Presonus Firestudio or 8pre?

nddhc

New member
Oh no!! Not another one of these threads :D Ive searched and searched his forum, the Gearslutz forum, TapeOp forum, etc and basically read all the posts I possibly could about both of these units.

Both of them have similar specs - ADAT expandability, software DSP mixer, etc. The main difference I can see is that the 8pre comes with 2 outs and the Firestudio comes with 8 outs (i believe)

Im a little hesitant about the 8pre because ive read quite a few bad reviews on it. The firestudio gives me a little more up front (with the outputs) but im not exactly sure if I need so many outputs right now. I mean, the 8pre gives me a chance to expand..so..

Also, the presonus stuff comes with a 1 year warranty and the 8pre only comes with a 90 day warranty. I dont know if I should base my decision on this, but ive read that people have had issues with the 8pre buzzing or knobs breaking, etc.

What do you think? Does anyone have experience with both units? Which one has better pres, more sturdy, etc?

Thanks!
 
Ive used both for long periods now. They're just different applications. The 8Pre only gives you 2 analog outs. The Firestudio has alot better routing.

As far as sound, they're fairly similar. Different, yes, but not necessarily better or worse. I think the Presonus pres have more gain.

The big deal is latency. The Firestudio latency is alot bigger than the 8pre. Of course, this will only matter if you want real time fx or use vsti's. If you don't do real time monitoring it won't matter as much.

I was getting pretty mad at Presonus because the first 4 Firestudios they sent me were total crap. But the last 3-4 Ive gotten have worked very nicely and sounded good. So I'd once again recommend those as a great, budget, do it all interface.

MOTU gets a bad rap because they have been so Mac-centric. But if people bother to read the hardware requirements for their stuff for PC use, it works fine. Ive been using MOTU for 4-5 years with no issues on PCs.
 
All I could find regarding requirements was:

"MOTU 8 PRE System Requirements for PC are Windows XP, Available Firewire port and Audio software the supports WDM/ASIO/Core Audio drivers " :rolleyes:



I read something like the Firestudio could route all the audio coming out of it back into your computer, so you could record that all onto its own track. Does the 8pre have anything like this?

Im switching from an M Audio Delta 1010 and the 1010 had a software mixer that allowed you to mute certain inputs, adjust the panning for what youre hearing, and even control the levels of your inputs. Would the 8pre's mixer at least offer this?

Thanks for your help!
 
nddhc said:
I read something like the Firestudio could route all the audio coming out of it back into your computer, so you could record that all onto its own track. Does the 8pre have anything like this?


Probably a stupid question but why dont you just bus it all to one track and record that while its still in your computer?
mabe i just misunderstood you! :confused:
 
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My main concern is the lack of gain on the pres. Another concern would be (not so much on this forum, but over on gearslutz) ive read that the MOTU preamps arent very good :eek:

BUT this is coming from people who have the necessary room treatment, top of the line mics, top of the line preamps, etc to really make their recordings shine. Im doing this basically from my bedroom, so until I can afford some room treatment and better gear I dont think this should be too much of a problem.

The only other preamp ive used is a M Audio DMP3.. so if the 8pre is as good or better than that, im sold. Can anyone compare the two? :rolleyes: Kind of a general question I know
 
fishkarma said:
Probably a stupid question but why dont you just bus it all to one track and record that while its still in your computer?
mabe i just misunderstood you! :confused:

For example - sometimes ill be listening to a song in Itunes that ive purchased and im trying to learn how to play a certain part. Maybe its a fast guitar part or something that I want to slow down. Purchased itunes files are protected and I dont believe they can be opened in audio editors.

With my Delta 1010 I used to select "Monitor Mix Stereo" or "Multi mix" or something and it allowed me to record everything that was coming out of my soundcard onto that track. Im just wondering if the 8pre has something similar to this. I guess its not a big deal though, I can just manually route the output to the input if it comes down to it.
 
ohh right
well if your mac you should get wiretap pro or audio hijack pro they do that too but also you could just strip the DRM with my tunes or something like that if your pc

i dont bother with the itunes music store so i dunno if the drm stripper is any good but audio hijack captures any audio you need captured
 
nddhc said:
Oh no!! Not another one of these threads :D Ive searched and searched his forum, the Gearslutz forum, TapeOp forum, etc and basically read all the posts I possibly could about both of these units.

Both of them have similar specs - ADAT expandability, software DSP mixer, etc. The main difference I can see is that the 8pre comes with 2 outs and the Firestudio comes with 8 outs (i believe)

Im a little hesitant about the 8pre because ive read quite a few bad reviews on it. The firestudio gives me a little more up front (with the outputs) but im not exactly sure if I need so many outputs right now. I mean, the 8pre gives me a chance to expand..so..

Also, the presonus stuff comes with a 1 year warranty and the 8pre only comes with a 90 day warranty. I dont know if I should base my decision on this, but ive read that people have had issues with the 8pre buzzing or knobs breaking, etc.

What do you think? Does anyone have experience with both units? Which one has better pres, more sturdy, etc?

Thanks!

I just bought an 8pre, it has a 1 year warranty, but I bought a 3 year extended. It has 8 outs, not 2. You're confusing the analog out wiht the digital out. The unit runs I/O through Firewire, the analog outs go to your monitoring system.

So far I love the 8pre, can't compare to the other in great detail, but in a side by side I got to do, the pres on the MOTU were much warmer and more transparent. As I learn more about mine, I'm sure I'll be posting about it, but it installed easy as pie on my XP PC.
 
Llarion said:
I just bought an 8pre, it has a 1 year warranty, but I bought a 3 year extended. It has 8 outs, not 2. You're confusing the analog out wiht the digital out. The unit runs I/O through Firewire, the analog outs go to your monitoring system.

So far I love the 8pre, can't compare to the other in great detail, but in a side by side I got to do, the pres on the MOTU were much warmer and more transparent. As I learn more about mine, I'm sure I'll be posting about it, but it installed easy as pie on my XP PC.

I don't think the poster was confused at all. The FireStudio has 8 analog outs, while the 8Pre only has two. For some people, that matters. If you're mainly mixing in the box, it usually doesn't.

I love my 8Pres (plural, as in two), though I haven't had as much time to use them as I would like. After multiple migraines trying to get an M-Audio FW1814 and a Presonus FIREPOD to work together (the M-Audio S/PDIF goes dead with any other device on the bus, and the FIREPOD S/PDIF goes dead if you rev the firmware to the latest version, so I was doubly screwed trying to get that to work), having the two 8Pres was a joy by comparison. I just plugged in the optical connection and I had sync and reliable audio from 16 inputs. That's the way hardware is supposed to work.
 
The outs arent really an issue - I have no external effects and do not plan to use any in the near future. The Firestudio has more routing options, but honestly I dont have the budget now (and wont have it anytime soon) to afford the necessary headphones, headphone amps, cables, etc to really use the most of it.

The 8pre sounds perfect for what I want - the 40db of gain might be an issue for dynamic mics, but normally I only use dynamics on loud sources like drums and amplifiers so that shouldnt be too much of a problem.

Thanks for all your help!! I think im going to go ahead and get the 8pre this week. Cant wait to use it :D
 
nddhc said:
The outs arent really an issue - I have no external effects and do not plan to use any in the near future. The Firestudio has more routing options, but honestly I dont have the budget now (and wont have it anytime soon) to afford the necessary headphones, headphone amps, cables, etc to really use the most of it.

The 8pre sounds perfect for what I want - the 40db of gain might be an issue for dynamic mics, but normally I only use dynamics on loud sources like drums and amplifiers so that shouldnt be too much of a problem.

I use it for vocals with a ribbon mic. Works for me. YMMV. :D
 
dgatwood said:
I don't think the poster was confused at all. The FireStudio has 8 analog outs, while the 8Pre only has two. For some people, that matters. If you're mainly mixing in the box, it usually doesn't.

I love my 8Pres (plural, as in two), though I haven't had as much time to use them as I would like. After multiple migraines trying to get an M-Audio FW1814 and a Presonus FIREPOD to work together (the M-Audio S/PDIF goes dead with any other device on the bus, and the FIREPOD S/PDIF goes dead if you rev the firmware to the latest version, so I was doubly screwed trying to get that to work), having the two 8Pres was a joy by comparison. I just plugged in the optical connection and I had sync and reliable audio from 16 inputs. That's the way hardware is supposed to work.

Very cool, how many digital outputs does that yield? Do you get 16, or does it force a submix?
 
dgatwood said:
I use it for vocals with a ribbon mic. Works for me. YMMV. :D

I haven't noticed a gain issue yet either, and I have both condensers and dynamics on the drums, and condensers elsewhere. Besides, you can always make up gain afterward, right? ;).
 
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