Hi everyone,
I got my Ultralite today and I have to say I am really impressed with its build qulaity and sound. However, I have got a very frustrating problem with my interface which I am nost sure is about the actual hardware or it has to do with the driver. I have tried my Ultralite with my Mac system with no problem. However when I hooked it to my PC, it makes a very loud white noise at 48 khz during playing a song using Media player. At 88 or 96 everything sounds fine. I would appreciate any coomments or suggestions.
Cheers,
-Farshad
Ultralite 48 khz problem with Windows XP
Moderator: James Steele
Forum rules
Discussion related to installation, configuration and use of MOTU hardware such as MIDI interfaces, audio interfaces, etc. with Windows
Discussion related to installation, configuration and use of MOTU hardware such as MIDI interfaces, audio interfaces, etc. with Windows
I can't confirm this behaviour -- 48 kHz sounds crisp and clear here.
Are you sure that the sample in question is 48 kHz and that you're not locking the device to 48 kHz and forcing resampling of a 44.1 kHz sample? If I do that, sound quality suffers. I get not so much white noise as jittery artifacts, like if if the recording had been made in a room full of candy wrappers. (The same awful quality you'd get with some earlier EMU and Soundblaster cards, which would resample everything to 48 kHz).
Another possibility is that you have clock source set to External, and the external SPDIF signal isn't lockable PCM, but then it should have affected the Mac too.
Also beware that the Graphic Equalizer is enabled by default in Windows Media Player 10, and it adds artifacts -- cycle through the plugins under "Now Playing" and turn it off. This shouldn't affect your output to this degree, though.
Finally, open the WMP options, go to the Devices tab, highlight "Speakers", click "Properties" and make sure the "Use 24-bit audio for audio CDs" is checked. Despite the blurb, this doesn't seem to affect just audio CDs, but all sound.
Anyhow, no, 48 kHz sounds crisp and clear here, so I doubt it's a driver issue or design flaw. If none of the above helps, there might be a production fault in your particular device.
Regards,
--
*Art
Are you sure that the sample in question is 48 kHz and that you're not locking the device to 48 kHz and forcing resampling of a 44.1 kHz sample? If I do that, sound quality suffers. I get not so much white noise as jittery artifacts, like if if the recording had been made in a room full of candy wrappers. (The same awful quality you'd get with some earlier EMU and Soundblaster cards, which would resample everything to 48 kHz).
Another possibility is that you have clock source set to External, and the external SPDIF signal isn't lockable PCM, but then it should have affected the Mac too.
Also beware that the Graphic Equalizer is enabled by default in Windows Media Player 10, and it adds artifacts -- cycle through the plugins under "Now Playing" and turn it off. This shouldn't affect your output to this degree, though.
Finally, open the WMP options, go to the Devices tab, highlight "Speakers", click "Properties" and make sure the "Use 24-bit audio for audio CDs" is checked. Despite the blurb, this doesn't seem to affect just audio CDs, but all sound.
Anyhow, no, 48 kHz sounds crisp and clear here, so I doubt it's a driver issue or design flaw. If none of the above helps, there might be a production fault in your particular device.
Regards,
--
*Art
Hi arth and thanks for the reply,
I did not use a file with a different sample quality. the EQ in WMP is turned off too. I actually have the same problem in Cubase at 48K but not 88 or 96K. Ususally you would expect to have problems at higher sample rates! Any other suggestions?
Cheers,
-Farshad
P.S. Anyways I am going to exchange the unit today but any help would be great.
I did not use a file with a different sample quality. the EQ in WMP is turned off too. I actually have the same problem in Cubase at 48K but not 88 or 96K. Ususally you would expect to have problems at higher sample rates! Any other suggestions?
Cheers,
-Farshad
P.S. Anyways I am going to exchange the unit today but any help would be great.
-
MOTU Tech Support
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Fri Mar 24, 2006 11:34 am
- Primary DAW OS: Unspecified
Hello Farshad,
Here are a couple of suggestions I'd like to recommend:
1. Have you tried hard resetting the unit?
a. Press PAGE knob to get to SETUP
b. Turn PAGE knob to right until you see Factory Defaults
c. Press VALUE knob twice to execute
2. Do you see any level meter activity on inputs when you hear this noise?
3. Are you using a PCI FW card or a built-in FW port on your computer? Could you verify the make/model?
Very best,
--
Brian Choi
MOTU Tech Support
techsupport@motu.com
http://www.motu.com
Here are a couple of suggestions I'd like to recommend:
1. Have you tried hard resetting the unit?
a. Press PAGE knob to get to SETUP
b. Turn PAGE knob to right until you see Factory Defaults
c. Press VALUE knob twice to execute
2. Do you see any level meter activity on inputs when you hear this noise?
3. Are you using a PCI FW card or a built-in FW port on your computer? Could you verify the make/model?
Very best,
--
Brian Choi
MOTU Tech Support
techsupport@motu.com
http://www.motu.com
Hi and thanks for the reply,
Yes, I actually see the meters got to the end and do not move. Immediately after I switch to 48K, I see all the output meters move up and down randomly and I hear random clicks and noises. and When I try to play anything at that sampling rate, I hear that very louad noise.
I tried hardware resetting last noght but it did not help.
I have a Shuttle XPC with nVidia nForce 2 chipset and its builtin firewire chip.
I really appreciate your help,
-Farshad
P.S. I beleive the Firewire chip is Realtek 8081.
Yes, I actually see the meters got to the end and do not move. Immediately after I switch to 48K, I see all the output meters move up and down randomly and I hear random clicks and noises. and When I try to play anything at that sampling rate, I hear that very louad noise.
I tried hardware resetting last noght but it did not help.
I have a Shuttle XPC with nVidia nForce 2 chipset and its builtin firewire chip.
I really appreciate your help,
-Farshad
P.S. I beleive the Firewire chip is Realtek 8081.
-
MOTU Tech Support
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Fri Mar 24, 2006 11:34 am
- Primary DAW OS: Unspecified
According to your previous post, you mentioned that the unit works @ 48kHz when connected to the Mac.
Could you follow below steps to verify that the noise can be eliminate when running in a standalone mode?
1. Please try disconnecting the FW cable and use DC adapter to power the UltraLite.
2. Hard reset the unit once again.
3. Are you able to reproduce the behavior?
If not, do you have a PCI-based FW card that you can try? We have had good results with FW cards that use Lucent/Agere or Texas Instrument chipsets.
Very best,
--
Brian Choi
MOTU Tech Support
techsupport@motu.com
http://www.motu.com
Could you follow below steps to verify that the noise can be eliminate when running in a standalone mode?
1. Please try disconnecting the FW cable and use DC adapter to power the UltraLite.
2. Hard reset the unit once again.
3. Are you able to reproduce the behavior?
If not, do you have a PCI-based FW card that you can try? We have had good results with FW cards that use Lucent/Agere or Texas Instrument chipsets.
Very best,
--
Brian Choi
MOTU Tech Support
techsupport@motu.com
http://www.motu.com
Hi Brian,
Actually I tried to hard reset the unit and still I am getting the same noise. My PC is one of those small form factors and it only has one PCI slot which is already occupied with an EMU DSP card. do you think it could be a problem only with this unit I purchased? because it works beautifully at 88k and 96k.
Best,
-Farshad
Actually I tried to hard reset the unit and still I am getting the same noise. My PC is one of those small form factors and it only has one PCI slot which is already occupied with an EMU DSP card. do you think it could be a problem only with this unit I purchased? because it works beautifully at 88k and 96k.
Best,
-Farshad
the same problem
Yes, I have to confirm, that I've got the same problem as I also described in "Audio poping" room: http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtop ... =ultralite There are many of us...
once again! 
had this same problem but found out it was the firewire cards i was using that did it. I could not use 44.1 or 48khz. i could only use 88.2 and 96khz.
Get a belkin firewire card and your problems will be gone.
I tried an NEC card and an adaptec fireconnect 800 both did not work.
use the Belkin F5U503v F5U503 F5U501 they have texas instrument chipsets that are compatible with MOTU firewire devices.
had this same problem but found out it was the firewire cards i was using that did it. I could not use 44.1 or 48khz. i could only use 88.2 and 96khz.
Get a belkin firewire card and your problems will be gone.
I tried an NEC card and an adaptec fireconnect 800 both did not work.
use the Belkin F5U503v F5U503 F5U501 they have texas instrument chipsets that are compatible with MOTU firewire devices.
Core 2 Duo. E6600
4GB RAM
Vista 64
ASUS P5B
Cubase 4
MOTU Ultralite
SIIG PCIE 2-port firewire
4GB RAM
Vista 64
ASUS P5B
Cubase 4
MOTU Ultralite
SIIG PCIE 2-port firewire