
MAudio Audiosport Quattro 4x4 USB Audio/MIDI Interface
Mac and Windows drivers are now available online at the Midiman website.
Overall User Ratings (based on 81 ratings)
Submitted July 25, 2004 by a customer from lechery.nl
"Rugged design, with powerful sound. But support is not what should be expected."
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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...
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!
Features
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").
Manufacturer 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.
The Wow Factor
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.
Musical Style:
Rock, and techno
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Submitted October 9, 2003 by a customer from maine.edu
"Absolutely terrible."
Verified Customer
zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
Read my comments above. Trust me it is NOT worth it.
Sound
Sound is fine, WHEN IT WORKS! If you can deal with repeated cut-outs and sometimes flat out failure to play sound until you restart the thing then it's for you. I've been back and forth with Midiman tech support forever and they still haven't cooked up a solution for me yet. Get this: the release drivers work fine with MME support, but no asio. The beta 1.28 and 1.30.03 drivers cut out all the time with MME and sometimes with ASIO. Broken drivers, bad company. Don't buy ANYTHING from M-Audio/Midiman.
Features
It came with a power brick. Yay for that I suppose.
Quality
It produces WAY too much heat and does not have a fan! What crappy design!
Value
It doesn't work, don't buy it.
Manufacturer Support
Easy to reach, but completely inneffective at solving my problems. One tech support guy even said he could empathize with me when I explained my frustration at their inability to fix the problems with the device!
The Wow Factor
Very unsexy.
Musical Style:
Electro, EBM, Industrial
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