I just got a brand new 16 MBP M1 Max - and am experiencing insane amounts of CPU spikes suddenly in Ableton 11 - using the internal sound card has no issues. Anyone else experience this?
I upgraded to the RME UCX II recently and was previously a long time user of the Babyface Pro. The UCX II is nothing short of magnificent.
The only thing I miss is the ability to change to volume using the OS volume (from what I could tell, and using Mac OS Mojave anyway). It seems I may be purchasing the RME Arc USB controller.
This interface is excellent enough to make me consider purchasing an iPad, but I can’t honestly justify that since it truly does stand completely on its own with its screen and very clever and customizable UI. I am in love here, don’t you see? DuRec will take care of us all. This is like the ultimate field recording kit for my applications.
There is only one more thing which remains confusing to me, with regards to CV output. From the manual: “Negative output voltages should be avoided, because they could theoretically lead to defects in the CV input. Even if the software used generates only positive signals, a simple phase inversion in TotalMix can invert the signal so that a negative voltage is sent out.” What does this mean? It’s unipolar? I may need an offset generator? Finally… will I need those Expert Sleepers floating ring cables?
1 Like
What is the primary “magnificence” of the upgrade for you?
I have a Pro FS and wonder how noticeable any A/D or preamp improvement would even be.
1 Like
I don’t know if I can speak for that - as I was mainly enthralled that moving to UCX II allowed me to finally do away with leaning on Overbridge 2 as a crutch rather than seeing it as a bonus/luxury that it sort of is to me, at least for now. Don’t get me wrong; I would still love to see Overbridge progress and it would be great if Elektron didn’t abandon it and continued optimizing it, reducing glitches and latency as well as tightening up synchronization if possible.
That is mainly why I had that kind of reaction to my UCX II upgrade, in retrospect. It has more to do with how excited I was that UCX II allowed me to re-work the signal path in my studio, greatly reducing latency for much better performability and opening up flexibility for routing and modular utilization. That was crucial for me.
However, speaking more toward how UCX II was a nice upgrade - For one, and as many have mentioned above; it has an even smaller footprint than I was expecting, which is excellent… since size is part of the reason (financial constraints) I chose this over UFX+ anyway (spacial constrains). It’s travel-able. With a USB drive, it can be considered a USB battery bank powered field recording kit in a box.
Auto-gain is super handy. The compression is indeed basic but useful and the other effects are nice to have. DuRec is life changing. The settings are highly configurable making standalone operation a very real option, not waiting for a future update to fix something, it’s already working well from my experience with it so far. Clearly a tried and true intuitive design.
So far the audio quality is at least on par with what I had from the Babyface pro. I haven’t done any clinical testing with it, I mean - nothing scientific here and I haven’t taken it to high sample rates so I’m probably not the best person to ask for a comparison with that.
What I can say is that it clearly has a vast amount of engineering genius poured into it that it’s truly palpable and greatly appreciated. I actually wept when I realized how good it actually is. Fucking… I mean, I’m not super emotional, but a tear rolled down my cheek and it’s very rare that gear does that for me.
2 Likes
Oh HRM!
That might actually sell me on it. I have the FS and an Apogee Element 88, but I could likely flip the both and pick up the UCX II just for DuRec.
I am ADD and need to both have my computer not-operational and encourage low-pressure jamming. This sounds like a good workflow to capture without having me feel burdened by going on the computer.
Yes, a bit silly but distractibility is a problem and this is eliminating yet another bottleneck.
2 Likes
Exactly! Have a look at the manual if you hadn’t already - DuRec is able to record all audio I/O (even ADAT) separately as well as the main mix to separate files all named after whatever you had named the inputs or outputs. With or without effects. There’s probably even more to it that I’m missing.
It’s pretty new to me after all… and I’m a little ways off (setting up MIDI routing) before I’ll be able to go without having to turn the laptop on to load up my DAW of choice.
1 Like
Follow up - I narrowed it down to Plugin Alliance VST2 and VST3s creating the insane spikes - it was also reproducible in Bitwig (even with internal audio card). Interestingly the Audio Units don’t have a problem.
So it seems mainly to be a problem with Plugin Alliance VST2/3 in Rosetta 
2 Likes
We I’m on the market for a New Interface …
The old Mac & Motu MK3 Has pushed me to go daw less but there is only so much you can do that way. the MPC came in handy But you really have to commit to a sound To be able to get a Solid production going.
Do you guy know if I can still use the MK3 as ADAT to get extra IO .
Also Anybody know when these will be available they seem to be out of stock everywhere in Europe . Also Noticed Thomann don’t even have them listed anymore . ( Maybe RME are working on a UCX III )
Re: stock levels, it’s chip shortages. There’s no way they’re replacing this generation for a few years.
3 Likes
Yea figured as much . So impatient to get things rolling again . feels like our production has been on hold for the past 2 years + .
I really Don’t want to got the MOTU root again just to be let down in 4 years ; the Apollo’s get lots of praised in our surroundings but 2io or 4io is just not feasible .
I’m not even sure the Old Mac will hold it own even if i update the to a new interface .
Has anybody tried to use the UCX II as a field recorder? Can it do 32-bit float recording?
How did it fare?
This looks great for super portable rig, currently running an RME 800, had Motu Ultralite mk2 and mk3, first one died during an electrical storm
24 Bit / 192 kHz max.
It’s not battery powered, so unsure how far out in the field you might have it. It does let you record straight to flash memory, so that’s a plus in its favor.
I bought it with the interest of having that available, but I haven’t been going to many indoor events since the pandemic never really ended
Straight to usb recording is ace. Use it all the time for recording in the studio without laptop connected.
But yes, how were you thinking of powering it out in the field?
I was under the impression that it could be powered with a USB powerbank… but it can’t. Don’t know where I picked that up 
I don’t think it’ll do bus power, but it will run on anything from 9-18V at 12W, so it’s pretty easy to power. It should run off a ripcord, although you won’t get the slick locking power cable then.
1 Like
12 V Battery Power Solutions (Page 1) — Tips & Tricks — RME User Forum perhaps?
Seems others have seen success with RME devices and battery packs!
A direct review suggests-
Power supply is the same lockable 12V DC 2A external that we find with the ADI-2 Pro fs R.
That of course means that it’s possible to run the device on a 12V battery.
A very positive point in this case.