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21st July 2008
| #1 |
| urumita  Joined: Nov 2002 Location: Spoleto, Italy
Posts: 2,381
Thread Starter | focusrite saffire 26 i/o
how does it compare to the ensemble and orpheus? etc... is it a sleeper? could one consider it hi end? thanks
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24th July 2008
| #2 | |
| Gear maniac Joined: Jun 2008 Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Posts: 208
| Quote:
Most importantly: the preamps are horrible (!) Terrible distortion in the highs. I first heard it when recording my drumkit in my new rehearsal space - so at first I thought it might be the room and my new cymbals that did it. But it soon turned out it wasn't. Drum recordings with this interface were painful to listen to. Whenever I bashed a crash cymbal, I immediately wanted to turn the overheads down, way below the "right" level. Painful is the word. I then got a JoeMeek TwinQ which I tried to record using it's own S/P-DIF out into the Focusrite. The JoeMeek preamps are pretty good, I think, not incredible, but quite good - and this was the greatest difference I have ever heard between preamps. The Saffire ones vs. the JoeMeek TwinQ ones on overheads. It was insane. The Saffire was flat and painful, the TwinQ was lush, smooth and 3D. That's when I decided it had to go. The preamp situation got even more clear when I did a test recording of an egg shaker through that and the JoeMeek, just to checkout the difference. The JoeMeek sounded fine and smooth (best with the "iron" switch on), while the Focusrite really obviously "coughed" on the accents. Obvious treble distortion on the transients - not even near the max level input of the pre. Stability of operation, integration with the DAW and such were not great either, though it did work. Some say the converters in the thing are actually very good. I didn't test them alone, but I did find that it's instrument input sounded quite good. Oh, and it hummed. 50Hz, 100Hz and 200Hz had to be notched out manually on a couple of choir recordings I made. It died on me just before the warranty ran out, after I'd made the decision to sell it. All in all = not recommended from here. tutt | |
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24th July 2008
| #3 |
| Gear nut Joined: Jul 2006 Location: NH USA
Posts: 92
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Hello, I should say first off that I have no experience with ensemble and orpheus, so I cannot make a comparison. I have had the Saffire 26 for about 1 1/2 years, and I have been relatively happy with it. I have tracked several projects with it, and haven't had any issues with distortion with the preamps or ground hum. Sometimes I found that it would have been useful if I could have more gain. The preamps are certainly not colored, so I have used other preamps like the UA 610 and Vintech X73 for that purpose. My only complaint is that software driver seems to be a bit glitchy. Maybe Focusrite has sorted this out in an update that I haven't installed yet. |
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24th July 2008
| #4 | |
| Lives for gear  Joined: Apr 2006 Location: ITB now unfortunately!
Posts: 1,725
| Quote:
It's a very nice low end product | |
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24th July 2008
| #5 |
| Gear maniac Joined: Jun 2008 Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Posts: 208
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When I said "distortion in the highs" I didn't mean something that would instantly be noticable as a malfunction - just a very naughty preamp. Here is the recording on which I noticed it (the one where the cymbals were extremely harsh sounding). In the mix I did what I could to soften them, so it may sound sort of OK, but believe me - when hearing it next to the Joe Meek it was BAD! http://www.blackburst.dk/saffire.mp3 ...even named the piece after it. It was just a small idea for a riff that I used to put the Saffire through it's paces. Everything is recorded through the Saffire 26 i/o. Also the acoustic sounds so much better through other pres. Sorry 'bout the cheese... |
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24th July 2008
| #6 |
| Lives for gear Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 638
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I don't think it sounds any worse than any of its direct competitors. The drivers aren't stable. Sometimes the device is recognised by their software, other times not. I've been on to Focusrite about this and given the runaround. Mine blasts noise at me without warning, and needs to be rebooted before working again. Not so good for live music recording . . . The preamps are OK, but I noticed not-too-small improvements with the cheapest of standalones. Buss powering is good, not too much else to report. MohThoM
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25th July 2008
| #7 | |
| Gear maniac Joined: Jun 2008 Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Posts: 208
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25th July 2008
| #8 |
| Gear maniac Joined: Jan 2007 Location: Boston, MA
Posts: 270
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shameless plug....I am selling one for a good price in the classifieds I've had it for a few years and while its not the greatest thing ever, its all around a good piece of gear. I prefer it loads over a firepod and interfaces by maudio that I have used. For the price range, I don't think it can be beat. A significant improvement in all-around quality with the same i/o features would be easily triple the money, in my opinion. Good luck to you |
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