Presonus FireBox Review, Article Options

[danielsk]

Hi all. I wonder, should i buy M-Audio Firewire 410 or should i buy presonus firebox..? do any have som comments on this?

Thanks

Daniel

[arvidtp]

firebox. I like mine. From what i have heard the 410 has some issues. Some people like it, but the "4" in 410 is misleading - two of those are digital ins only. The firebox actually has 4 analog ins - plus 2 digital. And for me it has been "just working pretty much no matter what" now for 2 months. Plus presonus' preamps are nice. Maudio's, though i've only bought a MIDI interface from them, are not quite so great i hear.

And any small glitches it has are really not a big problem. It does lose sync, but rarely, and only when unplugged and re-plugged, never in the middle of doing something. So what if you need to go resync it in AudioMIDI setup once every like 30 times you plug the box in? Thats not too bad.

[UnholyConfession...]

Hello,
Do both passive and active monitors work with the Firebox?? I was looking at the M-Audio Studiophile DX4 monitors to accompany the firebox (If I do purchase it...) do they work well together??

[Hugo Cole]

Hi

I just posted this elsewhere - wondering if anyone can clarify some comments I've seen relating to the firebox's "lack of midi" or problems with midi ports. I am planning on running a Yamaha XG keyboard through the midi ins. Using a G5. I'm wondering if there are any problems I can anticipate with this, or are these people referring to something which is a non-issue for this scenario?

Thanks

[arvidtp]

never had any problems with the midi on my firebox - using it right now to run a hacked yamaha MIDI drum module into the computer as the interface for a weird instrument of mine. Also use it for the in of my Midi keyboard and MIDI out going to my Nanosynth. works great. Glad i will no longer need to carry around my USB midi interface. The only thing is that the MIDI connectors seem sorta delicate cause they are on a breakout cable, but the box is not big enough to fit them otherwise!

Also, as far as monitors go - I have mine hooked up fine to a technics home-stereo amp - works fine if that means anything as far as active/passive - i dunno. Also i plug it into my guitar/bass amps for gigs. This works fine too.

This post has been edited by arvidtp: Thu 18 Aug 2005, 00:15

[vsmith1]

As far as using active and passive monitors then you can connect active monitors directly to the Firebox as long as you use a Jack lead.

As far as passive monitors then there is no point directly connecting them to the Firebox as they need amplification, though of course you can connect them to an amp as long as you have the Jack lead.

I have a pair of Soundcraft Spirit 2 passive monitors that are connected to an amp, and the amp is connected to the Firebox. No problems.

Vince

[JulienGB]

Hi Firebox users,

What about the cpu peaks with the Firebox ? Is it a real issue or not ?

I plan on replacing my small and very cpu friendly EMI 6/2m usb soundcard for the Firebox in live conditions.
But i'm still a bit afraid because my live sessions are "on the edge" with the cpu and I don't want to modify them.
Do you think the use of Process Wizard will keep me away from overloading my cpu with Ableton Live ?
Here is the setup : PBook Ti 1Ghz/1Go ram, Live4 and a <5 to 10 ms> latency needed.

I will also use it in studio conditions with Logic 7.1 and a FW400 Lacie drive. The cpu/latency here is less critical but I have only one Firewire 400 port. Will I need to buy an additional pcmcia Firewire card or not ? What is your experience with chaining the Firebox with a HD ?
One more question about reliability: did one of you already get some word clock loosing issues with it ? I mean sample rate instability ? I've already extensively tested the M-Audio FW410 and I don't want to get trough the same clocking and drivers problems ...

Thank you very much for your help.

[adachis]

I've used M-Audio interfaces for a little over two years and they worked alright. I just got the Firebox a few weeks ago and I can't even believe I ever bothered with M-Audio. Not only did the interfaces work poorly, the sound quality was only okay. I thought that's just as good as it got, because I had the same issues with the DigiDesign MBox. This unit is unbelievable. I get much higher levels with significantly less noise. It is, by far, the best box I've ever owned. You don't have to do anything to get it to work and I can actually run all audio (including system output) through it. Final Cut Pro actually had some difficulty with it at first, but I restarted and now there isn't a single problem. If you are looking at getting a new interface, get this one. I can't even describe how pleased I am with it.

[vsmith1]

Hi Firebox users,

I will also use it in studio conditions with Logic 7.1 and a FW400 Lacie drive. The cpu/latency here is less critical but I have only one Firewire 400 port. Will I need to buy an additional pcmcia Firewire card or not ? What is your experience with chaining the Firebox with a HD ?

Thank you very much for your help.

I have used my Firebox with an external HDD. I found that things were better when the Firebox was the first thing connected to the FW port on the PB, with the HDD connected to the FireBox. AFAIR Presonus recommend this chain as well.

Vince

[Brizzle]

Great review and discusion!

I'm sold in concept on the Firebox. My main issue is the speed of my computer, and whether it is fast enough to avoid any issues with the Firebox.

I'm running a G4 800 iMac with 768Mb of RAM. The G4 800 is the stated minimum requirement for the Firebox, but I want to be on the safe side and hear about your experiences.

Will I hit any problems? What are they likely to be? Let me know what you're running!

Brian