Soundcard: Presonus Firebox
Soundcard: Presonus Firebox Posted on: 21.05.2008 by dj sidetracked Hello,I'm looking a soundcard with: 1) very good sound quality 2) easy recording I'v searched quite some time for a good firewire soundcard and the name Firebox keeps popin up very often. I looked into that and found that it's qute an old model. Has there really been any big developments in four years? Does anyone know any new hi-quality soundcards from own experience? Second thing that I found was that the pricerange for a new Firebox is from 250USD (Amazon) to 500USD (Presonus homepage). Is there then any difference in the quality? Has anyone bought a Firebox from Amazon or from any other web-store that has a low price? You are welcome to give any feedback with your own soundcard that your using! Volk | |
| MadMan Ajms 09.02.2009 |
Originally Posted by Anthony More
The FireBox works with both four and six-pin FireWire (IEEE 1394) connectors and can be powered by either 6-pin FireWire bus power, or powered by an external power transformer. |
| Xavier Emanuels 06.02.2009 |
Originally Posted by laurens
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| DJ Pablo 06.02.2009 |
Originally Posted by discoboss
-On MBPro you need the adaptor.The firewire port has not enough power to start up the firebox. |
| Irwin Ney 26.03.2009 | do you guys know about the problems with the DICE-II chipset of the presonus firebox? http://www.gearslutz.com/board/low-e...nterfaces.html I found this discussion about it and sounds pretty confusing to me, the topic is old I dont know if this issue is solved somehow, do you guys knew about this problem? |
| DJ MENSAH 26.03.2009 | Firebox has an brekout cable that has midi and spdif connector on it. You will get one with the card and if you want to build one yourself for firebox (idea is to have custom length straight both MIDI INOUT connectors on one end and pictured D-sub9 on the other) you can look for pinout here: http://tos.network.in.rs/pages/posts...e-pinout12.php |
| Irwin Ney 26.03.2009 | whats the difference between Firebox MIDI conectors and Saffire LE MIDI conectors? (pictures below) Personus Firebox: http://www.zzounds.com/item--PRSFIREBOX Focusrite Saffire LE: http://www.zzounds.com/item--FOCSAFFIRELE Do i need MIDI conectors to my setup (Macbook + Saffire LE/Firebox + VCI-100)? |
| DJ MENSAH 15.03.2009 | Lemme add some helpfull info. If you've adjusted some routing in Firebox mixer that requres you to start your mixer app one every boot in order to restore that routing, this batch script might help: Code:
start firebox_mixer.exe ping -n 3 127.0.0.1 tskill firebox_mixer Save it to the same dir where presonus_mixer.exe is located and link in into system startup. |
| Sinior Gkogkos 07.03.2009 | i m using firebox at clubs too, great sound and never give me problem |
| Estelle Arab 06.03.2009 | Do I absolutely NEED an item like the Firebox to start playing with the VCI-100 once it arrives or can I just hook it up to my PC immediately? EDIT: N/M. Bento hipped me to what the deal is. ;-) |
| Alesha Avelar 21.02.2009 | I'm having latency problems with my Firebox and MBP. Does anyone have any suggestions to fix the problem? My sound crackles but once I change the latency it works for a while then starts to crackle again. Then if I change the latency again it works for a little while longer. |
| Kandy Slutzky 09.02.2009 | all macs need the powerd' usb connected and the a/c power, if not you will get a sync hum..... |
| MadMan Ajms 09.02.2009 |
Originally Posted by Anthony More
The FireBox works with both four and six-pin FireWire (IEEE 1394) connectors and can be powered by either 6-pin FireWire bus power, or powered by an external power transformer. |
| Kandy Slutzky 08.02.2009 | me to, headphone cue on the front 1/4", and output 2 and 3 on the back, set the cue preference in the menu to output 0 and 1, that' s what works for me... better said.... headphone jack cue - output 0/1 in the menu master out - 2/3 in the menu |
| Ming Peerman 08.02.2009 | Oh and I just route the phones to outs 3/4 and use the front 1/4" jack to plug in the headphones. |
| Ming Peerman 08.02.2009 | I've had really good luck on 64 bit vista with t pro, just need to start the firebox control panel first (and set your bit freq and latency), there is also a setting to choose the priority it gets on the CPU - med has worked for me. Then start traktpr pro. Then likewise you need to start the firebox mixer to set the monitor out, once it's running you can safely exit it. So I believe it firebox is a good choice. |
| Jansen Brown 06.02.2009 | thanks charo and bento, you learn something new everyday. dunno why I didn't figure it out before... I should have read the bloody manual. Thanks anyway. |
| Xavier Emanuels 06.02.2009 |
Originally Posted by laurens
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| anthony young 06.02.2009 | +1 to DJTT. Thanks everyone, sounds like i have made a good little investment. I've got an AK1 that's possibly semi-fried but i'll keep as back up. I found the headphone port on it to not have enough volume and somewhat distorted when pushed. I'll definitely post back with a review of the firebox after i get a chance to run it myself. Thanks again! |
| DJ Pablo 06.02.2009 |
Originally Posted by discoboss
-On MBPro you need the adaptor.The firewire port has not enough power to start up the firebox. |
| Kandy Slutzky 06.02.2009 | and i love it...... |
| juan garcia 06.02.2009 | in the firebox mixer app there is a little headphone section in the upper right corner. It allows you to select what outputs are played through the headphone jack on the front of the firebox. once you have that setup you go into your dj software and select the preview/cue channels to same outputs you selected in the mixer software. the firebox has flexible routing of channels, as long as you don't assign the headphone jack to the main channels, you can select whatever output in the firebox mixer program you want. |
| Jansen Brown 06.02.2009 | yes the extra firebox firewire ports is meant for chaining a hard drive or whatever. huh, I'm confuszzled and drunk, bento says he uses the headphone out but then says he uses the spdif, i mean thats pretty much the same as rca's except that spdif is digital and not true audio signal...? choosing 3 and 4 output on the firebox through traktor seems alot better than going through spdif. Tell me the settings in which i can cue with the headphone output!...does it effect other apps? geez, tell me how to do this, i've been missing out. never took too much notice of the firebox mixer app. do i need to say again... |
| juan garcia 06.02.2009 |
Originally Posted by laurens
i believe my firebox is one of the best computer/digital music purchases i have made. It has great sound and the firebox pumps it out LOUD! |
| Holley Cora 06.02.2009 | Since there is two FireWire plugs on the back of the card, can we chain a FireWire hard drive to the computer via the card? Saves on USB slots for us Mac users.. |
| Xavier Emanuels 06.02.2009 | I use the headphone output on mine to cue with and i tell you what that cue out is loooooooooud ! In the "Presonsus mixier" software you can select which ouput will be yor moniter channel, i recommend setting this to Spdif if your not using that output. Then its just a matter of selecting the Spdif output as the monitor out inside of your dj software. |
| Jansen Brown 06.02.2009 | Not for cueing it can't because it's hardwired to output the same audio as the master outs, 1 and 2. I searched around for the same thing when I first got mine but to no avail. Maybe someone can prove me wrong? |
| anthony young 06.02.2009 |
Originally Posted by laurens
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| Jansen Brown 06.02.2009 | oh and the preamp in the firebox is crazy, nice sound and you will never have to turn it up past half/three quarters. instrument/mic in's are really low latency too. |
| Jansen Brown 06.02.2009 | I've had mine for about 2 years, can't fault it. Once in a blue moon it might do something strange but thats probably my fault more than anything. Love having the 24bit/96k option there for if I ever need it. Mmmmmm firewire. It's plug in and go in OS X aswell. You can't go wrong. Make sure you get 4? 1/4" TRS to RCA outputs. 2 for coming out of the main output from traktor and 2 to go out through RCA's to 1/8" Jack to a female-female adapter so you can plug your headphones in. Set main output in traktor or whatever to 1 and 2 mono, and 3 and 4 for monitor(headphones). Just had an idea, you could use 5 and 6 output for speaker monitors in a club or maybe route them as an out for itunes for if Traktor decided to die on you during a set. There is probably an easier way but this doesn't cost much. Lots of adapters makes you look like you know what you are doing all the time! |
| Adolf Hit 06.02.2009 | Good choice with teh firebox, main problem i had when getting started with this card was using old firmware and drivers, and its never been perfect on vista but solid as on xp and osx |
| anthony young 05.02.2009 | Howdy all! I've just purchased a Firebox and am awaiting arrival next week. I just thought i'd start this thread to get a bit of a headsup on any tips or find out if anyone has had any trouble before it gets here as i have a 3 evening weekend djing with it straight up next week so it will be great to find out any little hidden nasties before hand so i know what i am looking for if the shiznit hits the fan halfway through a set. Always good to be prepared. Thanks in advance! |
| Adolf Hit 02.07.2008 | Just brought my firebox, 450 NZD. Cant wait to get it, have been meaning to pick one up for a while now ! |
| Sinior Gkogkos 19.06.2008 | i bought my firebox about USD$320 in Hong Kong |
| Robert Weinhold 03.06.2008 | Hey, Volkmann, I bought my Firebox from Thomman for 285 EUR http://www.thomann.de/gb/presonus_firebox.htm I highly recommend this store, free shipping over 200 EUR and a great service. I've bought a few items from there and never had a problem. Seems pricey compared to US prices though... |
| Jenny Pow 02.06.2008 | Presonus is awsome. Though i dont have the small version, I got the fp-10, it still kicks ass. Its nice cause it has 8 stereo outputs than i route. Excessive yes....though i didnt believe i would be useing it to Dj... |
| ceyhun gunaz 03.06.2008 | Well i loved my Presonus, but last year i went through a transition into protools which i am kind of disappointed with, and could be switching back to the presonus firebox very soon! For what its worth |
| dj sidetracked 25.05.2008 | Hi, I'v looked into the prices of the Firebox and it seems that the soundcard costs much more here in Europe than in US (180 |
| Xavier Emanuels 22.05.2008 | I have this one and have not had a single problem with it |
| 21.05.2008 | the going price is around $250 so make sure you dont pay any more than that. good card though! |
| robert chanda 21.05.2008 |
Originally Posted by volkmann
Choose one that's had good reports on stable drivers on your platform, has the right number and types of ins and outs you believe you'll be needing, has the right latency of monitoring and round-trip for the kinds of recording you want to be doing and you're good to go. |
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