M-Audio Fast Track Pro 4×4 Review
Since I don’t do live music, you will probably look to other reviews from musicians from that standpoint. I am just an audiophile looking for a good external audio card that gets me away from the interference that happens to an audio card insided your PC case.
In the first two weeks, I discovered a couple of things. Out of the box the product seems to be well-constructed, BUT getting it loaded into Windows XP has proved a hassle.
First of all, I tried loading it on a new XP Media edition laptop, and that ended up being a failure, because you can’t run this product through a USB Hub. On a USB 2 device (newer computer) it has to plug directly into the computer, and I had other uses (like wireless keyboard / mouse) that took precedence.
So, I decided to run it from a 5 year old XP Pro Dell desktop that actually serves my music collection, because it was built with USB 1.1 ports, although I added a USB 2 card and hub to it.
The Audiophile is a real “bear” to install in XP (at least for me on two different computers) — it actually loads what appear to be two distinct drivers, and does a partial install and completes it on the re-boot. After 5 attempts, I am still trying get a complete good install. I usually get a partial install, which I can’t correct — even in XP “safe” mode, and have to strip the install and come back and try a re-install.
Now I’m not going to say this is all M-Audio’s fault — I am running SP2 with all the security fixes installed, and it may be a problem with a Microsoft update. Tech Support at M-Audio is not particularly helpful.
One of the interesting features is that the headphones jack does not monitor input — rather they monitor playback only. That was a disturbing discovery.
I would recommend considering alternative cards if you are just looking for capturing music from other media. It may be a great MIDI recording source.
UPDATE after living with it for a few months, I did find I finally was able to connect it through a USB hub, so that’s a plus. The headphone monitoring feature is still a nagging design disappointment. After all, we corrected that on analog tape decks over 35 years ago. You can’t tell if you are clipping or underdubbing a source until you have finished and go back to listen to the whole thing. If you misjudge, you can’t correct on the fly and you have to completely redub the recording.
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