 "Hands down the worst device for recording" | 2008-08-12 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1U8RPCM7VBL1R |
At first glance I thought this was the perfect solution for my Mac Pro -- a nice little USB recording interface with SPDIF in/out and simple interface. I was completely wrong.
The drivers for this device are the worst I have ever had the displeasure to install. Under OS X 10.5.4 the SPDIF in simply does not work AT ALL. No config options are available to any software program or even at the OS level. M-Audio forums are flooded with issues and the device simply doesn't work as advertised.
M-Audio, shame on you for releasing such a crappy product and ignoring your users. |
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| "Not worth the trouble" | 2008-07-24 |
| - Reviewed By akatruth4 |
| Very disappointed with this one. I own the Firewire Solo, but needed something as a DJ interface with the ability to cue songs. Downloaded the latest driver from their site to go along with my Intel Mac (Leopard) and experienced all sorts of issues. Scrapped that driver and decided to go with the one in the box which didn't even read the preamp correctly and set it up as a 0 in/2 out. Scrapped that driver and downloaded the driver that was one version earlier than the latest, just to see. More problems. If you're not going to build something that actually works, just don't put it out until you've got it fixed. This will make it hard for me to trust M-Audio with anything else for the future. |
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| "False advertising -do not buy this item" | 2008-04-06 |
| - Reviewed By User: AZAP748EYCI8W |
| I purchased this for my son for Christmas 2007. The box was missing two software programs, GT Player Express and Pro Sessions. The box had a sticker on the outside indicating that these were included. The manufacturer must have decided to stop giving these away. Amazon still lists GT Player Express as included. We requested a replacement in January and received an identical package (in March!!) with the same problem. We've returned both orders and had to hassle Amazon for our refund. |
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 "MacBook users watch out" | 2008-04-04 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1I2YMV2BSZRCR |
This is a good unit for the price. However, it took me several tries to get it working properly with Garageband on my MacBook. When I started recording, it came through great for about a minute. Then I began experiencing a lot of static and distortion in both the headphones and when I played it back. After doing some research, I found that plugging the M-Audio into the usb port that was furthest from my screen solved the problem. It works great now...I would only echo comments about the gain not going high enough. Using condenser mics instead of my sm-57/58 took care of that problem.
Hopefully, knowledge about the USB issue will save some other people time and frustration. |
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| "Bad Experience" | 2008-03-13 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2M6XQPSDWA88P |
I got this because someone whom I know had it. He was a sound engineer so I figured if he had it, then it must be a good product. So I went ahead and puchased it.
When I first installed it, everything worked great. I was using Pro Tools M Powered. Then a few days later, things started going haywire. It would not read the signal. I reinstalled pro-tools and the drivers about 5 times. Nothing. Went over the configurations and settings, still could not get it to work. After much frustration, I sold it on ebay. If it worked well with my system, I am sure it would be a nice product. The sound engineer friend has no probs with it. The one thing that I did not like is its only 1.1 USB. I know it is over 3 years old so maybe that why it doesnt have USB 2?
Its pretty much a flip of the coin whether this will work for you or not. I have M-Powered Pro Tools so I am going to try the Firewire 410. Even that has shaky reviews but I am crossing my fingers that it works better. |
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 "Avoid if you're running Vista..." | 2008-02-15 |
| - Reviewed By bmatchick |
| I don't write a lot of reviews, but this thing is such a pain and M-Audio are so obtuse that I had to write one. I knew that the Vista drivers were in beta when I bought it, but I figured that would not last long. Well, the last update was in June of 07 and they will not give a clue as to when the official driver will be out. The beta drivers suck and I have had nothing but glitches and problems. The hardware is all plastic and OK for the price, but without proper software it's almost useless. I just ordered a Firebox, hooked it up in 5 min and it works 10x better. If you're running XP this might not be an issue, but the truth is the $100 more for a firebox is worth every penny. M-audio and Mackie are both dropping the ball on software support lately and it's going to cost them in the long run. The forums are full of people telling them that, but not a lot of results yet. We all hate Vista, but that's life. Get your drivers up to date. |
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| "M-Audio has poor suport and don't know there own products" | 2008-01-27 |
| - Reviewed By User: A28UZSA2XDH1EV |
1st Bad review of all time. M-audio tech line said this would work with Mac leapard. Bought it and they said it doesn't yet when I called tech support because the drivers would not work. They then released drivers and they do not work. M-audio tech support said sorry maybe in 6 months well be able to fix it. There sales department is misinformed and their tech department is not knowledgable whatsoever about MACs. The product does work on my PC but the included software is worthless.
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 "Don't let the naysayers scare you off.." | 2008-01-22 |
| - Reviewed By User: A181TIQPGSTYH6 |
This is a great little machine, yes there are a few caveats.. but on the whole I don't think you will find anything else in this price range with better features. I noticed quite a few negative reviews on this and other m-audio devices here on amazon, but it appears that most of them are either people who are inexperienced with digital audio equipment or people complaining about driver issues.
I have owned previous M-audio equipment and they do have a history of spotty drivers and slow fixes, however in this case I have had absolutely no problems with their drivers (running on Vista 32-bit). The sound quality is great, ASIO latency is low (~3ms), works on Linux too. I would give it 5 stars if it was 24/96 and usb 2.0 |
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 "Just Plug and Play - Works Great!!" | 2008-01-12 |
| - Reviewed By User: AW51SKK5HVQKI |
I've had this for over a week and have been recording many hours every night. No problems so far.
I am using Garageband on a MacBook Pro laptop and the addition of this device was seamless.
I am not new to home recording as I have a Dell Pc with an Edirol USB device and Sonar Producer edition but I moved and these are still at my old home.
One of the main reasons I bought this was for the Mac/Pc compatibility and the phantom power - a requirement for my Condenser mic.
It feels well constructed and the preamps work well - the pad switches being a nice addition.
The ability for recording two tracks at a time is great too as sometimes I like to lay down a "live" demo first and its great to have guitar on one track and vocals on another.
The Cons?
Well, this is me being picky but I dont like the white push switches, they just feel and little cheap and plastic.
Also the gains could have been better, you do need to have them almost all the way up.
Other than that, I cant fault it. But there are many more hours of recording ahead of me so if anything pops up, I'll be back! |
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| "Get an Mbox mini..." | 2008-01-02 |
| - Reviewed By emptyo |
The fast track pro set up easily, but performed horribly with Adobe Audition 2.0, on an XP professional SP2 system that greatly exceeded m-audio's requirements. I took a lot of time to tweak buffer and CPU settings, but the interface generated clicks and pops during recording and playback (which did not wind up on tape) and occasionally dropped out completely during recording, only to fade back in slowly in a few seconds (this did affect the recording). My searches for support through m-audio forums or online literature came up empty. The package included the barest of setup guides, and no type of manual or user's guide. I did not call tech support, because it was a weekend.
The connections felt a little bit loose and flimsy. The headphone amp was noisy.
It comes with Ableton's Live Lite and Pro Tools M-powered. I never got to use the Pro Tools because it would not recognize the Fast Track Pro, even after a proper installation (when Pro Tools does not detect compliant hardware, it simply closes).
I returned the interface and bought an M-Box mini for $100 more. It sounds perfect and performs very well, and comes with Pro Tools LE 7, which is a great program. The Mini has one XLR input, no MIDI input, and no S/PDIF docks, so it is less fully featured than the Fast Track Pro, but sounds much better, and, you know, actually works. |
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