[Answered, thx all!] Firewire and Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 Questions

I began the search for a new audio interface tonight and started with things that come up often, but found many were not in stock, so putzed around some more and stumbled across the Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 (and DSP model) which have high reviews.
 
First, to make sure I understand correctly... I have never used firewire, and my computer has one IEEE 1394 port on it. Is it correct to assume this is a Firewire 400 connection?
 
Second is more to get feedback from folks who own/use the Focusrite Saffire Pro 24. The reviews are high for this, and one reviewer even said he was up in 15 minutes using it with SONAR X2 (very nice review for a product that says "PT ready" ). I plan on sticking with Win 7 64 for a while, so assume drivers are stable. Are folks who use this satisfied with it? Is the DSP model a more preferred choice to have?
 
Thanks in advance!
Michael

Other than to say that your question should have been posted in the Hardware forum, I own and use a Focusrite Pro 24 DSP.  It is an excellent piece of hardware and has been rock solid for me.  I bought the DSP version for the second headphone out.  It has excellent mix controls.  The only quibs I have about it is that the phones are duplicates of outs 3/4 and 5/6 respectively and there is a dedicated reverb send which will double your output even if the reverb is disabled.  So you have to either mute or bring the fader all the way down (unless, of course, you want reverb in your output) to avoid the duplicating the output.  I don't use the reverb channel so I have not configured a mix with sends to the reverb strip.  Sans those two minor things, you will not be disappointed with the 24 DSP.  And, yes, it is FW 400.
 
I am confident I will continue to use my 24 since I use it via thunderbolt. I don't have to be concerned about toasting my FW controller or 24 this way.  The Apple FW to TB adapter works like a charm.
 
I will look for you on the Hardware forum should you have any more questions about the subject.
 
Kind regards,
 
Living Room Rocker

I own and use a Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 DSP. I have had this sound card since X1 without any problems whatsoever. I find that the only problem is the different configurations users would like in the Mix Control panel.
If you only use one firewire connection you should have no problems since Texas Instruments are the main chipmakers for firewire.
I bought an on board firewire print with three connections because I wanted another 8 microphones on board through the ADAT. I bought a Behringer Ultragain Pro 8 preamp that connects straight to my Focusrite. Also not a problem to find here.
 
Have fun with your decission.
 
Danny 

Most FW ports are 400.  800 came out but so did USB 2/3, which are more common, and has replaced FW capabilities.  400 should be compatible w/ 800.  You can go in through the Win control panel and find out the drivers for the fw port so you can at least know where you are.
 
With my TCK 48 I use a Via FW chip instead of a TI, which works fine.  But there are more likely to be problems w/ "other" chipsets like VIA.  On Win 7 I had to roll back the drivers - MS is always breaking something w/ FW it seems.
 
And if you think the Focusrite soft mixer is confusing, try wrapping your head around the TC.  Those Danes ...
 
@ 

The VRM is most effective when monitoring through headphones (not so with monitors).  As for the powered FW cable, it is not whether it is a FW400 or 800 cable.  Power is sent over the six pin (400) cable whereas the four pin (400) does not supply power.

Mettelus: your board has a IEEE 1394
VIA® 6308P controller
2 x IEEE 1394a port(s)
(1 at mid-board, 1 at back panel).......VIA firewire chipset..and it might work,but for 0 error  best  performance a Ti chipset firewire card is in order ....if you install another card please turn off in bios the onboard firewire 1st

Pro 40 here. It totally lives up to expectations.

Mix control takes a couple of hours education and day session to get used to. You must need to read the documentation and watch the videos focusrite and YouTube provides. It's an excellent tool once you understand it... 

If going for an internal FW card make sure it's PCIe. Modern motherboards with PCI slots treat them as poorly implemented legacy devices. They often cause more problems than they fix.

Hmmm, if I use Google first, then drill into Newegg hits, it find them... products like these that "Feature TI chipset"?
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815124107&Tpk=N82E16815124107

Mettelus did you click on the link I supplied?
The PDF shows the chipset is fine.
 
Cheers...

Had my Pro 24 for 3-4 or more years now... can't really remember.  Started going with Firewire on the mobo because it was faster and better than USB years ago.  It's been on AMD and Intel systems, Win XP and Win 7, Sonar Reason Cubase Reaper...no issues... called tech support once and the gal was very nice and knowledgeable.  It's no RME, but a great box for the money.

:)

Have a Saffire PRO 40 and a scarlett 2i2.
It all work flawlessly if you have the good drivers (had problems at start because drivers weren't mature enough.There should be no problems anymore)
Very good cheap soundcards (cheaper that rme or apogee).Sound is not cheap.

Hi all,
 
   Thank you SO much for all of the inputs and recommendations. The Saffire 24 Pro DSP came in yesterday and I tinkered with it here and there, took breaks and finally stopped for the night. I was getting conflicts and latencies that were driving me crazy.
 
   Finally this morning it occurred to me to simply unplug the USB on my Ozone (the Ozone ASIO is resident in Windows and actually would take precedence over the Saffire, etc.). Then I had to scrounge for a MIDI cable I bought 15 years ago and never used and finally found it.
 
   Once I got my head around how best to start the machine up (i.e. the MixControl is the ASIO control panel) and route everything, the Saffire has such low latency it is unreal. Even the MIDI is faster, and it has a longer cable run! Very impressive. Not seen an issue with the VIA interface at all, so hopefully will stay that way.
 
   Thanks again!
   Michael