Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I purchased the Firestudio Project a year ago and have been thrilled with its performance.
The external LEDs are a huge plus for setting your levels, and the eight XLR/quarter-inch inputs are very convenient. You also have phantom power available for all inputs.
The latency with this unit is minimal with a PC running Vista in a stripped down form as recommended by one of the major music retailer web sites.
Cubase LE is fairly simple to use, and it's easy to export your individual tracks for use in other DAWs like ProTools, if you intend to mix in a studio. Another note regarding Cubase: out of the box the program defaults to 16-bit recording, and you will definitely want to change the bit depth to 24-bit, particularly if recording in a noisy home studio environment. The noise floor, especially on vocal recordings with high gain on a condenser mic, is considerably higher with 16-bit. So, make sure you have a computer that is beefy enough to handle 24-bit because it does use more system resources.
The FireStudio also comes packaged with some nice VST plug-ins including instruments by Halion, some of which are pretty passable like the Jazz Piano.
When researching interfaces, my biggest concern was compatibility with hardware, as I had read some horror stories about interfaces not working with FireWire drivers correctly on certain PCs or Macs. This one worked perfectly out of the box with a store-bought HP desktop, so my experience was great in that regard.
My only complaint is that this unit was supposed to come with the Presonus EyeQ software - a multi-band EQ and spectrum analyzer, which was pictured on the box, but not in the box. I've read that others got left out of the EyeQ party as well, and I have e-mailed tech support but not yet gotten a response after one week.
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PreSonus FireStudio Project 10x10 FireWire Recording InterfaceThe FireStudio Project a complete 24-bit/96K professional recording system combining eight Class A XMAX microphone preamplifiers, 24-bit/96k sample rate conversion, and a zero-latency matrix router mixer.
The FireStudio Project is bundled with PreSonus Studio One Artist, our groundbreaking music creation program, and over 4 GB of virtual instruments, plug-ins, loops, and samples to get you started making music immediately.
Great for professional studio recording, live sound recording, performance, podcasting and more, the FireStudio Project is designed for flexibility and ultra-high sonic performance. Whether you need to record a live drum set, mic a guitar amp, or a complete band, the FireStudio Project is ready and more than able. With the new FireControl Mixer/Router you can send up to five individual mixes to different musicians during recording so that every band member can have a custom headphone mix.
The FireStudio Project can be daisy-chained with one or more FireStudio Projects or FireStudio Tubes to expand your number of recording inputs. Two and three units daisy-chained in any combination has been tested at PreSonus, however, the total number of units that can be daisy-chained depends on your computer\'s processor speed, amount of RAM and computer configuration.
The FireStudio Project is the next-generation of the award-winning FP10/FirePod with the following improvements:
Improved analog to digital converters (114dB dynamic range)
Improved syncronization with JetPLL™ (jitter elimination technology)
FireControl Mixer/Router to send up to five separate zero-latency stereo mixes to musicians during recording
Three-segment LED input metering on all analog channels
Internal IEC-based power supply
PreSonus Studio One Artist bundle with Native Effects plug-ins and third-party instruments, loops, and applications.
8 XMAX Class A PreamplifiersThe FireStudio Project includes eight custom-designed high-voltage, discrete, XMAX Class A microphone preamplifiers for all types of microphones. Many other companies offering recording interfaces add the cheapest possible microphone preamplifier as an afterthought to the interface. PreSonus knows that the preamplifier is a key component in the sonic quality of a recording. The job of a microphone preamplifier is to boost microphone level signals to line level so that the signal can be converted from analog to digital. This mic to line boost is generally a preamplification of over 400 times the voltage of the original mic level signal. This preamplification stage is one of the most important stages that the signal will go through before converted to digital, and is why a high performance preamplifier is important to achieving great results. A cheap "off the shelf op-amp" type mic preamp that is found in most interfaces translates into thin, noisy and harsh results.
All XMAX preamplifiers are built with the same three elements:
High Voltage - The XMAX preamplifier runs on power rails of 30V. Most off the shelf op amp based designs run on power rails of 10V to 18V. Higher voltage power rails deliver more headroom, deeper lows, smoother highs and an overall fuller sound.
Discrete - No op amps. Only transistors, resistors and capacitors. Op amps add noise, coloration and harshness to a signal. Discrete designs deliver ultra low noise and transparency.
Class A - When a circuit is running in Class A mode the circuit is always in an "on" state operating at its optimal voltage requirements. Class A mode has zero crossover distortion and delivers purer, clearer and more musical sonics than class A/B designs which are found in most op-amp circuits.
The net result of the XMAX preamp design is high headroom, low noise, wide dynamic range and wide frequency range, and most importantly, musicality and transparency - smooth highs, solid deep lows, and everything in between.
Digital Converters and JetPLL SyncThe FireStudio Project touts A/D/A converters with a dynamic range of over 114dB for unbelievable clarity as well as synchronization using patented JetPLL™ jitter reduction technology. JetPLL™ incorporates noise shaping to virtually remove all audio band jitter. JetPLL™ ensures the highest converter performance possible, resulting in better stereo separation and clearer more transparent audio. JetPLL™ delivers ultra-fast locking to any digital format through a wide range of frequencies and is extremely robust and tolerant of wide variations in clock frequencies. JetPLL™ ensures near perfect clock performance when networking audio devices, thus creating the most stable and robust synchronization to the computer.
Universal ControlAll members of the FireStudio family of interfaces, including the StudioLive 16.4.2 mixer, come bundled with Universal Control software. Universal Control is a powerful, flexible, and easy to use control-panel application that allows you to daisy-chain to up to 4 FireStudio-family devices for a maximum of up to 52 inputs and outputs.
Universal Control consists of the Launch window and the Device window. In the Launch window, you can set the sample rate, clock source, safe mode, buffer size (PC only), and WDM routing (PC only) for all connected FireStudio-series interfaces. Each device is listed at the bottom of the window, along with Device Window buttons that open each interface\'s Device window.
The Device window provides level and routing controls for each FireStudio-series interface\'s internal mixer, enabling you to set up zero-latency monitor mixes. Input and output metering have been optimized for ultra-fast screen display and minimum CPU usage, and you can give each interface a custom name. You can use any device in the chain as the master clock source, or you can slave the entire chain to an external digital device using any of the available digital inputs in the chain.
Studio OneArtist—Plus Gigabytes of Creative ResourcesThe FireStudio Project is bundled with an exceptional software package, featuring PreSonus Studio One Artist, the amazing new DAW software for Mac OS X and Windows XP and Vista that makes producing high-quality projects easier than ever before. As part of the Studio One Artist package, you get 20 new PreSonus Native Effects plug-ins and virtual instruments and a generous bundle of third-party loops, software, and instrument sounds.
Compare Studio One Artistand bundled extras to what comes with competing mobile interfaces:
All-meat, no-bloat, music-creation software with anintuitive, practical, single-window interface
Unlimited tracks, insert effects, sends, virtualinstruments, buses, and effects channels
Powerful drag-and-drop functionality
Content browser with convenient sort options and previewplayer
Full-featured, flexible automation
Powerful real-time auto/manual time-stretching andresampling engine
Control Link™ (advanced MIDImapping made easy)
Twenty 32-bit Native Sound™ plug-ins, including reverbs, ampmodeling, and EQ
Four new virtual instruments, including a sampler and ananalog-type subtractive synth
Ability to control the software mixer in any FireStudio-series interface to create zero-latency cue mixes.
Gigabytes of third-party resources, including Native Instruments™ Kore™ Player with custom SoundPack (150 instruments), Native Instruments™ Guitar Rig LE, Toontrack™ EZDrummer Lite, and over 1.4 GB of loops!
Computer system requirements:Below are the minimum computer-system requirements for your FireStudio Project.
Windows
Windows 7, Vista, XP (32-bit and 64-bit)
Intel Pentium 4 1.6 GHz processor or AMD Athlon 64 (Turion) (2.5 GHz or faster recommended)
1 GB RAM (2 GB or more recommended)
Macintosh
Mac OS X 10.5.2 or later (32-bit and 64-bit)
PowerPC G4 1.25 GHz or Intel Core Solo 1.5 GHz processor (2 GHz or faster recommended)
1 GB RAM (2 GB or more recommended)
Windows and Macintosh Systems
IEEE 1394 FireWire 400 Port
Internet connection recommended
DVD-ROM drive
Internal or external 7200 RPM storage drive highly recommended
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