Focusrite Saffire

C

CarcPazu

New member
Hi all,

I'm looking to buy the Focusrite Saffire Firewire Audio interface.
I don't find much information about it.
Anyone got one and would like to share the information or a quick review about it?
http://www.focusrite.com/products/saffire/overview.html

The specs seems impressive, and considering Focusrite reputation I would think it would be a good choice as a replacement for my Audigy 2 Platinum.

I was also looking at the M-Audio Firewire 410
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FireWire410-main.html

They both seems to be good. I don't know yet wich one I'm gonna get.

Any help will be welcome.
 
M-Audio Firewire 410

Hi, I finally went with the M-Audio Firewire 410.
At my store the guy said they received some Saffire one and the company recalled them back because of some problems they had with it. So I think this delayed it's availability.

So far I'm pretty happy with my Firewire 410 it does exactly what I was expercting from it. I don't know how it compared with higher type of cards but I'm happy with it.

They only thing I'm a bit not happy about is that M-Audio really specified that you canno't hot-swap the card from the firewire port. So you cannot plug it in and out like that with the computer running, you have to stop the computer first, boot the device then boot the computer. M-Audio claims that doing else could toast your firewire chip on the motherboard. Anyway I didn't took any chances, I bought a PCI firewire card and plugged it in it instead. Since I had some external devices (HD and DVD burner) that sometimes for some reasons unboot themself on and off for some nebulous reasons.
 
Gerry C said:
Thanks Carc I'll have a look at the Firewire 410. I must admit though that the Future Music review on the Focusrite Saffire was pretty convincing.

Gerry
Click to expand...

Something that annoyed me from the Saffire is the lack of MIDI ports on it. I know I could get a USB dongle as MIDI port but I prefered to have it right on the card. But I think the Saffire should be a good card too according the the review I red about it. Read a lot about thoses card before you buy so you find something that really fits your need.
 
I had the Saffire two weeks ago and I spent hours on the phone with Tech support here in the US and via emails with England...

I could not get the Saffire to consistently work correctly...From the software to the hardware...Every time I thought I had it correct, another Bug, another problem! From no audio to no reverb to no connection between the computer and the Saffire, it kept going around in circles.

I reloaded the updated drivers several times, did a clean install several times...

I did get excellent support, but in the end no one could find the problem...

They tried telling me that it was my computer, but I did not think so...

After a week of trying I sent it back to the retailer for a full refund...

I picked up a Presonus Firebox and that unit worked perfectly right out of the box! I have had it for a week now and so far not one problem.
 
I've been using the Saffire for a couple of months now and love it.
I purchased it to use in place of an M-Audio Delta 1010 that I returned for repair (love the lifetime warranty) and was experiencing the same problem again. Despite the problems I had with the Delta 1010, I like that interface as well and would heartily recommend it to anyone that needs 8 analog ins and outs.
The reason I chose the Saffire as a replacement to the 1010 over a more logical choice, like the Presonus Firepod, was because of the input and output hardware DSP on the Saffire. So far as I know, it is the only interface that has that feature. Plus, I rarely use more than 2 inputs at a time.
The Saffire lives up to its hype, and more for me, because I didn't really understand how flexible the 8 analog and 2 digital outputs are.
I am a 45 year old father of three children (that range in age from 19 months to 5 years). I have zero time, and even less than zero patience, by the time I get to the basement to record. I can get satisfactory to excellent results much quicker with the Saffire than I could with my previous Delta 1010/Mackie 1604 VLZ Pro/Alesis Quadraverb/Behringer headphone amp combo.
I still use the Behringer headphone amp, because even with the very efficient AKG K240-S phones, the Saffire headphone output is not loud enough for me.
The Saffire EQ, compression and reverb are very usable. The electric guitar distortion sounds terrible to me. That isn't bothersome, because I use a Digitech GNX4 for electric guitar tones and effects.
For recording software, I presently use PGMusic's Power Tracks 10, but will be migrating to Cubase LE (comes bundled with Saffire), if my 19 month old ever learns to sleep.
Yes, Saffire has it's annoying, "Hey, THAT'S not supposed to happen" quirks, but have you honestly owned any PC-based product that doesn't?
Bottom line: Saffire's ability to EQ and compress at the inputs and provide reverb at the outputs, with no latency or drain on the CPU, is worth the purchase price. Discovering its full potential makes it a bargain.
 
Thanks all for the info the decission almost got made for me and I have gone the Edirol route as I only record Guitar or a vocal. Got offered a B Stock UA 25 which is running perfectly with Sonar 5.

Thanks,

Gerry
 
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