Presonus FireStudio

[Almost Human]

So, does anyone have any extra info on this product yet?

http://www.sweetwater.com/publicatio...y&day=1&sid=27

Scroll down to the Presonus section. Supposedly a beefed up version of the Firepod with 18 inputs/outputs, a new remote that's included with it, ADAT I/O, dual headphone amps, 8 mic pres, etc. Should be an interesting upgrade to the Firepod.

[jkshort]

Looked pretty cool. construction was solid. seemed the face plate was of a heavier construction than their earlier boxes. should street around 899.00 US. uses the new dice2 firewire chip so they are claiming way better a/d d/a and jitter specs than the firepod. dual adat's pass 96k. It actually has 3 headphone outs and a 56 channel internal dsp mixer so you can stream 3 independant headphone mixes from the unit (remote has 2 headphone outs, the other is on the rack unit).

besides...everyone I have ever met at presonus is pretty damn cool.

[drummin4christ]

Looks awesome!!!

[Elak]

Any pictures of the back?

[Almost Human]

I'm curious to know if the mic pres have been tweaked any or are the same as the ones in the Firepod? I'm curious to see a back shot, too. When it says that it also has an 8 channel ADAT and a SPDIF input, how about this...could I get a higher end pre like a Great River MP-2NV and a Lucid AD9624 to use with this unit in collaboration with everything else? Let's say I have the 8 mic pre's it ships with, then patch a Digimax in through the ADAT for 16 channels. Then I run the MP-2NV through the Lucid and into the SPDIF input on the Firestudio and use that for a grand total of 18 inputs while recording? So correct me if I'm wrong here...but I would be able to do that, and then the MP-2NV would also be ran into my DAW using the converters in the Lucid, not the ones in the FireStudio as the conversion would happen there, and the FireStudio would only be getting the signal into my computer for me...right?

[drummin4christ]

Originally Posted by Almost Human

I'm curious to know if the mic pres have been tweaked any or are the same as the ones in the Firepod? I'm curious to see a back shot, too. When it says that it also has an 8 channel ADAT and a SPDIF input, how about this...could I get a higher end pre like a Great River MP-2NV and a Lucid AD9624 to use with this unit in collaboration with everything else? Let's say I have the 8 mic pre's it ships with, then patch a Digimax in through the ADAT for 16 channels. Then I run the MP-2NV through the Lucid and into the SPDIF input on the Firestudio and use that for a grand total of 18 inputs while recording? So correct me if I'm wrong here...but I would be able to do that, and then the MP-2NV would also be ran into my DAW using the converters in the Lucid, not the ones in the FireStudio as the conversion would happen there, and the FireStudio would only be getting the signal into my computer for me...right?

You got it!!! That is exactly what I plan on doing.

[Almost Human]

Originally Posted by drummin4christ

You got it!!! That is exactly what I plan on doing.

Great! thumbsup Thanks for the info...that's definitely a great alternative, considering you could track most everything through a high end pre or two and the Lucid. The only thing that would even go through the pre's and converters on the Firepod/Firestudio would be a few toms and the overheads.

[drummin4christ]

Originally Posted by Almost Human

Great! thumbsup Thanks for the info...that's definitely a great alternative, considering you could track most everything through a high end pre or two and the Lucid. The only thing that would even go through the pre's and converters on the Firepod/Firestudio would be a few toms and the overheads.

From what I understand, the coversion is suppose to be much better on this unit than the firepod. The Word Clock is spec'ing out better than Apogee's Big Ben. I pumped about hearing it verse's the Pod

[Almost Human]

Wow, that's pretty impressive. Should be interesting... thumbsup

[Almost Human]

I wonder if you'll be able to daisy chain these together with the Firepod?

[drummin4christ]

Originally Posted by Almost Human

I wonder if you'll be able to daisy chain these together with the Firepod?

Unfortunatly, I don't think you will be able to do that because of the DSP software difference between the two units. I am pretty sure that you will be able to put three of these (FireStudio) together along with thre digimax FS for a total of 48 tracks. if you include the spdif inputs it will take you up to 54 total inputs. I'm not sure if you will be able to track all those inputs at 96k though.

I know that you can't link a firepod and a firebox together because of the dsp software difference so I assume it will be the same with this unit.

[mr jkn]

Is there any release date?

[Almost Human]

Originally Posted by mr jkn

Is there any release date?

March/April was what I was told a little while back. Could have been moved up or back by now, though.

[rockcamaro97]

im hating the fact that i JUST bougt a firepod less than 6 mo ago... Maybe presonus will have a trade up? if not, i guess ill have a firepod for sale!

Matt

[nathanvacha]

Yeah, it said you can use three of them stacked and i believe in 'track-mode' you can run 9 different headphone mixes. Not sure i'd want to ever set up 9 headphone mixes, but hey... haven't seen anything this feature-packed probably ever. Does anyone else make converters though that will stream 96 kHz adat or would you be stuck with presonus for that?

[Almost Human]

Originally Posted by rockcamaro97

im hating the fact that i JUST bougt a firepod less than 6 mo ago... Maybe presonus will have a trade up? if not, i guess ill have a firepod for sale!

Matt

I hate it when this happens. Don't feel bad, but my bandmate just bought a Firepod and a copy of Audition 1.5 less than a month ago, and within 2 weeks, Presonus announced the FireStudio and Adobe released Audition 2.0...

[drummin4christ]

Don't feel to bad guys. The Firepods are going to remain in production and the FireStudio is an extra $300. You can produce great records with the FirePod.

[beyarecords]

Originally Posted by Almost Human

I'm curious to know if the mic pres have been tweaked any or are the same as the ones in the Firepod? I'm curious to see a back shot, too. When it says that it also has an 8 channel ADAT and a SPDIF input, how about this...could I get a higher end pre like a Great River MP-2NV and a Lucid AD9624 to use with this unit in collaboration with everything else? Let's say I have the 8 mic pre's it ships with, then patch a Digimax in through the ADAT for 16 channels. Then I run the MP-2NV through the Lucid and into the SPDIF input on the Firestudio and use that for a grand total of 18 inputs while recording? So correct me if I'm wrong here...but I would be able to do that, and then the MP-2NV would also be ran into my DAW using the converters in the Lucid, not the ones in the FireStudio as the conversion would happen there, and the FireStudio would only be getting the signal into my computer for me...right?

Wouldn't an Apogee AD-16X with simultanious recording on all 16 channels be a better option all round, and cheaper?!

Beya

[drummin4christ]

Originally Posted by beyarecords

Wouldn't an Apogee AD-16X with simultanious recording on all 16 channels be a better option all round, and cheaper?!

Beya

Not really. You don't get any preamps or any DA conversion with that unit. I figure most people that will buy this unit will need these preamps. I have 6 high end pres, but to record a full band these pres will come in handy and they sound better than most mixers.

[beyarecords]

Originally Posted by drummin4christ

Not really. You don't get any preamps or any DA conversion with that unit. I figure most people that will buy this unit will need these preamps. I have 6 high end pres, but to record a full band these pres will come in handy and they sound better than most mixers.

Have you had a look at the Cranesong Spider/Egret combination?

Beya

[drummin4christ]

Originally Posted by beyarecords

Have you had a look at the Cranesong Spider/Egret combination?

Beya

Your Kidding right? The list price on the spider is $8000.00. Some of us aren't recording Label bands, and gear like that is way out of our league. Besides, the conversion and clock on this new Firestudio unit will be just as good as some of the earlier apogee stuff that many hit records were recorded with.

[I play in a ban]

Hey Chad, we want trade in!

thumbsup

[Duardo]

Does anyone else make converters though that will stream 96 kHz adat or would you be stuck with presonus for that?

Sure, Focusrite's OctoPre (not the LE model) and ISA428 with do it with their optional cards as will Mackie's Onyx800R. Apogee's and RME's multichannel converters will too. Oddly enough, PreSonus's DigiMax 96 won't stream 96 kHz via ADAT, only via AES or S/PDIF.

-Duardo

[Elak]

It will all boil down to either Mackie 1200F or Presonus FireStudio next few months.
The question is, which has higher quality AD/DA converters and better clock technology.
Front-end inputs make more sense to me with FireStudio but having 12 channels and 2 monitor outs is hard to pass up even though having only 2 inserts sucks.
4 headphone out really is a waste.

[Almost Human]

Originally Posted by Elak

It will all boil down to either Mackie 1200F or Presonus FireStudio next few months.
The question is, which has higher quality AD/DA converters and better clock technology.
Front-end inputs make more sense to me with FireStudio but having 12 channels and 2 monitor outs is hard to pass up even though having only 2 inserts sucks.
4 headphone out really is a waste.

Isn't the 1200F listing around $1999 or so? If that's the case and you're going on that budget and want one of those 2, then you could pick up 2 FireStudio's for essentially the same price. Then you'd have 16 mic pre's, 36 channels, etc. If you don't need all that, you'd be paying a lot more for the Mackie vs. one FireStudio.

[spectacular g]

http://www.sonicstate.com/news/shown...m?newsid=2652#

nice presonus NAMM vid. Shows fire studio and faderport.

next time,
jfg

[Elak]

My guess is that Mac 1200F will go for about 1500-1700. Either way, It would be helpful to know what DA/AD chips presonus FireStudio has.

[jonmatifa]

Wow, thanks for posting that spectacular g, I had no idea about the internal routing/mixing... that suddenly makes it extremely desirable, I'll probably list my firepod now.... $500, anyone want it

[Almost Human]

Any word yet on the release date of this?

[warhead]

Originally Posted by Almost Human

Any word yet on the release date of this?

6 weeks-ish, that's going off of memory and it IS the weekend so I can't go back through my notes at the office!

War