Holy smokes !! !! !!
The FireBox was WORSE! Way worse...... I simply couldn't use it.
Problems:
1, Firstly, you need to select the sample rate in the FireBox Setup box, and this needs to match whatever you're doing in Sonar. So if you're working in a project at 88.2kHz, and think "how did I track this last year, when I was working in 44.1kHz?" well if you open that project, it won't work - you'll need to change the FireBox to match, and probably re-start your DAW too. Never had that problem before, the soundcard sample rate just changed to match the app sample rate.
2, I was using ASIO at 2.5ms latency at 44.1kHz, recording 2 tracks of audio each with a send to a UAD-1 'verb, you hit record, as soon as you make a noise: <DROPOUT>. My trusty old AP24/96 would've breezed that set-up... and I've got a custom built Pentium 4 DAW, which is usually rock solid (with M-Audio cards/drivers anyway...), not some held-together-with-gaffer-tape PIII ex-gaming machine.
3, I couldn't get the FireBox mixer to respond, so I couldn't see what my input signal was - although the faders worked, the meters didn't.
4, There was LOTS of background noise, which seemed to come from Sonar's audio engine. You could hear mouse-movements and window re-sizes too, and this was no grounding loop, this was audible whilst bus-powered and monitoring direct through the FireBox's headphone output. None of this was present with the other FW interface I used, or my past PCI interfaces.
5, I have active monitors, so I normally patch the outs of my card into a small Berhinger mixer which I use to control my monitoring level (this also allows me to patch external hardware - CD player, old tape deck etc, through the monitors without having to power-up my DAW).... BUT the FireBox wouldn't let me do this because the monitoring signal was quiet and distorted. Again, my AP24/96 and my AP192 and the FW410 had no trouble at all doing this.
6, Much, much, smaller gripe (you can ignore this one) - the controls are really small and very close together (obv this is to keep the unit size down, given) so it's hard to turn one without 'reversing' another, BUT, more annoyingly, unless you've got a lamp pointing directly at the front panel, you ain't gonna see the level that your controls are turned to, 'cos the little line gets lost in the shine (if that makes sense)... So your 'chilled-out' dimmed down control-room is a thing of the past. I like to see "at a glance" if my controls are at ZERO. Couldn't do it with the FireBox, I had to angle myself in the chair to get the light just right to see the paint on the control. Like I said, small gripe.
I simply have to assume that I got a faulty unit, but some problems seemed to be software based and some seemed to be hardware based - so maybe this is just the level of quality with PreSonus? Obv their Pre's are very popular etc... But as an interface, the FireBox simply wasn't usable. From what I could hear, the pre's did sound nice, and the 12dB boost is good, but I just couldn't record with it. Let me reiretate, it sounded GOOD, but couldn't
use it. I know a lot of Forum members seem to love this unit - which is what leads me to believe it's faulty - but still, VERY disappointing (and the cause of a very late night trying to sort it....!)
Maybe a standalone PreSonus pre-amp + "soundcard by others" might be the way to go to get the pre's, but I really wanted and all-in-one solution so I'm not stressing about the interface between the two (for example my current pre-amp output is greater than the maximum input of my AP192 - whether or not that causes problems I'll never know...).
So this is the follow-up post. I cancelled the return of the FW410, as I discovered that although the rotary control knob appears glitchy in the GUI, the sound operation of it seems stable (i.e. the faders can be slow to respond, but the actual output/input etc seemed to be a smooth gain change, smooth enough to patch my active monitors straight to the device's main outs - something I've never felt comfortable in doing before).
The FireBox is being collected soon, and I'll run for a while with the FW410 - the difference was incredible.
Like I said, I think (and hope, for PreSonus's sake), that it was a faulty unit, but these are my genuine experiences.
Hope it helps
Ryan
post edited by bullet22 - 2007/07/17 08:51:49