Firepod questions: flexibility and upgradeability

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woody777

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I don't know if upgradeability is even a word...

My band is about to record a demo... full drums, two guitars, bass, vocals, bgvs... hard rock music. We plan to track each instrument seperately, mix in Cakewalk and send it out somewhere to be mastered.

We want to purchase an all-in-one unit... not top of the line, but not bottom of the heap. Good, clear preamps and decent converters. Firewire seems like the best interface at the moment. Right now I'm definitely leaning toward the Firepod.

(you can skip the beginning and just read these questions below if you want)

I have a few questions on the Firepod:

1) Can you use outboard gear - EQ, compressors, tube preamps, etc - with the Firepod? Will those only work on the first two channels? Is that the line input and preamp out jacks on the back of the unit?

2) What exactly do the line outputs do?

3) I know you can daisy chain two Firepods together... but has anyone successfully daisy chained a Firepod and a Firebox? 10 channels would be PERFECT for what we plan to do (don't ask... we like to mic the hell out of our drums).
 
I answered one question... according to the FAQs on the Presonus website, you cannot daisy chain a Firepod and a Firebox (but I still wonder if anyone here has tried).

Is there a simple way to add one or two more mic preamps to a Firepod setup? The Firepod is advertised as 10 inputs, but two are midi and S/PDIF so I don't think that will help me.
 
spdif is a stereo digital format, so if you got a 2 channel preamp with spdif outputs you'd have 10 inputs.
 
treymonfauntre said:
spdif is a stereo digital format, so if you got a 2 channel preamp with spdif outputs you'd have 10 inputs.
Click to expand...

Cool... I did not know that... thanks! The Firebox does have S/PDIF in/out... would that work? Or what's another inexpensize 2 channel unit (two mic pres) with pres and converters comparable to the Firepod?
 
Anomaly Design said:
You can daisy chain two firepods?? Thats news to me!
Click to expand...

According to the Presonus website, you can daisy chain three!
 
woody777 said:
According to the Presonus website, you can daisy chain three!
Click to expand...

!! The firepod just might be the most awesomest thing ever (for intermediate gear)!

The only thing I do with is tracking. I've used 7 or all 8 mic inputs simultaneously and had no problems after some troubleshooting.
Mics > Firepod > Computer
> Monitors
> Headphones
I find no use for outboard gear except noise suppressors, which should be available thru the line-outs. Hope thats any help
 
I probably won't use any outboard gear... I just want to make sure the Firepod can handle it... just in case I decide to add something in the future. And from what I can tell, you can run outboard gear on just channels one and two... which is perfect.

I've been researching recording interfaces for a few weeks now and I keep coming back to the Firepod... it definitely seems like the best bang for the buck. I just want to also make sure it is flexible and can grow with me as I grow in recording. Sounds like a winner so far.

So, this is a more general question I think... but what are the line outputs for? Each channel has one...
 
Be careful about getting one. I love(d) mine, but it went poo-poo after a couple of weeks. Luckily Im covered under warranty, but i have to wait several weeks to get my stuff fixed. This seems to be a well documented problem, especially for those who bought anytime after Jan '06. Just my findings.
 
djhead said:
Be careful about getting one. I love(d) mine, but it went poo-poo after a couple of weeks. Luckily Im covered under warranty, but i have to wait several weeks to get my stuff fixed. This seems to be a well documented problem, especially for those who bought anytime after Jan '06. Just my findings.
Click to expand...

Do you have any links to the documentation? Thanks for the heads up... but even so, I've never heard of a single piece of gear that didn't have some kind of reliability issue at some point. I'll risk it... it definitely seems like more people here like them than don't...
 
woody777 said:
Cool... I did not know that... thanks! The Firebox does have S/PDIF in/out... would that work? Or what's another inexpensize 2 channel unit (two mic pres) with pres and converters comparable to the Firepod?
Click to expand...

Ok... you can not link a Firebox to a Firedpod using SPDIF because the Firebox is an interface and not a stand-alone preamp and it must be interfaced with a computer through a firewire input - this coming from Presonus... makes sense to me.

So... I should be able to hook up any stand-alone mic preamp with SPDIF out to the Firepod, correct? But even if I hooked up a four channel mic preamp unit, would I only record a single track since the SPDIF is a single input?

And does anybody know what the line outputs in the back of this unit are used for?
 
Well for starters, on the 'Pod, it can be used as a standalone pre, so you can route to a mixer.
 
woody777 said:
And does anybody know what the line outputs in the back of this unit are used for?
Click to expand...

If its not for outboard gear the only other good reason would be to bypass the converters; i.e. Turn the Firepod into 8 basic pre amps. Could be useful if you wanted to use it for live application or something? I could be wrong tho.
 
djhead said:
Be careful about getting one. I love(d) mine, but it went poo-poo after a couple of weeks. Luckily Im covered under warranty, but i have to wait several weeks to get my stuff fixed. This seems to be a well documented problem, especially for those who bought anytime after Jan '06. Just my findings.
Click to expand...

Proof of your findings? Not trying to be a dick, but I've seen it too often where people just throw stuff out there when they have a bad experience. I owned one pre-Jan 2006, and it worked flawlessly. Was there some kind of manufacturing problem after Jan. 06?
 
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