# Status of M-Audio Fast Track Ultra 8R on Linux

## Motivation

Linux has good support for various USB audio interfaces with 2 microphone
inputs. Examples include devices such as the Native Instruments Komplete
audio 6 or the M-Audio Fast Track Pro. However, when it comes to
building a Linux recording studio, more advanced interfaces with more
inputs are often required.

The reason for this investigation is that I am in need of a USB audio
interface with at least 6 microphone inputs to be able to properly
record a drum kit. I need USB because my laptop (a Thinkpad T61) does
not have a firewire connector. As I frequently switch between recording
guitar, bass and drums, at least 8 mic inputs with preamps would be nice
to require less plugging in and out. I usually use 2 microphones in
parallel to record guitar; bass could potentially be tracked using the
amp's DI out.

The M-Audio Fast Track Ultra is quite affordable compared to the
products by MOTU, for instance. And since other M-Audio devices are
already supported on Linux it seems logical to expect support for the
Fast Track Ultra to be generally possible (even if that involves hacking
up a driver).

## Resources

### Mailing list and forum discussions

  * http://www.mail-archive.com/alsa-user@lists.sourceforge.net/msg23310.html
  * http://www.linuxmusicians.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1581&p=8085

### Felix Homann's investigation

  * http://forums.m-audio.com/showthread.php?714-Not-a-problem-FastTrack-on-linux&p=79702#post79702
  * http://forums.m-audio.com/showthread.php?714-Not-a-problem-FastTrack-on-linux&p=81195#post81195
  * http://forums.m-audio.com/showthread.php?714-Not-a-problem-FastTrack-on-linux&p=86510#post86510
  * http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?thread_name=4B898CB9.4010308%40web.de&forum_name=alsa-user
  * http://mailman.alsa-project.org/pipermail/alsa-devel/2010-February/025447.html
  * http://mailman.alsa-project.org/pipermail/alsa-devel/2010-March/026213.html
  * http://forums.m-audio.com/showthread.php?714-Not-a-problem-FastTrack-on-linux&p=91441#post91441
  * http://forums.m-audio.com/showthread.php?714-Not-a-problem-FastTrack-on-linux&p=91557#post91557
  * http://forums.m-audio.com/showthread.php?714-Not-a-problem-FastTrack-on-linux&p=96513#post96513
  * http://forums.m-audio.com/showthread.php?714-Not-a-problem-FastTrack-on-linux&p=115294#post115294

### Support for USB 2.0 audio interfaces

  * http://mailman.alsa-project.org/pipermail/alsa-devel/2010-February/025461.html
  * http://mailman.alsa-project.org/pipermail/alsa-devel/2011-May/039887.html
  * http://mailman.alsa-project.org/pipermail/alsa-devel/2011-May/039957.html
  * http://mailman.alsa-project.org/pipermail/alsa-devel/2011-May/040194.html 
  * http://mailman.alsa-project.org/pipermail/alsa-devel/2011-June/040846.html
  * http://mailman.alsa-project.org/pipermail/alsa-devel/2011-June/041272.html
  * http://mailman.alsa-project.org/pipermail/alsa-devel/2011-June/041303.html
  * many other threads on alsa-devel in autumn/winter 2011, early 2012
  * last message: http://mailman.alsa-project.org/pipermail/alsa-devel/2012-March/049805.html