Input, please? Fed up with MAudio FTU...

(I'm about to start calling it an MAudio FU and be done with it...)

Two years ago, my FTU started crashing with horrible beeps and nasty clicks (on the UNIT itself) at that time, MAudio sent me a new one, and then ANOTHER.  That was July, 2009.  Over time, I lost the second headphone jack input and three mic pres, leaving me with only one good mic in out of four.  Recently began a series of BSODs, resulting in sticky on the MAudio forums that NO ONE has responded to, except to say that they would send my crash dumps on to the developer. That was over a month ago, and I've not heard anything.

Warranty is now dead.  I'm sick of waiting.  I have work to do.


I had tried a Presonus Firebox before I bought the FTU, and I just couldn't make it work, so I'm steering clear of Presonus.  I also am hesitant to go with another MAudio interface.  

SO.  I've been looking at the Focusrite Scarlett 8i6 (or MAYBE the Saffire 6, but I think that the Scarlett is a little better with the USB2 ports and bundled modeling software).
I KNOW that there are issues with the dedicated USB port in a i3, i5, i7 machines, but I have a quad core, and it looks like I can choose/assign the dedicated hub.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Thanks, guys!

See here... Although it appears to apply to USB 1.1 units.  Makes me wonder though...  http://www.focusrite.com/...en/article.php?id=1127

Beags, I had seen that early on in research... And had forgotten it! Thanks for the reminder.  After all I've read all over the web, this is one of the best threads about it.  And knowing that the issues were addressed and responded to by Focusrite on the sonar forum was impressive.  That's pretty much sold me, then.   I do want to read a little more about the condenser mic input levels and gains, though... Since that's how I primarily use it.

Juli..... On my laptop, I was using the Saffire (focusrite) firewire interface.

I was getting BSOD and other assorted crashes on a consistent basis while working in MC4.  Not always but often enough. I don't know that the interface was the "cause of it" but I really don't think it was. 

I believe the operating system had become corrupted in some manner. Because...... I ended up at one point doing a total system restore to factory. This erased everything from the computer and reinstalled the OS (from the OS partition)  after formatting the drive.   Of course, I'm not on the laptop anymore either..... I did a custom build and the Saffire is now working on that box......and pretty smoothly I might add. 

It was like a new computer again. Everything worked perfectly. So... the issue might be software related, as far as the crashes...... however the non-working inputs do sound like hardware failure. 

I have been a fan of the Focusrite interface I have because I have had no problems with it. 

I hope you get things sorted out and get a solid interface soon. 

I wonder how the Octa or Quad capture stack up against an RME Babyface converter wise

I would make sure your computer is okay. There are free programs unless you already had a good anti-virus software.

sock monkey


Well I will avoid M Audio.I have a Fast Track Pro. Might be the unit has always been defective,,But The drivers would stop working for no reason even on a simple task like music playback from WMP. I thought it was my laptop at the time but turned out it would crash on any XP computer.Still does. It also has a screaming high pitched sound when you crank the headphones ( convertors?) . So I got buy last year using it only at home with the SPDIF ports and MIDI.

IMO the consistency of quality has degraded since Avid bought them.  I used to own a Delta 44 and a Delta 1010LT.  both were excellent and rock solid drivers before Avid and before Vista/Win7.

that's a great point about the power supplies in the smaller units.

and I know that the traveler has had mixed results for many people.  my MOTU is MK3, and it's possible that the design changes they made in the later versions might have resolved some of those issues.  I have never had a problem with my MOTU getting "lost" and I've used it on at least 3 different systems I can think of off the top of my head, 2 desktop towers and 1 laptop (i5, I think it was).  but I did have to use the USB port for the laptop because the firewire port wouldn't cut it. 

I also used the usb on one of the towers because I don't have FW on that system, but my main DAW has the TI chipset firewire card in it and that's where the MOTU sits most of the time.

Yes excellent point about power. I did find the M Audio FTP a tiny bit more stable if I used a wall wart. But even with the external power the drivers would just grind to a halt Randomly. 3 days would go by and then, of course, it always crashed in front of a client!!!!! or at a live gig. :( Another issue I forgot about was the M audio's Phantom power would not carry through a 150' snake. The Tascam has no problem. Might be it's built in power. So make that another item on the list of things to look for whilst shopping for interfaces. AC power cord. ♣♣♣♣