MOTU UltraLite-mk5 Review (Audio Interface)

[antcollinet]

I’ve already seen in Amir’s measurements that the DAC isn’t very good.

Which DAC are you saying is not very good? It is not clear from your question. The Topping? Can you post a link to the measurements?

 

[morillon]

Translation:

I'm sorry, but I understand. I already said about Neve 1073 in another post, in another question from another thread. In this case, what makes me doubt is which interface to buy: Motu MK5, Clarett+8 or Topping. In another thread I mentioned using the MiniDSP Adept as an ADC, optically connected to a Topping DAC. But on second thought, I prefer an interface with more inputs and outputs to connect analogue equipment such as compressors, transformers or any other equipment.

Professional use?
Your precise usage remains confusing to me... but have fun...
;-)

 

[GLVZ Music]

Professional use?
Your precise usage remains confusing to me... but have fun...
;-)

Yes, profesional use, recordando vocal, mix , máster etc

 

[GLVZ Music]

Which DAC are you saying is not very good? It is not clear from your question. The Topping? Can you post a link to the measurements?

Topping E2x2 Audio Interface Review | Audio Science Review (ASR) Forum https://share.google/JqzncGtHXzy8qFoak

I think that e8x8 retains components with e2x2, and therefore it will be similar to DAC and ADC."

 

[morillon]

Yes, profesional use, recordando vocal, mix , máster etc

Ah...ufx3 etc etc

(here,asr, not really dedicated to these uses... but remains the ease of adding to this kind of interfaces to easily process line level inputs boxes like the smalls ADC minidsp....)

 

[antcollinet]

Topping E2x2 Audio Interface Review | Audio Science Review (ASR) Forum https://share.google/JqzncGtHXzy8qFoak

I think that e8x8 retains components with e2x2, and therefore it will be similar to DAC and ADC."

OK - 100dB is still going to be inaudible for almost everyone almost all of the time. Personally Id not worry about it, and just select based on features/budget.

But if you don't want to accept that performance of DAC - then the Motu ultralite is excellent, and I'm guessing has all the IO you need.

 

[GLVZ Music]

Ah...ufx3 etc etc

(here,asr, not really dedicated to these uses... but remains the ease of adding to this kind of interfaces to easily process line level inputs boxes like the smalls ADC minidsp....)

UFX III would be great, but it’s out of budget. I might even prefer the Apollo X8 Gen2 at that price.

 

[GLVZ Music]

OK - 100dB is still going to be inaudible for almost everyone almost all of the time. Personally Id not worry about it, and just select based on features/budget.

But if you don't want to accept that performance of DAC - then the Motu ultralite is excellent, and I'm guessing has all the IO you need.

Ok, I’ll think about it, you’re right. Thanks for the response.

 

[Evgenioni]

I have a Motu Ultralite MK5, Focusrite Octopre Dynamic v2 connected via ADAT, Long Voice Master and Golden Age Preq-73 blue. They work together excellently in a wide variety of situations. Not that I’m claiming to be a total pro or anything ))

 

[deepboy]

Hallo, i bought a used motu mk5 and I'd want to test it with rew or rmaa to check for its perfect functionality. And I want to use it with rew for audio measurements of my system too. Is there any noob guide showing how to set the device using Cuemix 5 app for these 2 use cases? I do not like nor understand the mix tabs in the app......
Thanks.

 

[deepboy]

Hallo.
I have the motu connected to stereo amp at 9-10 line outputs and to my win 10 pc with usb cable.
Want to take measurements with rew using the loopback feature as time reference. Are the settings
in the cuemix 5 correct ?All the other output tabs are set to mute and faders to 0.



Rew settings:



With these settings i obtain the rew measurement but i do not know if is all right.

How coult i set the application for checking the soundcard is working correctly ?
Thank you very much.

 

[Kees Huizinga]

While measuring, I noticed that the Line-out 6 output jack is no longer making good contact with the plug (sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't). Is there anything I can do myself, or should I send the device in for repair?

Kind regards, Cornelis

 

[Thorskin]

I need to get an Audio interface anyway and I was wondering if this could replace my current Home Theater setup?
At the momment im playing files from my local storage using Kodi on my Shield + AVR into my 5.1 multichannel Genelecs.
Could I use Kodi/MPC-HD on my PC to decode DTS/Dolby to PCM into the the Motu Ultralite Mk5 and use CamillaDSP instead of Audyseey for Home theater use?
My TV does not have HDMI eARC, only has stereo ARC.

I dislike my current setup because I have to run long length unbalanced RCA to XLR cables from my AVR preouts to my Genelec XLR.

I also would like to use 1 of the Genelec speakers (the HT Rear Left speaker) as the Right speaker on my Desk PC setup, could this somehow be possible with the Motu? I would just turn the speaker whenever I needed to change its purpose. I have thought about using a Preamp switch in the past, maybe the Motu could somehow help.

If all my setups are using the PC and the Motu I could ditch my AVR and Shield.

I have wanted to do this for years.

 

[Keith_W]

I need to get an Audio interface anyway and I was wondering if this could replace my current Home Theater setup?
At the momment im playing files from my local storage using Kodi on my Shield + AVR into my 5.1 multichannel Genelecs.
Could I use Kodi/MPC-HD on my PC to decode DTS/Dolby to PCM into the the Motu Ultralite Mk5

The Dolby decoding step is where you are likely to get unstuck. Read the first post in this thread and follow the links. If you have further questions about this step, I suggest you use that thread - it's more appropriate.

and use CamillaDSP instead of Audyseey for Home theater use?

Yes. You will have to design filters yourself and figure out how to use Camilla. Bear in mind that Audyssey was designed for ease of use. Camilla is the opposite, the priority was flexibility. It is NOT easy to use!

You will also need some kind of lip sync feature. It appears that Kodi does have lip sinc - link. It is very important that you experiment with this before you start.

I also would like to use 1 of the Genelec speakers (the HT Rear Left speaker) as the Right speaker on my Desk PC setup, could this somehow be possible with the Motu? I would just turn the speaker whenever I needed to change its purpose. I have thought about using a Preamp switch in the past, maybe the Motu could somehow help.

I do not own a Motu, so I can not answer for certain. What you need is a matrix, and it appears that Motu interfaces have one. It looks like this:

What you do is route two inputs (HT rear left and PC right) into one output (Genelec). The matrix looks a bit intimidating to set up, but once you figure it out it's quite easy.

Anyway, it sounds like you are about to embark on a really fun and difficult adventure. Good luck with it.

 

[Pancreas]

Will there ever be an mk6?

 

[HalasKYO]

Probably, and most probably already a higher bitrate (32bit) interface as is show the signs in the industry. Like Neumann MT48 on the higher end, Steinberg UR22C on the lower end but Steinberg aso has a UR816C on which footstept could the motu make (used chips with own flavor preamps etc..)

To your question:

https://www.reddit.com/r/audioengineering/comments/1j8ttaf/are_there_any_rumors_of_a_new_motu_ultralite

mk5 is ~4 years old, mk4 is ~10 years old. So roughly time...

 

[mdsimon2]

I finally got around to working out how to use websocket in python with the UL Mk5 and decoding some of the major commands: sample rate, clock source, optical (ADAT vs TOS).

I got a lot of inspiration from here -> https://gist.github.com/m1no/90c5776df3f1c06e067076d14477ef43, especially on how to see what was being sent by Cuemix by using developer tools while running Cuemix in Chrome.

I needed to add .txt to the end of the file to get it to upload, remove this prior to running it. The only thing you need to change is hostname in the WS_URL field. If you are using this on a machine connected directly to the UL Mk5, use localhost. If you have port forwarding via nginx set up as described here, and want to send remote commands, use hostname of machine connected to UL Mk5.

Long term plan is to create the ability to automatically change fields mentioned above for a given CamillaDSP configuration. For example you could switch between a streamer based configuration using internal clock at 44 kHz, a TOSLINK input configuration using TOSLINK clock at 48 kHz and a SPDIF input configuration at 96 kHz using SPDIF simply by changing CamillaDSP configurations.

I'll put a finalized version of the script here once I have it integrated with CamillaDSP -> https://github.com/mdsimon2/RPi-CamillaDSP.

Michael