MotU Ultralite MK3 - Trim Knob Problem - nothing connected

[pete5668]

I have a Macbook Pro and a MOTU Ultralite. I tried to record to Audacity software with an external microphone plugged into the front XLR jack and a FireWire cable connected from the MOTU Ultralite to the Macbook Pro. The MOTU recognized that there was sound coming from the microphone, but the software did not. The software just recorded using the computer's built in microphone. What did I do wrong? How do I get the signal from the Ultralite to the MacBook Pro?

[nclevenger]

@pete5668 I don't use Audacity - but everything else i have used has an "input select" that you will have to toggle to the Motu. By default they usually are set to the built-in - should be able to hit the help button and search on "select input" to find the setting.

[tovomahefa]

don't need a power supply when you plug firewire!

[hooptyndablowfish]

I see there you have the ac cord plugged in AND the firewire cable connected. When firewire is connected that alone can power the unit. And so when you have the ac connected you are overloading "something" internally. Frankly I find that a design flaw. You should be able to have them both connected without any issue. But with the firewire cable plugged in by itself the noise should go away as others have reported.

[hilato]

motu suck ass TC electronics or M-audio are the way to go quick setup and headache free

[radionova22]

motu ultralite mk3 hybrid is a big shit. do not buy it

[radionova22]

ultralite hybrid big shit!

[severed6s]

Popping trim nobs are caused when the gain is raised or lowered from one discrete value to another, say +34dB to +35bB. What you hear is the inherent noise of the preamp snapping from one level to another. If you had an analog gain potentiometer you wouldn't hear this.

They designed it this way so you can control it from software, its lighter, and i believe its cheaper and easier to implement. They also assumed that you wouldn't change the preamp gain during recording or performance.

[zzzxtreme]

@severed6s

hello. so this is not a flaw or issues with this particular model ?

[severed6s]

@zzzxtreme

nope it was designed that way so that if you wanted to, you could control it remotely with midi. to say the ultralite mk3 sucks because of this alone is flawed.

I have one, to me the flaws are: it doesn't have a grounded power supply, shitty sound quality on pretty much all of the I/Os including the micpres, and it doesn't work well with windows.

However it's driver software is really good, if you have a mac. For the money its a good deal if you want a lot of I/O and good software.

[dbydfbdfbbfd]

oh yea,

no problems whatsoever in fl-studio9 on win7.

so check your firewire driver.

[dbydfbdfbbfd]

i just found out something.

if i start music with vlc/wmp and than open firefox,

evrything works just fine

but

if i start firefox first, all breaks down again.

so it may has something to do with flashplayer or so.

i know its like 6month ago and u may dont even got the mk' anymore.

but maybe someone find this post usefull

[dbydfbdfbbfd]

i assume u run it on windows?.

whats VERY important(also on newer MAC's):

your pc/mac-firewire connection should have a 'texas instruments'-driver.

u can check that in your device-manager.

i checkd evrything be4i bought it,'cause those mk's aren't cheap.

but i get always peep-noise(sometimes bluescreen)when i run music trough firefox/wmp. but not on vlc.

so no more buying motu cause i cant effort a mac& snowosx universal is not supporting my graphicscard. take care body

besides that: some blu

[dbydfbdfbbfd]

damn! i cant even watch this video without getting peep-noise and losing sound.

aaaaaaand i just had a bluescreen :)

[Whyrendog]

You using firewire or USB? Can you record this noise? The only thing that I have seen like this is at one time my speakers were picking up noise whenever I transferred files to a USB stick.

[JimSBand]

Can you do that again without turning the trim up and down?

[fabricedegraef]

gosh! this is supposed to be a basic thing not having the knobs in the speakers

[jongamix]

amazing sound card, but sometimes even the best brands got a problems

[yonghan533]

Gosh....luckily i didin't buy it....nearly wanted to buy...

[DaylightRobberyCA]

That's nasty...