Motu Ultralite MK5 Issues

Hardware
1

So I have a very weird issue with this interface. Let me start out by giving my system specs

2018 Macbook Pro
OS: Ventura
CPU: Intel
RAM: 16gb
SSD: 256gb

The issue is about 1 or 2 times during a 3-4 hour, gig performer stops outputting audio to the motu. I haven’t been able to trace it to a certain plugin, because it happens so random. I do rely heavily on Kontakt 7 with sampled instruments. What I do notice though is that I have a rackspace that’s kind of like a dummy rackspace I use for songs I don’t do keys on, more or less kind of like a placeholder for me so I can organize my setlists a bit better. I do notice that the problem happens more frequently when I go from a rackspace with nothing in it (a place holder) to another rackspace with actual plugins.

I’ve checked things like disk space and I have plenty of it. All my samples reside on the internal SSD. What I normally have to do is shutdown my mac and power off my motu then power everything back on, and it works like normal again. The macbook never touches the internet. I’ve even gone to the extremes of optimizing power, making sure the mac doesn’t try to run OS updates, etc. You name, I’ve tried. I’m a full time IT guy and this really has me racking my brain. LOL. Any ideas?

2

I should also add I’m on the latest version of Gig Performer.

3

There’s a post about an MK5 issue similar to yours here. I wonder if its the MOTU and not software related.
https://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=73004

4

Ahhh thank you for that! I may reach out to motu after reading that post.

1 Like
5

I had an issue with a Motu Ultralite MK3 on an older Intel Mac (2016). I had the same problem with GP or Ableton. Like you, I tried everything. What helped was swapping out a plain USB cable with one that had a ferrite on it. My Motu and Mac would suddenly stop talking to each other even through I could see meter activity on the motu device. The problem went from happening once or twice a day to once a month when I swapped the cabel. When I upgraded my macbook last year, I also moved to a Focusrite Clarrett+ and have had no disconnect issues. Worth a try if you have a usb cable with a ferrite on it. Good luck.

6

You know what’s funny is I used my old Focusrite 2i2 over the weekend and no issues LOL. I’ll have to give the ferrite a try on my motu though. But I think I might just stick with the Focusrite now :slight_smile: Thanks for sharing some of insight for this!