Hi, I've been doing some research on small USB and Firewire devices and the reviews I've read are all pointing to the Presonus Firebox. I mostly record fingerstyle guitar and sometimes vocals as well. My PC runs Vista Home Premium 32 SP2, AMD Athlon II x3 435 processor, and 2 gig RAM.
I have a few questions:
1: I've read about several compatibility issues with Vista. The manufacturer claims they have released the appropriate drivers and this is not a problem.
2: Is there another device I've missed in my research that would perform comparably?
3: Has anyone used the Studio One software package shipped with the unit? If so is it decent?
4: Are there monitoring issues with the box?
I appreciate any help with these questions. I want to make an informed purchase and not be disappointed as I've been in the past. Thanks!
I've got one.
It's a bit older than some others. So take that for what it's worth. I use it with Vista and don't have any issues, though there are many complaints. I suspect, however, that a lot of the issues are attributable to user error. Since it's an entry level device there are a lot of novices that use it and don't know how to set it up (or to set up their computers) the right way. So take a lot of the complaints with a grain of salt.
Having said that, the complaints about the preamps are valid. They do get noisy at high gain. But they'll work fine for your electric guitar, or any relatively loud vocal needs. Recording acoustic guitar, soft vocals, or using a dynamic mic (which needs more gain than your average condenser) won't be the best, but I would argue that it's the best you can have on a PC at that particular price point ($200).
If you go higher priced I would look at the offerings from Focusrite for a significant improvement on the preamps.
However, it does have two line in jacks, and those work just fine. So an external preamp like the ART MPA II ($300) or the FMR Really Nice Preamp ($500) work fantastically through the Firebox. So you'll get 4 inputs, two with good preamps, and two with the Presonus ones (which like I said will work just fine for electric guitar or any loud instrument, I've played trumpet and harmonica through them and they sound good).
I've had no monitoring issues at all with it. The only comment there would be that the headphone preamp is extremely loud. So I rarely have to turn it more than a few clicks up to get good volume.
I own
Presonus Studio One Pro which is great software, if not limited compared to the other major offerings from Cakewalk, Steinburg, Digi, Ableton etc...etc...BUT!! I like that. It's very simple to use and the included plugins are quite good. The workflow is excellent, and Presonus has been good about updating it so far.
Studio One Artist is the one that's included with the Firebox and works the same except that you can't use any third party VSTs with it. So you're limited to the ones that come with the DAW (which are more than enough to make good music if you don't get sucked into the "more is always better" mindset).
In short...I recommend it if you don't want to spend any more money than that. If you can afford more I would look into Focusrite as the next step up. I'd recommend using condenser mics with it due to the preamps being relatively low gain. Or looking into an external two channel preamp to add to it (but you'll have to balance whether it's more worth it to just go up to the next unit, or buy a good external preamp that you can use with any other interface also...your call).
If I were doing it today...I'd probably buy a Focusrite unit. But I don't regret buying the Firebox, and have been able to make significant improvements to it by adding the external preamps once I knew how to use them.
Hope that helps.
