M-audio customer service is killing me!

All I want to do is ask the tech support people at M-audio if the M-track Eight will work with a powered USB extender. Is that so hard?

To ask a simple technical question you have to have a service code. To get a service code you have to register. To do that you have to have the serial number... Which is on the bottom of the unit. So I pulled the M-track out of my rack. I register. Guess what, no service code. It's supposed to magically appear in your list of registered gear, but mine didn't. I find multiple complaints on their forums going back years about this problem. I call the special registration support department so I can get the stupid code. 15 minutes into waiting, something comes up here at work and I have to hang up. True it's not their fault that I couldn't hang on, but they shouldn't make you wait 15 minutes for help with registration.

So much time waisted for a really stupid policy. I still don't have an answer. Customer service is supposed to be about helping your customers, not wasting their time. I will definitely think twice before purchasing another product from M-Audio.

Worst case, order through Amazon and test it out. Exercise their lenient return policy if it doesn't.

That said -- most of the recent reviews on Amazon are either fake or complain about driver issues and digital noise. One person said they haven't updated the drivers since 2013, but now it looks like the most recent is 2015. Could be risky..

@MNicolai I have the M-Track Eight, been using it for 2 or 3 years now and it works great. I'm just trying to get a 25' USB cable off of the floor and embed it in the conduit in the wall to organize things better. I bought a powered USB extender and can't get it to work. I'm thinking it's something about the way the M-track communicates that just won't work with an extender, but so far haven't been allowed to ask the question.

USB extension cables in general seem to be hit or miss. Works with one thing, not with another. I'm not sure there's much M-Audio can tell you because active USB cables seem to be a race to the bottom in terms of manufacturing quality and reliability. Could work with one type of active cable and fail with another.

Have you tested the extender with USB webcam or USB keyboard to get proof of life from it?

MNicolai said:

USB extension cables in general seem to be hit or miss. Works with one thing, not with another. I'm not sure there's much M-Audio can tell you because active USB cables seem to be a race to the bottom in terms of manufacturing quality and reliability. Could work with one type of active cable and fail with another.

Have you tested the extender with USB webcam or USB keyboard to get proof of life from it?

Click to expand...

I got the extender to work this afternoon, never figured out what I did to make it work... I disconnected it to test it with a mouse and when I switched it back, the audio worked. This has me a bit nervous, but so far so good.

Corning makes a fiber USB extender. Probably more bulletproof than an amazon basics model, if nothing else, it's not generic chips inside.
Also adding a powered USB hub to the end maybe help as well. Depending on the model of USB extender, the bus power is used by the extending chips and not passed through.

If my memory sevice me right the M8 will sorta work off of USB but not all channels will function ...I think only 2 will ouput when powered from USB