Presonus FP-10 on sale or the new Firestudio Project?

[Digital Jams]

I am just freaking pissed that EMU has Vista drivers listed as 4th quarter 07 and that has been there for 5 months so I am thinking of making a switch. I like the tech numbers of the Presonus and the fact I am just flat out losing the PCI card and just going with a firewire cable for all my audio / recording needs.

Pro and Cons please and how are you guys getting that 20% off for MF?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Randy....if I do this you can have the emu, I have everything and it works 100%.

 

[cobrahead1030]

i've heard good things about the firestudio

i'm a happy firepod user myself, i paid under $300 shipped for it new from MF as a blemish...but that included the extended warranty deal they offer, and it was in perfect condition; best bang for the buck on a recording unit ever

 

[nwright]

I have NOT heard good things about the Firestudio.

I've heard that the pre's are a bit better, but the A/D and D/A conversion is not as good and it doesn't play nice with many systems...Check the Presonus site's user forums for MANY disgruntled Firestudio users. I'm a little bummed, as I was looking into this unit.

If you don't see a need down the road for ADAT connectivity, I'd stick with the Firepod (FP10). If ADAT I/O is a concern, I'd look at the Focusrite Saffire Pro series for something similar to the Firestudio setup.

 

[Digital Jams]

Ok....one for and one not for!

Actually both responses help as I will check the Presonus forms and I will look again at the FP-10. Presonus really talks up the pre amps so it is funny right away I get a not great pre amp line. I was under the impression that in this dollar range the pres would pretty much be the same through-out the companies.

Stupid question.......the Presonus will do all of my audio correct? As in no need for a sound card.

 

[Shiny_Surface]

You could always set your PC up for Dual booting XP and Vista

j/k

 

[nwright]

Ok....one for and one not for!

Actually both responses help as I will check the Presonus forms and I will look again at the FP-10. Presonus really talks up the pre amps so it is funny right away I get a not great pre amp line. I was under the impression that in this dollar range the pres would pretty much be the same through-out the companies.

Stupid question.......the Presonus will do all of my audio correct? As in no need for a sound card.

I do believe the pre's ARE better on the Firestudio, it's everything else that isn't (namely A/D/A conv. and possible faulty hardware/driver design). Also, that's NOT to say the Pre's on the FP10 are bad at all. They aren't. I've done many 30-50 tracks sessions using my Firepod and I feel I got really great results for my experience level and gear list.

As for the Firestudio alone, what I've read is that the drivers are bad, and many users are claiming the unit itself is bad. And, presonus's supprt for the unit has been dismal...They haven't said anything. As far as driver support goes for certain platforms, they've gave deadlines on their forums many times that came and went with no updated drivers. Users are saying the unit goes bad or something after a period of time, crackling, latency issues, etc.

I love my Firepod, for the price when I bought it and now, I do not think there is a better unit, and it made me want to be a loyal Presonus customer. But since the Firestudio has come out and the resulting shitstorm on their forums and others I frequent, and Presonus' hush hush mentality leads me and many others to think they built a bunk unit and are keeping quiet because they can't figure it out.

So, stepping up to the price point of the Firestudio, I would definitely look elsewhere, namely the Focusrite Saffire Pro 26 @ 699

 

[Anonymous]

pres are the same in the firestudio and the firepod.... the fire studio has better converters and a better clock enabling a little more headroom ( guy from presonus hangs a gearslutz.com, good studio gear site)..

The firestudio is definitely not ready for prime time..bad drivers, cpu spikes and some of the key features of the FS arent available yet ( you cannot control the 16 adat channels through the dsp internal mixer yet). There are alot more problems on a mac than a pc though..alot of users are running it on a pc with great results...

if your a one man band hobbyist type the firepod is gonna be a good buy..stable drivers, clean sound , and reasonably priced...

but I have no idea if it runs well on vista

The firepod will be awesome if/when the drivers get sorted out


if you want to step up from the firepod..go with an rme fireface... the pres are not great but the conversion and stability will be right up there with the best stuff... I have a hammerfall and rme adi and my firepod is really not even in the same league...

 

[Digital Jams]

Ok....one for and one not for!

Actually both responses help as I will check the Presonus forms and I will look again at the FP-10. Presonus really talks up the pre amps so it is funny right away I get a not great pre amp line. I was under the impression that in this dollar range the pres would pretty much be the same through-out the companies.

Stupid question.......the Presonus will do all of my audio correct? As in no need for a sound card.

I do believe the pre's ARE better on the Firestudio, it's everything else that isn't (namely A/D/A conv. and possible faulty hardware/driver design). Also, that's NOT to say the Pre's on the FP10 are bad at all. They aren't. I've done many 30-50 tracks sessions using my Firepod and I feel I got really great results for my experience level and gear list.

As for the Firestudio alone, what I've read is that the drivers are bad, and many users are claiming the unit itself is bad. And, presonus's supprt for the unit has been dismal...They haven't said anything. As far as driver support goes for certain platforms, they've gave deadlines on their forums many times that came and went with no updated drivers. Users are saying the unit goes bad or something after a period of time, crackling, latency issues, etc.

I love my Firepod, for the price when I bought it and now, I do not think there is a better unit, and it made me want to be a loyal Presonus customer. But since the Firestudio has come out and the resulting shitstorm on their forums and others I frequent, and Presonus' hush hush mentality leads me and many others to think they built a bunk unit and are keeping quiet because they can't figure it out.

So, stepping up to the price point of the Firestudio, I would definitely look elsewhere, namely the Focusrite Saffire Pro 26 @ 699

Thanks, I will hit the forum later but I am guessing that the drivers are tanking with Vista and yes that is my OS. EMU has been the same way with the new 1616 stuff, crap support and drivers are way late in delivery.

MF has the Firepod for $399 and I am sure I can get to $350 at GC but I will look at the Focusrite, thanks.

 

[tweed]

I am just freaking pissed that EMU has Vista drivers listed as 4th quarter 07 and that has been there for 5 months so I am thinking of making a switch. I like the tech numbers of the Presonus and the fact I am just flat out losing the PCI card and just going with a firewire cable for all my audio / recording needs.

Pro and Cons please and how are you guys getting that 20% off for MF?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Randy....if I do this you can have the emu, I have everything and it works 100%.

 

[nwright]

pres are the same in the firestudio and the firepod.... the fire studio has better converters and a better clock enabling a little more headroom ( guy from presonus hangs a gearslutz.com, good studio gear site)..

The firestudio is definitely not ready for prime time..bad drivers, cpu spikes and some of the key features of the FS arent available yet ( you cannot control the 16 adat channels through the dsp internal mixer yet). There are alot more problems on a mac than a pc though..alot of users are running it on a pc with great results...

if your a one man band hobbyist type the firepod is gonna be a good buy..stable drivers, clean sound , and reasonably priced...

but I have no idea if it runs well on vista

The firepod will be awesome if/when the drivers get sorted out

DO you mean the Firestudio?


if you want to step up from the firepod..go with an rme fireface... the pres are not great but the conversion and stability will be right up there with the best stuff... I have a hammerfall and rme adi and my firepod is really not even in the same league...

Check Presonus's site. They list the Firestudio having the XMAX preamps, and the Firepod having "Class A preamps", not designated as XMAX. I have heard from pros on another forum that the converters are not as good on the Firestudio, though. Are you sure he wasn't referring to the Firestudio Project?

Like I said, I have a Firepod and love it. I also use Vista and have had 0 problems using the unit. I bought my Vista loaded machine the first week machines started shipping with Vista. At that time, there were no Vista drivers for the Firepod. I loaded up the XP drivers in my Vista machine and my Firepod worked rock solid with those up until this past summer when I downloaded the Vista drivers, which have been great as well.

EDIT

Doh...According to Presonus's site, they do list the Firepod as having the XMAX preamps, I'm almost positive they didn't label the pre's as such when it was called the Firepod (prior to the FP10 name change and Firestudio/Firestudio Project release).

My apologies.

 

[* velcro-fly *]

I am just freaking pissed that EMU has Vista drivers listed as 4th quarter 07 and that has been there for 5 months so I am thinking of making a switch. I like the tech numbers of the Presonus and the fact I am just flat out losing the PCI card and just going with a firewire cable for all my audio / recording needs.

Pro and Cons please and how are you guys getting that 20% off for MF?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Randy....if I do this you can have the emu, I have everything and it works 100%.

Hey Digi Steak Burner -

I'll sell you a new T.C. Konnekt 24D for $350 shipped....alas my recording intentions lasted about 5 minutes

Steve E

 

[Meathead]

A local store had the Firepod on sale and I grabbed one...I like it a lot, no hardware/software issues at all and the built in preamps are good enough to me for recording.
I may pick up a really high quality 2 channel preamp, but haven't really needed to so far.

 

[Digital Jams]

I am just freaking pissed that EMU has Vista drivers listed as 4th quarter 07 and that has been there for 5 months so I am thinking of making a switch. I like the tech numbers of the Presonus and the fact I am just flat out losing the PCI card and just going with a firewire cable for all my audio / recording needs.

Pro and Cons please and how are you guys getting that 20% off for MF?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Randy....if I do this you can have the emu, I have everything and it works 100%.

Hey Digi Steak Burner -

I'll sell you a new T.C. Konnekt 24D for $350 shipped....alas my recording intentions lasted about 5 minutes

Steve E

Thanks Steve but I want more inputs

 

[Digital Jams]

A local store had the Firepod on sale and I grabbed one...I like it a lot, no hardware/software issues at all and the built in preamps are good enough to me for recording.
I may pick up a really high quality 2 channel preamp, but haven't really needed to so far.

That is the 8 input one right?

You go back to XP or still using Vista?

 

[Meathead]

A local store had the Firepod on sale and I grabbed one...I like it a lot, no hardware/software issues at all and the built in preamps are good enough to me for recording.
I may pick up a really high quality 2 channel preamp, but haven't really needed to so far.

That is the 8 input one right?

You go back to XP or still using Vista?

Yup 8 ins....I use XP and a friend of mine uses Vista with the Firepod as well.
A salesguy at the store said they had drivers (that worked) for Vista out pretty quick.

 

[nwright]

A salesguy at the store said they had drivers (that worked) for Vista out pretty quick.

For the Firepod?

If ~6 months is quick to that guy...

 

[Digital Jams]

A local store had the Firepod on sale and I grabbed one...I like it a lot, no hardware/software issues at all and the built in preamps are good enough to me for recording.
I may pick up a really high quality 2 channel preamp, but haven't really needed to so far.

That is the 8 input one right?

You go back to XP or still using Vista?

Yup 8 ins....I use XP and a friend of mine uses Vista with the Firepod as well.
A salesguy at the store said they had drivers (that worked) for Vista out pretty quick.

Thanks Adam

 

[Bob Savage]

I have NOT heard good things about the Firestudio.

I've heard that the pre's are a bit better,

IMO, if you're really worried about mic preamps, buy an interface with line inputs and get separate preamps

 

[Digital Jams]

I have NOT heard good things about the Firestudio.

I've heard that the pre's are a bit better,

IMO, if you're really worried about mic preamps, buy an interface with line inputs and get separate preamps

What do you think about the Firepod Bob?

I value your opinion.

 

[cobrahead1030]

there's a reason that 6 months ago i went well outta my way to find a new pc with the specs i wanted, that still ran XP

there's a lot of hardware that seems to have problems operating with vista...i'm sticking with xp and my firepod for a good 2 years or so, until they get most of that crap sorted out