Presonus FireBox Review, Article Options

[mapmap]

you could plug it in to the midi in of the firebox if you wanted to.
it would work just fine.

[Threlly]

Don't get hung up on the software side of things.
They all offer benefits, whether it be for composition. recording, DAW or whatever.

I think Cubase is the simplest in many respects as its interface is probably familiar to all.

Logic is very flexible but has a harder learning curve due to the rather odd 'enviroments' system.

Ableton is probably the hottest at this time as it lends it self very well to DAW as well as the DJ generation, but its interface is very proprietry.

pro Tools is widely used within the industry, not because its good software, but because the hardware options offered a guaranteed track count, where the CPU dependant packages did not.

I'm migrating away from Cubase now towards ableton, as I intend to use it for Live as well as studio use.
I also think that Ableton has the lowest CPU hit of all the packages, where Cubase(SE) has the highest and Logic somewhere in the middle.
You have to think seriously about this when your on a lowly 12" powerbook.
The Firebox is an excellent piece of kit, and seems more stable than my old FW410.

[rickenbacker]

Regarding the CPU hit, I've always found Live to be a bit of a hog and Logic way out in front in terms of efficiency. Nothing runs sweeter than Logic, at least in my experience (PowerMac G4 and iBook).

And Logic's whole Environments thing can now be completely bypassed with the set-up assistant in v7. Thank God.

[rickenbacker]

This morning, I got an e-mail from Ableton, saying that with the 5.2 update for the MacIntels, Live will run much faster. Apparently, their whole thing for Live this year is optimisation - multi-processor support etc. So Live should run in an even nippier stylee on the new Macs.

[Uncle Kvetch]

you could plug it in to the midi in of the firebox if you wanted to.
it would work just fine.

Another newbie here: How exactly would I go about doing this? I'm in a similar situation, with an M-Audio Keystation with USB out, and a newly purchased Firebox. Ideally, I guess I'd like to run the keyboard into the Firebox along with everything else, so I don't have to constantly switch the Audio Input settings in GarageBand as I go back & forth between the keyboard and other instruments. Is this feasible, and how would I go about it?

Many thanks...this site has been a godsend!

[arvidtp]

the keybboard USB input is a MIDI input, not an AUDIO input. MIDI is a whole different animal from audio and is selected separately. So if the keystation is your primary MIDI controller, u should not have to switch anything no matter whether u plug it in via USB or via MIDI thru the firebox (using the breakout cable). Really doesn't matter - depends which port u have free!

[bcatcho]

Recently I have been looking to ableton live but i agree, rickenbacker, logic remains the [DAW] king.

(I have yet to use Live live, though)

[masbeni]

I've just bought firebox mostly because of the comments from this forum.
But what i got is not as good as i read here.
Too many noise (hiss) come out the outputs, and the mic is not that loud.
Increasing the mic input volume, will add to more noise .
Is there anyone who have same problem as me.
I'm using this gear:
Ableton Live 5, Notebook Pentium M 1.8GHz, 1Gb memory, Shure SM58

I've sold my M-audio 410 to get this one, and now i miss it.

This post has been edited by masbeni: Sun 12 Feb 2006, 10:28

[arvidtp]

dunno - i think mine's pretty clean, at least compared to my Mbox. - Did you try boosting the preamps +12dB with the firebox control software? Dynamic mics are quieter than compressors because of the lack of an onboard amp in the mic, so i think i usually boost the pres when using dynamics.

This post has been edited by arvidtp: Sun 12 Feb 2006, 18:30

[audiophotovideo]

Too many noise (hiss) come out the outputs, and the mic is not that loud.
Increasing the mic input volume, will add to more noise .
Is there anyone who have same problem as me.

I'm having a similar issue, though it's more of an echo/hiss. I've been told it's a latency problem (thought this may not apply to you). The odd thing is that it goes in and out and I have no clue why. A few days ago it was fine, then yesterday it crapped out on me without changing anything.

Then, being the moron that I am, I tried updating firmware from Presonus' site (which is a bit confusing I will say in my defense). I ended up using the Firepod (note, I'm using a Firebox, not the same thing) driver update. Which you would think would be able to recognize the difference... but it didn't and updated the Firebox's firmware anyway. Fortunately it didn't lous things up all the way, but my headphone jack doesn't work any more, I can only monitor the output through the Main outputs now.

So, my question for everyone using a Firebox for a while is this: can I re-flash the firmware? Or is this going to need to be sent in to Presonus?

I should say that when the latency issue wasn't a problem the interface was fantastic. I love both the Firebox and the Bluetube pre-amp that I got from Presonus. They're fantastic. Now I just wish I wasn't such a bonehead and could get things straight.