Firewire Audio

Hello! I am considering a firewire audio unit mainly for use with my Vista laptop (although I have a desktop with firewire as well). Just a few input/outputs, nothing "major." I am new to computer recording so I don't have a lot of experience. So far, I like the price and specs of (and all the information I have read about) the Presonus Firebox. I would like having the MIDI as well for a small keyboard I have. The software included (Cubase LE + stuff) seems good. This unit is also one of the few that appears to have Vista drivers available.

Other considerations have been the M-Audio FW410, Konnekt 8, Yamaha GO46. The Yamaha has an upgrade bundle with Cubase 4 that looks nice.

Any comments on this consideration? Should I be considering something else? Are any of the alternate choices of value? Considering the number of input/outputs, would USB be a better choice?

Any user opinions or experience would be greatly appreciated. (Preferably before the GC sale on Friday!!! Woo-hoo!)

+1 for the Firebox ! I haven't had any driver problems with it (on XP Home ed. on a HP Laptop). And Cubase LE has more features than most of us will ever need ...

Pros:
- Well ... it works !
- Cubase LE !

Cons :
- The Mic preamps are a bit weak ! (I bought a cheap ART Tube MP to get more "headroom")
- The breakout cable for MIDI and SPDIF is a bit annoying IMO !
- No power switch ...

/J

One of my audio interfaces is a Firebox, and it has served me well. But, as far as I know, it doesn't have a Vista driver yet. You might be better off looking at Edirol interfaces (I've got two), which definitely do have Vista drivers.

Presonus released Vista drivers or the Firebox about a month ago. From their website.

FireBox v.2.46 Driver information:
*Vista and XP64 support added
* Fully signed drivers


All I can tell you is I've had mine for almost three years. I use it as my primary sound source for everything on my computer and the thing doesn't get shut off. It works like a charm. It's built like a tank but nice and compact.

The pre-amps are a little week as far as gain goes.
Guitar. About 75% gain with the the 12 decible boost in the software control panel and my guitars volume pot fully dimed.
Dynamic mics like Shure SM 57 and 58. Almost 100% gain with the 12 decible boost in the software control panel.

The good news no increase in audible noise even at the highest gain setting. Very balanced pre's with little to no coloration added to the signal.

The headphone power amp can blow your ears off keep it real low.

Cubase LE-heard of some problems with jitter, long midi sequences gradually going out of time. A software issue not a hardware issue.

I think your foolish using Vista as an OS right now and thing you should have a copy of good old ROCK SOLID XP handy.


EDIT: I don't use Cubase LE so can't say if this jitter thing is reproducable.

Thanks for the replies, so far.

It sounds like the firebox would be a solid choice. My desktop is XP Pro, so if I have trouble with Vista I have a fall back plan. My laptop has a fast drive and 2GB of memory, so I'm hoping it won't be a problem.

I'm using the RME FF800 with my Lenovo T61 laptop. To get the best latency and performance I had to add a second HD just for audio, and I ditched Vista and installed XP SP2 on dual-boot partitions, with the MS firewire patch, using one boot partition strictly for the DAW, and the other boot for office, work, and web browsing. It works good now but I had to tweak it to get there. Most laptops are not made to handle audio. Try to get one with the TI FW chipset and avoid the Ricoh. HTH YMMV