MOTU Ships FastLane USB MIDI Interface

Mark of the Unicorn, Inc. (MOTU), a developer of MIDI interfaces for Macintosh and Windows, is now shipping FastLane-USB ($69), an affordable 2-IN, 2-OUT, 32-channel MIDI interface for USB-equipped personal computers, such as Apple Computer's iMac and "blue & white" G3 Power Macs. FastLane is available in five semi-translucent iMac colors (blueberry, tangerine, grape, lime, and strawberry), as well as black.

"FastLane-USB has been engineered to take full advantage of all the benefits of USB," said Jim Cooper, MOTU Marketing Director, "including better timing accuracy, increased bandwidth, hot swapping and plug-and-play expansion. For example, if you need to connect more MIDI devices, just add another FastLane via a standard USB hub." Users can further expand with MOTU's other multi-port USB MIDI interfaces, like the affordable 4-IN/6-OUT micro express ($295), mixing and matching models to suit their needs.

Specially designed to operate with multiple USB devices, FastLane's identity is always maintained by the computer, regardless of how many times the computer is restarted, the number of other USB devices present, or how FastLane is connected (even if it is moved to a different USB hub, for example).

FastLane-USB plugs into a standard USB port and connects any MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) device, such as a synthesizer or sampler, to the computer for playback and recording with music software. Two sets of MIDI jacks provide 32 simultaneous MIDI channels of input/output. An additional MIDI THRU button allows users to play a MIDI sound module from their MIDI keyboard (or other controller) even when the computer is turned off, without having to reconnect MIDI cables. The THRU button also provides MIDI splitting from each input to both outputs. Four LEDs indicate MIDI activity. FastLane is powered by its connection to USB, so no power supply or batteries are needed. FastLane includes a USB cable and easy-to-install software drivers on CD-ROM. FastLane-USB is 100% compatible with both FreeMIDI and OMS, the widely-supported MIDI system extensions for Mac OS. FastLane-USB drivers for Windows 95/98/NT will be available soon.

Mark of the Unicorn recently shipped three other multi-port USB MIDI interfaces: the 8x8 MIDI Timepiece AV-USB, the 8x9 MIDI Express XT-USB, the 4x6 Micro Express-USB.