Item: MTUULTRALITE
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customer reviews
43 People rated this product :
6 out of 10
10 People wrote reviews
7 out of 10
"Support, Drivers? Thumbs down. Sound? Thumbs way up!"
Feature:
**** One problem I've had with the Ultralite is that it's drivers won't work with over 3 Gig of RAM. I have 4, but I can only use three because of this "known issue" (according to MOTU support, although they mean, "known to us, but we're not telling anyone about it until after they buy one"). Not wanting to waste memory, I recently bought a Focusrite Saffire, because their drivers don't care how much memory you use. But I ended up returning it, because the sound just couldn't match the Ultralite - the Saffire sounded very thin in comparison.
Another area the Saffire didn't measure up in was the headphone level. I'm a loud singer and I need plenty of level to track vocals, and I would've had to buy a headphone amp to be able to work with the Saffire. The Ultralite's are way loud enough.
Quality:
I've had some issues, but none with build quality. It's solid.
**** I will say if you're using Vista, turn off the Aero interface. I was having a lot of pop/hiss/click noise issues as a result of the MOTU drivers conflicting with Vista and the graphics card. Once I turned off Aero, no problems.
Value:
Worth the going price on sound quality alone.
Desirability:
Not the prettiest interface, or the best aesthetic design.
Sound:
The sound of this unit is impressive, especially at this price point. I've gotten impressive, near commercial quality vocal tracks running a Studio Projects C1 through a Studio Projects VTB1 into this unit. Playback of mixes and other audio also sounds great. It's accuracy has allowed me to produce better mixes.
Ease of Use:
It's true, the knobs are too close together. Once you get over that, it's a non-issue. The MOTU is pretty easy to dial in.
Support:
MOTU support leaves a lot to be desired. Expect to wait 48 hours for a response, and don't expect it to be too overly helpful when you get it. With regard to my memory issue, their response was basically, "Yeah, we knew about it all along. Guess you'll have to wait and hope for a driver update." Thanks, MOTU.
Overall:
I'm still looking for an interface that will match the sound quality of the MOTU, but will allow me to use all of my memory and have better drivers and support. Eventually I might have to move up to RME or something. But until then, I gotta stick with this interface for its sound and ignore its ugly side.
Submitted: 11/18/2007
Style of Music: Alternative Pop Rock
10 out of 10
Feature:
For my needs, and for just about any home/project studio, the features of this unit are perfect. I record 24/96 in Logic, and having 12 inputs available (with built-in mixer functions) is exactly what I need.
Quality:
Unlike some other reviewers here, I found the unit solidly built. It's lightweight (hence...the name) for portability. That doesn't mean it's cheap or flimsy. Software drivers seem rock-solid so far.
Value:
There are many cheaper alternatives with similar features, but all the ones I've used are sonically inferior to MOTU. For project studios, you have to go with what you can afford, but this one is really worth the $.
Sound:
The mic preamps in this unit are excellent and very quiet, given the price and the fact that they're solid-state. A/D conversion is noticeably better than other units I have used (PreSonus and especially M-Audio). Zero-latency monitoring.
Ease of Use:
I installed the software and plugged it in. Note: I have a Mac-based studio...doing anything in Windows is more of a pain in the ass, so YMMV.
Submitted: 5/31/2007
Style of Music: It's all good
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Call for 4 equal payments on most orders over $395. Installment plans available only by phone. 
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