Talk to me about Presonus?

rcaz

In the market for an interface, and the Presonus Firestudio Project is looking like a good contender.

http://www.thomann.de/ie/presonus_fires ... roject.htm

8 ins, 10 outs, stereo send/return, from the reviews I've read the preamps are really good. To be honest I'm a little wary of how cheap it is, since it seems pretty perfect.

I want to get my laptop working with my band live, so the primary use will be running Ableton Live and Pure Data into a PA or an amp or whatever, processing my guitar and vocals on the computer and using synthesisers and samplers and things, that's why I'd like as many outputs... FOH left and right, headphone mix for the drummer, lead going back into my guitar amp for the guitar processing stuff (put the interface in my amp's effect loop?), headphone mix for me maybe? For inputs I'd have my guitar, a microphone for the singer to go into my computer, maybe a mic over the drum kit, a bass DI... I'd really like to be able to kinda mess with the whole band and make weird samples and loop them. MIDI in/out is important 'cause I'll need a Behringer FCB1010 at some point to control this stuff.

I know 8 inputs is overkill for my proposed live setup, but I'd love to be able to record my band at once (DI guitar x2 and bass, XY mic pair on the kit, two vocals) for some rudimentary demo ideas.

At the price point I can afford (wouldn't like to go anywhere over €400 if I can get a good one around there), this seems to beat out everything around it. Would anyone say otherwise? And if I did get something a little more expensive, would it be very worthwhile?

And what's all this I hear about Firewire chipsets and their problems? I'm using a 2009 15" MacBook Pro and won't be changing for some time.

Cheers. Sorry if the 'what interface will I get?' thread is tiresome.

madtheory

See here:
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/oct08/articles/firestudioproject.htm

I haven't used it but it appears to be very good, you're not going to better it in the €400 range.

You cannot increase the i/o in any way, that's one of the places they've cut corners. I would be suspicious about how easy it is to set up a separate mix on each output including the headphones, so you may need a separate headphone amp. You may also have an issue with latency using it as an effects loop for the guitar, but if your laptop is fast that won't be a problem.

For PD and Ableton I think you'd be better off with a Behringer BCR2000, that's USB so you can use the MIDI for something else.

rcaz

madtheory wrote: »

See here:
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/oct08/articles/firestudioproject.htm

I haven't used it but it appears to be very good, you're not going to better it in the €400 range.

You cannot increase the i/o in any way, that's one of the places they've cut corners. I would be suspicious about how easy it is to set up a separate mix on each output including the headphones, so you may need a separate headphone amp. You may also have an issue with latency using it as an effects loop for the guitar, but if your laptop is fast that won't be a problem.

For PD and Ableton I think you'd be better off with a Behringer BCR2000, that's USB so you can use the MIDI for something else.

Cheers madtheory!

I figured I'd need some sort of trickery like a headphone amp anyway so that doesn't bother me too much. Most bands using setups like the one I'd like to have would have a separate mixer for the drummer to control anyway, right? When we've more bits of gear that our drummer needs to play along with then we'll look at that, but right now it'd just be my laptop.

The BCR2000 looks good too, but I need a foot controller for what I'm hoping to do (playing guitar while controlling programs), the FCB1010 seems to be excellent for the price (good enough for Christopher Willits anyway), the alternatives are way more expensive and I'm not sure the FCB1010 really lacks anything I'd need... I'm doing lots of my MIDI stuff in Pd and sending it into Live so I'm just looking for the most basic MIDI output. For any knobs and buttons I might need, I've got a Korg NanoKontrol and Akai LPD8.

Quiggers

other contenders in the same price range is the m-audio profire 2626 offers two adat in/outs

and the focusrite saphire pro and offers 1 adat in/out

the adat would allow you to increase your input output count, future proofing your kit.

rcaz

Quiggers wrote: »

other contenders in the same price range is the m-audio profire 2626 offers two adat in/outs

and the focusrite saphire pro and offers 1 adat in/out

the adat would allow you to increase your input output count, future proofing your kit.

I hear ya, but if it got to the stage where I wanted this interface for +8 channel recording, I figured I'd need something of a higher quality anyway... Hmm...

shayleon

I have been using the older version of this presonus for years to do recordings outside the studio and it has been 100% reliable and gave me no problems.

Installation was also straight forward and simple.

Highly recommended.

johnnylakes

I have been using 2 Presonus FP10s now for a cupla years and gotta say they are excellent (for the price of course). Simple, intuitive interface and nice and easy to get up and running. Haven't done a whole lot output-wise though, just control room/live room split. For the money I find them excellent.

flyswatter

You might consider the M-Audio Fast Track Ultra 8R perhaps?

It has 8 I/O so it should suit your needs.

It seems to be basically a Fast Track Ultra with more input preamps.

I have the Fast Track Ultra and it's a nice interface with good clean preamps.

It runs off USB 2.0.

cerebis

you could go for a Toneport Ux8

http://line6.com/toneportux8/

spec's
http://line6.com/toneportux8/specifications.html


have one a while now and it only cost me 320-350 in Music Maker in Dublin... it's a good bit of kit, metal as well... sturdy like....

http://www.thomann.de/ie/line6_ux8.htm

podfarm is included free....wide range of amps and sounds etc.....

rcaz

flyswatter wrote: »

You might consider the M-Audio Fast Track Ultra 8R perhaps?

It has 8 I/O so it should suit your needs.

It seems to be basically a Fast Track Ultra with more input preamps.

I have the Fast Track Ultra and it's a nice interface with good clean preamps.

It runs off USB 2.0.

It's a little more expensive than the PreSonus Firestudio Project, and it has some funky MIDI adapter there that'd require buying some extra gear to connect a regular MIDI cable to, not into that... Less outputs too. I'd rather have some FireWire gear too, 'cause I've only got two USB ports on the computer. I'm hesitant to get a USB hub, and if I do, I'd be hesitant to use it much, last thing I want to happen on stage is a bottleneck or whatever it's called when **** ****s up...

And cerebis, kinda dubious as to the quality of the Line6 interfaces... Never heard them mentioned in any of the comparisons with the PreSonus gear (most of the comparisons have been with M-Audio and Focusrite). Not too bothered about the Podfarm business either, I've got all my processing programs sorted...

Thanks for all the input guys! I'm almost completely settled on the Firestudio Project. Gonna order in January some time so it doesn't arrive in the middle of exams :pac:

flyswatter

Oh right, mine doesn't need a midi adaptor, thought they'd be the same in that regard.

Good luck with your Firestudio anyway!