Product Description

The Fast Track USB and the Session software combine to make a fast and simple way to record and produce your own music. With the Fast Track USB you can connect your guitar, microphone, and keyboard for recording into Session. And Session makes creating new tracks easy by routing and configuring everything automatically – allowing you to spend more time being creative. In Session you’ll find simulated Guitar and Bass amps as well as all kinds of effects for every instrument. With over 2GB of drag and drop loops and a ton of included software instruments you can create almost any type of music. Session and the Fast Track let you record your music, mix it, and unleash you inner Rock Star!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #179 in Musical Instruments
• Brand: M-Audio
• Model: US44010
• Platforms: Windows XP, Macintosh
• Dimensions: .0" h x .0" w x .0" l, 1.00 pounds

Features

• USB audio interface for recording guitar and vocals on Mac or PC music software
• Dynamic microphone input (XLR) with gain control and signal LEDs
• Switchable 1/4-inch instrument/line input and 1/8-inch stereo headphone output
• Drag-and-drop loop-based music creation > make great music even if it’s your first time
• Jam and record your own tracks for guitar, vocals, keyboards and more > embrace your inner rock star

Amazon.com Product Description
If you record music with Apple's GarageBand or other software applications, Fast Track USB is your new best friend. The USB interface lets you easily record your guitar onto the computer with professional results but without buying several clunky adapters. Simply connect Fast Track USB to the USB port on your computer and you're ready to rock. The device sports an input for such instruments as guitar, bass, and keyboards, plus a microphone input for recording vocals and other acoustic sounds. The included GT Player Express software, meanwhile, delivers killer effects and virtual stomp boxes, so you don't need any other effects pedals or gear to sound great. GT Player Express also plays such standard audio files as AAC, MP3, and WAV, letting you learn and jam along with your favorite music at varying speeds.

Add in a 1/8-inch stereo headphone output for monitoring, compatibility with both Windows (XP SP1) and Mac (OS X 10.2.8 or greater), and level controls for the headphone and main outputs and you have a versatile, professional means of adding guitar, vocals, and more to your computer music experience. The Fast Track USB measures 5.5 by 1.75 by 4.25 inches (W x H x D) and is backed by a one-year warranty.

What's in the Box
Fast Track USB audio interface, GT Player Express software, user's manual.

Customer Reviews

Works Great - but requires fiddling with the settings
I read several reviews of this product before buying it - so I knew what I was getting into. It seemed like the mix of comments were either the product was really good or really horrible. The horrible comments seemed to center around difficulty with the setttings. Hopefully what I write here will help someone else get it up and running b/c I think it really is a nice product for the $.

This product works great with my MacBook using garageband. It sounds really good too and the price is definitely right. That's the good news. The bad news is that it does take some time to fiddle with the settings to get working. Once you know what to do though, it's a snap.

First off, my mac recognized the box right off the bat since its USB compliant. I didn't have to do anything for it to recognize the box. However, two settings must be configured properly on the mac to get it to work the rest of the way: the input and output settings in the "sound" settings of the "System Properties" need to be set to "Fast Track USB." Make sure to crank the volume on the input setting all the way up (to the right). Second, you have to set your garageband settings properly...

Go into Garageband's "Preference" menu item and set the input and output to "Fast Track USB" as well. Then, plug your guitar into the 1/4" jack on the box. Finally, create a "real instrument" in garageband. You have to set the real instrument's track to read CHANNEL 2 and set the "monitor" to "on." That way you'll be able to hear the guitar through your speakers connected to the box (Incidentally, the XLR input on the box s/b considered channel 1 and the 1/4" input channel 2).

On the box, set the "mix" knob all the way to the right (full "playback" mode). Set the XLR "input" knob on the box all the way to the left. Set the "Output" knob high to the right. Now start playing your guitar. You should now be able to hear your guitar just fine through your speakers.

The extra software that comes with the box is awesome too - expecially the GT effects software. This stuff has really great sounds. With this, you won't need all the effects pedals; it's all right there with GT.

Now, the manuals are really poor. You'll find no help in them. In trying to get this thing working I poured over the forum comments on m-audio's site. Review comments their gave me some idea of what to do, but not completely. I had to do a little google searching before I got the other answers to the puzzle. Therefore, I only gave the product a total of 4 stars: 4 stars for the great sound and awesome software, but a ding for the crappy manuals and website support. I would buy the product again though.

Solid, Easy To Use USB Interface
Like one reviewer noted I too experienced an extremely high noise level plugging an electric guitar into the 1/4" jack. The direct box into the XLR input is the way to go. I hope this is limited to just our interfaces and not the whole batch produced. This product when using Windows ONLY works with XP It wouldn't install on my Millenium Edition computer. I have set up my laptop with Sonar Home Studio 4.0 and the Fast Track works great for laying down ideas on the road. Latency is minimal, and works well as an external sound card. I'm surprised that M-Audio didn't include a software mixer like other interfaces. It's a value for an interface less than $100.

Great unit with the Mac and podcasting
I have had ZERO problems with this unit. It's plug and play on my Apple G4 tower running OS X (Panther) as well as my PowerBook G4. I use the Fast Track with Audio Hijack Pro, Detour , Soundflower, Audacity and it works like a charm. The only thing lacking is phantom power for a microphone, which I solved with an ART tube preamp which you can get on Amazon for about $50 U.S.