ProFire 2626

[JonesH]

Hi, thanks for your replies.
I'm not using Pro Tools with this interface at all, I'm only using it with the system sound.
Before this interface, I was using a 1st gen. MBox, wich only worked really stable with LE 7.1.1.

Haven't had the possibility to try it with another computer or in standalone yet. Will do.

The distortion is present in the headphone outputs as well, so I don't think it's really related to reference levels. Or could it be?

[lafours]

Just installed mine today ( Winxp sp2 , TI firewire card)..Working fantastic with itunes and reaper.. Appreciate the solid build quality and excellent sound. It definitely is a step up from the firepod I was using. The conversion and sound seems on par with my RME hammerfall /adi rig. I was also able to get latency down to 3 milliseconds ( I was playing back a project in reaper with about 15 tracks and a few plugs)! I did a quick recording on my small practice amp..I really cranked the pre's because I had the amp low and there was no real hiss... The software mixer/routing is laid out awesome! So far I am very happy with my purchase. I also skipped the install disc and went right to the website for the latest driver..it updated the firmware as well..Next I'll try to run my behringer ada8000 through the lightpipe...

I bought this with hopes of trying m-power through it ,but reaper is running so well I'll probobly hold off for awhile...

[DrSyn]

Just wondering, what ADI are you using that you say it has comparable converter quality to?

FYI the converters in the 2626 are the same as those used in the Fireface400 / Multiface (AK4620).

[Dean7]

Originally Posted by DrSyn

Just wondering, what ADI are you using that you say it has comparable converter quality to?

FYI the converters in the 2626 are the same as those used in the Fireface400 / Multiface (AK4620).

Are you positive? Where did you hear that?

Thanks,

-Dean

[lafours]

just ran my elcheapo behringer ada8000 through the profires 1st set of adat i/o..it was recognized and synced and recorded scratch tracks just fine..I never a/b'd the pres with the profire..but the behri is in the same ballpark as all the budget pre's ( presonus, m-audio, mackie ) so I am not expecting the m-audio to be a ton better..if any....

[jeronimo]

Originally Posted by lafours

...but the behri is in the same ballpark as all the budget pre's ( presonus, m-audio, mackie ) so I am not expecting the m-audio to be a ton better..if any....

You know... after 7 years in this "studio business", I would guess the same as you.

[leigh]

Originally Posted by lafours

So far I am very happy with my purchase.

I second that emotion... the Profire 2626 thus far seems to be a definite step up from any of the M-Audio hardware I have had the displeasure of working with in the past. I'm running Pro Tools - and therefore I'm locked in to either Digi or M-Audio hardware - otherwise I would have given up on M-Audio by now. But if the Profire 2626 doesn't suddenly crap out on me, I'll be happy using it for a long time.

Feels very solid, in both physical construction and performance. Note to developers: It's a joy to use driver software that isn't a cobbled-together afterthought! It's clear that, in this case, the software people were actually given some time to think out the layout and UI of the Profire's software control panel!

Leigh

[DrSyn]

Open it up and see for yourself :)

Note, however, that doesn't mean the sound will be identical. There is far more going on in what you hear then just the converters....

Originally Posted by Dean7

Are you positive? Where did you hear that?

Thanks,

-Dean

[glitch]

I have a PF2626 here. I'll be shooting out the converters against Lucids and RME tomorrow. I'll post my observations later in the week. I'll also be checking the clock and comparing.

[Dean7]

Originally Posted by glitch

I have a PF2626 here. I'll be shooting out the converters against Lucids and RME tomorrow. I'll post my observations later in the week. I'll also be checking the clock and comparing.

Awesome! Thanks!

-Dean

[jeronimo]

Originally Posted by glitch

I have a PF2626 here. I'll be shooting out the converters against Lucids and RME tomorrow. I'll post my observations later in the week. I'll also be checking the clock and comparing.

looking foward to hear from you!

[cajuncatfish]

This is my first time posting... so here goes:

I have been using my ProFire 2626 for the last month and am mostly impressed. However, I have been having some driver issues on my 10.5.2 Macbook Pro 2.4 GHz (running the latest driver). When using Logic Pro 8, the ProFire mixer will freeze after some time has gone by (haven't nailed down the amount or cause). The ProFire will still work - audio continues to be heard through outputs, and Logic Pro continues to see the device. However, the ProFire mixer is frozen, with meter bars stuck where ever they were at the time it kicked the bucket and no changes can be made to levels through the ProFire mixer. I have tried M-Audio but they say "this is the nature of beta drivers". Any one have any ideas before I sell this and buy a Firestudio?

Thanks in advance for your time!

[davidd]

Originally Posted by cajuncatfish

This is my first time posting... so here goes:

I have been using my ProFire 2626 for the last month and am mostly impressed. However, I have been having some driver issues on my 10.5.2 Macbook Pro 2.4 GHz (running the latest driver). When using Logic Pro 8, the ProFire mixer will freeze after some time has gone by (haven't nailed down the amount or cause). The ProFire will still work - audio continues to be heard through outputs, and Logic Pro continues to see the device. However, the ProFire mixer is frozen, with meter bars stuck where ever they were at the time it kicked the bucket and no changes can be made to levels through the ProFire mixer. I have tried M-Audio but they say "this is the nature of beta drivers". Any one have any ideas before I sell this and buy a Firestudio?

Thanks in advance for your time!

Which driver do you use?
The latest doesn´t seem to be Beta!
Did you switch off all the energy saving parameters?

David

[glitch]

Some quick obz from the testing. The converters on the PF2626 have a "sound" to them. Aggressive and upfront mid range. Noticeable bump in the 500-900Hz range.

VS RME Multiface - RME is clearer, a bit better depth, and a little more detailed. The Profire sounded a smidge muffled on the very top but a little more in your face. A little less depth. Switching back and forth between the two made the RME sound like it had just a hint of the smiley face EQ.

VS Lucid - Lucid was in a whole different league. Much better depth. More detail, more low lows. That said, there was still something about that forward mid sound that the PF2626 had.

The clock seems fine on the PF2626. It could be slightly better than the Multiface's clock. Hard to say. There was a difference, but I can't say whether it was better or just different.

[DrSyn]

glitch: good observations. If mine would ever arrive I'd like to compare to my 1820m.

Either way this sounds like a big piece of equipment for m-audio. I've had some of their older products and this is the first one I am seeing comparisons to the like of rme, etc. that alone is a good thing IMO.

I am concerned about the driver issues though.. this has always been m-audios weak point. hopefully this is something they will address quickly as I think a lot of people are watching the stability to see if they can prove themselves.

[glitch]

No driver issues on PC for me. Worked very smoothly from the get-go. I use a SIIG firewire card.

[cajuncatfish]

Originally Posted by davidd

Which driver do you use?
The latest doesn´t seem to be Beta!
Did you switch off all the energy saving parameters?

David

Thanks for the response. I have energy saving off. Here is my info from the 'About' page on the ProFire:

OS: Mac OS X 10.5.2 9C7010 x86-32
Device: ProFire 2626 (D6C0404000002)
Firmware: 1.0.10 (running)
Software: 3
Driver: M-AudioFireWireDICE.kext 2.0.1

I reinstalled the driver after completely removing it (rebooting at every step) and am still having the problem. We had a session last night and I just used Logic Pro to route the headphone mixes via aux busses - it got me through but I'd like to use the low-latency ProFire mixer/router. I also thought my driver was a full version and was surprised from the response I got from M-Audio support that said it was the nature of beta drivers. Is there any possible way that using Cocktail to clean out all caches, log files and scripts somehow sent the OS into a tailspin? I am having no other problems with the Mac. This problem started a few weeks after I started using the ProFire so something must have happened. The ProFire mixer/router application simply gives up the ghost after so long of running.

Thanks for all your help! You guys are pretty smart.

[Dean7]

Originally Posted by cajuncatfish

Thanks for the response. I have energy saving off. Here is my info from the 'About' page on the ProFire:

OS: Mac OS X 10.5.2 9C7010 x86-32
Device: ProFire 2626 (D6C0404000002)
Firmware: 1.0.10 (running)
Software: 3
Driver: M-AudioFireWireDICE.kext 2.0.1

I reinstalled the driver after completely removing it (rebooting at every step) and am still having the problem. We had a session last night and I just used Logic Pro to route the headphone mixes via aux busses - it got me through but I'd like to use the low-latency ProFire mixer/router. I also thought my driver was a full version and was surprised from the response I got from M-Audio support that said it was the nature of beta drivers. Is there any possible way that using Cocktail to clean out all caches, log files and scripts somehow sent the OS into a tailspin? I am having no other problems with the Mac. This problem started a few weeks after I started using the ProFire so something must have happened. The ProFire mixer/router application simply gives up the ghost after so long of running.

Thanks for all your help! You guys are pretty smart.

Well, I unfortunately don't use Mac OS right now so I can't help you out with troubleshooting on that front, but I just wanted to comment on M-Audio's response. Talk about useless! Glad they're so committed to supporting this product.

Mind you: I think Ray here in this thread has been great. But their support team is obviously sub-par if they said "that's the nature of beta drivers" and blew you off.

[stingray1122]

cajuncatfish, we are looking into the problem you're experiencing and are close to duplicating it. We hope to track down what's causing this on your system soon. I'll post here when I have something more for you. In the meantime feel free to PM me if you would like some details about our search.

Thanks for brining this to our attention!

RayT
Hardware Product Manager
M-Audio

[JonesH]

WEll I'm back after testing my unit with my GF:s MacBook. Good news: It doesn't have the problems I've experienced on my MacBook wich points to my software as cause of trouble.
The distortion is, to my current experience, not present on the inputs though, wich made tracking possible. Had to use garageband, though

All in all, after formatting and reinstalling my system, I expect it to work as intended. Just hope my M-Powered comes soon.

Thanks everyone!

Edit: Does anyone know what the front gain knobs should be set to in order to be nominal? I.e. the line in signal (not the mic signal of course) doesn't get hotter or colder?

[stingray1122]

Does anyone know what the front gain knobs should be set to in order to be nominal? I.e. the line in signal (not the mic signal of course) doesn't get hotter or colder?

If I'm understanding your question correctly..

The line ins are routed to completely bypass the mic preamp in order to provide a cleaner signal path. When recording a line input it's best to turn down the mic gain to avoid any unwanted noise.

RayT

[bengl3rt]

Someone who has gone from this unit to a Firepod... how do they compare, in your view?

[mortimer]

Has anyone gotten the new drivers and firmware tested with Cakewalk Sonar yet?

I'm a bit hesitant towards ordering the ProFire 2626 before knowing that the nature of the issues observed by Ray (M-Audio).

[adamjknight]

Hi Guys,

How would PF2626 compare to an MBox2?

Obviously it has more inputs etc...but what other advatages/disadvantages would the PF2626 have in when compared to the MBox2? Sound qaulity?

Appreciate any advice.

Adam

[lafours]

Someone who has gone from this unit to a Firepod... how do they compare, in your view?

It definitely feels more like a "pro" piece...it weighs alot more, has a studier build and the knobs, buttons seem way more robust.

It sounds a bit cleaner and punchier playing back audio to my studio monitors. The software mixer is something it has over the firepod...also the adat i/o is the main reason I switched..I thought I would try this over a firestudio which seems to be as good or better than the profire but the drivers seem to be really hit or miss.


I don't know if the recorded sound is gonna be a huge difference.. The firepod is probably the best budget firewire/8 pre I can think of... but I wouldn't trade it back for this profire...

[daddyosfro]

I have a question for other owners of the profire 2626.

I've recently purchased a Profire 2626 and am running it on an 8 core Mac pro in Logic 8 with all the latest patches.
I'm running 10.5.2 and grabbed the latest drivers and firmware from the m-audio website.

What I've noticed is that the volume control is not linear. As you increase the level on the volume knob nothing happens until you pass a threshold at which time the amplitude jumps 3~4 dB. This seems to be the case for each incremental increase for this device. I've tried this in 2 channel and 5.1 channel volume control settings.
Is this functioning as designed? Has anyone else notices this?

[glitch]

Originally Posted by mortimer

Has anyone gotten the new drivers and firmware tested with Cakewalk Sonar yet?

I'm a bit hesitant towards ordering the ProFire 2626 before knowing that the nature of the issues observed by Ray (M-Audio).

I used it with 7.01. Worked great.

[glitch]

Originally Posted by adamjknight

Hi Guys,

How would PF2626 compare to an MBox2?

Obviously it has more inputs etc...but what other advatages/disadvantages would the PF2626 have in when compared to the MBox2? Sound qaulity?

Appreciate any advice.

Adam

A cherry and an apple. PF2626 being the apple.









If you only need two inputs don't get the PF. If you want a more serious setup get the PF.

[breathsavers]

so can you bypass the pres on the 2626 to use external pres? also, has it been problematic just having the signal and peak LEDs? I've read that on the saffire pro just having the two lights led to unexpected peaking.

[mlange]

Originally Posted by breathsavers

so can you bypass the pres on the 2626 to use external pres? also, has it been problematic just having the signal and peak LEDs? I've read that on the saffire pro just having the two lights led to unexpected peaking.

As to the pres, Ray said earlier that the line-ins are independent of the pres, so you're good to go with external pres.