M-Audio’s Essential New Fast Track

By Paul Dakeyne

September 24, 2009 | Posted in Music Technology

Pretty much over-shadowed by today’s Digidesign Eleven release, this new revamped version of an M-Audio classic audio interface should not however be overlooked. The ever present and hugely popular M-Audio Fast Track has received a total make-over and is launched today to replace its younger sibling. Instantly, it ‘looks’ mighty fine and very contemporary. But what’s new and under the bonnet?

The three and most obvious changes are firstly, the included bundled Pro Tools M-Powered ‘Essential’ software. This is a great bonus for new purchasers not yet Pro Tools or DAW’d up! Yes it’s a ‘lite’ version, but nonetheless features the ability to record & mix with up to 16 mono or stereo tracks, utilise pro effects like reverb and delay, and comes with the ‘Structure Essential’ instrument, useful for adding realistic musical instrument sounds to mixes. Icing on the cake here too is the inclusion of over 5 gigabytes of sound source samples and loops – already this is shaping up to be a dream unit for both entry level and enthusiast users.

Secondly, bypassing the usual problems of non-DSP accelerated hardware latency, the new Fast Track has a useful ‘Direct Monitor Switch’ which allows the instrument being played live to be (wait for it..) ‘directly monitored’ through the unit – cool and very handy thanks a bunch

And finally Esther (!!), ergonomically it’s a big improvement with large, user friendly top mounted control knobs, all sitting nicely on the totally re-designed chassis. All in all, a huge recommendation from yours truly, especially as I have used the previous Fast Track incarnation for a few years now and hammered the heck out of it as a laptop DJ and field recording device. If you’re in the market, Get in there!

About Paul Dakeyne

Paul Dakeyne has written 589 post in this blog.

Paul Dakeyne is a DJ/Producer who has dedicated the past two decades of his life to dance music production and DJ'ing. For six years, he toured globally for the world famous Ministry of Sound and has played DJ sets for the likes of U2 and for the legendary, Kraftwerk, Although remixing around 250 records in his career, as an artist in his own right, Paul landed one of dance music's seminal crossover moments with his "18 Strings' monster hit by Tinman - scoring a UK top ten in 1994. He also co-wrote and produced the music for BBC's Watchdog and Crimewatch when they were both revamped in 2001 and '06 respectively. His other career highlights have included an A&R stint for Mercury Records, lecturing in 'DJ culture and music technology' and creating mash-up mixes for Radio 1's, Chris Moyles. Paul joined the DV group in 2003 leading to his role as blog and feature author here at the DV Mag.

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Tags: audio interface, Essential, Fast Track, m-audio, M-Powered, pro tools, Structure

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