The best audio interface when money IS AN object.

Five stars relative to it's competitors. This is THE audio interface to buy unless money IS NOT an object. The preamps, the converters, the whole feature set is the summum bonum of any audio interface built to a cost. Having logged enough hours in commercial studios and project studios alike to appreciate the nuances and quality of fine A/D converters, I can safely say that the difference between the converters in this box, and ones in the lofty reaches of the Apogee or Digidesign/Avid lines, is so minuscule as to be irrelevant except in the following scenarios:

1. You are running a commercial studio as your livelihood and need to look serious to your clients, and/or...
2. You are recording material that is heavy on microphone technique and light on processing (i.e. classical, jazz, folk, foley).

The preamps are excellent, and very usable for most applications (though I wouldn't recommend low-output microphones without a cloudlifter or something of that ilk), though thankfully I have enough inputs with this to accommodate a few external preamps that can provide more gain and/or coloration. The DSP mixing is great and more than adequate for zero-latency tracking. The LA-2A leveller that is available on each channel is convincing enough to be written to disk.

Seriously, there is no reason to go beyond this price point unless you are in any of the scenarios listed above or need more than 8 analog channels for some reason.

Never forget, it's all about the music... the best gear just stays out of the way, and the UltraLite does just that.

Motu UltraLite-mk3 Hybrid

as usual....stud

I'm impressed

This thing is incredible... Drivers install perfectly, it's plug and play. The I/O possibilities are great.
I'm able to route audio in and out to my compressors and outboard gear, enjoying the best of both digital and analog worlds.
I know there are incredible converters out there, but I'm still waiting for a product that integrates audio from your computer, your daw, internet like Motu does...
Great product!!!!

Good Piece of Gear

Very solid body and few buttons ideal to carry and play out. Easy to setup no problems encountered and the mixing software is friendly. I just bought the product recently , still getting familiarized with it specially on the standalone part of it, but I really like the features on this piece of equipment. I want to use the firewire in my PC laptop but unfortunately the firewire cable in the box is for desktop and did not work with the normal firewire cable I have for laptop. Other than that no complains and I recommend this product to anyone.

Best choice I made for a live setup

From the moment I first connected it to my 2011 MacBook Pro, I was amazed. Extremely simple to configure. And an extremely pure and clean sound. No hiss at all. I love the fact that it is an audio interface AND a mixer. Makes whatever setup and routing you wish, possible. The MIC pres are perfect.

Very practical

Got this unit to make some music while on the road as well as live gigs.
Just happy with it. The navigation from the front panel is a bit confusing at first, but later becomes easier. Clean preamps, surgical EQs, and great compressors (all 16 of them). Hook-up was flawless even without rebooting computer. You can unplug interface cable while performing, and the thing work just fine. You can even use it instead of yellow pages on the piano bench :-) built very solid. Great value for the money!

All that you could ask for

I got this unit to use as a live interface for shows. Install the drivers and you're off! Sound is pristine, everything is accessible from the front and it's solid like a rock. The real bonus is the DSP mixer which works perfectly and allows me to tailor my sound to any PA.

Very Nice!!

Thoroughly dependable unit. I've had my Ultralite-mk3 (firewire-only model) for a little over a year. Unit has seen heavy usage on both my Windows machines AND my Mac machines. The Cuemix/DSP is pretty impressive and the flexibility of this little box is very nice.
Sound quality is superb, but opinions on sound quality are pretty subjective. To put it another way, I've been involved in audio for 25 years and have owned everything from 2" Analog machines and have used/owned multiple digital recording setups. Based on that experience, I find the Ultralite to be extremely impressive and probably the best buy out there at this time. Mic preamps on this thing are pretty decent but probably not the best for low output mics (ribbons,SM-7,etc).
I usually wouldn't consider writing a review, but out of all the gear I've owned, the gear I remember/keep is the stuff that works. The Ultralite-mk3 is a keeper.

GET THIS UNIT!

I've always loved MOTU for sound quality and affordability. I own an 8pre and is unit's predecessor, the UltraLite. I've never been let down by my UltraLite, and I use it plenty. I love the fact that these things are firewire bus-powered because I record a lot of stuff out in the field where there is no power except what I have in the form of batteries. Since I also have a Presonus Digimax FS (which can run on 12 VDC - a car battery lasts FOREVER) I've go 8 channels of on-the-go recording - 5.1 baby! I need another interface for more channels and saw this. I'm getting it! I can't wait to hear the effects, which the older one doesn't have.

Amazing sound!

I was looking for a new upgrade to my sound quality in my studio, call Simon Picazo and he recommended this because of the flexibility of using it as a USB or Firewire. I decided to give it a try and man was I blown away by the sound quality that I have been getting from this interface. I was using an old Alesis multimix Usb 8 which had a decent sound for beginners however I had gone way past beginner stages and was in need of a high quality Interface that could be used both as USB and Firewire. What I like about it most besides the sound quality is that you have the choice of using the mixer on the front or the one on dvd which is use to load it in the computer. The effects are very good and just using a audio technica at2020 mic makes this mic sound much better than it did with the original mixer I used with it before. I have other mics by Blue and Neumann which sound killer but just to hear how it made the less expensive at2020 sound was like wow. The preamps are reall good and one can make a very good demo for local sale or record company A&R's using this interface. It is small and compact and built very well not with plastic like some companies use. If you have the extra $550 to spend and want to get a pro sounding interface I recomend this one because it will take you to another level of recording and engineering. Everything is so clear and you hear everything you are doing with it.

Worked flawlessly. Solid construction & drivers

I purchased this unit a few days prior to a trip to Honduras where I was scheduled to record an amazing guitarist/singer in a remote village. I choose the UltraLite mk3 Hybrid based on previous experience with the original 2408 PCI, the I/O capabilities, size as well as the recommendation of Alex Morales. With only two days to familiarize myself with the unit's operation procedures, I was amazed how quickly I was able to get a good sound into my MacBook Pro. The first session went for over 8 hours with zero problems with the UltraLite. The reason for a 4.5 rating is the steep (for me) learning curve of the front panel and only one headphone output (easy work-around with separate headphone amp although space & baggage restrictions prevented me from taking one). I recorded all tracks @ 96kHz with a 128 buffer and 1 phantom powered condenser mic with no hiccups or dropouts - all on FW bus power. Overall, I am well pleased with the unit & am considering the addition of the 4pre as a companion unit. As usual, the Sweetwater staff and service are first class.

Kicka@!

Pulled it straight out of the box, installed software and plugged it straight into the macbook where ableton had no problems recognizing the device. Now I can FINALLY get all the sounds I want out of my iPad by running it through this baby. Well, I had to call Motu's customer support to set everything up in ableton but they had me up and running in minutes. NO complaints.

Great Drivers, Dependable

The drivers are great, the output is nice and loud and this thing is super dependable. None of the UltraLite family products have ever let me or any of my friends down in front of a crowd, which is what really counts. Thanks MOTU!

Firewire cable won't fit

why would you include a firewire cable that won't fit into the firewire jack on the Mac Book Pro? not a deal breaker, but now I have to buy a different cable or adapter. a bit of a pain...

Compact and useful

Bought it to use for gigging. Yes, you can use it standalone (ie, without a computer), which is why I got it. But honestly, it's much easier to use the computer to control it. Otherwise, you have to do a lot of button pushing on the front panel. If you intend to use it standalone, plan on setting it up once and then leave it as so. But the most important adjustments, such as main/phones vol, and reverb on/off, are easy to do standalone.

Preamps and effects sound good -- better than on the Behringer and Mackie mixers I formally used. I like having the built-in compressor for vocals. Using the digital audio IN for my Fantom XR sounds so much cleaner than the analog mixers I formerly used. And you can add the MOTU reverb to the digital audio in. One caveat: Reverb is not designed to work at the higher sampling rates.

So far it's holding up for gigging. Rain got in the front XLR jack once. It made some weird noises when I powered up, but after everything dried up, it worked.

One warning: Don't use the MIDI IN on it. It tends to lose midi data now and then.

Works with Win7 64-bit. But you have to boot up the computer first before you turn on the MOTU. Probably a driver issue with the first 64-bit drivers. It happens. Fortunately, MOTU uses one driver for all models, so there are periodic updates. (A previous update fixed a USB issue, for example).

Good buy not great.

I will start off by saying this unit is really solid. Plenty of head room and gain. The EQ is very nice, doesn't seem to have any coloring to it. The compressors on the other hand are not very impressive. To me they make it sound very digital and the gain in the comps seem to jump quickly in volume. Limiters are not much better. This unit is worth maybe 350.00 not $500.

So far so good..but

It appears to work fine but it is not easy to control the output and input volumes without the Desk Top Software

Definitely a step down

bought a Ultralite mk2 a few years ago and loved it. When the live setup at school went to upgrade, I put in for a brand new mk3 hybrid

using it on multiple concerts, i have never gotten it to work via firewire. Also, the internal bussing is a lot less intuitive than the mk2's. The reverb does not sound good and I don't recommend using it. The same with the compressor- in small doses it sounds alright, but not something I would use regularly

Overall, I'm disappointed considering how much I loved the mk2. It's a versatile performance interface with a large amount of ins and outs, but I just cannot recommend it. If you really need a performance interface with 8ins and 12 outs (I don't include the SPDIF) then the Ultralite can get it done, but it's finicky at best

Don't even think of using USB

OK features but the USB drivers are defective. I've been communicating with (and ignored by) MOTU for over a year about bugs in the driver that result in choppy, distorted sound and eventually total silence. The only fix is a reboot and a prayer that it will work for at least a day.

I've tried everything that MOTU suggested and more: confirming DPC latency, using the latest driver, running off different USB cards and interfaces, trying both USB 2 and 3, using powered hubs (several different brands), reconfiguring every single USB port, turning off the power save features, running USB monitors to look for protocol violations ... the list goes on and on.

Firewire operation may rate higher but the combination of defective USB support and abysmal tech support gives this a single star. Look elsewhere if you need USB audio.