All In the tests

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M-Audio recently presented their latest addition to the Fast Track family: the Ultra, a USB audio interface with 4 Octane preamps, integrated effects, and advanced routing. Is it a worthy successor to the Fast Track dynasty? Lets take a look…

M-audio already has quite a bit of experience with audio interfaces, and models such as the Firewire 410 or the Fast Track pro were big hits (technically as well as commercially). Since they’re on a roll, they’ve decided to expand their "Fast Track" USB interfaces with an "Ultra" model, which has evolved out of the Fast Track Pro, which itself evolved out of the first Fast Track.

As far as design goes, it takes after its predecessor, the Fast Track Pro. Of course, to be able to get the 8 ins/outs, they had to make it bigger, but not too much. It can still be considered a "mobile" interface thanks to, for the most part, the fact that it’s USB powered. Esthetically, the pros and cons are the same as for the "Pro" version: it’s solid and stays in place thanks to its rubber pads. But this time, M-Audio has had the good idea of including a printed manual, which is after all more practical.

The knobs, on the other hand, are still too crowded… But we can overlook this inconvenience since the device has to be portable. Let’s take a look at its connection possibilities.