Anybody heard the Focusrite Saffire yet?

[cocheese]

This one looks really interesting to me... I'm not sure they're shipping yet, but was wondering if anyone has heard one yet.

[respirator]

I'm picking one up for a review today (for a Danish magazine). I'll post my opinions later.

[respirator]

Finally got time to give the Saffire a work over. My conclusions:

Preamps rock solid, very usable, neutral. DI also usable with lots of gain. Converters very good, clean (192/24). Latency very low.

The feature where you can add reverb to the monitored signal is pure genius for the small project studio. Almost worth the asking price it self.

The control software takes some getting used to, but is OK.

The compressor and eq (you get all the efx as plugs as well) are ok, nothing spectacular. The amp sim is very, very bad.

Warning: Uses Pace for sw-protection :-( And needs internet for authentification. I also had to update the firmware, which also requires internet connection.

A very good and fair priced fw-interface for the project studio / laptop musician. Basic stuff good, fancy stuff not there yet.

Thomas

[timc3]

how would you rate the converters? Better than MOTU 828 but not as good as Lynx (those are just examples).

And please whoever it is (and I think you are from focusrite) stop posting those damn quotes of reviews of the saffire in every forum you can find. In fact if you do in this thread I can assure you I won't buy one no matter how good it is.

[respirator]

Originally Posted by timc3

how would you rate the converters? Better than MOTU 828 but not as good as Lynx (those are just examples).

I've compared them to my RME Multiface and I prefer the Multiface (just). I had an M-Box 1 a little while ago and the Saffire converters are better. Don't know about the new M-Box, though. I think the Saffire is a bit better than Motu, and don't know about Lynx. Basically I didn't encounter anything that made me notice the converters - and thats a good thing in my book.

But I don't think you should consider the Saffire just for the converters. It's as a recording solution it's interesting. And the preamps are decent.

[John The Cut]

hi Respirator,

thanks for taking the time to post your initial findings.

Are the pre-amps on Sapphire just the platinum range pres, or have they done a new design for this box?

[respirator]

Originally Posted by mogWai

Are the pre-amps on Sapphire just the platinum range pres, or have they done a new design for this box?

There seem to be more headroom. The instrument in offers way more gain than my Voicemaster Pro (which I'm selling soonish). And Saffire seems less dull. So I think it's a different design.

Another thing: The headphone amps are way too weak. I use a seperate headphone amp with lots of power so I'm biased, but even compared to the Voicemaster, Saffire is seriously lacking there.

[NuSkoolTone]

Originally Posted by respirator

Warning: Uses Pace for sw-protection :-( And needs internet for authentification. I also had to update the firmware, which also requires internet connection.

You mean it won't fire up unless it's connected to the internet?

Now THAT's ********. Just plain stupid IMO. If I can't take this to someone's rehearshal space to do a make shift demo, this is USELESS to me.

My god, if you have to be an anti-piracy terrorist, at least use iLOK so I can take the damn thing with me.

Guess what product's not getting any of MY dollars?

[rolo]

Originally Posted by NuSkoolTone

You mean it won't fire up unless it's connected to the internet?

Now THAT's ********. Just plain stupid IMO. If I can't take this to someone's rehearshal space to do a make shift demo, this is USELESS to me.

My god, if you have to be an anti-piracy terrorist, at least use iLOK so I can take the damn thing with me.

Guess what product's not getting any of MY dollars?

Dude, I think he just means you have to connect to the internet for authorisation purposes.... the first time, not all the time.

[respirator]

Originally Posted by rolo

Dude, I think he just means you have to connect to the internet for authorisation purposes.... the first time, not all the time.

Exactly. It's still annoying though. Why the f* do you have to authenticate hardware?! I don't understand it.

[simonv]

I just bought a Saffire.

I played with it for a couple of hours. Up to now, I am pleased with the Preamps and Conversion. It sounds better than any other 2-input sound card that I've seen. The drivers seem to be very solid. (Im on an winXP Inspiron 8600 laptop).

I think it's gonna be my best buddy for many months

[WNR]

It sounds like some of you guys have tried the Saffire.

I'm looking for a soundcard that will hold for a few years, so I can upgrade my other stuff and still be pleased with my soundcard.

The Saffire looks real nice to me, but here in Sweden it's kind of expensive 643Euro
So I'm wondering if I should buy the Saffire or Motu 828 MKII (750Euro used)

I'm going to use the soundcard for recording and producing rap/hiphop music, and I'm thinking of using a midicontroller, so no big mixer.

What do you guys think?, the Saffire or the Motu? =)

//WNR

[Joe Cole]

I picked up a Saffire on about 4 days ago.

I agree that the headphone amps are kinda weak, but you have to make sure that all the settings are proper in the Saffire Control before passing a real judgement.

Saffire Control, let's just say, either I am not too quick or the manual leaves quite a few holes. I got around to getting it to work, but I am still in the learning curve.

One niggle, the monitor volume control is very sensitive in the first part of the dial rotation. It makes it hard to set a real low volume setting (which i use when programing drums and midi). And.... when you move the monitor volume control, it seems to step up in volume with a slight digital click at each graduation.

Strangley, Saffire Control has shut itself down while I was doing other tasks. No big deal, but strange. Maybe I X'd it myself, but I doubt it. You can just reopen it.

Having the ability to monitor with reverb and compression is a godsent for guys like me with a small home setup.

I wish it was a rack mount though..... thumbsup

[ramras]

Does anyone know how to set latency below 5ms? In both ableton live and cubase 2 SX, when i go to set the latency for the saffire using the ASIO driver, the only options i have are 5ms, 10ms, 15ms, 20ms. There's no way i can see to manually set the number of samples. I emailed support and they said you can set samples manually from 14 samples on up to 2000 something. But i only get those 4 choices. Anyone know what i'm doing wrong?

[drummin4christ]

I know this thread is about the Saffire, but have you considered the Presonus Firebox. I got mine in today and it rocks! The DSP mixer and drivers are solid, and the preamps and converters are very,very clean.

Plus, they just lowered the price $100!!

[cocheese]

Thanks for the revews guys! I've been waiting on this one for a while and it looks like the Saffire may be the one for me. It's now between the Presonus Firepod and the Saffire. Choices...

[Young Chris 101]

assuming everything works flawlessly on both the i88x and saffire.

how does the saffire compare to the yamaha i88x in terms of the preamp quality and the converters quality?

[Young Chris 101]

does anybody know?

[ticohans]

Chris, I've not used EITHER the Saffire or the i88x, so take this FWIW. With that said, I have looked into both units quite a bit, and the i88x seems to stomp EVERYTHING in up to twice it's price range, if not more. It was originally retailing for $999 (MSRP over $1200), and many thought it a good buy at THAT price, let alone the $399 that it's going for now. It's a professional unit, through and through, while the Saffire seems geared more to the prosumers.

[Young Chris 101]

ohh i see. thanx man.

[ticohans]

With that said, Chris, it also seems that the i88x might not be the most user friendly unit in the world, while the Saffire is probably a little bit easier to get running right out of the box.

[paulmusic]

Yep, amazing fat sound especially for drum and vocal

[NorseHorse]

Old thread, but yep, I own the Saffire 26 i/o and the regular Saffire as well.

GREAT pres. Plenty of gain. With a solid low end.

My only complaint is that I've had some clock/sync problems with my Saffire26. I now have an external clock that has fixed it.

All in all, this is an excellent alternative to the RME FF800.