RME‘s Fireface UFX III is the perfect center of any multitrack studio, handling up to 94 channels I/O with ease. Its unprecedented flexibility, compatibility, the inclusion of DURec (RME’s Direct USB Recording feature) and the manufacturer’s renowned low latency hardware and driver designs guarantee flawless operation in any mode and application.
Packed with professional features, including SteadyClock FS, MADI I/O (64 channels), a powerful DSP, USB 3.0 (full 94 channel I/O Class Compliant ready), TotalMix FX, Direct USB Recording, and support for the Advanced Remote Control USB (available separately), the Fireface UFX III is the professional’s preferred tool for multitrack recording, mixing and mastering.
The Fireface UFX III is based on a newly developed analog and digital board. While the analog board offers, for example, DC-coupled analog outputs as well as new AD and DA converters with improved THD+N value, the digital board also enables interesting new features thanks to updated components.
Powerful USB 3 Performance
The front panel of the Fireface UFX III provides four high-performance XLR/TRS combo inputs for microphone, instrument and line signals, two stereo headphone jacks with +19 dBu output level, MIDI I/O, and a USB port. In combination with the DURec function, the USB port allows independent recording of selected input and output signals (up to 80 channels) to a connected USB storage medium.
The rear panel reveals the full connectivity of the Fireface UFX III. Besides a second set of MIDI I/O, the two optical ADAT I/Os, an AES/EBU I/O, and eight balanced analog outputs with line level (including XLR stereo monitor outputs) are available. With the new Multi-Mode, two ADAT I/Os can be used as separate optical SPDIF inputs and outputs in addition to the AES I/O. Furthermore, the Fireface UFX III offers an optical MADI interface (SC) with 64 bidirectional channels. The Word Clock connectors (BNC) can work as additional coaxial MADI input and output if required.
Comprehensive MADI Connectivity
The Fireface UFX III opens the doors to a host of RME and 3rd party digital and analog I/O solutions. Expanding your analog channel count, the ability to route/mix within the digital domain through numerous sources presents many flexible options. Multiple external MADI devices can also be connected in series.
To further enhance MADI flexibility, the Fireface UFX III boasts some typical RME-style features. For example in USB 2 mode, which is limited to 30 channels I/O (12 analog plus 16 ADAT plus AES), the MADI I/O is still available via RME’s integrated hardware mixer TotalMix FX. Word Clock I/O (BNC) can be switched to MADI I/O (coaxial), and a special split mode even supports the use of both MADI I/Os simultaneously, with 32 channel each on optical and coaxial.
Powerful Applications for Mixing, Monitoring & Measurement
The Fireface UFX III comes with TotalMix FX DSP, mixing software offering comprehensive routing and monitoring options, as well as the DIGICheck Analyzer, allowing the user to measure and analyze the digital data feed in both directions with maximum precision. TotalMix FX can completely replace an external mixer, enabling the creation of multiple latency-free monitor mixes with EQ, Dynamics, Reverb and Delay for any outputs, including main monitors and headphone mixes for musicians.
Additionally, RME’s TotalMix Remote application can mirror the current state of the host system via iPad or Windows/Mac computers- the entire mixing state, the complete routing, and all FX settings in real-time. This allows the user to adjust all the mixer and FX settings from a distance, via Ethernet and WiFi.
DC-Coupled Outputs for CV/Gate Voltage Control
Most audio interfaces are traditionally designed with what is called ‘AC-coupled outputs’, where capacitors are used to filter out any extreme low frequencies.
Whilst these frequencies are generally considered undesirable for audio- eating into headroom and potentially causing damage to other equipment- one instance where DC-coupling remains desirable is the world of modular synthesizers, where static or slow-moving signals are used for control over various parameters such as pitch note values or LFOs.
All of the Fireface UFX III’s line-level outputs are fully DC-coupled, allowing for the sending of control voltages (CV) or Gate information to modular synthesizers (such as the popular Eurorack and Moog/MOTM/Synthesizers formats) and other studio hardware.
USB 3 Class Compliant Audio
The Fireface UFX III operates in two different modes: driver-based USB 3 and ‘Class Compliant’. The ‘Class Compliant’ mode is a standard natively supported by operating systems like Windows, Mac OSX and Linux distributions. No proprietary drivers are required, the device will be directly recognized when the firmware is loaded.
The Fireface UFX III is RME’s first audio interface with full USB 3.0 support in Class Compliant Mode. This makes all channels available in driverless operation for Linux, Mac and iPadOS. An iPad Pro with USB C can manage up to 94 channels for recording and playback in TotalMix FX for iPad.
ARC USB Remote Control
RME’s ARC USB is an optional USB 1.1 MIDI remote control for the Fireface UFX III. As a UAC 1 class device, it is natively compatible with Windows and Mac OS X. As soon as it is present in the operating system, TotaIMix FX will automatically detect the ARC USB, and communicate with it via simple MIDI remote commands to control the UFX III. It has 15 freely assignable and illuminated buttons, one encoder wheel, and a TS jack to connect a foot switch.
DURec (Direct USB Recording)
DURec is an integrated digital recorder for recording all inputs and outputs directly to USB memory devices via the front USB port. The Fireface UFX III records on USB thumb drives or hard drives with up to 2 TB capacity. The recording functionality is provided by the internal DSP, and is therefore independent from a connected Windows or Mac computer. The Direct USB Recording converts the Fireface UFX Series both into a stand-alone field recorder and a powerful multichannel live player for previous recordings, making it a powerful tool for virtual sound checks, live concerts, band rehearsals or spontaneous jam sessions. Playback can be engaged completely stand-alone without computer or software.
Visit the Fireface UFX III product page on the official RME website for more.
