Presonus Gear? Home Studio?

[Jack_]

When I search on Presonus, I don't find too much. Everyone here using other products? How does Presonus rate in general?

I was browsing Craiglist and found someone selling a Presonus Firestation locally. I thought score, but after searching online it looked like Presonus released that in 2004 and have abandoned support for it already. So that concerns me.

My goal... I'd like to get a midi interface for my drums. I have a PC and it has a firewire card. This particular PC has been updated to Vista. I have a laptop I could use running XP.

I would eventually like to do multiple tracks although i don't see myself recording more than 2 to 4 inputs at one time. More likely one or two at a time.

I read a bunch on Tweak Headz guide, that's where I got turned on to the Presonus Firebox as an option.

http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm

http://www.tweakheadz.com/rigs.htm -- note Rig #1

Searching around it looks like Presonus has a product called AudioBox coming out? Guitar Center says it will be available end of this month--May 31st.

Am I going down the right path? Presonus okay? Looks like the AudioBox is USB and half the price. Anyone else care to help with the comparisons? Both look 24bit. I would think USB would be advantageous and have more support than FireWire. I bought a FireWire card with my PC but that was several OS versions ago and I've never used it and not sure it's working under Vista now.

Presonus AudioBox

http://www.guitarcenter.com/PreSonus-AudioBox-USB-243007-i1388074.gc

Presonus FireBox

http://www.guitarcenter.com/PreSonus-FireBox-24-bit-96kHz-FireWire-Recording-System-103023966-i1125347.gc

Looks like the Firebox has 4 inputs and 6 outputs? Looks like Audiobox has just 2 mics and Midi as input. So recording an electric guitar wouldn't be possible?

Any comments on Guitar Center Studio packages?

http://www.guitarcenter.com/PreSonus-FireBox-Studio-Package-247106-i1126300.gc

[SuperPuss]

I'm not sure what their latest firewire boxes are like but a few years ago I used a Presonus BlueMax compressor on a project I was working on and remember being very pleasantly surprised by how well it worked, especially given the price.
The build quality was also very good.
It was no match for an SSL master bus compressor but it didn't cost the same as a small house either!!!

Generally, firewire is a better option for higher performance but USB is perfectly capable of decent performance with smaller interfaces with less i/o.
I would stay well clear of Vista for audio apps too, particularly considering you have XP already available.

[Hercules]

Hi Jack,

The Presonus and Firewire kit should work fine under Vista but make sure you have the right version of Vista - you'll need a 32 bit version - I recommend the Business Vista version.

I have ProTools / M-Audio / Firewire running very successfully on this version - the Vista drivers are now available from the relevant sites (you'll find that many of the CDs that come with the h/w still only have the XP drivers).

Have a look at the Digidesign/M-Audio kit as well - they're studio quality/compatible and are competetively priced.

[Jack_]

Thanks for the feedback! I've got Kraft Music, Interstate Music and a Guitar Center nearby so I'll probably go in and browse. I've got Vista Ultimate on this box but the XP laptop doesn't have Firewire.

Titania, I thought USB was faster so I did a search and you're right, while USB 2.0 might technically transfer data faster Firewire has less overhead and ends up winning in the real world. Hmm, did not know that. Thanks!

[SuperPuss]

Yeah, I was curious about why most of the bigger interfaces still used firewire so I did similar research to you and discovered the same thing.

Make sure you double check the Presonus compatibility section before you buy anything though. I think some of them will only work under XP.

[almazza]

I posted about this recently in the VST forum. I had an Alesis USB2.0 mixer. I switched over to a Presonus Firebox (I also use it as a bass preamp). It's working great for me. The latency is low enough that I don't really hear it. I created some samples using BFD2 and the Firebox at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thACwWhtpgU

[front 242]

i don't really know anything about the current subject but i was watching this video yesterday you might find it interesting. its martin atkins using a presonus firestudio. http://youtube.com/watch?v=L7u1M99MVLE&feature=related

[foofoo]

look into a used presonus firepod. the drivers are stable and plenty of them around.comes with cubase le. decent enough converters and mic pre-s. i would stick with the xp if it were me.

[weldman]

PreSonus gear is great. I had the chance to work with the Firestudio Project a while ago and loved it. Great sound and operation.

I suggest looking into the larger input units such as the firestudio project and FP10 as IMO its best to get an interface you can grow into. I just feel the smaller units are limiting...but thats just my thought.

Ebay and CL are good places to keep an eye on.

[foofoo]

weldman you have to be careful some of the presonus stuff. there are some well documented issues with the newer boxes like the firestudio. the firestudio project is supposed to have better drivers. also lots of problems with using sonar. firepods can be had all day long on ebaY for 200-300$. even though it doesnt have adat light pipe for expansion you can do 8 tracks with the onboard mic pre-s and 2 more through spdif (digital in) giving you 10 tracks of record. you can also sync 2 firepods together. the new units are wating for more stable drivers last time i checked as far as syncing more than one unit to it. the fireface 400 and 800 are nice and stable too but way more money.

[Jack_]

Thanks for all the info!!!

[almazza]

What's also nice is the Firestudio project will work as a (somewhat limited) stand alone mixer without having to have your computer on.

I need more interfaces I think I'm going to add an analog mixer into my setup. Most likely a Mackie 1202-VLZ3. Then I can send the ALT3/4 bus to the inputs on the fireproject and the main outs back to 2 channels on the mixer. I tihnk this will provide the most flexibility at a good cost.

Adam

[Hercules]

Hey Adam,

A cheaper option is to use a half-normalised patch panel if all you need to do is split your signal.

If you go with the analog mixer have a look at the Yamahas too - I have an MG16/4 which is a very good little unit - it provides group outs (2) and master outs (2) and it also has 8 x I/O sends that effectively makes it a 16/12 mixer with a bit of smart patching.

Bear in mind, though, that any analog mixer will introduce a little more noise into your recording.

[weldman]

weldman you have to be careful some of the presonus stuff. there are some well documented issues with the newer boxes like the firestudio. the firestudio project is supposed to have better drivers. also lots of problems with using sonar. firepods can be had all day long on ebaY for 200-300$. even though it doesnt have adat light pipe for expansion you can do 8 tracks with the onboard mic pre-s and 2 more through spdif (digital in) giving you 10 tracks of record. you can also sync 2 firepods together. the new units are wating for more stable drivers last time i checked as far as syncing more than one unit to it. the fireface 400 and 800 are nice and stable too but way more money.

yea the only problem I've ever heard about PS gear is driver issues...
which is a shame since they make some great hardware.