PTravel
Senior Senior Member
Last year, m-Audio, the manufacturer of the Fast Track Ultra and Fast Track Ultra 8R, sold off its semi-pro and pro line to Avid. In August of this year, Avid released new drivers for the FTU and the FTU8R for both Windows and Mac. I don't use Mac, so I can't say the following applies to the Mac version of the drivers.
The new drivers offer a different graphic interface, but no real change to functionality. However, they are also BUGGY to point of being non-functional in some contexts. Specifically, the ASIO implementation is extremely unreliable when used with, at least, Reaper, Sonar and Audition versions 3.0 and CS6. It can cause BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) system crashes, the DAW may not "see" the interface when used in ASIO mode, and, worst of all, it may introduce crackles, static and other distortion into the audio output (this distortion does not appear to be recorded and is heard only when tracks are played).
I discovered this this past weekend during a two-day recording session on location. Rather stupidly, I updated the FTU driver the day before the sessions (if it ain't broke, don't fix it before an important session). I experienced all of the problems described above multiple times with Audition 3.0, Audition CS6, and Sonar X2. I eventually worked out a kludge, which required NOT using ASIO for recording and was able to complete the recordings.
Last night, I spent some time on Google and discovered that I was far from alone in experiencing these problems. In addition to Sonar issues, I found reports of the identical problems with Reaper. There did not seem to be problems with ProTools and Cubase, though I will not say that for certain.
This morning, I removed the new Avid driver and re-installed the last release of the m-Audio driver and everything is working fine again. I believe these drivers are as follows:
Fast Track Ultra: 6.0.8.77158
Fast Track Ultra 8R: 6.0.10.77145
Let me know if you can't find these and I'll post them on my website for download (I only have Windows 7 64-bit versions).
In the interim, I would NOT recommend installing AVID's version of the drivers for these device. Avid has not yet acknowledged that a problem even exists, though it is clear to me, both from personal experience and numerous reports in other forums, that it does. I wasn't looking to see if it affects Mac, or other m-Audio USB-based audio interfaces which Avid acquired -- I recommend you do your own research before installing either Mac-based Avid drivers or Windows drivers for any other m-Audio device.
If you've already installed the Avid drivers (in Windows -- sorry Mac, guy, I don't know your machines at all), this is how to remove them:
In Control Panel, select Programs and Features.
Find the m-Audio Fast Track Ultra entry.
Right click and select uninstall.
Answer yes to any questions.
After the uninstall routine ends, Windows will report that it has found new hardware (the FTU or FTU8R) and, after a few minutes, Windows will indicate the driver installation failed.
Re-boot the computer.
Install the older m-Audio driver.
You're good to go.
The new drivers offer a different graphic interface, but no real change to functionality. However, they are also BUGGY to point of being non-functional in some contexts. Specifically, the ASIO implementation is extremely unreliable when used with, at least, Reaper, Sonar and Audition versions 3.0 and CS6. It can cause BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) system crashes, the DAW may not "see" the interface when used in ASIO mode, and, worst of all, it may introduce crackles, static and other distortion into the audio output (this distortion does not appear to be recorded and is heard only when tracks are played).
I discovered this this past weekend during a two-day recording session on location. Rather stupidly, I updated the FTU driver the day before the sessions (if it ain't broke, don't fix it before an important session). I experienced all of the problems described above multiple times with Audition 3.0, Audition CS6, and Sonar X2. I eventually worked out a kludge, which required NOT using ASIO for recording and was able to complete the recordings.
Last night, I spent some time on Google and discovered that I was far from alone in experiencing these problems. In addition to Sonar issues, I found reports of the identical problems with Reaper. There did not seem to be problems with ProTools and Cubase, though I will not say that for certain.
This morning, I removed the new Avid driver and re-installed the last release of the m-Audio driver and everything is working fine again. I believe these drivers are as follows:
Fast Track Ultra: 6.0.8.77158
Fast Track Ultra 8R: 6.0.10.77145
Let me know if you can't find these and I'll post them on my website for download (I only have Windows 7 64-bit versions).
In the interim, I would NOT recommend installing AVID's version of the drivers for these device. Avid has not yet acknowledged that a problem even exists, though it is clear to me, both from personal experience and numerous reports in other forums, that it does. I wasn't looking to see if it affects Mac, or other m-Audio USB-based audio interfaces which Avid acquired -- I recommend you do your own research before installing either Mac-based Avid drivers or Windows drivers for any other m-Audio device.
If you've already installed the Avid drivers (in Windows -- sorry Mac, guy, I don't know your machines at all), this is how to remove them:
In Control Panel, select Programs and Features.
Find the m-Audio Fast Track Ultra entry.
Right click and select uninstall.
Answer yes to any questions.
After the uninstall routine ends, Windows will report that it has found new hardware (the FTU or FTU8R) and, after a few minutes, Windows will indicate the driver installation failed.
Re-boot the computer.
Install the older m-Audio driver.
You're good to go.
)) Although, they could have transferred the project.