ProFire 2626

[barryjohns]

Originally Posted by Dean7

My thoughts exactly. Sound clips would be nice!

Anyway, I'm pulling the trigger on a 2626 today from Sweetwater, so I'll be able to post something soon.

-Dean

Buy from ebay, you can save at least a hundred bucks new from an authorized dealer. Do Make and Offer, you'll save some money.

[Dean7]

Originally Posted by barryjohns

Buy from ebay, you can save at least a hundred bucks new from an authorized dealer. Do Make and Offer, you'll save some money.

Well, I generally avoid eBay (stuff on there is so expensive these days it kind of defeats the purpose of it for me). But I checked and there are no good deals:

profire 2626, Pro Audio, Musical Instruments items on eBay.com=

I think that since this thing is pretty new you pretty much have to pay 700 bucks no matter what. Anyway, I personally like Sweetwater so I already ordered it from them. I'll let you guys know what I think when it arrives (should be Saturday).

[mortimer]

Originally Posted by Dean7

I'll let you guys know what I think when it arrives (should be Saturday).

Ordered mine too the other day, won't have it until next week though...
The only thing good about living in the middle of nowhere: Nothing's gonna disturb your recording

[barryjohns]

Originally Posted by Dean7

Well, I generally avoid eBay (stuff on there is so expensive these days it kind of defeats the purpose of it for me). But I checked and there are no good deals:

profire 2626, Pro Audio, Musical Instruments items on eBay.com=

I think that since this thing is pretty new you pretty much have to pay 700 bucks no matter what. Anyway, I personally like Sweetwater so I already ordered it from them. I'll let you guys know what I think when it arrives (should be Saturday).

I was speaking from experience on this one. Here is one I just bought from eBay from an authorized dealer with a BIN and Make an Offer. I made an offer of 599.00 which they accepted. The unit was delivered to my doorstep last night. It is now in my car and I am sending it back without even opening it because in the meantime I have purchased a Protools HD system. I was going to use the 2626 as a conduit for a Lynx Aurora via Adat into Protools MPowered.

So, yes the deals are abundant on them.

Here is the one I bought:

NEW M-Audio Profire 2626 Firewire Audio Interface!!!! - eBay (item 380013287963 end time Apr-29-08 09:55:48 PDT)

[jslevin]

Originally Posted by barryjohns

So, yes the deals are abundant on them. Here is the one I bought:

NEW M-Audio Profire 2626 Firewire Audio Interface!!!! - eBay (item 380013287963 end time Apr-29-08 09:55:48 PDT)

I've bought from those guys before, Road Dog. It's a class operation, I'd be from them again in a second.

JSL

[throstur]

one little off tropic question.. I´m the original poster of this thread (not as it matter)... and just to share I purchased a profire2626 yesterday and I like it indeed.. but I have one problem...

Im doing a research about my problem but haven't found anything about it.. so hopefully somebody know what to do..

I´m using MacBook (1 x firewire), Focusrite Liquidmix..and until yesterday I have been using a usb soundcard. Yesterday I bought profire2626. so my problem is this: I´m trying to use both those units with only one firewire port on my computer. I connect the profire2626 to the computer and then the Liquidmix to my PF2626. But the liquidmix dosent power up.. So does anybody know if a power supply for the liquidmix would fix this... or is it not possible to use those units together on only one fw port??


I thought that I had lost the power supply.. haven't used it since the unit got power from the FW port.. but I found it and this works... so this post is useless..

cheers!

[mlange]

Originally Posted by jslevin

I've bought from those guys before, Road Dog. It's a class operation, I'd be from them again in a second.

JSL

RoadDog is great....

Has anybody had a chance to test their Line Input for levels? One other user on the DUC just confirmed that his are quite low as well.

Do other 2626 users have the ability to input a 0VU signal via the line level inputs (on the rear of the unit - not the hi-Z on the front)?? This could be a big quality problem for the use of the ADs :(

[Dean7]

I got the 2626 yesterday. It rocks. :)

Anyway, the pres seem workable and transparent. I need to do some direct comparisons between this and the MBox, but off the cuff I'd say that the 2626 rocks. I'll try to do a more scientific test sometime and post it.

By the way, we also tried Reaper for the first time (we had an older version of ProTools M-Powered so it wouldn't work w/ the 2626). Reaper freakin' rocks!

[mlange]

Originally Posted by Dean7

I got the 2626 yesterday. It rocks. :)

Anyway, the pres seem workable and transparent. I need to do some direct comparisons between this and the MBox, but off the cuff I'd say that the 2626 rocks. I'll try to do a more scientific test sometime and post it.

Hey Dean - check your line-level inputs for signal levels, if you get a chance.

Thanks

[Chris.Anderson]

Hello everybody! I just registered here, in order to give some feedback of my own experience with this device -

I'm tracking 12 channel at once (my drums), and my primary interface is a FireWire 1814...the additional 4 channels are running into my ProFire 2626, and dumping into the 1814 via ADAT.

After the driver/firmware update on the 2626, this seems to work okay. HOWEVER! Has anybody noticed the volume knob for channel 7 pulls right off the device? I went to test each knob by pulling to activate the pad, first time i've touched it, and it just yanks off! To top this off, Sweetwater sent me a brand new unit to swap with, and it does the same exact thing, on the same channel!

Granted - some superglue will probably fix this, but should i even have to worry about a built-in capability not functioning correctly, right out of the box?

I DO have a question, also - Would I be better off using the 2626 as my primary interface instead of the 1814? Could i even do that? Basically my 2626 is simply acting as an A/D converter in its current state, which is perfect.

Excuse me if I come across a bit n00bish, i'm primarily a drummer, and this is my first foray into the world of engineering :)

Thanks in advance, guys
-Chris Anderson

[Yung]

Originally Posted by Chris.Anderson

Hello everybody! I just registered here, in order to give some feedback of my own experience with this device -

I'm tracking 12 channel at once (my drums), and my primary interface is a FireWire 1814...the additional 4 channels are running into my ProFire 2626, and dumping into the 1814 via ADAT.

After the driver/firmware update on the 2626, this seems to work okay. HOWEVER! Has anybody noticed the volume knob for channel 7 pulls right off the device? I went to test each knob by pulling to activate the pad, first time i've touched it, and it just yanks off! To top this off, Sweetwater sent me a brand new unit to swap with, and it does the same exact thing, on the same channel!

Granted - some superglue will probably fix this, but should i even have to worry about a built-in capability not functioning correctly, right out of the box?

I DO have a question, also - Would I be better off using the 2626 as my primary interface instead of the 1814? Could i even do that? Basically my 2626 is simply acting as an A/D converter in its current state, which is perfect.

Excuse me if I come across a bit n00bish, i'm primarily a drummer, and this is my first foray into the world of engineering :)

Thanks in advance, guys
-Chris Anderson

why not just sale the fw 1814 and plug the fw in from the 2626

[mlange]

Originally Posted by Chris.Anderson

Basically my 2626 is simply acting as an A/D converter in its current state, which is perfect.

Excuse me if I come across a bit n00bish, i'm primarily a drummer, and this is my first foray into the world of engineering :)

Thanks in advance, guys
-Chris Anderson

Chris, I'm using my 2626 in a very similar manner (A-D converter), too. Do you have a way to test the levels of your TRS line-level inputs? Feed them a healthy, hot signal, and see if you can get a channel to overload!

As to the interfaces, why do you need both the 1814 and the 2626? Why not just the 2626?

[Dean7]

Originally Posted by mlange

Chris, I'm using my 2626 in a very similar manner (A-D converter), too. Do you have a way to test the levels of your TRS line-level inputs? Feed them a healthy, hot signal, and see if you can get a channel to overload!

As to the interfaces, why do you need both the 1814 and the 2626? Why not just the 2626?

So is the issue that your TRS inputs are overloading/distorting? I haven't testing the TRS ins at all because we've been using the pres built in to the 2626 (I have a humble setup at the moment, so the 2626 pres are about the best thing I have going on right now... haha). Anyway, what kind of test do you want me to perform exactly? Just run out from something like a console in to the 2626 and see what happens?

-Dean

[Dean7]

Originally Posted by Chris.Anderson

Hello everybody! I just registered here, in order to give some feedback of my own experience with this device -

I'm tracking 12 channel at once (my drums), and my primary interface is a FireWire 1814...the additional 4 channels are running into my ProFire 2626, and dumping into the 1814 via ADAT.

After the driver/firmware update on the 2626, this seems to work okay. HOWEVER! Has anybody noticed the volume knob for channel 7 pulls right off the device? I went to test each knob by pulling to activate the pad, first time i've touched it, and it just yanks off! To top this off, Sweetwater sent me a brand new unit to swap with, and it does the same exact thing, on the same channel!

Granted - some superglue will probably fix this, but should i even have to worry about a built-in capability not functioning correctly, right out of the box?

I DO have a question, also - Would I be better off using the 2626 as my primary interface instead of the 1814? Could i even do that? Basically my 2626 is simply acting as an A/D converter in its current state, which is perfect.

Excuse me if I come across a bit n00bish, i'm primarily a drummer, and this is my first foray into the world of engineering :)

Thanks in advance, guys
-Chris Anderson

I haven't noticed that problem yet, but to be honest I don't think I enabled the pad yet on ch7. I'll try it. :)

Anyway, I'm not really sure if you would be better off running just off the 2626 or not. But, the hardware in the 2626 should be better than the 1814, and it has enough channels for you, so there's really no reason to be using the 1814 as the primary interface (and as that other person mentioned no reason to be using it at all really... you could sell it and use the cash to buy some more gear!).

What program are you using to record your audio? ProTools M-Powered, Reaper or what? If you're using ProTools M-Powered and you're not up to 7.4CS3 you'll need an upgrade to use the 2626 directly with your DAW. Just food for thought. :)

[mlange]

Originally Posted by Dean7

So is the issue that your TRS inputs are overloading/distorting? Anyway, what kind of test do you want me to perform exactly? Just run out from something like a console in to the 2626 and see what happens?

-Dean

Hi Dean - Just the opposite: the TRS inputs won't overload as the inputted signals seems far too low (weak). If you don't mind, take any line-level out from your console (aux send, buss output, main out, etc) and set your gain for something near 0VU.... then see what the 2626 reports the inputted level as within ProTools.

What we're looking for is a greater than 15db drop below 0VU on ProTools' channel VU meter.

This is by no means a scientific test - just trying to get a sense of what other production units are doing. M-Audio just shipped another unit out to me (Thank You M-Audio!), so I'll let ya'll know how it pans-out.

Thanks

-Mark

[Chris.Anderson]

Originally Posted by Dean7

I haven't noticed that problem yet, but to be honest I don't think I enabled the pad yet on ch7. I'll try it. :)

Anyway, I'm not really sure if you would be better off running just off the 2626 or not. But, the hardware in the 2626 should be better than the 1814, and it has enough channels for you, so there's really no reason to be using the 1814 as the primary interface (and as that other person mentioned no reason to be using it at all really... you could sell it and use the cash to buy some more gear!).

What program are you using to record your audio? ProTools M-Powered, Reaper or what? If you're using ProTools M-Powered and you're not up to 7.4CS3 you'll need an upgrade to use the 2626 directly with your DAW. Just food for thought. :)

thanks for the tips, dean!

I'm a bit curious as to how i can use the 2626 by itself though - i'm tracking 12 analog drum channels out of my Mackie 1604VLZ Pro board, and i believe the 2626 (just like the 1814) only has 8 analog inputs. Is there some magical way to do more than 8 that i'm missing? I have two Atlona TRS-TRS 8 channel snakes coming out of my board.

i appreciate the helpful input, everybody! take care

[Dean7]

Originally Posted by Chris.Anderson

thanks for the tips, dean!

I'm a bit curious as to how i can use the 2626 by itself though - i'm tracking 12 analog drum channels out of my Mackie 1604VLZ Pro board, and i believe the 2626 (just like the 1814) only has 8 analog inputs. Is there some magical way to do more than 8 that i'm missing? I have two Atlona TRS-TRS 8 channel snakes coming out of my board.

i appreciate the helpful input, everybody! take care

No, you're right... I wasn't thinking clearly I guess. *sigh*

Anyway, switching the order of your devices shouldn't make any difference besides stability (due to drivers). So, if the 1814 is stable acting as your main device in the DAW I guess I wouldn't really mess with it. :)

-Dean

[brendley]

HI Guys

A bit off subject here but please help.

I am primarily and analogue kinda guy got a 32 channel analogue console so Analogue in and outs are what I need...Currently running a delta 1010

It sounds great but I really want more analog ins and outs..What additional hardware do I need to run with the pro fire to utilise all its in's and outs ..and then convert them into analog for my mixer please advise and on approx $$$ that would be great

I am using mpowered tools and sonar but Tools mainly...and how many ins and outs can it give me...

Thanks

BA

[mlange]

GREAT NEWS - Just had an outstanding series of calls from Calvin Banks of M-Audio.... what a class act.

The ProFire 2626 as a product line is 100% A-OK - they just verified the TRS signal path in-house and there's no issues whatsoever with the line-level inputs!!

My unit's just malfunctioning :( - but being replaced as I type :)

For anyone who's interested, I'll post the replacement's results later this week.

Now back to your regularly scheduled program......

[d4n]

Just a quick question:

Anyone here running a 2626 on a Mac(book Pro) on Bootcamp / Win XP ?
I couldn't get it installed on mine (code 10, but runs fine under OS X), and support told me that the 2626 is not qualified with bootcamp windows...

[mortimer]

Originally Posted by brendley

It sounds great but I really want more analog ins and outs..What additional hardware do I need to run with the pro fire to utilise all its in's and outs ..and then convert them into analog for my mixer please advise and on approx $$$ that would be great

AFAIK, the Profire 2626 can act both as a Firewire sound interface (with 8 pres plus 2x 8ch ADAT ins), and as a standalone 8pre -> ADAT AD converter.
This means that you COULD get 3x Profire 2626 and run one on firewire and two of them standalone into the first one, giving you 24 analog inputs.

PTMP (from what this forum says) only can get 18 simultaneous channels on recording, Sonar should give you all 24.

Alternatively, there are other 8pre -> ADAT ADs in a wide price range that you can choose from, for connecting to the 2626.

This being said, are you in need of microphone preamps or just line inputs?

[Dean7]

Originally Posted by mlange

GREAT NEWS - Just had an outstanding series of calls from Calvin Banks of M-Audio.... what a class act.

The ProFire 2626 as a product line is 100% A-OK - they just verified the TRS signal path in-house and there's no issues whatsoever with the line-level inputs!!

My unit's just malfunctioning :( - but being replaced as I type :)

For anyone who's interested, I'll post the replacement's results later this week.

Now back to your regularly scheduled program......

Wow. That IS good to hear... I was starting to get stressed. :)

[underdub]

I've been using an 1814 for a few years now and a year ago got the full on Black Lion Audio tweak head mod (which they subsequently pulled from their product list all together). I picked up my 2626 last night and now that I'm up and running I did and A/B with a vocal track I recorded yesterday with my 1814.

Recording a Sterling Audio ST-66 directly into channel 1 and tracking the exact same take (both with my own vocal), I solo'd them up and the results were actually quite shocking. The Profire won the face-off hands down. More clarity, fuller low end and smoother highs. I was actually worried it wouldn't compete with the BLA mod but I couldn't be happier.

The only set-back (if I can even call it that) that I've run into at this point is I'm getting a bit of latency (even at 256). I have a feeling it is somewhere in how I'm routing the DSP mixer. To use the headphone outs you need to re-route (from the default) your master from being analog out 1/2 to 5/6 so that essentially headphone 1 is analog out 1/2. Since, of course, I tracked the vocal with headphones on, I got the situation to the point where I was getting signal from the headphone out but haven't as of yet dug into the latency issue. More to come if anyone cares (and I wouldn't mind a headsup from someone who's run into this to save me some time...)

[brendley]

Originally Posted by mortimer

This being said, are you in need of microphone preamps or just line inputs?

thanks Mortimer...

yeah what I need is as many analog outs and INS this will allow me to have say 18 in tools whatever in sonar...so I guess what you are saying is i would need a adat d/a a/d to go from my console to profire and back???..and how many ins and outs could i get from 1 profire...and associatted a/d d/a converters.???

so Can you give me some brands / models and approx prices of adat a/d d/a or in turn tell me where to look.....hard to know what a good a/d d/a is in my world ...always been in the analog domain until damn tools was invented....got to love the combinatioon though of A sound and D conveniance...I apprecciatte your help mate....pres are not an issue got lots of them on my desk and outboard gear...

Ba

[mortimer]

Originally Posted by brendley

so I guess what you are saying is i would need a adat d/a a/d to go from my console to profire and back???..and how many ins and outs could i get from 1 profire...and associatted a/d d/a converters.???

so Can you give me some brands / models and approx prices of adat a/d d/a or in turn tell me where to look.....hard to know what a good a/d d/a is in my world ...always been in the analog domain until damn tools was invented....got to love the combinatioon though of A sound and D conveniance...I apprecciatte your help mate....pres are not an issue got lots of them on my desk and outboard gear...

The Profire has 26 ins and 26 outs (hence the 2626). 8 of the IO has built in A/D D/A converters. The means the one unit has 8 analog inputs (mic/line inputs), and 8 analog outputs (line out). The rest of the inputs are accessible through two sets of ADAT ins and outs (four optical ports. 2x 8ch in and 2x 8ch out). The two last IO are S/PDIF digital IOs, the kind you find on MiniDisc, CD players etc.

The Profire 2626 can also operate "standalone", that is not connected via firewire to a computer. This means that you can get one or two EXTRA Profires, and configure them to behave as the extra AD/DAs needed to "expand" the first Profire to have 24 analog inputs and outputs. See what I mean?
As far as alternative AD/DAs, I'm not the right guy to answer this. My budget pointed me towards the 2626, it seems to be a flexible unit for a reasonable price, and many seem to be very happy with the quality of the preamps. If I'm not much mistaken, you can get pure ADAT AD converters with no pres (only line in) that cost way beyond what the 2626 costs, but I really don't have any idea how much better these are in comparison.

As for cost, sticking to the Profire 2626 only, you'd have 24 ins and 24 outs for the price of three Profire 2626, four TOSLINK optical cables (and maybe some coaxial cables for the PLL clock syncing between the units. Not sure if you need 2 or 4 of those). As I am in Norway, I doubt that any price I could come up with would benefit you :)

Hope this helps, man

[mortimer]

Originally Posted by d4n

Just a quick question:

Anyone here running a 2626 on a Mac(book Pro) on Bootcamp / Win XP ?
I couldn't get it installed on mine (code 10, but runs fine under OS X), and support told me that the 2626 is not qualified with bootcamp windows...

I finally got my 2626 yesterday. Didn't have a chance to go over to the studio, so had to test it on my laptop. It's a MacBook (2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo). Downloaded the newest drivers for both OSX and XP.

Works great on OSX (only have GarageBand though on there).
Booting in XPsp2 (Boot Camp) the unit also works great in Sonar 7.0.2. Didn't have lots of signal sources though, so only got to track a 2 channels. Monitoring and recording the 2 channels in 24 bits 96 kHz on XP in its current configuration (not optimized), i had to increase the buffer to 384 samples to get rid of occasional sound problems. Other than that, everything seems to be fine.

Ray of M-Audio (earlier in this thread) mentioned pops and clicks in Sonar 7.0.2, but I don't seem to have this problem. Will know more about this though in a few days. Man, I gotta get this thing up and running. Can't wait...

[Dean7]

Well, my brother and I recorded one of our jams last night with the 2626 and compared it to some other recordings of our MBox Pro. We have used the MBox Pro for almost 2 years recording 2 jam sessions a week (which usually last from 45 minutes to 2 hours), so we are pretty familiar with the sound of it. The 2626 is leagues above the MBox. Much more high-end sparkle in the recordings, and everything just sounds flatter and better (well, more true to the room at least).

The only bad part is that it exposed the fact that we're pathetic at mastering. :)

Anyway, I have yet to rig up a more "scientific" test of the 2626 versus the MBox 2 Pro, but I was thinking that probably the best way would be to use a laptop with an MBox Mini to re-amp in to our amp then record it once with the MBox, then record again with the 2626. What do you guys think of that testing methodology?

-Dean

[Dean7]

Originally Posted by mortimer

I finally got my 2626 yesterday. Didn't have a chance to go over to the studio, so had to test it on my laptop. It's a MacBook (2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo). Downloaded the newest drivers for both OSX and XP.

Works great on OSX (only have GarageBand though on there).
Booting in XPsp2 (Boot Camp) the unit also works great in Sonar 7.0.2. Didn't have lots of signal sources though, so only got to track a 2 channels. Monitoring and recording the 2 channels in 24 bits 96 kHz on XP in its current configuration (not optimized), i had to increase the buffer to 384 samples to get rid of occasional sound problems. Other than that, everything seems to be fine.

Ray of M-Audio (earlier in this thread) mentioned pops and clicks in Sonar 7.0.2, but I don't seem to have this problem. Will know more about this though in a few days. Man, I gotta get this thing up and running. Can't wait...

For XP you should give Reaper a try. We've been using Reaper with the 2626 because we didn't have a copy of M-Powered 7.4 CS3 (we were planning on buying it but now that we've tried Reaper with the 2626 we might not bother), and it has been so incredibly rock-solid it's amazing. Not a single strange thing has happened (by "strange thing" I mean some sort of weird UI anomaly that I've become accustomed to with ProTools LE), and it hasn't crashed once.

Anyway, just my $.02, but it seems like Reaper and the 2626 were made for eachother. :)

[d4n]

Booting in XPsp2 (Boot Camp) the unit also works great

thanks! that encourages me to try installing again.
I guess the "bootcamp is not supported" reply from m-audio really means "it might work, but you're on your own if it doesn't".