AudioFire12, anyone tried 2?

[Somnium7]

I just got my hands on a AudioFire 12 and so far I am very impressed with the build quality. It's like a battleship. So now that these can be bought for $500 I am actually considering getting a 2nd unit to double my channels. Has anybody tried this?
Any problems with this?

 

[kojdogg]

no, but i had a 12 and a 4 that worked together (i must admit though that i never maxed out the ins or outs). according to the manual iirc you can chain up to 5 12's together as long as your computer can handle it.

 

[Somnium7]

Now there is a good idea, chaining the 12 with the 4 or 8 so I can use the digital I/Os on the smaller ones.

Thanks for the helpful idea kojdogg!!!

Two 12s may have been overkill for me anyway...

 

[kojdogg]

the 2 and 4 have different converters than the 8 and 12. the 4 still sounds great though, but i might go for the 8 if that's a concern. the 8 is limited to 96khz, but you get a headphone output and 2 pres as a tradeoff.
the 12 is really a great unit. i would miss it more if i were doing more than 1/2 ins at a time, but the apogee duet has filled the void nicely

 

[kojdogg]

ooh--- a problem might be clocking. i really do much recording with the combination-- i just tried it out to make sure it worked. the 12 only has wordclock iirc and the 4 and 2 have s/pdif.

 

[Somnium7]

the 2 and 4 have different converters than the 8 and 12. the 4 still sounds great though, but i might go for the 8 if that's a concern. the 8 is limited to 96khz, but you get a headphone output and 2 pres as a tradeoff.
the 12 is really a great unit. i would miss it more if i were doing more than 1/2 ins at a time, but the apogee duet has filled the void nicely

Good tip about the converters, I didn't know that. I'll check out the 8 then.

 

[giraffe]

i have a 2 and like it (use it for 2 track location stuf)
the converters are not the same as the 8 and 12, but better still then my digi 001........

yes, i'm still useing a digi 001

soon i'm going to finally upgrade to a 003!!!!

 

[Somnium7]

i have a 2 and like it (use it for 2 track location stuf)
the converters are not the same as the 8 and 12, but better still then my digi 001........

yes, i'm still useing a digi 001

soon i'm going to finally upgrade to a 003!!!!

Wow there's a prehistoric beast from the tar pits.

So far I am quite impressed with the converters on my 12. I can't believe the bargain you have with this device. I would have expected to pay well over a grand for this kind of sound quality.

Plus the thing is built to withstand some serious abuse. I wouldn't be concerned at all with it in a live setup if I wanted to do that.

Considering what else is available in the $500+ price range you can't beat this box.

 

[kojdogg]

it's a great sounding unit for sure. the one i had was my fourth echo interface. i think they really just don't know how to market effectively. they also have great customer service-- i recently needed a new adapter for my audiofire4 and they sent me one for free. i bought it used so it wasn't covered under any warranty or anything. another great thing about them is that they update drivers and firmware often-- even for some of their legacy products. very cool company!

 

[giraffe]

+ 1 on the excellent customer service!

 

[rockinrocker]

i don't really have anything new and exciting to add here, other than to say that my 12 has worked out great for me, and have also had nothing but positive experiences with echo's customer service.

i've also wondered why they're not better known then they are....
i guess maybe it is the marketing, i was aware of names like m-audio, presonus, etc way before i ever heard of echo.
maybe it's because music stuff isn't the only thing they do....

 

[Somnium7]

I attempted to open my AudioFire Console and got an error message. Immediately I thought "Oh God here we go now"

It said that my firmware was out of date and gave the choice of update now or cancel. I clicked update. 15 seconds of progress bars and status messages later
it instructed me to turn off the AudioFire and turn it back on.
I knocked on my wood desk and did it. It came up again and now it sounds even better. Freakin' cool!

That was so smooth and painless I'm just quite impressed.

My only complaint so far is the power switch. I upgraded from a PCI interface and am not used to hitting a power button to get my sound. Couldn't they make the thing turn on automatically when the computer is fired-up? I mean come on now...