOTU drivers have? There are no release notes or other information on the MOTU site, and information is sparse on Motunation. What's the difference between these drivers and the last version?

[RonaldDumsfeld]

^^ They never say. We just have to work it out between ourselves.

The new drivers (Vn4.0) are almost certainly designed to support MOTU's new unit the MicroBook. It may well be there are no changes at all for anyone else. If we are lucky and there haven't been any regressive bugs introduced that is.

If it follows the now established pattern MOTU have established what will happen next is the Microbook users will report any bugs, MOTU will pick the absolutely essential ones to fix and a better set of drivers will appear in 3 or 4 months time. This is what happened with the new UL Hybrid at Xmas. At first the USB drivers in 80% of windows systems was an epic fail. They fixed them in late march.

When I reported the critical USB fault I also reported 4 other less serious issues. MOTU acknowledged they existed but didn't give any commitment to fixing them. I noticed when I visited the MOTU site that they have simply deleted my tech links (bug reports) without notification so I'm assuming they haven't been addressed. I'm certainly not going to be the first to find out this time. If you have a working windows installation with MOTU I'd advise sticking with it.

Comments on MOTU software quality and customer support don't necessarily apply to Mac users. Mac is their core market so they concentrate on that. I'm convinced they are not really bothered about windows users. Digital Performer is their flagship product and they have never manged to do a successful port.

[cragto]

Thanks Ronald. I had a workaround rather than working Windows XP Pro 64 then Windows 7 Pro 64 system. The only way midi worked with decent size buffers was with a Midisport 2X2 (after M-audio finally came out with beta drivers). Midi never worked properly through my Ultralite Mk III. The system was very quirky, and the final straw was inability to get consistent repeatable results at adequate levels in Room EQ Wizard. I bought an MR816CSX (mo midi but no need since I'm using the midisport anyway) and other than an inability to use WDM the system just works. RME users on the Sonar forum reported the same inability to use WDM with Fireface and since RME by acclimation has the most rock solid drivers no reason to worry about being restricted to ASIO with the MR816.

[JoelFan]

Originally Posted by Daniel Flores

Using two Ultralite Mk3 daisy chained with zero problems and I love the DSP compressors/limiters. They just sound great IMHO. There are many other features I use when checking Phase problems and dynamics which are on board helping tools in the MK3.
I used to own the original ultralite but MK3 sounds clearer and they don't lack of low end anymore. For me there was a huge difference when comparing V1 with Mk3 and as I use a buss comp for my mixes (from the Ul mk3 to TK audio bc1 and back) I need the sound to be a clear as possible.
It's as good as anything out there regardless what people might tell you this is an amazing sound card.
I'm using Xp sp2 with Studio one pro 1.5.

BTW, I have recorded and mixed over 30+ albums with both Ultralite Mk1 and Mk3 and never heard had problems with clicks or bad drivers.

Dear Daniel, I also have an Ultralite MK3.
Can you tell me a bit more on expanding one MK3? Can you see all channels (10INS+10OUTS+10ExpandedINS+10ExpandedOUTS) all in the same CUEMIX FX?
Can you really have full integrated control over 2 Ultralites with just one console program?
Thx a lot.

[rydan]

An iteresting detail is that the preamps have aLOT more gain on the new hybrid.