M-Audio Fast Track Pro

M Audio Fast Track Pro was a very affordable interface that I purchased from eBay in a package deal online about 2 years ago. It came with a basic version of pro tools. I think the pro tools version that it came with was the student version. That version of pro tools was really limited, I ended up giving that version of pro tools away because I already had the full version of pro tools installed on my mac and didn’t need it.


UTILIZATION

The Fast track pro was more for a beginner if you ask me, that is the reason that It didn’t work for me long. I was just at the point in my music career where I was trying to expand, and using the fast track pro wasn’t going to let me expand and record multiple inputs at the same time . It really isn’t that type of device, its more for beginners who are recording simple things and aren't expanding right now.


GETTING STARTED

Fast Track Pro does work great in a few different programs and DAW's. And updating the drivers is easy because M Audio will keep in contact with you if you need to update the drivers. But when I purchased this I plugged it in and it was recognized right away and I didn’t have to load any disk in or anything. I don’t know how it did this but it did. I was not complaining.


OVERALL OPINION

I was able to use this on my laptop and my desktop pc without upgrading or loading any extra software or drivers onto my system. It was truly plug and play. I am not sure if it will be the same for everyone, but I really recommend using this if you are just getting into recording music. Look on eBay and purchase the package deal with pro tools. It is a great starting point

M Audio’s Fast track pro will get you up and running in a heartbeat! I actually really liked this interface, it was one of the only ones that worked in almost any program that I used it in without any issues. It comes with a Lite (not sure what its called exactly) version of pro tools. I think its like the pro tools student edition or something like that. But I never used it with pro tools I used it with cubase and fl studio many years ago.


UTILIZATION

Latency is very minimal even with my keyboards going through it really didn’t have much of a latency at all. I used this thing daily for a while because I traded in some of my gear to get more gear and needed a cheap interface. I only record 1 track at a time with it, and the drivers don’t get updated often.


GETTING STARTED

I had no compatibility issues which is strange because most audio interfaces will give you some sort of a struggle when using them with foreign softwares. The manual was on point and very easy to understand. All of the function of the interface are right on the interface its self and noting is tricky to understand.


OVERALL OPINION

Overall, I love this interface and will continue to use it when needed. Its very portable, but it feels really cheap though. The knobs are plastic and its not heavy duty at all. Scared to drop it, because it might spit wide open if I do. So I handle it with care, it provides a great sound with low latency . I have tried several interfaces from M audio and all of them are a little different but this one is one of my favorite ones that they make. I am very happy with my purchase of the M Audio Fast Track Pro. I would buy it again in a heart beat.

The M Audio Fast Track Pro was perfect for my home set up because it has audio and midi. The latency on it is pretty low if your computer can handle running low latency with asio drivers. It comes with Ableton Live Lite 4, but I never really use that anymore.

UTILIZATION

This thing is extremely easy to set up. Just follow the directions, and you'll have NO problem. Other than that, I was recording in Sonar 5.2 Producer within minutes. I didn't give this 10's across the board because it could have more features, but it's still pretty loaded. It feels pretty solid and it's not a bad price (bought mine for $200). If you want ease of use for programs like Sonar, or you want to get you feet wet with the almighty PRO TOOLS (m-powered); go ahead and buy this thing. I wanted to get into Pro Tools and I always like having extra recording equipment around.

GETTING STARTED

Getting started couldn’t be any easier, it was basically plug and play. My software recognized it right off the bat and was synced in and ready to go.

OVERALL OPINION

Overall, The build quality is okay and the thing is extremely easy to setup. However, my biggest gripe with it is that it doesn't go loud enough. You have to turn the mix and the gain knobs all the way up to get any decent sound out of the headphones. I usually mix at medium levels and crank it up later after I'm done to make sure the mix is right. This thing is too low, imo. Another thing is that the drivers haven't been updated on the mac for quite some time. But since using this I have upgraded to a firewire audio control for lower latency and better quality. But just for starting out this is a good start for the beginners. Check it out.

M-audio is one of my favorite companies and they really pack a lot of stuff into this box. 2 Mic inputs. Pro tools compatible. Monitoring support. Tons of TRS outputs and digital outs. It's even got midi if you want. I had one of the regular fast tracks before I got this one and it's amazing how much more they have packed into virtually the same sized box.

I don't use pro tools very often, although it's nice that this is PT compatible. I basically use this as a mobile interface with my laptop. It fits very easily into a laptop bag or backpack or whatever I'm hauling.

UTILIZATION

Drivers are stable like almost all the m-audio stuff. Latency is good. But the fact is you will only get as much performance as your cpu hardware will allow. Don't blame the device for your bad latency. Cubase generally has good support for maudio products and this one is no exception. I have used a few of their interfaces and all of them have more or less worked great. This interface has two inputs and I haven't had any trouble with mixing them properly. Drivers are especially smooth with the pro for some reason. That's a welcome feature I suppose.

GETTING STARTED

I don't even know if there is a manual because I never read it. Everything is laid out for you and even a beginner can probably figure it out on his own. Sometimes when a unit has this many features packed in, things can get confusing but the pro is laid out pretty clearly. Functions are all easy to access and the best part is there are a lot of functions. To be honest I don't use the midi and I rarely use all the outputs so I can't attest to how it handles a high traffic audio situation.

OVERALL OPINION

I like the fact that it packs everything I need into a tiny box I can carry on the go. I do a weekly podcast at a friend's house, and the best thing about this is I can stick it in a laptop bag and take two mics with me for the whole show. Easy and done. I looked at the other models and this was the smallest interface that had all these features. The only competition is some of the Motu stuff but I believe they are slightly larger? Sound quality is great. I have said for years that digital preamps are every bit as good as the tube gear. I would know because I've used it all. The Pro is in line with my thinking there. I really recommend it.