Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU) has announced the 10 input/14 output Ultralite-mk3, an audio interface that they say is the first ever “hybrid” audio interface, offering FireWire and USB 2 connectivity to Mac and PC computers.
They haven’t put up official availability or pricing info yet. If you know anything on this, leave a comment.
Details on the Ultralite-mk3 below.
Feature summary
- Hybrid FireWire/USB2 connectivity — connect to your computer via either bus-powered FireWire or hi-speed USB2.
- CueMix FX™ — flexible 10 input/14 bus mixer with on-board DSP effects, including reverb with sends/returns, plus EQ and compression on every input and output.
- 10 inputs / 14 outputs — there’s no channel sharing in the UltraLite-mk3 Hybrid; the mic inputs, S/PDIF I/O, headphone out and main outs are all handled as separate channels.
- Classic Reverb™ — provides five different room types, three frequency shelves with adjustable crossover points, shelf filtering and reverb lengths up to 60 seconds.
- Two forms of compression — a standard compressor with conventional threshold/ratio/attack/release/gain controls and the Leveler™, an accurate model of the legendary LA-2A optical compressor, which provides vintage, musical automatic gain control.
- Modeled EQ — provides 7-band parametric EQ modeled after British analog console EQs, featuring 4 filter styles (gain/Q profiles) to effectively cover a wide range of audio material. LP and HP filters are also supplied with slopes that range from 6 to 36 dB.
- CueMix FX cross-platform mixing software — attractive graphic mixing, graphic editing of parametric EQ and a convenient tabbed interface for quick access to all features in one window. Also provides full-screen real-time FFT display, spectrogram “waterfall” display, oscilloscope, X-Y plot and linear or polar phase analysis.
- Front-panel control — access any setting in your entire UltraLite-mk3 Hybrid mix directly from the front panel.
- “Reverb return” stream — allows users to record or mix UltraLite-mk3 Hybrid reverb output separately in their DAW. Effects can also be applied when the UltraLite-mk3 Hybrid is operating stand-alone (without a computer) as a complete stand-alone mixer.
- Stand-alone operation — program your mixes at the studio and then bring the UltraLite-mk3 Hybrid to your gig — no computer needed. Just plug in the included power adapter and you are ready to go. Need to tweak the mix? Do it on site using the back-lit LCD and front-panel controls.
- Multiple CueMix FX mixes — for example, create different monitor mixes for the main outs and headphones. Or add send/return loops for outboard gear — with no latency.
- Two combo jacks provide hi-Z 1/4” guitar input or low-Z XLR mic input with phantom power, pad and plenty of gain.
- Eight 24-bit 192kHz analog inputs and outputs on balanced/unbalanced 1/4″ TRS jacks
- Precision Digital Trim™ — Digitally controlled analog trim on all analog inputs (mic/guitar inputs + quarter-inch TRS inputs) provides accurate adjustements in 1 dB increments. Fine-tune the balance of your analog inputs and then save/recall trim configurations.
- Direct Digital Synthesis™ (DDS) — a DSP-driven phase lock engine and internal clock source that produces imperceptibly low jitter characteristics (below the noise floor), even when the UltraLite-mk3 Hybrid is resolved to an external clock source via SMPTE time code.
- Time code support — directly resolves to (or generates) time code via any quarter-inch input or output, without the need for an extra synchronizer.
- Sample-accurate MIDI — connect a MIDI controller and/or sound module with no separate interface needed. MIDI I/O is sample-accurate with supporting software.
- Expandable — add additional interfaces for more I/O as your needs grow.
- Separate TRS main outs with front panel volume control.
- Stereo 24-bit 96kHz S/PDIF in/out.
- Includes drivers for Mac & PC, including ASIO, WDM, Wave, Core Audio, and Core MIDI. Supports all popular Mac and Windows audio software.
- 100% compatible with all host-based effects processing in today’s popular audio programs.
- Includes AudioDesk full-featured sample-accurate workstation software for the Mac with recording, editing, mixing, real-time 32-bit effects processing & sample-accurate sync.
- Plug-and-play operation with your Mac or PC via FireWire or USB2.
- Front panel volume control for monitoring. Stereo, Quad, 6.1, 7.1 and user-defined surround monitoring setups available.
- Front panel headphone jack with volume control.
- Bus-powered FireWire operation. No need for external power when operating as a FireWire interface connected to a computer. A power supply is included for stand-alone operation.
I have the older MK3 version and I have had some problems as with many other people. I did find that it was my computer that was causing some of the problems with some crackling and some high pitch sound coupled with the audio dropped out. I had to do some tweaking here and there to get the interface working just right. Other than that it's a great piece of hardware. I went through several other interfaces from other manufactures with in a couple of months and the MOTU is the best….so far. I love the fact that it has the numerous ins and outs which helps when jamming with other people. I hope I can upgrade my older MOTU software to the new one.
Perfect! Bugs x2 now. Thanks I got rid of my mkII before succumbing to the temptation of smashing it.
I have the older MK3 version and I have had some problems as with many other people. I did find that it was my computer that was causing some of the problems with some crackling and some high pitch sound coupled with the audio dropped out. I had to do some tweaking here and there to get the interface working just right. Other than that it's a great piece of hardware. I went through several other interfaces from other manufactures with in a couple of months and the MOTU is the best….so far. I love the fact that it has the numerous ins and outs which helps when jamming with other people. I hope I can upgrade my older MOTU software to the new one.
Hey man,
Can you please let us know what tweaking was done to remove the high pitch sound?!
I am using Motu Ultralite mk3 with windows 7 on a laptop, using ableton live 7
Thank you very much
I have the older MK3 version and I have had some problems as with many other people. I did find that it was my computer that was causing some of the problems with some crackling and some high pitch sound coupled with the audio dropped out. I had to do some tweaking here and there to get the interface working just right. Other than that it's a great piece of hardware. I went through several other interfaces from other manufactures with in a couple of months and the MOTU is the best….so far. I love the fact that it has the numerous ins and outs which helps when jamming with other people. I hope I can upgrade my older MOTU software to the new one.
Hi richard I am Having the same problems with the ultralite MK3 witch kind of tweaking you did to fix the problems thanks Marcello
(answer to [email protected])
my $5 sigmatel audio works much better then this troublesome, annoying MOTU-box-thing.
after 2 days strugglng with it i sent it back where it came from. hope i get a refund for this disaster.
Hi,
I just bought and mkIII hybrid and I also have some crackling and some high pitch sound, what have you done on tweaking,
Thanks,
Herb
I too am having this issue, could you please help me and forward your answer to [email protected] or post it here so others can see it. Many thanks
Vince
After contacting the motu tech support team, they helped me resolve this ISSUE. I had to BUY a new FIREWIRE pci card with a TEXAS INSTRUMENT chipset. WORKS GREAT now!