firewire interface Presonus vs ...

[borg]

Just checkin' if someone can add a sensible word or two...
I'm in the market for a firewire interface for my MBP. Been waiting long enough for Xite for OSX, and you don't even have the choice to buy Xite either with PCIe or Expresscard... extra costs and don't need PCIe.
Basically, I'm looking for a nice unit with pre-amps and ADAT, so I can still use it when I get the Xite eventually.

Was thinking to spend about 500 Euros, and had a list of three (Motu 8pre, Focusrite saffire pro40, Presonus firestudio project), only to find out, neither of these have wordclock. To be honest, I've never needed/tried it, but as I see the studio growing in the future, I suppose it is a logical choice to look for devices that have wordclock capability.
So now I have two devices that are contenders:
M-Audio ProFire 2626 Firewire 466 euros
Presonus Firestudio (big brother of FS project) 579 euros

Through the years, I've heard nothing but bad reviews about M-Audio products and troubleshooting on about every digital audio forum you could think of, so I'd like to avoid it.

Any folks here that like/dislike the presonus device? Any other alternatives under 600 euros I need to look at?

For 500 euros, I could also buy a Behringer ADA8000 and the RME expresscard upgrade for my multiface, but i find this card insanely expensive for what it is.
Anyone can compare the ADA8000 and the Presonus sound quality? The ADA8000 seems to get good reviews for a Behringer product.

Thanks for sharing your experience!

[Fluxpod]

ProFire 2626 gets very good reviews.I heard that thing once and it is really good.Can run standalone aswell.Id buy it.The firestudio gets very mixed reviews...some horror storys-faulty hardware...burned fw chips and so on.

[borg]

thanks!

indeed, the m-audio device seems to get good reviews compared to their older devices...

[astroman]

damaged FW chips are almost certainly due to hot-plugging the device
seen half a dozen of those in external HD enclosures...
seems like the connectors allow powerflow in the wrong moment

cheers, Tom

[garyb]

damaged FW chips are almost certainly due to hot-plugging the device
seen half a dozen of those in external HD enclosures...
seems like the connectors allow powerflow in the wrong moment

cheers, Tom

yep, seen it a few times.

i've also seen the firewire port get lost by the software. i would never recommend firewire for anything that mattered...

[nightscope]

Not FW but has ADAT. New from Focusrite. 2 flavours, one with dynamics, one without. About 300 euros.

http://www.focusrite.com/products/saffi ... i_dynamic/

ns

[kylie]

Not FW but has ADAT. New from Focusrite. 2 flavours, one with dynamics, one without. About 300 euros.

http://www.focusrite.com/products/saffi ... i_dynamic/

the mk2 dynamic is about 560,- while the non-dynamic is ~400,- at thomann.
the second could be an affordable alternative to the behringer ada8000, although I read some complaint about it being noisy when used with mics that need much gain.
still no fw, though...

[borg]

thanks, but indeed, no option to connect it to the laptop...

i would never recommend firewire for anything that mattered...

I see no other option at the moment...
USB? expresscard? that would be Xite, haven't seen anything else that could be of any interest to me.

With a new car, a complete overhaul of our water/gas/heating system next month, the Xite can wait for a while.
My boss still owes me 530 euros for touring expenses made. Kind of an excuse if the wife should notice the gear...

[Fluxpod]

I have nothing but good experience with firewire cards.Fireface 400-800-metric halo-prism.And the maudio seems to work very good too.It can be a bit troublesome when the chipset is crap,and you have to roll back to the legacy fw driver in windows(that is very important and easy) but then all the above will work just fine.

[Shroomz~>]

My thoughts -

- I'd probably buy the expresscard upgrade for your multiface even although you think it's a bit expensive because once you have it, you have it & your MBP's connection options are expanded greatly.

- For a little over 600euro you could get a really good mic pre that has built in AD conversion. Something like an SSL alpha channel is only 620euro at Thomann & there are many other mic pres with their own conversion to consider as well.

- It's worth considering other types of hardware processors that have built in conversion. You can buy something like a TC Finalizer Express that has incredible features and build quality for what you pay, which is less than 700 euro new these days. There's also many FX processors that can double as AD converters giving you a lot of bang for buck as long as it's not a piece of crap.

So many options....

[borg]

@ shroomz...

Indeed, many options is
However, I still intend to get the Xite, and then the Multiface won't be of any use anymore (doesn't work as a standalone ADAT convertor, and I already have an A8 as simple i/o module, and would appreciate some onboard preamps) as there's only room for one expresscard. High end preamps/fx processors are nice, but that would be the next step.

I'll sleep on it another night...

basically, I need something to connect the MBP to the scope cards in my old G3, until I get Xite (then get rid of the scope PCI rig). If it fits in the new setup, all the better...

[Shroomz~>]

What about an Apogee Duet? It's only 2ch, but it's a nice quality & very portable firewire option with great features for it's size (I/Os are via a breakout cable). Something like that would still be really nice to have when you buy an XITE & ditch the PCI rig.

[nightscope]

if the wife should notice the gear...

Meanwhile, Mrs borg discovers that the Bahamas holiday cash has been frittered away on a Xite.