Motu Ultralite MK3 No Sound / High Pitch Noise VIDEO!

[faxe-system]

Okay I spend almost on week trying to solve this problem.

1.) Drivers from the Motu website installed. Motu plugged in. Music is playing but no sound.
2.) Installed Reepers Drivers. SOUND!!! But sometimes high pitched noise.
3.) Bought a PCMCIA Firewire Card with Texas Instrument Chip. Also just work with Reepers driver. And still drop outs and high pitched noise.

Just watch this video I made
http://www.vimeo.com/2109181

I know it's a problem with the Thinkpads chipset etc. but Muto should start posting a list with incompatible Laptops on their site.

http://www.vimeo.com/2109181

[reeper]

hey maybe try to update ur thinkpad bios - checked their site and found this:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-70726

Symptom

CardBus and IEEE 1394 devices perform slowly.

Affected configurations

Any of the following ThinkPad systems running Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows XP or Windows 2000:

ThinkPad R61 14.1inch widescreen with IEEE 1394 with the following Machine types and models:
7732-11x,12x,14x,1Ex,1Fx,4Rx,4Sx,4Tx,N4x,N5x,N8x, N9x,NAx,NBx,NCx,NDx,NEx,P1x,X2x,X3x,X6x
7733-12x,13x,14x,15x,16x,17x,1Bx,1Cx,1Dx,1Ex,1Fx,1Mx,1Nx,2Ax,2Dx,2Ex,2Fx,2Gx,2Jx,2Kx,2Lx,2Mx,2Nx,2Px,2Qx,2Rx,2Sx,2Tx,3Ax,3Bx,3Cx,3Dx,3Ex, 3Fx,3Gx,N5x,N6x,P1x,P2x,P4x,PAx,PBx,XAx
7734-11x,12x,14x,15x,N3x
7735-12x,1Bx,1Cx,1Dx,1Ex,1Jx,XAx
7738-16x,17x,18x,19x,1Bx,1Cx,1Hx,1Mx,1Nx,1Px,1Rx,1Sx,1Tx,1Ux,1Vx,21x,22x,P1x,P2x
7742-11x,12x,16x,NAx,NBx,NCx,X1x,X7x
7743-11x,12x,13x,14x,15x,17x,18x,19x,1Gx,1Hx,1Jx,1Kx,1Lx,1Mx,2Ax,2Bx,2Cx,2Dx,2Ex,2Fx,2Gx,2Hx,Jx,2Kx,3Bx,N3x,N4x,N5x,N6x,P1x,P2x,P3x,P4x, P5x,P6x,P7x 7744-1Ax,P1x
7751-11x,12x,13x,1Gx,1Hx,1Jx 7753-2Xx 7754-2Xx
7755-11x,12x,13x,14x,15x,16x,17x,1Bx,1Dx,1Ex,1Fx,1Gx,1Hx,P1x,P2x,P3x,P4x,P5x
ThinkPad T61, T61p
Solution

Update flash system BIOS to version 2.19 or greater.

[reeper]

check thinkpad bios if you can disable onboard 1394 and audio. reinstall xp with teh ti card plugged in
also reads here : http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtop ... &sk=t&sd=a

[comradec]

I watched your video and I can empathise with your frustration. I don't think this issue is being caused by your laptop because I'm having the same problem getting the Ultralite-mk3 to work with my desktop computer.

Things have been fine with my Windows XP system but it took a lot of time even getting sound out of the Ultralite-mk3 with my Vista system (on the same computer, which has a dual-boot setup). Finally, using the repacked driver posted by 'reeper' and then manually copying a file into the Windows/System32/drivers folder sent to me by MOTU's UK distributor, I managed to get some sound but I now have the drop-out/high-pitched squeal problem you've described in your video. Basically, the audio is interrupted by a brief pause followed by a high-pitched noise rather like the sound of a radio being tuned.

This happens several times a minute when I'm using Ableton Live 7. It may just be more noticeable in my DAW because I'm playing continuous loops on that.

I'm using a Red Submarine desktop computer, i.e. one put together by an audio specialist system builder, with a good spec - Intel Core2 Duo E6600 @ 2.4GHz, 2GB RAM, FireWire port with a Texas Instruments chipset, etc. I've tried adjusting the buffer settings but none make any difference.

My experience of MOTU gear so far has been very disappointing. I bought the Ultralite-mk3 as an upgrade from a Phonic Helix Board 12 FireWire MkII (which worked perfectly), but it has given me nothing but headaches.

[reeper]

Things have been fine with my Windows XP system but it took a lot of time even getting sound out of the Ultralite-mk3 with my Vista system (on the same computer, which has a dual-boot setup).

so use Xp then.

then manually copying a file into the Windows/System32/drivers folder sent to me by MOTU's UK distributor

what "file" mite that be? uknow this forum is for helping people, just like you... contribute maybe?
kind regards /reeper

[comradec]

Things have been fine with my Windows XP system but it took a lot of time even getting sound out of the Ultralite-mk3 with my Vista system (on the same computer, which has a dual-boot setup).

so use Xp then.

then manually copying a file into the Windows/System32/drivers folder sent to me by MOTU's UK distributor

what "file" mite that be? uknow this forum is for helping people, just like you... contribute maybe?
kind regards /reeper

I may be new here but I'm not reluctant to help other people when I know what I'm talking about, as you'd see if you were a member of other music technology forums I'm on.

The file, which I didn't have to hand when I posted here earlier, was motufwa.sys, sent to me by Simon Stock from MOTU's UK distributor, Musictrack. I placed it in C:\Windows\System32\drivers, replacing the one already in that location. Why it works and the previous one didn't, I really don't know. Its version number is 3.6.8.1369, which I didn't think was any more recent.

As for using XP instead of Vista, well, of course, I'm having to do that. But I bought the Ultralite-mk3 to use with both XP and Vista, which is what was promised on the tin.

Further exploration this evening suggests that the drop-out/high-pitched squeal problem may be specific to using the Ultralite-mk3 with Ableton Live 7 as it appears to be working okay when I simply play back an audio file in Windows Media Player. Looking through some of the other postings in this forum, I get the impression that AL7 users like myself are the main source of this issue.

[reeper]

heh, its motufwa.sys 3.6.8.1369 I use in my installer project....

[wo1]

The file, which I didn't have to hand when I posted here earlier, was motufwa.sys, sent to me by Simon Stock from MOTU's UK distributor, Musictrack. I placed it in C:\Windows\System32\drivers, replacing the one already in that location. Why it works and the previous one didn't, I really don't know. Its version number is 3.6.8.1369, which I didn't think was any more recent.

Hmmm.

Just installed drivers from my Ultralite MK3 CD and unit works perfectly without dropouts and noises !

BTW, it's version is 3.6.9.1323 from 09.07.2008.

[comradec]

The file, which I didn't have to hand when I posted here earlier, was motufwa.sys, sent to me by Simon Stock from MOTU's UK distributor, Musictrack. I placed it in C:\Windows\System32\drivers, replacing the one already in that location. Why it works and the previous one didn't, I really don't know. Its version number is 3.6.8.1369, which I didn't think was any more recent.

Hmmm.

Just installed drivers from my Ultralite MK3 CD and unit works perfectly without dropouts and noises !

BTW, it's version is 3.6.9.1323 from 09.07.2008.

I'm pleased to report that Ableton Live 7 now appears to be working fine with the Ultralite-mk3 in Windows Vista. It wasn't last night though so I'm not sure what's changed to improve the situation. I did disconnect my Akai MPD32 control surface, mind, so maybe that was contributing to the drop-out/squeal in some way. Damned Akai has been more trouble than any other piece of kit I ever owned.

[comradec]

Wow, it's working at last. I better Ghost that system drive before it changes its mind.

I think the issue may have been that the earlier version of the driver had not uninstalled properly when I installed Reeper's 3.6.8.369 replacement. Placing the motufwa.sys directly into the c:\windows\system32\drivers folder appears to have overcome that problem. And now it works.

All the same it didn't work until I disconnected my Akai MPD32 control surface. No loss, though. I've got plenty controllers already.

Thanks to all for comments, suggestions, etc.

[faxe-system]

I have a Thinkpad R61 8933-FNG and the BIOS is up to date. Disabeling the Firewire and LAN in the BIOS will bring no other results than deactivating them in the System Manager in Windows. Yesterday I played a 3h DJ-set in a club without drop outs. Guess I was lucky.

But Reeper would it be possible that one could get 64samples buffer size with your drivers? For me as a DJ a very low latency is crucial. Any updates coming soon?

Thanks in advance.

faxe

[reeper]

------

[comradec]

But Reeper would it be possible that one could get 64samples buffer size with your drivers? For me as a DJ a very low latency is crucial. Any updates coming soon?

64 samples seems quite an extreme setting. I'm not a DJ, just a home recording enthusiast, but I generally find 256 samples sufficient for everything I do.

[comradec]

Perhaps my celebrations were premature.

Returning to my computer today, I find that I'm still getting the drop-out/squealing problem. And not just with Ableton Live 7 - it's happening to stuff played back in Windows Media Player too.

This clearly requires a bit more work. I'm putting some more RAM in my computer later today, bringing it up to 4GB RAM, and will see if that makes any difference at all. I was upgrading the RAM anyway, not specifically to tackle the Ultralite-mk3 issues, but it would be best to assess performance when that's installed.

[TheRealRoach]

Hi,

http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtop ... 14&t=31518

Take a read at the first post in this thread (and the whole thread) as it describes all of these symptoms in great detail. The fix only applied to Windows XP systems, and for the most part the fix has worked well for those who tried it.

RAM will not really change anything, and the likelihood of TI chipsets helping is low as well. The problem lies in the firewire bus drivers on the Windows side of things, not the device drivers for the MOTU devices.

The squeals seem to be directly related to a bandwidth truncation, either as a result of the post XP SP1 Windows Firewire drivers' deliberate reduction of the firewire bus speed to 100 mbps, a heavy load on the firewire bus do to other active FW devices (like video cameras, hard drives, etc) on the same bus as the MOTU, or extreme load on the whole system as a result of pushing the performance of your system beyond its limits.

best of luck.