Product Description

The M Audio Fast Track Pro delivers all the mobile recording flexibility of the Fast Track USB, plus even more professional features.You get 2 front-panel mic/line inputs complete with phantom power for condenser microphones, inserts for outboard effects, balanced and unbalanced analog outputs, S/PDIF digital I/O, MIDI I/O, and more. Fast Track Pro also features near zero latency direct hardware monitoring and low-latency ASIO software monitoring, plus an A/B source switch and dual output pairs for DJ-style cueing. Fast Track Pro is compatible with most popular PC and Mac music software. USB connection and bus power along with class-compliancy for Mac OS X make it a breeze to set up.M Audio Fast Track Pro Features4 x 4 24-bit/44.1kHz audio interface2 front panel mic/instrument preamp inputs (Neutrik XLR/ 1/4-inch TRS) with:Gain controlsSignal/peak lightsPads for each inputInsert jack (1/4-inch TRS) for outboard processors2 balanced outputs (1/4-inch TRS)4 unbalanced outputs (RCA)SPDIF digital I/O with 2-channel PCMSPDIF out also supports pass-through of AC-3/DTS surround-encoded content1 x 1 MIDI I/O with activity LEDsHeadphone output (1/4-inch TRS) with level control > headphone A/B source switch for DJ-style cueingLI>Input/playback mix control for hardware direct monitoringLI>Mono switch for input/playback direct monitoringLI>Master output level controlLI>Near zero-latency hardware direct monitoring Low-latency ASIO software monitoringLI>USB connection to computerLI>Powered via USB or optional AC power adapterLI>Kensington lock portLI>Mac and PC compatible; class compliant with Mac OS X 10.3.9 and higher/UL>P>B

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #140 in Musical Instruments
• Brand: M-Audio
• Model: 9900-41076-00
• Dimensions: .0" h x .0" w x .0" l, 2.00 pounds

Features

• Flexible bus-powered multi-port interface
• 64 x 64 channel addressing accommodates loads of gear
• Built with four inputs and four outputs
• Features a dynamic microphone input, signal-peak LEDs, a mono switch, and more
• Measures 8.5 x 1.75 x 4.5 inches (WxHxD)

From the Manufacturer
The Fast Track Pro delivers all the mobile recording flexibility of the Fast Track USB, plus even more professional features. You get 2 front-panel mic/line inputs complete with phantom power for condenser microphones, inserts for outboard effects balanced and unbalanced analog outputs, S/PDIF digital I/O, MIDI I/O, and more. Fast Track Pro also features near-zero latency direct hardware monitoring and low-latency ASIO software monitoring, plus an A/B source switch and dual output pairs for DJ-style cueing. Fast Track Pro is compatible with most popular PC and Mac music software. USB connection and bus power along with class compliancy for Mac OS X* make it a breeze to set up.
* Class compliancy supports 16-bit/48kHz 2 x 4 operation on OS X 10.3.9 and higher. Driver installation required to access more I/O.

Professional Recording—Anywhere, Anytime
Fast Track Pro is designed to let you record with professional results whenever and wherever you want. A single USB connection gives you access to all the I/O you need for microphones and instruments like guitars, as well as MIDI- and S/PDIF-equipped digital audio gear. The microphone inputs are even phantom powered to accommodate the studio-quality condenser microphones like the M-Audio Luna and Solaris. Our time-tested driver software gives you total routing control over the 4 x 4 I/O—including setting up an effects loop with external devices.

Monitoring Galore
One of the hallmarks of a great audio interface is its monitoring flexibility—and Fast Track Pro delivers. Fast Track Pro features a powerful headphone amp with volume control. Hardware direct monitoring eliminates the latency or delay inherent in even the best internal circuitry while listening to your input and existing tracks. You can also listen to your input complete with effects while recording by using extremely the low-latency ASIO monitoring we’ve perfected over the years. Two pairs of analog outputs let you connect to a DJ mixer and use the front-panel A/B source switch to audition cues.

GT Player Express
Fast Track Pro ships with GT Player Express software, delivering a variety of effects and virtual stomp boxes that eliminate the need for a guitar amp for basic recording and practice. GT Player Express also plays standard audio files like AAC, MP3 and WAV, allowing you to learn and jam along with your favorite music at variable speeds. With Fast Track Pro and GT Player Express, your computer can be your entire guitar rig.

Ableton Live Lite 5
This special edition of the multi-award winning Ableton Live 5 software lets you experience what the critics have been raving about. Live 5’s revolutionary loop-based paradigm makes production as simple as dragging and dropping audio clips in real time. You can also record linear tracks, add effects, perform live remixes and much more.

Bundled Sofware--Ableton Live Lite 5
Ableton Live Lite 5 delivers much of the functionality of Ableton Live 5—the revolutionary, multi-award winning music production solution that allows you to spontaneously compose, record, remix, improvise and edit your musical ideas in a seamless audio/MIDI environment. Live brings your acoustic, electronic and virtual instruments—as well as your digital audio recordings and MIDI sequences—together in a single interface with unparalleled ease of use.

Live’s multi-award winning elastic audio sequencing lets you record, import, arrange and process multiple audio clips and loops into complete songs regardless of their pitch or tempo—all in real time while the music continues. You can even change tempo and pitch of audio independently after the fact—and clip envelopes create endless loop variations. Of course, you can also integrate linear tape-style recording along with your loops.

New additions to M-Audio's version of Live Lite include full ReWire Support, MIDI Remote Control, Mackie Control Support, Complex Warp Mode, Clip Freeze, Plug-in Delay Compensation, Arrangement Locators, Live Clip Format, Searchable Browser, New Preset Management and Effect/Device groups, Hi-definition recording (up to 32-bit/192 kHz), and new effects such as Beat Repeat and Saturator.

Ableton’s unique approach to music production extends to a new paradigm in MIDI sequencing and manipulation as well, complete with exclusive virtual instruments. There’s also VST and Audio Unit support and a host of effects you can’t find anywhere else. As simple to use as it is powerful, Live is a completely unique musical tool that blurs the distinction between stage and studio.

Where the full version of Ableton Live gives you all of these capabilities across an unlimited number of audio and MIDI tracks, Ableton Live Lite 5 gives you four audio tracks and four MIDI tracks. Live Lite 5 will not include compressed audio support. Given Live’s unique power and efficiency—including resampling—that’s a lot of production capability right out of the box. It’s so intuitive and inspiring that you’ll be making new music immediately. And if you decide to unleash the full power of Ableton Live, your experience and files are completely transportable. Either way, Live lets you focus on what really matters: your music.

Registered owners of Live Lite 4 and Live Delta can download a free update to Live Lite 5 from Ableton's website at www.ableton.com/lite4upgrade.

To Upgrade to the full version of Live 5, go to www.ableton.com/upgrade.

Minimum Systems Requirements -- Mac

• any G3 or faster
• 256 MB RAM
• Mac OS X 10.2.8 or later

Minimum Systems Requirements -- PC

• 600 MHz CPU or faster
• 512 MB RAM recommended
• Windows 2000/XP
• Windows-compatible soundcard

Customer Reviews

Watch it like a hawk...
This thing CAN sound AMAZING-- but it probably won't, unless you are very careful. Make sure you have the latest drivers. Don't even BOTHER with the MME ("wave") or WDM drivers; it's ASIO or nothing, because M-Audio's MME/WDM drivers are so bad, I was completely convinced this thing had both a noise gate and a lousy ADC, when it turned out to be driver issues.

The pre-amp doesn't have as much gain as you might hope, but if you've got it cranked and you can barely get anything out of an SM-57, something is WRONG with your install. Try using ASIO. I had absolutely horrible results with Adobe Audition 1.0, but the 2.0 demo, using ASIO, a few reboots, and some tweaking, finally sounds perfect.

That said, the headphone output on this thing is awesome. Oh, rock on.

I hope I can get this thing working properly, because the only real competition is about three times the price.

NOTE: This device has PARTIAL support available for Linux/ALSA, with more on the way. That is independent support, mind you-- NOT M-Audio drivers.

I will revise/replace this review as I see better results; this is already better than my last one.

Don't let the naysayers scare you off..
This is a great little machine, yes there are a few caveats.. but on the whole I don't think you will find anything else in this price range with better features. I noticed quite a few negative reviews on this and other m-audio devices here on amazon, but it appears that most of them are either people who are inexperienced with digital audio equipment or people complaining about driver issues.

I have owned previous M-audio equipment and they do have a history of spotty drivers and slow fixes, however in this case I have had absolutely no problems with their drivers (running on Vista 32-bit). The sound quality is great, ASIO latency is low (~3ms), works on Linux too. I would give it 5 stars if it was 24/96 and usb 2.0

it's not for pros
I used this mainly in a recording studio.

i had this thing since it was first released around dec 05. the drivers on the cd wouldn't install and seemed alpha quality. since then, new drivers released 3 months later, and none since then. first, BEWARE, if your FTP is on WindowsXP, and is plugged into a USB port that doesn't share IRQs well, you'll have a lot of bluescreen, or audio will stop working, etc... it wont be solid. this was confirmed by talking with m-audio tech support. also searching the net it appears the USB IRQ thing in Windows is a well known problem. and we all thought USB was plug and play? i was floored.. so... after i fixed this conflict (I plugged the USB into a different USB jack who's IRQ wasn't shared by any others), no more crashing/hanging, but occasionally the audio would quit working in windows and i'd have to reboot, maybe every 3-7 days. recently cleaned off some trojan/virus/malware on the system, and the audio _seemed_ to become solid for the last couple weeks straight (so maybe it was just malware causing the issue, or maybe that 3-7 day estimate really is 3-14... hmmm)... anyway, i've uninstalled the device already as I got tired of it as you can imagine.

that said, assuming you will get this device solidly working (and many people have told me they have, so maybe it's ok), here's what's _not_ cool about this little device: can't change buffer size while in audio application (need to quit audio app, then change buffer size, then reenter the app)... also, it's USB1.1, so enabling full duplex (both input and output at the same time) you get a lesser quality sampling rate. the audio ins and outs clip a little low, apparently not as much headroom as other pro gear. With all the screwing around with USB, the fact that it is still using USB 1.1 (instead of 2.0) when introduced in 2006, and the low quality ins/outs, calling this unit "PRO" is going a little far. it certainly appears nice from looking at the I/O features, which is probably what hooks people (it's why I bought it, it's like a swiss army knife). drivers are not often updated, when there's clearly work to be done (i.e. changing the buffer size without closing down the audio app, handling USB IRQ conflicts without being a CPU hog or hanging the computer "a USB driver should not crash a computer no matter how much the tech support person says it needs to be very lean to run realtime... :)", etc..)

what's cool about this, lots of IO features: 2 mic inputs, nice front panel, headphone, etc... really it's the best external audio unit for the price when comparing features...

if you're really a pro, maybe you'd rather go with an internal PCI solution that's more of a sure thing than fiddling with the USB problems and low headroom on the IOs. I got rid of mine in favor of an echo mia midi which is really cool compared to this...

if you need all the IO features (mixer, headphone, mic inputs), and you really really need it external, then the fasttrack pro may be worth trying out, it's a nice little unit when it works, and i hear it works solidly for many people (just 0.01% of the time for me though, so I'm a little spooked, so it's bye bye)...