OK, anybody using the new MOTU Audio Express yet??

I'm about ready to do what I always do when my audio interface starts giving me trouble...try something else.  Back in ol XP I had me a MOTU Ultralite that never did work right...all kinds of digital noise bursts, motorboating, you name it.  Then I got a little Focusrite Saffire LE.  And it worked like a charm and was solid as a brick.  I loved it.  Got pretty decent latency out of it too.  But then I had Jim build me a s*#t-hot DAW...lawd help but it's a kick ass 64bit mamma jamma...and I started runnin Sonar 64bit (now all the way to X1Expanded).  But guess what?  No...go on, guess.  That's right, the little LE had no 64bit drivers and they weren't gonna make any either...neener neener boo boo!  Why don'tya just go sit on a tack, Doghouse...is what they seemed to be sayin to me.  So I did...for just a second...but it don't take long to study on no tack when you're sittin on it I can tell ya.  So then (I know...this has got ya on the edge of your seat, eh?) I went out and got an M-Audio Fast Track Ultra which, at first, I quite liked.  Till I started gettin BSODs all the time which referenced it and TBIA errors (whatever the heck that is) all the dang time.  Turns out M-Audio knew all about this as it was happenin to lots of folks.  Didn't say nothin about it on the box it came in tho.  Imagine that.  So then...yea I'm about ready to wrap it up...Listen, I never said I wasn't no windy sum****...I got me a Focusrite Pro24 DSP (it's got that VRM in it which I just about love near to death) only at the sample settings I need (like) to work at (128) or below I get all kinds of snap, crackle and pop...and I ain't talkin breakfast cereal neither. 
 
SO....
 
I'm in the market again and that new MOTU Audio Express looks mighty good and folks are sayin that it's actually got good, stable, low latency drivers...and...well...it is awful purty and shiny and new.  So anyone of you knuckleheads datin one of them things seriously about now??
 
 

my ol' pal; the Audio Express to me, if you read the specs, looks like an Ultralite that has been modified with some of the features and hardware disabled.  it would not surprise me if the PCB is the same on both units and they simply didn't put all of the components on the Audio Express which don't apply to it.

having said that, I own an Ultralite MK 3 and I love it!  I have no motorboating issues, no noise bursts, no problems at all.  on MY system I had to put a TI chipset PCI card in and use the firewire part of it.  I CAN use the USB part, but I have to increase the latency buffers using USB more than I do for firewire running on the TI chipset.

the buffers were ALL higher until the latest driver release.  when I installed the latest driver release I was able to change the latency buffers lower without static.

just my 2 centavos.

Yea Tom, ol pal, I'd go for RME except I aint got that kind of geetus right now...it's just a tad out of my "range". 

And Beags, what I'm hoping is that the newer drivers and the newer unit will work just dandy...a course I may just be day dreamin here.

The Octa Capture looks good too but is right at my monetary break point.  Is in the runnin tho.

I can use my Ultralite at 128 if I am only doing audio and on firewire, but if I am tracking with softsynths or FX I have to bump it up to 256.  USB is typically one step above FW (i.e. 256 and 512 respectively).

before the last driver update it was one step higher for both.
 
NOTE:  this is on my system, tho, I've seen others report better results on the forums.

My Ultralite MK3 has worked fine for what will be three years this January, first under Vista x64 and, as of June, it is fine with Windows 7 x64.  I leave it at 64 samples. 

report back here, would you ol pal?  I'm curious about it. 

I'm also curious about the 4pre.  one of those sitting in the rack beside my ultralite would give me 6 mic pres and 6 line inputs...hmmm....

Finally got the AE installed and running on all cylinders.  As per usual with me it took some head scratchin and update downloadin but looks to be runnin hot straight and normal now (them little button pushin mode changes with the tee-ninecy little lights had me bumfuzzled for a bit).  And so far I must say I'm impressed...runnin at 96 samples gettin 7ms roundtrip and nary a crack, pop, stutter or glitch.  I'll let ya know when and if one (or more) does crop up.  But right now...looks and sounds purty dang good.