New PreSonus FireStudio

[Johnny B]

Check out these specs and features

"Presonus FireStudio

"Gives you professional I/O options, integrated mixing, and 8 Class A preamps.

"The FireStudio from PreSonus is an 18-in/18-out FireWire recording interface loaded with 8 of PreSonus' acclaimed mic preamps. It has MIDI, S/PDIF, word clock, and ADAT (dual SMUX) I/O plus a 36x18 DSP matrix routing mixer. Combined with the speaker volume and mix control of the Monitor Station Remote (MSR), it gives your studio advanced digital capabilities. Up to three FireStudio's can be daisy-chained giving you up to 54 inputs and outputs."

"You can easily think of the FireStudio as the big brother to the award-winning FIREPOD with more I/O, and adding the MSR (Monitor Station Remote) really upgrades your setup.

"The MSR is a complete surround-capable desktop remote control that gives you the ability to switch between Track, Mix, and Surround modes, as well as a talkback, dim, mute, mono, and dual headphone amplifiers.

"Track Mode delivers nine stereo mixes for monitoring in headphones during tracking,

Mix Mode allows the user to switch between three sets of stereo monitors, and Surround Mode enables 5.1 surround control for mixing in surround sound.

"FireStudio includes Cubase LE, ACID XMC, and the PreSonus ProPak over 2GB of plug-ins, drum loops and samples.

PreSonus FireStudio Firewire Recording Interface Features:

* FireWire audio interface
* Monitor Station Remote (MSR)
* 24-bit/96kHz sampling rate
* 8 Class A mic preamps
* 8-channel 96kHz ADAT I/O (dual SMUX)
* S/PDIF I/O
* MIDI I/O
* Word clock I/O
* 32x18 DSP matrix mixer/router
* Daisy-chain up to 3 FireStudios
* Cubase LE and ACID XMC software
* 2GB PreSonus ProPak Software Suite (plug-ins, loops and samples)
* Mac and Windows compatible?"

MSR Features:

* Connects via cat-5 cable
* Main speaker volume control
* Two headphone amplifiers
* Track Mode: 9 stereo mixes available during tracking
* Mix Mode: switch between 3 sets of stereo monitors
* Surround Mode: enables 5.1 surround
* Switch between surround and stereo
* Talkback, dim, mute, mono, and more"

Street Price is around 700 USA Dollars for the main unit.
The Remote Control Unit will cost you another 300 dollars or so.

[foolsfortune]

Sounds great.....if it EVER ships! I've been watching this thing for a long time.

I got sick of waiting and wanted a control/mixing surface so I bought an M-Audio Project Mix I/O. Now it has problems and although M-Audios tech/customer service has been great, they may be taking it back and refunding me.

If the Firestudio comes out soon, that could seriously hinder M-Audios chances of keeping my business.

[Herman Munster]

I also waited for a while then went ahead and bought a Firepod. I'm told by Presonus the Firestudio will run in parallel with the Firepod just like 2 Firepods and that the drivers are compatible. Good new for all the Firepod folks out there.

Mike

[jonmatifa]

I also waited for a while then went ahead and bought a Firepod. I'm told by Presonus the Firestudio will run in parallel with the Firepod just like 2 Firepods and that the drivers are compatible. Good new for all the Firepod folks out there.

Really? I heard opposite, that the core interface chipset is entirely different so they wont work together at all. It would be really cool if they did though.

[Herman Munster]

Truthfully, I called my sales rep at Sweetwater and he relayed this information to me. He had spoken with Presonus and swore this is true. He seems to be reliable so far, so I'd consider this reliable information pretty much straight from Presonus (kind of).

Mike

[spectacular g]

These damn firewire intrfaces are a real pain...

mackie 1200f looks to be the real bomb!!!

but I really think these companies are realising the're trying to do the impossible.

I pre ordered a T.C. Konnect and have been told I'll have it in october.

T.C. was a major player in the devolpment of the dice 2 chip.

Thats why I threw my $'s at them.

wish me luck.

Those of us waiting for one of these things all need it.

next time,
jfg

[foolsfortune]

From Rick Naqvi at Presonus only minutes ago:


Mike,

The Firestudio will not be able to be daisy-chained with a Firepod. The reason is that it uses a completely different chipset and driver. You will however be able to daisy chain multiple Firestudios together.

Thanks for your inquiries. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Kind Regards,


Rick Naqvi
VP Sales and Marketing
www.presonus.com
800.750.0323 x0641


There you have it. Sad but true but that's ever evolving technology for you right?

[Herman Munster]

Looks like my Sweetwater rep needs a little educating.

[redddog]

Sorry Herman...That's what I was told as well. I actually sold my firepod based on the info because I was excited about the Firestudio and it's possibilities. That was when we were thinking they were coming out in the summer. They keep pushing back so I was forced into another direction but I have it from the top that the F-Pods and F-Studios are NOT compatible.

[Herman Munster]

You know, I'm kind of new to the world of recording and so far I'm pleased with my Firepod and feel like I'm learning to cut decent tracks with it. I'll certainly upgrade in the coming years, but it's hard for me not to be pleased at this point. Technology will always advance.....

[Johnny B]

I think they are trying to bulletproof the drivers and insure compatibilty to the greatest extent possible prior to shipping the unit.

Should be shipping pretty soon.

[Gavin]

I also have been waiting on this or the focusrite unit for a while, but they keep pushing it back, my Sweetwater guy said the newest date is mid-october, but that they keep revising it back. The same thing is happening with the Saffire, which I had preordered.

I broke down and got a fireface 400 -- a little more expensive but hopefully the pres and converters will be better anyway. I can't wait around forever for a product that in all reality may have driver/compatibility issues when it's released.

[Johnny B]

I think most forseeable problems will have been addressed and solved well before any of the units are shipped. I like that, in contrast to some big companies like MicroSoft who always put out buggy software and then take years to fix the bugs if they ever do.

I think the PreSonus approach of taking the necessary time to do better beta testing and making sure things all work as planned is more forthright and honest...Yes, there is delay in hitting the initial target ship date, but that is a much more acceptable approach and better in the long term for the end-user than a slap-dash-rush-job approach used by certain "other" companies.

Getting to a state of "Quality" often takes time, perhaps it may be best for people who may be feeling anxious to kick back and relax.

However, I do wonder if PreSonus will have a full-working demo ready in time for the upcomming AES Show.

The FireStudio does have a very cool feature set and may very well be setting a new price/perfomance standard to which all others may have to aspire....

[ten]

Can I ask peoples opinion on the sound quality of the Presonus soundcards?

I moved from an RME Fireface to a Lynxtwo-C about a year ago now and the sound quality was noticeably better with the Lynx card.

I could do with some extra I/O and have no free pci slots left so getting another Lynx card is out of the question. Also the Lynx aurora / AES combo is a bit more than I am willing to spend at the moment (Lynx having no pci-e version is a pain in the arse to), so was looking at the Presonus stuff as an alternative.

ten

[jonmatifa]

Originally Posted by Herman Munster

I also waited for a while then went ahead and bought a Firepod. I'm told by Presonus the Firestudio will run in parallel with the Firepod just like 2 Firepods and that the drivers are compatible. Good new for all the Firepod folks out there.

Mike

You know, I was just thinking.... Everyone's always saying the Behringer ADA8000 sounds decent when you clock it to a good clock. Assuming the firestudio's got a good clock (which I would think it should), buy an ADA8000 clock it to the firestudio, run your old firepod in "standalone mode" (no firewire) and run it through the behringer unit.

Only question is redundant conversion. I bet the firepod converts digital back to analog for its standalone mode.

You know, it would be nice if presonus would even trade the firepod for the Digimax FS, I think I'd be ok with that... but who knows, maybe my idea isn't half bad?

[speedydave]

i bet the firepod does NOT covert digital back to analog for its standalone mode.

and i would further that and wager that the fireStudio does not either.

something else cool about the firestudio: the firestudio saves its routing in flash-based memory, so that you set up any amount of input-output routing/mixing inside the firestudio's mixer application, and when you unplug the firestudio or it gets disconnected from your computer because of computer crash, the FireStudio keeps pumping out exactly what you told it to. The beauty of DSP, Dice II, and flash memory.

[jonmatifa]

I asked Presonus about the firepod standalone routing, and here is the responce...

Hey Marc,

The FirePod does run the audio through the A/D/A converters to route it from the 8 inputs to the 8 outputs. I believe the actual latency incurred is like 4 pico seconds.


Lemme know if this helps ...

...4 pico seconds..... too slow, sorry.....

[speedydave]

i lost both bets. oops.

4 pico seconds... no wonder i thought it was analog.

[malekmusic]

Originally Posted by ten

Can I ask peoples opinion on the sound quality of the Presonus soundcards?

I moved from an RME Fireface to a Lynxtwo-C about a year ago now and the sound quality was noticeably better with the Lynx card.

I could do with some extra I/O and have no free pci slots left so getting another Lynx card is out of the question. Also the Lynx aurora / AES combo is a bit more than I am willing to spend at the moment (Lynx having no pci-e version is a pain in the arse to), so was looking at the Presonus stuff as an alternative.

ten

having the same problem here. i love my lynx c

im really wondering that the lynx sounds noticable better then the rme, which makes me happy. but i have also no free pcislots left, so does someone know how the presonus stuff sounds ??

[Johnny B]

Here, check out the link below.

Maybe some of the questions will be answered on the "product tour" or by the "tech specs" or on the downloadable "video."

Hopefully, PreSonus will soon post some downloadable recordings of vocals, drums, and musical instruments and effects so that prospective FireStudio buyers can hear for themselves if the "Sound Quality" is high enough for them at this price point or not.

Check it out:

http://presonus.com/firestudio.html

[Johnny B]

Now Shipping....

just in time for X-mas...