ORIGINAL: j boy

ORIGINAL: inmazevo
- won't replace in-warranty (and registered) 1616m MIDI breakout cable... (maybe a $10 part)

It's just a CAT-5 cable... is it worth the hassle?

Hehehe.
Not that one... the 2x2 midi breakout... connects to the dock.

I'd love it if it were user serviceable without clipping wires, which I could do, but shouldn't have to.
I'm just burnt with them (EMU). If this were the first thing, it'd be nothing, but it's been over a year of "WOW, did they just do something else," which I haven't felt since giving up Steinberg products a few years ago.

I know... some people love EMU, and I (in fact) used to be a loud defender of them against people crying "Creative... Creative!!!"
But, IMHO, if you can avoid them... do so. Plenty of alternatives (though, unfortunately, in its price range there's precious little that can compete with the 1616M in a spec-by-spec comparison, and I have had good experiences with the product itself, other than the breakout box... and they break over time anyway).

It's not the unit, it's the company.

Take care,
- zevo

Original:droddey
Hey, boycott me. I've never boycotted before, and it might make me famous.

Dean, If I boycott you, can I still bump your thread?

I'm glad someone mentioned trying before you're locked in to the purchase.
Thanks for that, metalboy...

With my last interface purchase, I tried 3 from the local guitar center before sticking with one. As long as you tell them you might bring it back, and don't open the software (download drivers online instead), you're good. Make sure everything's in the box before you leave, and before you return... and take good care of it (obviously).

Take care,
- zevo

ORIGINAL: GotMetalBoy

The reason I am posting this on Cakewalk's Forum is b/c I know a lot of Sonar users either have a PreSonus product or are thinking about getting one.

I own a PreSonus FireStudio Project and FireBox and used to have a FirePod. I have been having some issues w/ the new FireStudio Project along w/ many other users as can be seen on their forums. The FireStudio Project sounds great but isn't as stable as the older FireBox or FirePod.

I have contacted their tech support and they were useless and one of their staff actually told me that I should return the FSP. I have tried emailing them and have never received a response. I have posted on their forum and they sometimes delete my posts or ban me from their forums b/c they say:
----------
You have been banned for the following reason:
Negative Posting

Date the ban will be lifted: 04-08-2008, 02:00 PM
----------

This is crazy. I got banned today b/c I wasn't happy that they are releasing a newer product called the FireStudio Tube when they have many customers w/ unresolved issues.

Below is the post that got me banned. Let me know if I was out of line. I have also been having many issue w/ my Line 6 POD X3 Live and have made many posts to their forums and they have never banned me and they reply and resolve a lot of peoples issues.

SUBJECT: Newer products when new products still don't work?

So I was on here today and happened to notice the new FireStudio Tube and
I just can't believe that PreSonus would even think about releasing
another product when they haven't even resolved their issues w/ the
FireStudio or FireStudio Project.

Also, if the new FireStudio Tube does manage to have good drivers and work
for many people out of the box, then all of us having problems w/ our
current FireStudio or FireStudio Project should be given a FireStudio Tube
as a replacement for our faulty products.

My FSP sounds great but it doesn't work as stable as my cheaper FireBox or
my old Firepod did. It just really bugs me to know that PreSonus isn't
putting 100% into resolving their current customer's issues. They should
not even be putting 1% into making newer products until they have stable
new products.

It seems that PreSonus is not the only company following these bad
business practices lately but they should set the precedence and make sure
they release stable products. If they realize they can't resolve an issue
w/ a firmware or driver update and only by releasing a newer product, then
us beta testers should be compensated.
__________________
Thanks,
Lou
Desktop: ABIT IS7 Intel P4 2.8GHz 800FSB 1GB DDR XP Pro SP2
Laptop: Dell Vostro 1700 2GB DDR2 2.0GHz Core2Duo Vista Ultimate SP1

I'm sorry about your experiences. What you described is as uncommon as it is concerning.

I'm not sure how all of this went down or why. If someone in our support department is being unprofessional and if you are still having technical issues, please send me an email and let me see what I can do to assist you.

Cordially,

Stefan
stefan@presonus.com

Mick,
I have good results with my RME units.. 1x FF800, 2x Octamic D.. that gives you 20 XLR inputs.. the FF800 has some more TRS connectors at the rear.. I think it's worth to mention..
I recorded 20 tracks on a laptop with a 5400rpm drive.. no probs..
I am probably the only one having a problem with the RME driver, TotalMix, and their Support.. I just expect more from a unit at that price-range.. also I would have thought that spending ~3500.- Euro for RME gear would entitle me to ask at least one question at their forum and get that one answered professionaly.. I solved one issue myself after posting the same question 3 times during the last 12 months.., issues with - I am afraid to say - game(s) and internet-sites (flash) still remain without any response from them..
So you have to be aware that the FF800 works well with Sonar.. not always "perfect", but very well.. besides that you won't have too much fun with it..
Anyway, I would still recommend the FF800 and.. not necessarily the Octamics.. but that's just because it's a hassle to have the inputs on the rear of the unit.. I take my RME Rack along to different locations.. a Maglite and small hands are your friend..
As the A/D-pres are connected via lightwire you could go for anything else.. like "Presonus".... or the Behringer AD8000 or what it's called..
The advantage with the RME is that you can connect Line/Mic-signals, TRS/XLR-cables to any of the Octamics inputs.. so you don't have to think about switching an input to line/mic.. or buying an additional set of adapters.. (as I remember the Digimax's 1st input is always an instrument-input and has to bypassed with an insert-cable..)
I also believe that the new Presonus Firestudio with the 2 tube-channels is at least a great idea.. I don't know how good their drivers are though.. and then you'll have always some maintenance done with the tubes.. that might be a costy thing.. and you'd be better of buying an external tube-mic-preamp.
Another option can also be the Motu 8pre.. buy 3 of them for the price of 1 RME..
You can expand the FF800 with another 2 FF800.. each with two 8-channel mic-pres.. so when you need more inputs you don't have to start to buy complete new stuff but just expand what you already have..

Mick,

I never tried contacting PreSonus back b/c I have been using my old FireBox instead of my Firestudio Project without any problems. I haven't needed to use more then 4 inputs at a time and I haven't had the time to deal with my Firestudio Project. I would rather waste my time writing, playing and recording music then troubleshooting.

I know the FireBox works at the 2nd lowest latency setting with a Dell Vostro 1700 laptop through the internal firewire port with a 4 to 6 pin cable on Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 and Sonar 7.03 PE.

I have off from work this Thursday and Friday, so maybe I will try hooking up the Firestudio Project again but I don't want to waste anymore then 3 hours on it.

Thanks,
Lou

inmazevo, how did you connect an emu 1616 to a laptop?!?! isn't that a PCI card?

back to the topic. It might be that the main problem is VISTA. Vista really sucks and it's unstable, so it make everything else that runs on top of it even worse. And maybe presonus is having a hard time writing good stable drivers for it. That's just my guess. For my little experience I don't mind my firepod, it rarely ever crashes. I don't even remember the last time it crashed. Latency is set around 8ms. not too bad.

ORIGINAL: j boy

Let's see... we're supposed to boycott Fender and Monster and Waves and Presonus and Creative and Gibson and

Who the hell's left?

Cakewalk, Roland, Edirol...

ORIGINAL: j boy

ORIGINAL: inmazevo

- won't replace in-warranty (and registered) 1616m MIDI breakout cable... (maybe a $10 part)

It's just a CAT-5 cable... is it worth the hassle?

Happy 1820m user here. Dreading the day I have to replace it, because EMU's lack of support (customer or tech) makes me want to spend my money elsewhere.

I read somewhere that EMU changed the power scheme when they designed the 1616 and 1616M. The cables for the 1820 and 1820m is a basic CAT5 cable with insulators on each end -- used to be, you could save a little money by buying the 1212m and then buying the Audio Dock M. Then, you had an 1820m sans word clock. I have a feeling EMU changed their design to prevent that from happening, as the dock's power supposedly doesn't come through the CAT5 cable now.

So, bottom line... with the 1616M you just might be stuck buying a replacement from EMU.

Cheers,

Russ

I've had one of the (in)famous FS 26x26 for the last 4 years, which worked "out of the box" (albeit with installing a TI chip firewire card at the same time) and before that an EMU 1616M.

In my limited experience (few problems with both units) support at Presonus is iffy, but at EMU it sucks big time.

However, its a crying shame there will be no more driver/firmware updates for the FS 26x26 (nor Universal Control updates).

BTW, the pre-amps in the FS are really superb.

Cheers,
Jerry

 I'm going to start off by saying I'm a fanboi of Presonus,so if you want to hear anything negative about them you will need to read elsewhere.

 I bought a "fixer upper" Firestudio Tube from a well known online music supplier. Long story short,they took great care of me. I can't say enough good things about their service department. Are we talking about the same company here??

 I have had zero problems and hours and hours of use with my unit for the last two years.

  I can't comment on all of their equipment, but my firestudio tube rocks. They use real tubes on two of the inputs and this is no gimmick,the tubes really do what they are supposed to do. In addition to that they have licensed DICE technology. If you don't know what it is I suggest looking into it. It greatly reduces digital jitter,and it works as advertised as well.

 I agree with another poster that to shoot the entire product line because you had a personal bad experience is short sighted. I can understand feeling like the company isn't responding and feeling that frustration, but there are better ways to go about handling that.

 Unfortunately if you want to attract whiners there are tons of them on this board waiting to hold your hand. All you have to do is complain about something and they will come like flys to a you know what. I have been where you are and done what you are doing and believe me man, it won't get you anywhere in terms of either making you feel better or fixing your gear.

 I would suggest reinitiating communications with them and trying to get it worked out. I know they will come through for you,trust me on that one.

 To say I have such and so and it works great really ain't helping the guy to get HIS setup working. We all know RME is top notch. I would be surprised if anyone had a problem with it.

  From my own experiences with several different interfaces from several different manufacturers,and from reading their forums, I firmly believe that at least 3/4 of most technical problems concern things entirely out of the interface makers control. Things like a cheap Firewire knock off chip that hadn't been on the market when the interface was designed,or any one of a number of other problems with the customers computer setup.

  FW started off like the best thing since baked bread,and now because of unforseen conflicts many makers are slowly moving more toward USB and getting out of the FW game. The most recent RME has both as does one MOTU unit. FW is still very viable and it can run rings around usb, but we are seeing that it less of the kind of thing that always works with everything out of the box.

 I think there is a fix for your problem man, just hang in there. Presonus has never let me down.

 

 

 

 

  Fender, Gibson, Monster support the SOPA/PIPA, that is the reason for the boycott. But it didn't pass...so...not sure now.

I know this tread is old but I just want to share my great experience with my Presonus Firestudio Project!!

It has been rock solid with my laptop (with a RICOH fw chipset) and with my PC with a TI fw chipset for about 3 or 4 years now.

I have used the FSP with my laptop live for playing backing tracks from sonar and not a single glitch.

I' am sorry you had a bad experience but in my experience Presonus makes very good products and as someone said above, their preamps are great for the price!!