Tascam FW-1082 Versus Presonus Firestudio

Which One?

  • Presonus Firestudio

    Votes: 4 57.1%

  • Tascam FW-1082

    Votes: 3 42.9%
  • Total voters
    7
B

Blackwiz

New member
Could anyone tell me what would be the better choice? I know both are different. I was set on getting a Presonus firestudio with Cubase 4. Then I started looking at the Tascam FW-1082 seeing that they both come with Cubase LE, so they both should work great with Cubase 4.

Now, I dont really have any preferences as far as one having faders and knobs and the other having control on the monitor. Which, in some of your opinions is the better choice and why?

Please anyone with experience with the items or anyone who just knows their stuff. Please help.


Thanks
 
I won't vote because I haven't used both.

I will say I'm very happy with my FW1082 though, I'd find it difficult to go back to mixing with the mouse and keyboard. I'd be surprised if there was a significant difference in how each unit sounds so you're decision will probably be based on features. The tascam only has mic pres on 4 of the 8 ins, the presonus has 8. (Suits me cos I use all outboard pres anyway).

Need 8 pres? Go with the Presonus, if you fancy the control surface (which is great to have imo) go with the tascam.
 
Cubase may be fine with them. But both units have known issues with Sonar. I'm not a fan of either unit. Ive had issues with the Tascam losing sync and forgetting its sample rate (and not just in Sonar), and Ive had issues with the Presonus units doing lots of wierd buggy things. Like randomly changing samplerates and digital noise.
 
Cubase limits how many channels you can record at once to four, iirc. But try Reaper instead. I was looking at the Firestudio but ended up with the Focusrite Sapphire Pro 10. I'm under the impression that the Focusrite pres are a little better.
 
Blackwiz said:
Yes, but isnt that limit only to Cubase LE. Im getting the full Cubase 4 also while getting one of these. (leaning towards the presonus firestudio).
Click to expand...

Yeah, sorry.

Another thing I like about the Focusrite is that the mic jacks are on the back and the line ins are on the front. That way I can plug mic cables in and leave them there at the ready under the desk. When you plug something into the front it overides the XLR in the back.
 
the firestudio for presonus costs $200 more...is there a reason? Im just curious. does the focusrite work great with cubase 4?
 
Hard2Hear said:
Cubase may be fine with them. But both units have known issues with Sonar. I'm not a fan of either unit. Ive had issues with the Tascam losing sync and forgetting its sample rate (and not just in Sonar), and Ive had issues with the Presonus units doing lots of wierd buggy things. Like randomly changing samplerates and digital noise.
Click to expand...

......and how long ago was that experience? I have a firestudio and a digimax FS for a total of 16 simultaneous inputs. I run at 44.1k 24bit, and I'm at 5.8ms latency altogether 128sample buffer. I run cubase 4 with it, and it works splendidly...no digital noise (more than normal for this budget) and definately no "buggy" instances...

I thought the tascam was a controller? or does it have inputs too? Maybe I'm mixing up product numbers...
 
The experience with the Firestudio is me sending 80+% of them back to Presonus that they have sent me. They have known sync issues with some recording programs, though Cubase is ok. The initial problems that caused total loss of functionality were mostly taken care of, partially because I spent countless hours helping them track it down. But there's still some known internal grounding issues with certian units that causes noise, as well as the issues with the diceII firewire chipset they chose to use in it. I don't recommend them to my clients, but if you choose to use one thats up to you. I don't have to support your issues, while I am responsible for what I put into recording rigs I build.

I generally don't like Tascam because their support is the worst in the industry. The issues I have seen on the 1884 relate to losing midi sync, which in turn cause audio dropouts and noise in some programs. I havent used the smaller unit.
 
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