What is your favorite USB/Firewire Interface?

What's your favorite budget portable audio interface?

  • PreSonus Firebox

    Votes: 123 30.3%
  • M-Audio 410

    Votes: 44 10.8%
  • Digidesign MBox

    Votes: 34 8.4%
  • Focusrite Saffire

    Votes: 25 6.2%
  • Edirol UA25

    Votes: 20 4.9%
  • Mackie Spike

    Votes: 7 1.7%
  • Other (Please Specify)

    Votes: 153 37.7%

  • Total voters
    406
I've just gotten through with a "shoot out" of sorts between the M-Audio 410 and the Presonus Firebox for my laptop. The Firebox was most certainly the winner, the 410 was a piece of crap, basically.
I use a pc running Cubase SX and Reason, the 410 would crash my computer anytime I opened it's ASIO panel and touched anything! It was very hard to install, it took a few times restarting before it recognized it. Plus it came with outdated drivers! The inputs felt cheap too, when I connected amic to the XLR input , it felt like it was going to cave into the box.
The Firebox installed easily and synched right up with Cubase, no problems. It's a solid unit with great mic pre's. (Although I'll never know what the pre's on the 410 sounded like since it never really worked....)
I was suckered in by Musician's Friend's deal of buy a 410 and get a free MXL 900 mic, it seemed too good to be true, and it was....
No big deal, but now I know.
 
I just bought a new Edirol UA-25 for use on a new Dell Inspiron 6400 laptop.

The primary use is measurment recording for my speaker cabs. The secondary use is quick 'n dirty location recording.

I will not use any USB device like this without a powered USB hub. The current draw is only a few mA below the rated spec, and I refuse to burn up a mother board by not using a power hub.

The UA-25 has +48v phantom power, but I do not use it. Instead, I use an external Rolls phantom power box powered by 120v wall power. I need maximum clarity for measurements, so I use an external phantom supply. Ozraves reviewed the similar M-Audio MobilePre and said the phantom power recordings sounded like frying eggs. I attribute this to a switching, step-up supply trying to produce +48v from USB source.

The UA-25 is very sturdy, and the drivers appear stable on WinXP/SP2. The unit has an Out/In loop back switch that is very nice for calibrating my TrueRTA software.
 
For those that used the PreSonus Firebox 6x10 FireWire Recording Interface, I seen it mentioned it has ins/outs for midi and spdif, but, when I viewed the picture, all I seen was ins and outs for 1/4 in plugs, which I need as well, but I need the midi as well.. I am assuming there is only one "FireBox" correct?

I also read this..
"Additionally, the Firebox can be powered by a computer that provides 6-pin FireWire bus power, or powered by an external power transformer." Does this mean this as an option.. I assume it comes with a pci slot card that powers the unit, correct?

Thanks, PM
 
PMJ said:
For those that used the PreSonus Firebox 6x10 FireWire Recording Interface, I seen it mentioned it has ins/outs for midi and spdif, but, when I viewed the picture, all I seen was ins and outs for 1/4 in plugs, which I need as well, but I need the midi as well.. I am assuming there is only one "FireBox" correct?

I also read this..
"Additionally, the Firebox can be powered by a computer that provides 6-pin FireWire bus power, or powered by an external power transformer." Does this mean this as an option.. I assume it comes with a pci slot card that powers the unit, correct?

Thanks, PM

The Firebox comes with a "break-out" multi cable that connects to the back with connections for midi in and out, plus spdif. It connects to the spdif port on the back of the unit.
If you have a normal (6-pin) firewire port on your computer you do not need external power. My laptop has a mini 4-pin port, so I use the wallwart power adapter that comes with the unit. No extra pci card it needed. I did have to buy a firewire 6-pin to 4-pin adapter cable. It comes with the regular Firewire cable.
All in all it's easy to install and work with. I'd recommend it. The mic pre's sound great and it's a sturdy unit.
 
chessrock said:
Don't look now, but it looks like the Yamaha i88x is popping up on every discussion board on the planet. I think it's a combination of a decent product and a lot of agressive marketing efforts in an effort to clear out some excess inventory.

In the right situation, it certainly could be a steal, one might assume.
I've been using an i88x since late last year and I find it very good. But:

- I only ever put three mike inputs through it, as all I ever record is triple-miked acoustic guitar

- I pretty much bypass the pres in favor of my tube pres

- I haven't explored all the routing potential

So take my opinion with that in mind. I do like the unit a lot for my not very devious purposes.
 
I'm using a Hercules 16/12FW. It's got a metric assload of inputs, but has pisspoor monitoring - only two channels (one stereo pair) can be monitored at a time in hardware, it really seems like they've decided all the monitoring should be done through a desk or in ASIO.

As a straight interface to HD, it's great. Haven't seen a PC driver update since april 2005 though although they did add metering early on.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb05/articles/hercules1612fw.htm

Willy.
 
M-Audio

The M-Audio range is really great. Best thing is that they are all compatible with Pro Tools M-Powered. I have the MobilePre which I like a lot. Sooo easy to setup, soooo easy to use, and it sounds great.

If I had to buy a new one I would get either an M-Audio FastTrack Pro or one of the Lexicon interfaces which come with an acclaimed Lexicon reverb.
 
MOTU 828MK2 , i didnt like all the inputs on the front panel of the firepod , last thing i need is another 8 cables dangling across my racks , they are messy enough as it is.

Also it seems the the firepod has reliability problems over time. apparently (according to a trusted friend who runs a studio) they have a 30% failiure rate within the warrenty period so far. He is on his 3rd replacement.
 
i've been looking into firewire things for some time. i was all set on a 002...then i've been looking at onyx 1220...and now i'm really itching for a 400f. onyx preamps and a waaaaaaay better ad than what i've got now would be the perfect little upgrade for my little studio.
 
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