Regret buying M-audio product - A cautionary tale

[potion]

Just bought an M-audio Transit usb. I wanted an portable device that I can use both on the road and on my desktop.

I searched and read reviews and it seemed like a pretty decent device. I already have several other M-audio products and they worked well for me. Can say I had the confidence in M-audio products.

Anyway, it worked ok on my old laptop running Windows XP sp3. BUT, it wouldn't give sound on Vista sp1.

The first sign of trouble were actually the dates of the latest drivers. XP drivers were last released in 2006, and beta Vista drivers in 2007 (before Vista sp1). 1 year down the road and they have yet to revise the beta drivers. I searched the internet for solutions and found more incidents of problems with Transit and Vista, with no solutions.

I wrote to the shop where I got them asking if I could exchange it for another product. They replied, no, asking me to look at the "clearly stated no exchange and no refund policy" on the receipt. Hello? They issued the receipt only after I had paid! Yes, I should have asked before paying. My bad.

They said Vista was one of the most unstable platforms ever, and advised me to use it with XP machines. Hello? Can you buy a machine with XP os anymore? All current PC's and laptops being sold are running Vista.

They offered to help me - asked me to bring the Vista system down to check. It's a desktop. Very unfortunate.

I don't even feel like replying to their email, anyway, it was signed by a shop name, not a person's name. They must be gloating that someone so stupid bought their expiring stock.

I'm just upset to have bought a product from a respectable store, only to find out it's use is only supported for use on older machines, AND be stuck with it and its problems. The last Vista drivers were released in 2007, in beta. If that limitation was known to me, I would not have bought it.

Yes, my fault for not doing thorough research. The technician was busy in the shop and I had foolishly assumed it would work without a glitch.

I don't know what to do with it now. I may try to troubleshoot, and search the internet for solutions, but I'm not that free. I doubt new drivers will ever be released. Maybe I'll sell it off. Maybe it'll work well on somebody else's Mac system. $100+ for a piece of expiring hardware.

Thought of going to CASE for advice, but I don't want to go through the hassle.

Anyway, I'm just venting. You can assume I'm upset and therefore biased. But if you read this, don't make the same mistakes I did.

ASK about the exchange/return policies before buying anything that costs $100.
CHECK if it will work, or is supported for use with current computer systems.

 

[Cheez]

1. Yes, M-audio is slow in their drivers. They will start getting their vista drivers in line when Windows 7 is out, probably...

2. Yes, you'll always need to do research before buying any products, esp with compatibility.

3. Don't give up yet. It probably works with the Vista drivers, even if they are beta. Let's try toubleshooting first. If you already have a soundcard installed (which is most probably the case with your desktop), they may be conflicts. Check your device manager. When you say "no sound", which apps are your referring to? If you are referring to your DAW software, make sure you check the selection of soundcard. If you are talking about midi sounds, you may not be getting anything since the transit doesn't come with any built-in sounds.

You can still probably use it.

 

[potion]

hi Cheez,

Thanks for your troubleshoot list.

I used it with Sonar 8, running soft synths and some audio.

In Vista, it refused in run in wdm mode (XP too), giving only a pop sound when I start and stop playback. In Vista, Asio mode, the meters appear to be moving, but there was no sound coming from my headphones.

Maybe I'll disable the internal soundcard and try it again.

The thing is, all these quirks are really tiring me out. I've wasted enough time trying to get it to work. Even the driver installation was confusing. It required an extra step after running the exe file.


The latest drivers were pre Vista sp1, and XP sp3.

And when I saw this...
http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=support.vista64status
I think Transit will be discontinued very soon.

 

[sj2six]

Well, acutally if this is the case, I feel that it's not entirely M-Audio's fault. Part of the fault is oso from Windows Vista. Although I'm not an active Windows user when it comes to DAWs thingy, but I still have some DAW and misc. software that only runs on Windows, so I basically use it for some simple audio work, surfing the internet and other non-audio/music work. Previously I was using XP and everything works fine. Then Vista came out and I tot of upgrading it just to try the nice GUI. But soon after I upgraded it, I got into alot of problem. I asked around and indeed Vista is giving alot of problem, not only to audio & music people. It's indeed very unstable platform. And this is also the reason why Microsoft have announced that Vista is no longer in production and they are coming out with another new OS.

 

[Cheez]

Actually if you are willing to pay for Sonar 8, you should be getting a better audio interface than the Transit. USB is certainly not the best way about it.

sj2six, actually Vista is not too bad. I had loads of problem in the beginning, then I realised that half of the problems lie in hardware issues. Once working, it's really pretty stable. And the new Windows 7 is not an entire new OS. It will continue to be built on the Vista - although there is report that it will be more stable and scaled down in some ways and hence less CPU hungry. So, you can't run away from Vista!

 

[potion]

Thanks for assuming I paid for Sonar; I did and believe in paying for software.

I do have a better sound card, an M-audio FW410, and I use it on my "main daw" system (running XP).

The Transit was meant for light audio and sequencing work on my laptop and the other desktop (which I use for work, surfing and other stuff).

No company should abandon support for any of their products, unless they've been off the shelves for over a year, in the least. Considering the dates of the "latest drivers", the situation looks bleak. In contrast, drivers for FW410, which I bought about 3 years ago are still being updated.

 

[gutturalpiss]

No company "abandons" support for any shelf product, as long as it has not reached EOL (does not matter whether it's a few months or few years). It is entirely Vista's fault why hardware can't work with it, not the other way around. The reason for a beta driver never coming out of its stage into RC or stable distribution can be one of the following:

* Lack of support from (prospective) clients (eg. Microsoft)
* Technical limitations of host operating systems (eg. Microsoft Windows Vista)
* Client priorities; money is where the light is green (eg. Windows XP, Mac OS)
* Product priorities; money is where the money is big (eg. more marketable/expensive devices)
* Lack of support from users (no proper feedback)

For every hardware, there is a need to write a piece of code that translates the hardware calls into software calls which the host operating system understands - this is the driver and sometimes comes with another additional layer called the firmware. If the hardware vendor receives a new contract for a new operating system (even an operating system from the same family but with redesigned architecture can be an entirely new one), a lot of time has to be spent on getting the driver to work right.

I view this case as lack of research and the blame falls partly on the customer, M-Audio for not outlining these issues, and Microsoft for a failed product.

 

[lowjk]

Well, just to balance this thread a little.
A few years ago, I bought a second hand M-Audio MIDISPORT 8x8. Problem is that it wouldn't run on a XP system without a hardware upgrade. I wrote to M-Audio and they sent me a chip FOC.

 

[nextis]

windows always have troubles with drivers isnt it?

well to my experience... i guess i never had problems with drivers on mac platform with any audio product out there..the core audio drivers with mac are kinda reliable. i guess sumtimes it may be poor drivers by the company of the audio device but sumtimes it may be a result of poor windows platform to begin with. ive used windows xp, mac os 10.4 and 10.5 and vista... and all i can say is vista is horrible when installing stuff. im always afraid for my investment will go to waste if i cant get it to run on vista and it had happened many times...even with other consumer devices like printers or mobile phone drivers. frankly the vista experience sux with slow boot up and irritating free anti virus software trying to 'look; bz scanning thru my system
in other werds...windows SUX...well maybe just vista... soo any vista lovers out there pls dun throw stones at me now coz i really think windows comes out with a poor platform here...even when theres still lotsa problems with vista and they coming with windows 7? wat a rip off! i felt so cheated buying a vista platform

 

[blueprintstudios]

i'm glad i'm still on xp.

 

[potion]

I view this case as lack of research and the blame falls partly on the customer, M-Audio for not outlining these issues, and Microsoft for a failed product.

In this case, only the customer suffers.

I do do research before buying tech products. I've read reviews (which on hindsight, must have been on XP). Just neglected to check the driver release dates and development stages. Then again, who would go to that extent? I just trusted M-audio and expected better from the reseller.

This is what I gather from their store guidelines... you bought it, thank you, good luck to you. If it doesn't work, give us a call and we'll try to help. If there's something wrong with the product, we can't exchange it, but we'll fix it for free. If it still doesn't work, downgrade your system. If you can't or don't downgrade your system, sorry, we tried our best, there must be something wrong with your system, you didn't do your research, we are only resellers afterall and support is a bonus, go get help from the manufacturers in USA, thank you for your business and we'll try to serve you better next time.

It gives me little confidence to buy from them. Who knows what will not work the next time I buy from them? Unfortunately, there are not enough resellers around here to choose from, so we're stuck with these policies.

Yes, it's the cheapest soundcard they have there. And I could have gotten it even cheaper online, sans warranty, but even that comes with a 30-day exchange policy. No, I doubt I would bother to send it back, but at least I am given a choice.

--------
additional comments

It's not a huge store, so I understand they need these policies are to protect themselves. I'm not looking at getting an exchange/refund anymore, they already stated very clearly (albeit unapologetically) in the email that that request will not be entertained.

The purpose of this thread is just venting and Caveat Emptor. People need to know what can happen when a newly purchased product does not work as expected.

 

[sj2six]

[=potion

Well, everyone have something to learn everyday man. So now you learn yours. The fact is that, most (but not all) audio/music instrument product retailers in Singapore function like this: They are not the first or main distributor. Due to the small market in Singapore, most retailers in Sg are actually "reseller". That means they "buy" their stocks from a authorized distributor or main importer (either local or oversea) and they "resell" it to us. This is why they do not provide those one-on-one exchange or technical support services.

For instance, I bought a Rode condenser mic few years ago from a local reseller. All Rode mics have got 5 years warranty. And within the 5 years, I accidetally dropped my mic and it's not functioning well after that. And I was told by a fren in US that he too encountered the same situation and he actually got back to the retailer and got a number to send the mic to Rode in Australia. Within 5 days or so, Rode sent back a brand new mic without any additional cost to him. So he adviced me to do the same. But when I got back to the local retailer that I bought this mic from, that's when the day I learnt about the differences between a "reseller" and a distributor. I contacted Rode but apparently they told me that I need to get that number, if not, there will not be any return & exchange, but just simply reparing since my warranty wasn't over yet.

Well, what can I say...we are in Singapore. A small market. So it's either you purchase online and wait for it to ship over, or if are urgent, then no choice but to get your stuffs from these resellers..

 

[sj2six]

[=lowjk

Hmmmm...that's werid, I never encountered any problem with my MIDISPORT on my XP.

 

[sj2six]

[=Cheez

Yes...USB are not the best solution for audio. for MIDI it's fine, but not for audio. And I agree with Nextis, Mac platform is always a preferred platform around the world in this industry. True enough that Windows user can argue back with whatever reason you've got. But sad to say that I uses both Mac and Windows and I have not encounter much issues with Mac as opposed to Windows.

 

[kongwee]

I bought a Firewire Solo, the digital in is not working. But not bothered. Sound is still bad after run in for some time.

 

[sj2six]

I bought a Firewire Solo, the digital in is not working. But not bothered. Sound is still bad after run in for some time.

Hey, did you setup correctly? Lauch your M-Audio software mixer, then go to the Hardware tab and select your digital input as either ADAT or SPDIF. Then on the same page, there is a section call the clock sync or something (I forgot), you must choose "external unmuted". Wait for a few seconds and it will automatically set your sample rate according to your external device. And bear in mind that you must set all these first BEFORE you lauch your DAWs. And make sure that your external device do have internal clock sync as well. Some devices such as a MiniDisc walkman do have a digital input, but because it does not have a internal clock sync thingy, hence, it's not able to be detech.

And lastly, make sure that you have connect from a Digital out to your digital in, and not from a Analog out to digital in. Coz SPDIF connector looks the same as a analog RCA.

 

[kongwee]

Hey, did you setup correctly? Lauch your M-Audio software mixer, then go to the Hardware tab and select your digital input as either ADAT or SPDIF. Then on the same page, there is a section call the clock sync or something (I forgot), you must choose "external unmuted". Wait for a few seconds and it will automatically set your sample rate according to your external device. And bear in mind that you must set all these first BEFORE you lauch your DAWs. And make sure that your external device do have internal clock sync as well. Some devices such as a MiniDisc walkman do have a digital input, but because it does not have a internal clock sync thingy, hence, it's not able to be detech.

And lastly, make sure that you have connect from a Digital out to your digital in, and not from a Analog out to digital in. Coz SPDIF connector looks the same as a analog RCA.

It is SPDIF, I cannot make it external clock. Anyway, later I follow your instruction and see.I use digital for my keyboard. Now still plug into my iMac.

Just that they could made a better DAC, it would be better. My keyboard DAC and output stage is much better, just don't have digital in.

 

[redname]

Hi TS,
thanks for writing this. i was considering between the a recording interface from m-audio with another brand as both suited my budget. I've bought the other brand aft reading ur thread

 

[kongwee]

I found a solution of about my Firewire Solo. Must feed in power supply in order to work flawlessly.Never trust firewire power anything. Digital working and sound easier to ear! My project is to mod that darn Firewire Solo coming to year end after no more warranty !.

 

[potion]

Hi TS,
thanks for writing this. i was considering between the a recording interface from m-audio with another brand as both suited my budget. I've bought the other brand aft reading ur thread

Sorry, haven't checked this thread in a while.

Please don't get me wrong. M-audio has good products. The problems is, I feel, they have are trying to cater to ALL users from light to heavy ones, they consequently carry too many products to give fair support to all.

I have one of their higher-end firewire sound cards as well, and that one worked perfectly, its drivers are also regularly updated. The Transit-USB, on the other hand, is one of their cheapest, so I guess it's aimed at light users. Obviously, M-audio will serve buyers of their higher-end products first. A look at their driver-development chart (calendar) will tell you which ones will get frequent updates and better support.

What I wanted to highlight through this thread is for the buyer to be aware, Also of the limitations of the local distributor - they have a business to run, and can't offer returns at their scale of business. I suppose that's necessary to keep their business afloat.

Anyway, I found a way to get Transit-USB working in Vista. The solution is quite dumb, actually. You have to slide the volume lever down, and then up, before any sound will come out. But even though it's working, the latency is absolutely terrible. I get better latency from my pc's inbuilt soundcards with ASIO4ALL drivers.

It's now in my cupboard.