Motu Ultralite

frisbeedisk · Post by **frisbeedisk** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 4:54 pm

In the next week or so im thinking of purchasing a Motu Ultralite card, and was just wondering if anyone else has taken the plunge, and what your views are of this card?

Cant wait to throw my firewire 410 out the top window of the flat!! unless someone wants to buy it?

Groovecake · Post by **Groovecake** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 4:59 pm

I got mine yesterday and haven't had much chance to put it through the paces but so far it is GREAT! The ability to eliminate a mixer from my setup was the selling point. No latency monitoring can be routed through some of the outs so I can run my Moog into it and play it live without any latency...or record a loop in Ableton and have it take over. I needed a seperate mixer to do that before.

I use Live in a live situation, by the way, which is why I had to do things this way.

It is way light and great looking. And so far, it's timing is tight.

My only question has been about routing the outs from Ableton to the Ultralite. Sending out on 5/6 comes out of 3/4 on the Ultralite. 7/8 goes to 5/6. Not sure why.

Mitch

robin · Post by **robin** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 5:30 pm

I wish i could see one of these in person. I get the feeling the website pics make it look bigger than it is.

I also wish it wasn't so expensive in europe compared to the US.

Groovecake · Post by **Groovecake** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 7:40 pm

It fits in the front pouch of my M-Audio back pack. I get my laptop, ultralite and Oxygen USB keyboard in there. Mobile recording studio!

scottfro · Post by **scottfro** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 3:11 am

i just got an ultralite and for some reason when i turn on the asio drivers i get NO audio out of my speakers but can still hear audio out of the headphones jack. any ideas? anyone had this problem?

continuous · Post by **continuous** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 3:23 am

Not much help here but have seen some others post about similar issues on the Unicornation forum.

cheers

scottfro · Post by **scottfro** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 3:57 am

thanks i've checked out the forum but no answers yet.

Groovecake · Post by **Groovecake** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 7:40 am

I finally had a chance to set up my UltraLite and have a full rehearsal...and this little thing is the best purchase I have made in a LONG time...(with the exception of the MacBook Pro I bought last week). This thing puts other audio interfaces I have worked with (Presonus, M-Audio) to shame!

I can't recommend this piece enough. The ability to monitor a channel and record it into Live with no latency is worth way more to me than it cost. I no longer need a mixer in between my Moog and my interface.

I use Ableton Live in a live situation where I play live instruments (Moog, Wurly, etc.) and loop them. I have always needed a seperate mixer so I could monitor my real time playing. I would send an out from the mixer to the board so I could, for instance, monitor when I played Moog bass parts. Then I would send from the aux sends on the mixer to my interface the same Moog bass signal for recording and looping. I would then send a channel to the board from the interface for whatever was looping. Essentially I would need two channels for everything...two bass channels, two Rhodes channels, etc.

NO longer! I can now route my Moog into channel 1 of the Motu, hear it from the output of channel one WHILE I record it and then, when the loop kicks in, the Moog comes out of channel 1. Maybe this has always been possible but I didnt know about it and it has totally revamped my setup. This is a life changer!

So...one big thunbs up for the UltraLite!

scottfro · Post by **scottfro** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 7:44 am

are you using ASIO drivers?

Groovecake wrote:I finally had a chance to set up my UltraLite and have a full rehearsal...and this little thing is the best purchase I have made in a LONG time...(with the exception of the MacBook Pro I bought last week). This thing puts other audio interfaces I have worked with (Presonus, M-Audio) to shame!

I can't recommend this piece enough. The ability to monitor a channel and record it into Live with no latency is worth way more to me than it cost. I no longer need a mixer in between my Moog and my interface.

I use Ableton Live in a live situation where I play live instruments (Moog, Wurly, etc.) and loop them. I have always needed a seperate mixer so I could monitor my real time playing. I would send an out from the mixer to the board so I could, for instance, monitor when I played Moog bass parts. Then I would send from the aux sends on the mixer to my interface the same Moog bass signal for recording and looping. I would then send a channel to the board from the interface for whatever was looping. Essentially I would need two channels for everything...two bass channels, two Rhodes channels, etc.

NO longer! I can now route my Moog into channel 1 of the Motu, hear it from the output of channel one WHILE I record it and then, when the loop kicks in, the Moog comes out of channel 1. Maybe this has always been possible but I didnt know about it and it has totally revamped my setup. This is a life changer!

So...one big thunbs up for the UltraLite!

eyeknow · Post by **eyeknow** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 8:39 am

I thought asio was a pc thing? Core audio for mac..................?

there was an earlier post about putting presonus/maudio to shame.......boy ain't THAT the truth!

I have the traveler, but the point is that the soundquality is off-the-hook!

frisbeedisk · Post by **frisbeedisk** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 11:18 am

Nice one groovecake, i think i'll dipp my hand into my pocket quicker and go and buy one of theses babies, in fact im off for the train into town now..canny wait!!!

orbnhoj · Post by **orbnhoj** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 6:40 pm

hey groovecake,
dont know if you got an answer but maybe this may help. i use a MOTU828mkII and the main outs are considered 1&2 - so if i wanna come out of analog 1&2 on the MOTU i set out 3&4 from Live. hope this helps some.

orbnhoj [/quote]

FORMAT · Post by **FORMAT** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 8:52 pm

Groovecake wrote:
NO longer! I can now route my Moog into channel 1 of the Motu, hear it from the output of channel one WHILE I record it and then, when the loop kicks in, the Moog comes out of channel 1. Maybe this has always been possible but I didnt know about it and it has totally revamped my setup. This is a life changer!

So...one big thunbs up for the UltraLite!

Hasn't this been possible for a long time, with low-latency audio interfaces?

Anyway, glad to hear you're happy with the Ultralite. I'd like to get one too......

Groovecake · Post by **Groovecake** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 11:47 pm

orbnhoj wrote:hey groovecake,
dont know if you got an answer but maybe this may help. i use a MOTU828mkII and the main outs are considered 1&2 - so if i wanna come out of analog 1&2 on the MOTU i set out 3&4 from Live. hope this helps some.

orbnhoj

[/quote]

Yeah, I figured this out finally. It's a bit confusing at first but no big deal.

Regarding low-latency audio interfaces, nothing I have owned has allowed me to do this. There was always some degree of latency even at the lowest settings. The MOTU basically sends the live signal straight to the outs, bypassing the computer and, thus, eliminating any latency. Then, whatever I have recorded can be sent out that same channel.

This may be a big "duh" for some of you but for me it's brand new! I sure couldn't do it with the Presonus Firepod.

mike holiday · Post by **mike holiday** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 12:22 am

i can do it with my digi 002, but loose plugin's in the process.