inspire vs. firebox

  • Thread starter Thread starter illies17
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illies17

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Im looking for the cheapest interface i can get with the best quality and im really interested in the prosonus inspire, but also like the firebox. but im wondering if its worth the extra hundred bucks. again im a poor college student:P can anyone lend me some input, thanks.
 
Do you need MIDI or SPDIF??? If not then I would get the inspire if you're on a tight budget. It seems to be a pretty solid unit with a few less frills but a lower price tag.
 
ya i would kinda like to have MIDI, although i hate to admit i dont know much about it yet cuz i havent worked with it a lot, but i know i want to. and i just found out that only the firebox had midi which kinda leaned me toward it a lil more. but im still not sure.
 
all the software that comes with the inspire is also ammusing on the other hand.
 
Just to let you know, the Inspire is completely software controlled, not even a gain knob or headphone volume or anything is controlled with a pot, it is all software. I couldn't do that. But if that works for you, then the Inspire would most likely suit you just fine.
 
rather than make yet another firebox/inspire thread, I'd figure I'd throw my question into this since I'm facing the same decision. I can get a firebox for around 230, but should be able to get an inspire equally cheap (prolly wouldn't be paying the 200 list). I was just wondering a few things.

Firebox has 6 in; does this mean midi and spdif are counted as ins? Whats spdif used with?

Also, the rear inputs are 1/4". From what I gather, mics which need phantom power wouldn't be able to connect here, but would dynamic mics with adapters? I'm thinking about mic'ing drums at some point, so 4 mic in's of some sort would be nice. If not, how well is mic'ing w/ only 2 mics? Is it easy to overdub drums? Edit: Of course both are limited by this I believe, but whats a viable workaround to have 4 mic inputs without linking inspire/fireboxes?

Finally (for now), the firebox has a 1/4 headphone, while the inspire only has an 1/8. Does this effect the sound output for headphones?
 
You could get an external preamp like the Audio Buddy or the DMP-3 to go into the 1/4 inch ins which would give you 2 additional preamps (you could also use a mixer of some sort as well). With SPDIF, there are several mic preamps that have SPDIF outputs that you could connect to the Firebox, which would give you another 2 pres, bringing the total possibility to 6. Midi is not counted in the channel count, as one MIDI connection will run up to 16 MIDI channels. The nice thing about the Firebox is that much of the volume control is done on the hardware, whereas the Inspire it is all done via software. This may not be a huge deal to most, but could influence a decision to some.
 
darrvid said:
rather than make yet another firebox/inspire thread, I'd figure I'd throw my question into this since I'm facing the same decision. I can get a firebox for around 230, but should be able to get an inspire equally cheap (prolly wouldn't be paying the 200 list). I was just wondering a few things.

Firebox has 6 in; does this mean midi and spdif are counted as ins? Whats spdif used with?

Also, the rear inputs are 1/4". From what I gather, mics which need phantom power wouldn't be able to connect here, but would dynamic mics with adapters? I'm thinking about mic'ing drums at some point, so 4 mic in's of some sort would be nice. If not, how well is mic'ing w/ only 2 mics? Is it easy to overdub drums? Edit: Of course both are limited by this I believe, but whats a viable workaround to have 4 mic inputs without linking inspire/fireboxes?

Finally (for now), the firebox has a 1/4 headphone, while the inspire only has an 1/8. Does this effect the sound output for headphones?
Click to expand...

i think midi and spdif are counted as inputs. spdif is used for connecting multiple sound cards together to increase your inputs.

i think you can only use either the 2 mic/instrument inputs or the 2 line inputs on the back at a time. You cant use all 4 simultaneously, only 2 at a time i think, so it would be harder to record drums with only 2 inputs, although you could get a mixer and combine multiple mics into a single input on the firebox, but here you lose the advantage of laying down each mic as a seperate track and being able to edit it seperately. Finally, i dont think the 1/4 vs 1/8 in headphone is any different in sound quality.

ps- dont quote me on any of this hehe
 
When they say 6 in 4 out, they mean simultaneously.

Midi is not counted. The firebox has 4 analog inputs (2 mic/line, 2 1/4") & 2 digital s/pdif inputs, and they can all be used together
 
Bulls Hit said:
When they say 6 in 4 out, they mean simultaneously.

Midi is not counted. The firebox has 4 analog inputs (2 mic/line, 2 1/4") & 2 digital s/pdif inputs, and they can all be used together
Click to expand...
hehe ok sorry i was wrong =S

at least i gave a disclaimer o_O
 
Bulls Hit said:
When they say 6 in 4 out, they mean simultaneously.

Midi is not counted. The firebox has 4 analog inputs (2 mic/line, 2 1/4") & 2 digital s/pdif inputs, and they can all be used together
Click to expand...

I thought the fireboxes connected to each other through firewire, not spidf. What else might spdif be used for (other than using converters to plug in mics etc.)

Edit: reread what cawhite said, and realized my other question was answered there.

Thanks for the replys all =]
 
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