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Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU) Micro Lite 5x5 Bus Powered MIDI Interface

Built from the same technology found in MOTU's flagship MIDI Timepiece, the micro lite is a professional MIDI interface and that provides portable, plug-and-play connectivity to any USB-equipped Macintosh or Windows computer. Learn More...

    • New $139.95
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Overall User Ratings

Overall:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * . . . . . 5 out of 10
Ease of Use:
* * . . . . . . . . 2 out of 10
Support:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10

Individual User Ratings

Overall:
* * . . . . . . . . 2 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Quality:
* * . . . . . . . . 2 out of 10
Value:
* * . . . . . . . . 2 out of 10
I Want It:
* * . . . . . . . . 2 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * . . . . . 5 out of 10
Ease of Use:
* * . . . . . . . . 2 out of 10
Support:
* * . . . . . . . . 2 out of 10

Feature:
5 in 5 out with activity indicators. does what it's supposed to do when it works.

Quality:
physically, the product is well made and does what it's supposed to do. the software is terrible, no driver updates available and the drivers seem to unload themselves whenever they're not used for awhile or the PC gets booted.

Value:
If the driver ever gets fixed, it's a 10. until then, it's pretty irritating to use. good thing my PC has front of case USB ports.

Desirability:
I want it to work.

Sound:
it's midi so doesn't itself make sound

Ease of Use:
everytime I boot my PC or shutdown Sonar for a half hour, I have to unplug the USB cable and plug it back in again to get it to talk to Sonar. Otherwise, plug in midi cables and go.

Support:
after several emails, they responded with useless advice. after a couple months they had me ship it back and gave me a new one. Same problem and they no longer respond to emails. Check the MOTU user forums, you'll see lots of complaints about disappearing drivers and terrible support; it's not just me.

Overall:
I'd save my money and buy something that works, definately not from MOTU.

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Overall:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Support:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10

Feature:
5 ins 5 outs no power supply needed--what more could you want? well, a bypass button would have been cool but otherwise nice little black box. the lighted activity indicators on the front are sweet, very helpfull for the inevitable midi "where's the sound? oh yeah, wrong output stupid" things that you run into to. No SMPTE or internal routing options (Clockworks) but i don't need them.

Quality:
solid, nice looking.

Value:
same or less than 4x4s and there is no comparing the design & construction of this and the other junk out there.

Desirability:
finally an affordable interface with 5 inputs and outputs! AND the box is soo nice looking and it has that heavily textured finish on the metal. i was nervous about USB but with XP it seems very stable.

Support:
i've used MOTU e-mail support on two occassions for other things and they are very helpfull but it does take time for the answer.

Overall:
satisfied until Windows freezes over. i would definately replace it if stolen, i am considering buying more midi gear so that i can buy another one so that i could use the included hardware to bolt them together and rack mount them. most important for something like this, although it's nice looking, you can just forget that it's there because it's just a sweet little black box that's doing it's job--the perfect match for my m-audio delta 44, no real bells or whistles just does what it should for very little $.

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