Presonus Firebox Reviews?, Anyone actually use this yet? Options

[grassbro]

I'm using the firebox for 5 months now, and it's great. Answering miscellany above: Yes, if i don' have any input, the noise on the phones starts at about 2 o'clock, but if I have a normal input level, i would damage my ears at that point. the level is too loud there.

Now, if i plug a pair of Neumann's KM 184, the mics noise come in, plus the cables and the box pres noise... Depending on the level of the source, that noise gets completely covered.

What i can tell for sure is that the Firebox selfnoise is lower than those mics (each one costing 3x the box).

Using a very good mic pre the sound gets better, but in warmth, not really in noise.

The only difficulty I really have to deal with this setup is accoustics.
that's never cheep.

I hope that clarifies a bit the noise issue.

[emgcarra]

Hey fellas... That kind of noise start at US$ 500.00 and goes down under...
That´s the difference between those devices and a "pro quality", "very expensive" fancy device, such as Apogee, Milenia, Focusw.....and the like
So, we have to live with it or upgrade....or go back to an out-of-the-room studio facility....I mean, that´s what I ´ve learned...

[SadPandas]

I wonder if that new MOTU 'Ultrtalite' i think its called has the same noise issues... I have a strtange hum from my firebox as well butt i just tthought it was the old wiring in tthe house as well as everythting thats plugged into the sockets in the room i record in... ohh well, its justt for scratch ideas and sttuff so im not too bothered by it.

pna
ads

[SadPandas]

I can't edit the above post so, ill just explain to you that lately, my 't' key on my keyboard is way too sensitive as of late so when i post something quickly sometimes i get things like this "tt". Its double and triple 't'ing me!

[ArchivalAudio]

ok
so pops n clicks (like a vinyl lp)
DO I NEED A new larger faster, Hard drive?
I have been recording wtih my Firebox for about 1 year now...
I usually use the Cubase LE that was bundled with it
on my iBook G4 1.2Ghz 1.25GB Ram the small 30GB HD is partitioned into 2 roughly halfs, the main drive with software and OSX
System Version: Mac OS X 10.3.9 (7W98)
Kernel Version: Darwin 7.9.0

I have been somtime getting pops and crackles
I do not know if it is a softweare proiblem or hardware,or onthought
is
the HardDricve is too slow? could this be
I am thinking of getting a 60or 80Gb 7200rpm HD installed,and once again partitionting this

before I record on location I clean partion 2 so there is over 10 gb to write to
I use techtool pro 4 to check both partitions for issues and optimize both fox any problems and then also run diskwarrior to fix directories then even use Disc Utility to repair permissions

then I ma ready to go
I have also used my external firewire OWC neptune 160GB 7200 rpm HD to record to
with the firebox both infront and at the end fo the firewire chain

I have had varied sussesses,and some not so sucesses...
usually I record 24/44.1
Iwhen just uing the 2 mic pres, most often it works
and when I use 2 mics and 2 line ins to record 4 channels
it often gets pops,but this has happened with the 2 channels too

any Ideas?
orsuggestions?

the real question is steping up to a 7200rpm internal HD gonna help?

thanx so much
-- Ian
PS I wish there was a way for ME to cotrol the line ins,whan I do not have control of the signal, without having to use the Firebox control or mixer,which while recording causes CUbas to stop recording... usually this is bacaus ethe was not chance to sound check
and ther is either clippingor
very low levels/signalon the line ins...
any other suggestions?

[arvidtp]

no - a faster hard drive does not sound like something that would help(i have a similar speed machine and always record to the internal drive, even 6 chan at a time). The firebox does have the problem of occasionally making lots of clicks and pops, in which case you go into audioMIDI Setup and switch the sample rate to something else, then switch it back again - problem solved. It happens to be about one every 2 weeks, but I move my gear around a lot and unplug and plug-in the firebox often.

How many inputs you use should not have much to do with it, because I think the interface is always streaming the data from all 6 ins to the computer, no matter which you are using to record at any one time, even if that data is all zeros.

More intermittent clicks and pops can happen when your Processor is working too hard - which can happen easily on a G4 laptop if you are using a lot of realtime effects or processes, or have other processing intense programs running in the background.

Also I dont know how reliable Cubase is - have not used it. But i assume it is reliable. For all of my location recording I use a custom little app i made in MaxMSP that launches in a jiffy (from a key command in Quicksilver), records up to 8 tracks at any sample or bit rate with the click of one button, and has always worked. That is unless i need to overdub - then the monster logic it is.

I'm actually thinking of making a better, nicer version of that little recording app and posting it on my website - give Boomrecorder or whatever that similar program is that costs so much a run for its money with a free MaxMSP app...

About controlling the levels on the line-ins: if you cant do a sound check, bring the signal level in at a really low level - lower than you think. The firebox is a pretty quiet interface, and if u record at 24 bit, you have A LOT of gain u can apply before getting digital artifacts by reducing your effective bitdepth below 16 bits. Its 2^24 amplitude possibilities - thats 16777216 - and CDs only store 65536. If my calculations are correct, you should be able to raise the gain of a 24-bit signal by 256 times before you are getting to only 16 effective bits of data. Thats 768dB! (i think) - of course the noise floor of the firebox is not THAT good, but give yourself some room is what i say. Someone tell me if my calculations are incorrect - I'm not looking any of this up After thinking about that out a while ago I have always used 24 bit . The file size is only 1.5x, but the data precision is 256x! Isn't it beautiful? hahahaaa - ok i'm too tired.

This post has been edited by arvidtp: Tue 16 May 2006, 08:50

[ArchivalAudio]

arvidtp
thanx
but if I go into AudioMidi Setup and change the sample rate is this something I have to do evey time?
the pops and clicks I speak of are not heard while mionitoring thru the headphoines...
while I have experienced major clicks and digi noize ,more what I would describe as zaps! thsi was fixed by using the AM setup to change the smaple rate like you mentioned...
I usually record bands live on location at shows,I have no control of when they start and stop, occasionally I will also be the sound engineer,though thisis quite rare
often I can not sound check the micpres are never a problem for me, as I can adjust and generally know whenrfe they should be set, as for the other ins every soundbord is different with difernet leverls and different outs, no control there...

any how I can not tell when recording if I get poos of clicks until later...
any suggestions?
also if some one or other recording device is patched out of the maine line outs they get a clean (no pops or clicks)... this is whay I thought it could be the HD speed?

Is ther a way to have the out put go to both SPDIF and Main Line outs, ineffect getting a didg out and an analog out? I have not firureged out any way to do this, its one or the other,is this true?

is there any software that would stiull keep recordinhg int the background , when going to chanage the Audio midi set up, FireBoc Control or the Firebox mixer?



thanx for any input
peace
-- Ian

[arvidtp]

arvidtp
thanx
but if I go into AudioMidi Setup and change the sample rate is this something I have to do evey time?

No - just when the firebox goes spastic and u get the 'rice krispies sound'! More intermittent clicks sounds like something to do with high CPU usage. Check Activity Monitor.

>> the pops and clicks I speak of are not heard while mionitoring thru the headphoines...

Probably because u are monitoring direct inside the box (with the firebox mixer software) so that is not going into the computer yet, so it will never have pops. Pops are a computer thing generally.

>> any how I can not tell when recording if I get poos of clicks until later...
any suggestions?

Yes! Mute the monitoring of all your inputs in the Firebox Mixer software (so u do not hear it through headphones) then turn on the monitoring of the tracks u are recording in your DAW - then there is a little bit of delay (based on your buffer settings) and you are listening through the computer and whatever you hear there should be exactly what is going to disk. Also, make sure the clicks and pops actually are recorded - ie play the same section over and over and make sure its always in the same place, or open the actual audio file in another app like quicktime player and play the same part back to check...

>> also if some one or other recording device is patched out of the maine line outs they get a clean (no pops or clicks)... this is whay I thought it could be the HD speed?

No - that is probably again because this output is from the Firebox's internal mixer, not the computer. Most DAWs anyway will post an error when the hard-drive is too slow, not just have dropouts. I know Logic and Pro Tools both do that.

>> Is ther a way to have the out put go to both SPDIF and Main Line outs, ineffect getting a didg out and an analog out? I have not firureged out any way to do this, its one or the other,is this true?

Yes - but you must use your DAW or some other software to route the audio within the computer from the inputs to outputs 7 and 8 (ie some bus sends to an aux output track or something within your DAW). Again - there will be a little bit of monitoring delay in this because u are going through the computer.


>> is there any software that would stiull keep recordinhg int the background , when going to chanage the Audio midi set up, FireBoc Control or the Firebox mixer?

Dont know - would have to test. In my experience clicks that i hear due to CPU overload generally do not appear in recorded audio because the audio stream is written to disk as a higher priority than the playback audio being computed.

[hahaworld]

Hi, emgcarra!

Which of the high end audio firewire interfaces do you recommend the most? I'm 'bout ready to fling my Firebox as far as I can sling it. I've sent it back to them three times now to fix the short in the volume knob, and they've sent it back three times telling me nothing's wrong with it. Thanks for your advice!

HaHaWorld

Hey fellas... That kind of noise start at US$ 500.00 and goes down under...
That´s the difference between those devices and a "pro quality", "very expensive" fancy device, such as Apogee, Milenia, Focusw.....and the like
So, we have to live with it or upgrade....or go back to an out-of-the-room studio facility....I mean, that´s what I ´ve learned...

[groovey]

Hi, emgcarra!

Which of the high end audio firewire interfaces do you recommend the most? I'm 'bout ready to fling my Firebox as far as I can sling it. I've sent it back to them three times now to fix the short in the volume knob, and they've sent it back three times telling me nothing's wrong with it. Thanks for your advice!

HaHaWorld

Sorry to hear you're having such nasty problems. So far I'm pretty satisfied. My friend has the RME Fireface 800 and is most pleased with it. I guess the mic pre's are also on a bit different level than the FB's. The one interface I'm interested to be bying next, is the MOTU Ultralite. Seems quite sweet to me with a pretty decent price tag too.