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MAudio Audiosport Quattro 4x4 USB Audio/MIDI Interface
Mac and Windows drivers are now available online at the Midiman website.
"Rugged design, with powerful sound. But support is not what should be expected."
Feature:
The only thing I really miss with this device is a volume slider possibility. The Creative Soundblaster comes with a really expanded set of settings, but the Quattro just has a small control panel with the only option to set which setup you want to use like Frequencies and the amount of In and Out ports to use. But in combination with Nuendo or Cubase this is sufficient. Only to use the correct bit and buffersettings help a lot!!! There are no guidelines for setting up the ASIO settings correctly... therefore... This can be improved!
Quality:
I own the Quattro device now for one year. And it still is in "just bought it" fashion (only dust needs to come off it). A rugged device (dropped it a few times). It works under all circumstances!!!
Value:
What the product offers (what they tell you on the box and in the store) I really must say... value for money. But for the price I paid, I expect better support (troubleshooters in Windows and more information in the "knowledge base").
Desirability:
The design compared with some other USB sound cards is good. My aim was to get a rugged design, ease of connection and nothing more. And that is what I got. The only thing what could be better is also have the MIDI ports on the backpanel in stead of the frontpanel.
Sound:
The sound is just superb in combination with the correct monitor setup. I own a set of Edirol MA-10A monitors which allow you to really tell the difference between a cheap sound-card (Creative Soundblaster clone) and a more expensive one. The sound the USB-Quattro generates is just Fine! Nice 'n' warm!
Support:
The website of M-audio offers you little or no support when you want to set up the device. They offer support for installing the XP drivers... and this works correctly, but only this is not enough. The site tells you to download a "Beta" driver, but this one cannot be found. Then, the ASIO or other setup options are not available on the "knowledge base" and it seems to me that the Quattro is a product they want to support 100%. Maybe they improve this in the future! The manual only offers the most "basic" things you need to know for this device. Also not enough.
Overall:
A year ago this was the only USB soundcard I was able to buy. It offered everything I wanted to have. And it worked in an instance in my Win98 machine. After upgrading to WinXP Pro, I really wished I had better support from M-audio. But... When I need to upgrade, At first it would be my computer, and not the Quattro...
The only thing I really miss with this device is a volume slider possibility. The Creative Soundblaster comes with a really expanded set of settings, but the Quattro just has a small control panel with the only option to set which setup you want to use like Frequencies and the amount of In and Out ports to use. But in combination with Nuendo or Cubase this is sufficient. Only to use the correct bit and buffersettings help a lot!!! There are no guidelines for setting up the ASIO settings correctly... therefore... This can be improved!
Quality:
I own the Quattro device now for one year. And it still is in "just bought it" fashion (only dust needs to come off it). A rugged device (dropped it a few times). It works under all circumstances!!!
Value:
What the product offers (what they tell you on the box and in the store) I really must say... value for money. But for the price I paid, I expect better support (troubleshooters in Windows and more information in the "knowledge base").
Desirability:
The design compared with some other USB sound cards is good. My aim was to get a rugged design, ease of connection and nothing more. And that is what I got. The only thing what could be better is also have the MIDI ports on the backpanel in stead of the frontpanel.
Sound:
The sound is just superb in combination with the correct monitor setup. I own a set of Edirol MA-10A monitors which allow you to really tell the difference between a cheap sound-card (Creative Soundblaster clone) and a more expensive one. The sound the USB-Quattro generates is just Fine! Nice 'n' warm!
Support:
The website of M-audio offers you little or no support when you want to set up the device. They offer support for installing the XP drivers... and this works correctly, but only this is not enough. The site tells you to download a "Beta" driver, but this one cannot be found. Then, the ASIO or other setup options are not available on the "knowledge base" and it seems to me that the Quattro is a product they want to support 100%. Maybe they improve this in the future! The manual only offers the most "basic" things you need to know for this device. Also not enough.
Overall:
A year ago this was the only USB soundcard I was able to buy. It offered everything I wanted to have. And it worked in an instance in my Win98 machine. After upgrading to WinXP Pro, I really wished I had better support from M-audio. But... When I need to upgrade, At first it would be my computer, and not the Quattro...
"Works great w. Deck III & G4, no midi"
As a quick solution to bringing 4 tracks in at once to Deck III, the unit works great. Must admit I was reluctant after reading reviews, but didn't have much choice in the price range/ time constraints.
Didn't install the MIDI support (don't need it), so don't know if it works, but the USB drivers (seem to be latest ones) worked first time. 4 tracks at 24 bits with 48K rate limit you to only two output channels, but with a set of phones, it solved our problem.
(Wish it was cheaper, but ....)
Didn't install the MIDI support (don't need it), so don't know if it works, but the USB drivers (seem to be latest ones) worked first time. 4 tracks at 24 bits with 48K rate limit you to only two output channels, but with a set of phones, it solved our problem.
(Wish it was cheaper, but ....)
"Brilliant, everything I hoped for!"
I have had no problems with any of the drivers. It all works perfectly. I understand that many users had difficulties. I bought mine on the 10th March 2002. I am a PC user who read all of these reviews, but persisted. This is my dream come true. USB is so much easier to transfer from playing off my desktop to my laptop.
"This machine is better than you think..."
I just recently bought the Audio Quattro... I was a little worried about picking it up because of the reviews I read here. It turns out that it is a good little box. Runs great on my laptop. Runs without failure with reason, and so far ( in my first two hours of ownership ) have not had any problems. The unit does warm up a bit, but my laptop gets hotter than the unit. I also have found if you stand it on it's side it cools a little better.
I don't get any artifacts in my audio output and the unit seems solid.
It's a good box at a cheap price. Don't hesitate to pick it up.
I don't get any artifacts in my audio output and the unit seems solid.
It's a good box at a cheap price. Don't hesitate to pick it up.
"Haven't had any problems"
I am using the Quattro to run the Native Instruments B4 on my laptop. I have had no problems with the drivers or any of the other problems the other users on this board have. The drivers loaded just fine on ME and XP.
I just bought it 2 weeks ago. Perhaps Midiman worked out the bugs since the other people on here purchased theirs.
I just bought it 2 weeks ago. Perhaps Midiman worked out the bugs since the other people on here purchased theirs.
"Quattro does the job at hand."
I'm still learning about this sound card but so far it's been operational with no problems. I didn't find a difference in speed compaired to my Delta 66 pci card. I mainly use this card to record Vocals, Bass & Keys on my IBM Slim. If your desktop can take the pci card of any M-Audio Delta series go for it it's a little more reliable, but for slim's or Laptops this Quattro is the bomb! So basically for it's value and the kind of performance I'm looking for, this is an excellent choice.
"way better than expected..."
I was dreading the quattro's reputation for mishap, but decided to take my chances and picked one up.
1. running on powerbook g3400 pismo, 320 mb ram.
2. original drivers produced delayed, stuttering audio.
3. installed drivers found at m-audio website and audio issue immediately cleared.
4. not using any greatly reduced extension set.
5. one complaint: not great waves plug-in performance. light popping when using too many stereo plugs. still, with my system, i shouldn't expect great waves performance in the first place.
6. running logic platinum at 24 bit.
7. no audible latency (that i can tell)
8. sounds as good as the delta 44 card that was in my old desktop.
I didn't think I would but...thumb's up!
1. running on powerbook g3400 pismo, 320 mb ram.
2. original drivers produced delayed, stuttering audio.
3. installed drivers found at m-audio website and audio issue immediately cleared.
4. not using any greatly reduced extension set.
5. one complaint: not great waves plug-in performance. light popping when using too many stereo plugs. still, with my system, i shouldn't expect great waves performance in the first place.
6. running logic platinum at 24 bit.
7. no audible latency (that i can tell)
8. sounds as good as the delta 44 card that was in my old desktop.
I didn't think I would but...thumb's up!
"Be practical - this isn't a wise choice."
I chose the Quattro over the Echo Mia + MidiMan USB 1x1 interface because I wanted an all-in-one unit, and I liked the idea of a completely USB audio interface.
I purchased this item hoping that I would be one of the lucky folks that got it to work correctly. I did get the impression that some of the previous bad reviews were due to lack of technical expertise, so I didn't think I would have a problem.
I'm on Win2k, SP2, and I tried driver versions 1.22 and 1.26.
The quattro seems to be a great product, and works SOMEWHAT. The drivers, however, are pure trash. Often times, my computer would blue-screen in the quattro's context, and other times it would simply stop working and the drivers would simply "shut down" and stop working, requiring a reboot.
Midiman's tech support is worthless - seriously. It might as well not exist.
The moral of this story is that whether you get this to work or not, it's probably not worth the gamble. Comparing this unit's reviews to other products, it's against the odds that it's going to work. Even if it does work, I can't say it would be a reliable device. It's possible that with later versions of the drivers it will work better, but judging from the difference between 1.22 and 1.26, it's not likely.
Conclusion: Choose a different device. The idea is great, it sounds great, but it's unreliable.
I purchased this item hoping that I would be one of the lucky folks that got it to work correctly. I did get the impression that some of the previous bad reviews were due to lack of technical expertise, so I didn't think I would have a problem.
I'm on Win2k, SP2, and I tried driver versions 1.22 and 1.26.
The quattro seems to be a great product, and works SOMEWHAT. The drivers, however, are pure trash. Often times, my computer would blue-screen in the quattro's context, and other times it would simply stop working and the drivers would simply "shut down" and stop working, requiring a reboot.
Midiman's tech support is worthless - seriously. It might as well not exist.
The moral of this story is that whether you get this to work or not, it's probably not worth the gamble. Comparing this unit's reviews to other products, it's against the odds that it's going to work. Even if it does work, I can't say it would be a reliable device. It's possible that with later versions of the drivers it will work better, but judging from the difference between 1.22 and 1.26, it's not likely.
Conclusion: Choose a different device. The idea is great, it sounds great, but it's unreliable.
"High quality sound - Low quality support."
I've been using a Quattro on my Toshiba P1.3Ghz 256 for a few months now - The sound quality is superb but unfortunatly due to USB Bandwidth problems recordings can suffer from "popping" and "cracking" where the Bus simply can't handle the incoming data - this can be very annoying when tracking and will annoy any artists to no end.
Not to mention M-Audio's tech support is possibly THE worst I have ever encountered - they haven't replied to ANY of my emails - not one!
Not to mention M-Audio's tech support is possibly THE worst I have ever encountered - they haven't replied to ANY of my emails - not one!
"Sounds like an awesome product out the box"
zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.
I've done a lot of research on new USB stuff like this, and M-Audio SEEMS to have the better product out there. I'm a PC owner, and have used the DMAN 2044 and the Audiophile 2496, and the only problem I've had is the DMANN 2044 fizzled out after 5+ years of use (I had the model BEFORE people started making breakout boxes!). It concerns me a little about the comments I've read, but they are also MAC users, and I don't know enough about music composition on MAC to comment, just that they are usually more complicated. I love MIDIMAN/M-Audio products, and with years of good product service from them, I'm inclined to buy the USB Quattro. I'm just waiting for the hybrid versions to ship!One last thing. I was told by tech support at MIDIMAN that if you're running a PC and buy the USB Quattro that SAYS MAC VERSION, IT WILL NOT WORK ON A PC, even with the drivers on the site. So instead of being mad at MIDIMAN, be mad at the person who sold you something they knew wouldn't work!
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