MOTU (Mark Of The Unicorn) UltraLite Windows Driver Review

(update: I have finally found a stable configuration for my machine. The combination of the 1.1.0 firmware, latest drivers, sp2->sp1 firewire drivers, PCI latency adjustment, and most importantly, turning off video acceleration has been very stable on my machine. Since doing this I have yet to experience a single crash. YMMV. MOTU: RELEASE YOUR DRIVER SOURCE CODE, IT CAN ONLY HELP YOU!)

I've been using my UltraLite for several months now. When the drivers work as advertised, they work well. The drivers include the standard multi-channel mode as well as a legacy mode which breaks the single device into many virtual devices. In this mode, each virtual device represents a different channel pair on the UltraLite. This is very handy for use with applications that don't understand anything other than basic stereo I/O. You can select which channel to use via the Control Panel in this mode by changing the default playback and recording device. The zero-latency mixing board works as advertised, but I wish there was a way to down-mix outputs onto a channel as well as inputs.

By setting windows to assume the device is a 5.1 or even 7.1 home theater surround system in standard multi-channel mode, you can use the UltraLite to watch DVDs or even play games, which is a nice bonus to having properly designed drivers.

The specs of the hardware are wonderful and I recommend the UltraLite for the windows platform, with some reservations.

After much trial and error I have finally discovered how to make the system be stable. Without performing these alterations, the drivers on not stable for everyone.

First, the drivers can cause a crash or even a BSOD if you turn off the unit while windows is running. That's not so bad; just don't turn the unit off and make sure you've got everything saved if you do. Second, both myself and several other posters on Unicornation have experienced an unusual quirk of the UltraLite that causes the device to go what can best be described as suddenly "haywire". When this happens the software seems to lose its synchronization with the UltraLite and produces very odd random noise, clicking, and other random I/O on the ports.

MOTU recommends the device be used only with Texas Instruments or Lucent based firewire chip. Of course, upgrading the firmware to v1.1.0 and using the latest drivers is mandatory. Some claim that setting the sampling rate to 96Khz has helped them. Several (myself included) discovered that some network cards can severely interfere with the operation of the UltraLite and must be disabled or removed from the machine. And most important of all, MOTU does not recommend the use of SP2.

SP2 can be a problem for the UltraLite because of an infamous decision by Microsoft to set 1394b Firewire port speeds to S100. (What were they thinking?!) There are two ways around this problem. One is to install the KB885222 firewire hotfix. This is not a complete solution, as it results in S400 speeds and isn't the specified SP1 drivers, but seems to work fine. (The UltraLite is a firewire 400 device anyway -- you only need FireWire? 800 if you're using other FireWire? devices that can use 800 also.) There's another solution given by RME Tech, makers of the Fireface devices. It involves copying the SP1 firewire drivers back into an SP2 system. This is a good solution as it reverts the system back to the supported SP1 version of the files which run at s800 speeds.

It's not necessary to do this for the UltraLite, but the RME-Audio solution is pretty simple to implement. Here's an expanded yet terse rundown of how to do it:

• First, obtain the SP1 version of the firewire drivers by downloading the SP1a Network pack directly from Microsoft at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/sp1/network.mspx. (The network version actually contains all of the files, unlike the regular version which downloads the files on the fly after it decides what you need.)
• You don't want to actually install SP1a over your working SP2 installation; this could cause you a lot of heartache. Instead, enter 'xpsp1a_en_x86.exe /?' from the dos prompt. This will cause the service pack to show the help screen, but it will unpack itself in that process. While it is unpacking make a quick note of the directory it is unpacking to.
• On my system the directory stayed put after pressing OK, but just in case that's not always true, copy the files ochi1394.sy_ and 1394bus.sy_ to a separate directory while the help screen is still being shown. Then you can then click OK and delete the directory manually if you need to.
• Now copy c:\windows\inf\1394.inf from your SP2 installation to the same directory as the other two files. This will give you the latest installation instructions.
• Copy c:\windows\system32\drivers\arp1394.sys, enum1394.sys, nic1394.sys to the same directory as the other three files. These are other files required for a complete installation that don't directly affect the speed of the firewire subsystem.
• Rename c:\windows\Driver Cache\i386\sp2.cab to sp2_dead.cab. If you do not do this, Windows will immediately replace the new SP1 version of the driver with a stored version of the SP2 driver.
• Turn off all attached firewire devices.
• Using the Device Manager, update the Firewire driver selecting 'No, only this time', 'Install from a list or specific location (advanced)', 'Don't search I will choose the driver to install', and 'Have Disk' at the appropriate points. Choose the directory where you've saved the files to. You'll have to point windows in the right direction three times. Answer yes when windows asks you if you want to overwrite the newer file with the older one.
• Once the old driver has been installed, rename c:\windows\Driver Cache\i386\sp2_dead.cab back to sp2.cab. This will restore Windows ability to auto-repair itself if necessary.
• NOTE: If you ever have to reinstall the firewire card, you'll have to disable sp2.cab and perform the "upgrade" to sp1 again.

The final piece of the puzzle is to disable video acceleration. If you've set your PCI latency low, don't trust that: disabling video acceleration still fixed my problems after adjusting my PCI latency settings. Here's how to do it:

• Right click on the desktiop
• Click properties
• Choose the 'Settings' tab
• Click the 'Advanced' button
• Click the 'Troubleshoot' tab
• Move the 'Hardware acceleration:' slider to 'None'
• Click OK

After doing this, I had no crashes, blips, or other problems at all for several recording sessions. It was a HUGE improvement. Remember to move the slider back before using your computer for more "important" tasks, like gaming or watching movies.

In summary, to make the UltraLite behave:

1. Make sure you are using a TI or Lucent based firewire chipset
2. Try removing (or disabling) your network card. If this helps, replace it with another one. USB NICs seem to work well.
3. Update the firewire drivers per one of the two methods above.
4. Disable video acceleration
5. Save all work before powering on or off the unit incase of BSOD (I have not seen one since disabling video acceleration, but be safe!)

At least one person has reported that he had to update his bios before he could get S800 speeds.

In all fairness it can be very difficult to service a firewire device fast enough to prevent glitches when Windows decides to be a resource hog and gives suboptimal firewire speeds by default. But this just doesn't excuse the UltraLite's behavior. When a misstep occurs the MOTU drivers and firmware should have a mechanism for recognizing that something is wrong and then self-resetting, possibly also warning the user that there was a glitch during recording or playback. Since these glitches almost always occur while opening or closing a window and not while actually recording or playing sound, this would be a very reasonable solution. I could understand if using Windows caused a hick-up now and then which resulted in a momentary audio pop. Sadly, the unit instead simple goes nuts and the user is forced to shut down whatever software is being used, wait until the noise stops, and then restart the software. Who wants to deal with that kind of nonsense?

I tried to contact MOTU technical support. Unlike many other manufacturers, MOTU does not maintain their own forum. It can be very hard to communicate meaningfully with them as a result. It can take them more than a day to respond to questions.

In the end, the drivers are very well thought out but not well implemented. My personal opinion is that they should release the source code so those of us who know how to program can help find the bugs. I personally love my UltraLite, but you should know what you're jumping into before you plop down hard cash for one.

-- ThoughtKeeper - 13 Feb 2007

If this does not work (it didn't for me), you need to update your BIOS. Machines shipped with SP2 installed will almost certainly need this. Be very carefull when updating the BIOS because, if done wrong, it can only be fixed by a factory tech. GOOD LUCK! TK's Note: After reading comments at Unicornation, it looks like he's referring to getting S800 speeds, not pops and clicks. Apparently, his bios was also preventing this. Sounds like a unique situation, but it might apply to you too!)

Even after trying all of the suggestions above, updating the BIOS on the machine, etc, the problem can still occur. I wouldn't recommend that anyone introduce this device into their setup until MOTU has definitively solved this particular issue.