Fast Track Ultra vs. I-Onix U42S

[BrianHanke]

I'm currently using a firewire audio interface, but I think I'd like to make the switch to USB (mostly because the firewire connectivity on my laptop isn't the most reliable). I've thoroughly studied all the interface options out there; my top two choices are the M-Audio Fast Track Ultra and the Lexicon I-ONIX U42S.

Both have exactly the features I need: USB connectivity, four preamps, two headphone jacks, and separate physical volume controls for the main output and headphones.

I know there are a least a few folks here that have experience with both units. I'm wondering if there is anything in particular to recommend one over the other. I'm leaning towards M-Audio right now. I'm more familiar with their hardware than Lexicon's, and the microphone input frequency response of the I-ONIX concerns me. The tech specs state +/- 1.5dB, while the Fast Track Ultra website shows +/- 0.1dB.

Any thoughts are welcome! Many thanks in advance.

[jjb]

Well, in my experience, M-Audio's USB gear is their weakest link. I've had a couple of their USB devices, including the Ultra, and there's no way I'd use one again. I've never had trouble with their Firewire or PCI gear though, and I'm running a few of their Delta 1010s right now.

[jnorman]

brian - i only have experience with the lexicon unit, and i have been pleased with its performance so far. i have used it both in the studio with an XP box, and with my IBM Thinkpad on location. the preamps are pretty good - noticeably better than the pres in a MOTU 8pre which i tried once.

i also considered the fast track ultra, and wound up going with the lexicon because i thought the dbx preamps in the U42s might be better than the pres in the FTU - but i did not ever test them against each other, so i do not know how good the FTU pres sound. the ASIO drivers for the lexicon are very stable on both XP and my vista laptop, and the unit is easy to use and easily handles 4 channels at once with no problems.

you can hear the preamps on the last live recording i made, which i dubbed onto a video recording and posted at youtube - it is RoseWynde playing the Habanera by Ravel at St Mary's church in Mt Angel, Oregon during Octoberfest 2009. there is a link to the video in my thread about "Video Attempt" here:
Video attempt - live at Octoberfest 2009

[BrianHanke]

Originally Posted by jjb

Well, in my experience, M-Audio's USB gear is their weakest link. I've had a couple of their USB devices, including the Ultra, and there's no way I'd use one again. I've never had trouble with their Firewire or PCI gear though, and I'm running a few of their Delta 1010s right now.

Duly noted, thanks. What operating system were you using with the Fast Track Ultra?

Originally Posted by jnorman

brian - i only have experience with the lexicon unit, and i have been pleased with its performance so far. i have used it both in the studio with an XP box, and with my IBM Thinkpad on location. the preamps are pretty good - noticeably better than the pres in a MOTU 8pre which i tried once.

i also considered the fast track ultra, and wound up going with the lexicon because i thought the dbx preamps in the U42s might be better than the pres in the FTU - but i did not ever test them against each other, so i do not know how good the FTU pres sound. the ASIO drivers for the lexicon are very stable on both XP and my vista laptop, and the unit is easy to use and easily handles 4 channels at once with no problems.

you can hear the preamps on the last live recording i made, which i dubbed onto a video recording and posted at youtube - it is RoseWynde playing the Habanera by Ravel at St Mary's church in Mt Angel, Oregon during Octoberfest 2009. there is a link to the video in my thread about "Video Attempt" here:
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/remote-possibilities-acoustic-music-location-recording/424179-video-attempt-live-octoberfest-2009-a.html

Thanks very much for the link! The sound is excellent: nice and airy and clear. I still wonder about the stated specs for the preamps. Have you noticed anything unusual about their frequency response? +/- 1.5dB seems like an awful lot of potential variance. Perhaps it's an error on the website?

[Corran]

I just got a Fast Track Ultra last week.

It sounds great when it's working well. I've had two issues. One, after initially connecting it to my laptop it clicks pretty loudly every 10-20 seconds. After rebooting it works great! The second issue just happened today. It simply wouldn't connect until I messed with it for almost an hour. I don't know what the problem is but I think the cable was too loose to properly connect.

I haven't decided if I'll ditch it but I hope not. The pres are definitely quite respectable.

[BrianHanke]

Originally Posted by Corran

I just got a Fast Track Ultra last week.

It sounds great when it's working well. I've had two issues. One, after initially connecting it to my laptop it clicks pretty loudly every 10-20 seconds. After rebooting it works great! The second issue just happened today. It simply wouldn't connect until I messed with it for almost an hour. I don't know what the problem is but I think the cable was too loose to properly connect.

I haven't decided if I'll ditch it but I hope not. The pres are definitely quite respectable.

Thanks much Bryan. What OS are you using with the FTU?

[jnorman]

brian - the specs in the owners manual indicate:


Microphone Inputs: Female XLR Pin 2 Hot
Input Impedance: 3kΩ balanced
Phantom Power: +48 Volts
Maximum gain: +58 dB

E.I.N. (at max gain): −126 dBu @ 58dB gain typical (150Ω source)
−129 dBu @ 58dB gain typical A-weighted (150Ω source)
Maximum Input Level: +14 dBu at minimum gain
Frequency Response: +0/−1 dB, 20Hz - 20kHz
THD+N: <0.02%, 20Hz - 20kHz (mic input to main output)
<0.015%, 1kHz, -6 dBu input level

[BrianHanke]

Hmm, that is different than on their website. Can anyone fill me in as to what the +0/-x notation refers to exactly? This Lexicon documentation is the only place I've seen frequency response presented like that.

ETA: Well, after doing a little more research I'm not going to sweat it too much. Steinberg gives +1, -3dB, 20Hz-20kHz for their MR816 X interface, which gets raves all around for its sound quality. I suspect there's something going on here with regards to the way to calculate frequency response measurements. Perhaps different companies are adhering to different standards?

This leaves me leaning towards the Lexicon. There seems to be a lot of anecdotal evidence suggesting that the Fast Track Ultra might be a bit flaky.

[Corran]

Originally Posted by BrianHanke

Thanks much Bryan. What OS are you using with the FTU?

I am running Windows XP SP3.

I just recorded a vocal recital with no hiccups. One wonders how issues crop up and are gone so suddenly. I think I will keep the unit but the first major loss of data I'm out.

By the way, I have no direct experience with the Lexicon unit you are looking at, but, I do have a Lexicon Omega. It worked very fine for about two years. Then it wouldn't connect to a computer for more than 10 minutes without bugging out and having to be reset. Just an FYI.

[jjb]

I ran the Ultra on XP SP2 and SP3. I'm not totally sure, but I think I also tried it on 2000.

I can't actually speak for the preamps, I always used it at line level taking direct out off subgroups on my board.

I had the totally random clicking issue as well as just having the device not connect every 5-10 times I'd start the machine up.

[Corran]

Interesting. You know I have heard before that you should stay on SP2 for all audio interfaces but it sounds like you had problems on both SP2 and 3?

[BrianHanke]

Originally Posted by jjb

I had the totally random clicking issue as well as just having the device not connect every 5-10 times I'd start the machine up.

This is exactly what I'm trying to get away from! I'm definitely going to go with the Lexicon. Will report back after I've had a chance to work with it a bit.

[Corran]

I probably would get the Lexicon instead if it could be semi-bus-powered like the FTU (just two mic inputs via bus-power). Also the FTU has a couple more inputs via TRS.

Of course I guess it only matters if it works...

[blackpostcards]

Brian,
Any experiences to report with the Lexicon? I'm in the same boat you were in a few weeks back, choosing between the two of these. On paper, they seem pretty evenly matched and I've seen reports of quirks (especially driver stuff) with the both of them.

[BrianHanke]

Originally Posted by blackpostcards

Brian,
Any experiences to report with the Lexicon? I'm in the same boat you were in a few weeks back, choosing between the two of these. On paper, they seem pretty evenly matched and I've seen reports of quirks (especially driver stuff) with the both of them.

I decided not to get the Lexicon either. I just can't get past the printed specs, seeing as how so many other interfaces list better numbers. The frequency response of +/-1.5 dB, 20Hz - 20kHz especially made me a little skeptical. A lot of other interfaces offer +/-0.1 dB or better.

[blackpostcards]

Originally Posted by BrianHanke

I decided not to get the Lexicon either. I just can't get passed the printed specs, seeing as how so many other interfaces list better numbers. The frequency response of +/-1.5 dB, 20Hz - 20kHz especially made me a little skeptical. A lot of other interfaces offer +/-0.1 dB or better.

So have you purchased the Fast Track Ultra then, or did you go another route entirely? I'm coming to the conclusion that any interface is going to have a fair share of people experiencing troubles, primarily due to all the different PCs they're all plugging into. So I guess it's a matter of taking a chance, at least as far as stability is concerned.

[BrianHanke]

I’m going another route entirely. Right now I'm leaning towards the Focusrite Saffire Pro 40, but I still haven't decided. The new Echo AudioFire Pre8 looks good too. My current interface is on eBay as we speak, so I'm going to force myself to make a decision!

[jnorman]

so brian, what made you decide to go back to firewire? i finally went with the USB route because i sort of felt like FW is on its way out - most of the laptops i looked at, including my Thinkpad T61, (when they even bother putting in a FW port) are using the Ricoh chipset which is, from what i read, problemmatic with most audio interfaces.

[BrianHanke]

Well, my initial hope was that USB would provide a more reliable connection than FireWire. For example: the FireWire port on my laptop for some reason doesn't seem to support hot-swapping. I always had to log off of Windows, plug my interface in, and then log back on. Sometimes I'd have to do this several times before it would stick. I also occasionally have weird glitches on my desktop computer. Nothing that has ever prevented me from getting work done, but sometimes a little annoying all the same.

After doing a lot of research it sounds like many USB interfaces are plagued with stability problems as well, so I don't think I'd really be solving my main complaint by switching connection protocols. I agree that FireWire is going to be phased out over the next several years, with USB 3 most likely taking its place. Hopefully most new laptops will still come with an ExpressCard slot so at least it will be possible to attach a FireWire expansion card.

In the end I just decided it would be nice to have a lot of inputs in my new interface for expandability purposes down the line. Hence the Saffire Pro or AudioFire Pre8 idea... I still haven't decided which one to get though. I was thoroughly inspired by the Emerson String Quartet thread here that showed them being recorded with a MOTU 896. Nice to know I can stay resolutely “prosumer” in my interface choices and still have hope of getting a “professional” sound!

[BrianHanke]

I'm sure everyone's dying for an update , so I wanted to say that I got my Saffire Pro 40 yesterday. So far I'm very pleased with it. My initial impressions are that it sounds excellent and every aspect of the build quality seems solid.

Setup was basically plug and play. I did have to use the Windows 7 legacy FireWire driver as instructed by the Focusrite website. One word of warning to others attempting the same thing: turn off the unit before changing drivers! Otherwise you'll be treated to a lovely BSOD.

After a reboot the Saffire Pro was automatically enabled as my default audio device. As an added bonus Reaper recognizes all 8 inputs even when using the WDM driver, which I've found in the past to be more stable than the ASIO one.

[Corran]

Glad that interface is working well for you!

I wanted to give an update on my M-audio experience. I wrestled with the FTU for a couple more recordings with more connection problems. Finally I actually tried a different cable, and it worked perfectly! I think the cable they include with it is terrible. I actually got a couple different lengths of gold-plated USB2 cables from monoprice and it hooks up perfectly and I haven't had a problem since.

Now I do wish that the cable was locking or something, because I still fear it popping out easily, but assuming I'm not jostling things around (which I shouldn't be doing in a live recording) I'm fine with it.

[BrianHanke]

Interesting note about your cable issue. I had a similar problem with a video camera a while ago. It simply wouldn't connect to my computer with one FireWire cable, but a second one worked perfectly. Strange...