I was asked by management to come up with an audio interface specifically for the Apple Garageband recording application. This is a product that would be sold at the Apple Store. I thought it would be great if the product had a control surface too. So I came up with a design that had a control surface on top and I/O on the front and rear.

They decided to turn it in to two products instead. The control surface became the iControl and the interface became the first FastTrack.

This was meant to me an entry level interface that would sell for $99. That meant this would likely be the first audio interface that this user had ever purchased. So I had to make it very easy to use. It was unlikely that a person spending $99 on an interface was  going to buy expensive condenser mics, so I left off phantom power. The would be for dynamic mics only. I wanted the guitar input to be plug and play, so I hardwired the input level so that it would handle anything from an active humbucker to a single coil pickup.

I added a button that let the user switch the 1/4" from guitar (instrument) level to line level. This way the user could could plug in their guitar directly OR record the output of a guitar processor such as a Line6 POD.

The INPUT/PLAYBACK knob allowed the user to monitor their input signal directly instead of monitoring the recorded signal from the DAW. This provided zero latency. One simply muted the track they were recording to. Then this knob was used to mix level of the previously recorded tracks with the direct input signal.

RCA outputs were provided for use with standard computer speakers. An 1/8" headphone output was also available. Both were controlled by the same output level control.

At the time of its release the FastTrack was the most full featured product of its kind available for $99 and it sold like gangbusters!