Do you know how to update the firmware of the FireBox through windows? Also, I am getting a lot of crackling in Windows 7. I don't know why. Even in just simple audio play back in iTunes. I have played with the latency settings buy no luck.
The pre-amps are good. Especially at this price. But having worked with very esoteric pre-amps in pro-studio environments I do notice the difference. But again: look at the price. You can either buy a car and this box or you can buy a top pre-amp. Forget the advertising hype: for the price these are just plain good and my guess is that in most situations the problems of the room, monitors and other gear will show up well before the quality of these pre-amps becomes an issue.
How are the preamps and A/D in this unit? I watched some other PreSonus video, and they were boasting best sound quality and conversion and dynamic range and blablabla. Does this live up to that at all?
@razorkick4321 Yes, it does. Although I run it on external power to relieve the Firewire bus a little. But it's a truly mobile solution connected to a laptop.
@tdaonp - I used to run it only using the firewire cable but when I switched my new powered monitors I had a lowerage on voltage and it would unpower my externals HDs. The only solution was to plug the Firebox power supply and that ended the problem.
@MrFrancescosmusic Well, if you are using the one FW port for some other device, then maybe you need another one. Although the Firebox has one spare port as well so you could try daisy chaining the devices you want to hook up. I don't think it's a good idea to do that as it tends to load the one FW channel too much. But it's worth a try.
By the way: a FW card for your PC only costs a few dollars so it's not too much of an expense to add a port.
Does all that stuff come with the Firebox? if not you should make that clear... i mean you have "unboxing" in your title, some people could get it confused.
hey, great video.. only one question, I play guitar with Guitar Rig in Nuendo... and i'm thinking of buying this interface, cause the most important things to me are the bits and the holly LATENCY jaja, that's the most important thing i need so I can play guitar and recording and monitoring it without latency..
so... does this interface give you cero latency when recording some instrument with the FX from your main software (nuendo, cubase, etc???? Thanks for your help, I realy need it.
@SergioWW1WW2 Don't hold me to it entirely because I haven't used my Firebox the way you want to use it but there is a way to use the Firebox with zero latency. Although there is no hardware option, there is one in software. It allows you to route the audio in such a way that it reaches your monitors before it goes to the computer (and Nuendo). You won't hear any effects of Guitar rig, though. That can't be helped. I wonder if any interface in this price range would manage that!
you have behringer controller and you are using Logic, it's means behringer works with logic yes???? because so many people said me:it has a problem with logic!!!
Most certainly I have. Only small projects, though. Which I bought it for in the first place. Sounds great for what I use it for (video scores and leaders and stuff), even better than I would expect from such a cheap, small box. It all depends on your expectations and needs I guess. But it certainly sounds good enough for semi-pro work.
What type of microphone do you use? I had planned to purchase a Shure SM57/58, but I've heard that these microphones don't work too well with this box.
SM57 or 58 (very different beasts of which the 58 is the more versatile but 57 is the more distinct; listen before you buy) both should work fine but remember they are dynamic mics, so they do need a bit more gain than a condenser mic. I use a cheap as chips Behringer mic. Not because it is particularly good but because it is cheap and serves my purpose. Having worked with Neumann 47's and other esoteric mics a lot I know the pitfalls. Again, listen before you buy!!! And balance budget / needs.
Okay, thanks for the advice, man. Sorry to be pestering you with so many questions, but I'm pretty new to this whole thing. Now you mentioned that they would need more gain than a condenser mic. Do different audio interfaces offer more gain? I do at one plan plan to get something like the Profire 610.
The gain on anything with an amplifier in it will differ for different devices. As with all audio equipment - and I can't say this enough - let your ears do the leg work. Having said that, I am quite sure that an SM58 or 57 with the Firebox will do the job well. If for some reason it doesn't you can always buy a cheap mixer to crank things up a bit. But I doubt you will need this. Also, why the Profire later and the Firebox now? At first glance there is not a huge difference between them...?
i think that the sm's have a db boost built in which is why they are good for live. you need a neutral mic if its for recording otherwise you wont get a exact replica of the sound your recording.
The whole point of creative mic use is that sometimes you don't want an exact replica of the sound you're recording. And as far as the SM's are concerned: we used them a lot in the studio on snares for instance. And we had a lot of choice, with regards to mics. They just sometimes did the job the best.
There's only one criterion when it comes to choosing the right mic: use your ears!
SM57 vocal recording greats: Tom Petty, Robert Plant, Paul Rogers, Daryl Hall, Bjork, Mick Jagger, many more.
Weird? There are almost 17,000,000 of us so chances are you will encounter them on YouTube. My accent is weird, I grant you that, but if I had said it in Dutch only 17,000,000 people would have understood what I said. ;-)
Jazeker. Ik kom uit Nederland. Translation: for sure, I come from the Netherlands (NB. Holland is only a small part of our country, never mind though, I'm not chauvinistic).
Yeah, although Goldmember sounds even weirder to a Dutchman used to Dutch-English accents than it does to native English speakers. Mike Myers' accent is a strange amalgam of Dutch, German and Danish accents to my ears. None the less funny for that ;-)
Hahaha, you know the movie well! Well, I do smoke (as you can see in my video's) and I do eat pancakes occasionally. Although Mike Myers is I believe referring to 'pot and sweets'. I don't smoke pot. Not for any moral reasons (it's legal here anyway and I do smoke tobacco and drink alcohol so moral reasons for not smoking pot would be bogus; alcohol is at least as dangerous as pot, if only governments would realise that; oh, no rather not. They might ban it all), it just doesn't attract me.
Thanks. Hope you will enjoy your firebox and make some great noises with it :-)
Oh, and thanks for all your reactions to my other video's. Things like that keep me going. Much new stuff coming this year so keep an eye on my channel.
I know, I'm just a bit of an Apple fanboy and used to stuff just working out of the box. But I'm also glad it works well with Windows. I don't really care what you use to make noise, as long as you make it :-)
@JeromeDude24 you can. on the side of your laptop there should b a slot for a card like thing, like where you could, for example, put in a wireless card i think. and you should just b able to go to guitar center or some other music store and order a firewire port card thing, thats what i did.
i've got the presonus firepod fp10, its a bigger one, witz 8 inputs, yours looks so cute next to mine :D but i also ordered mine at thoman, thoman is simply the best ! have fun with it :)
Yeah. Thomann is a good place to buy your gear. Never had any trouble with them. Good aftersales service as well!
I did not need the extra inputs so I saved a few bucks by getting the smaller one. But I'm sure yours performs as easily and well as its smaller brother. Have fun with it and make some noise! :-)
the firebox has xlr inputs, quality mic pres and 24 bit/96kHz sample rate so will be great for vocals. either would be fine. neither would really be better than the other but I'd recommend an audio interface as they are much cheaper
I like the Firebox. I just wish it came and worked with Pro Tools 8. Cubase gets on my nerves sometimes. The audio quality is better than the old $800.00 Digi 001 It replaced. Just posted a blues demo with garage band using firebox with old beat up guitar that had the pick ups falling out and it came out pretty cool.
Have you evver recorded a guitar lined in together with an amp-simulator like amlitube or guitar rig?? U need a very low latency for that.. like between 2 and 5 milliseconds.. That's easy to get with an PCI internal audio interface.. But Can u do it with this peace och firewire gear??
and the same thing is it low enough latency for you to record vocals and have the DAW's reverb on it without geting a long delay berfore hearing the processed sound?
I haven't had the need to set it up, but I believe there is a way to use the FireBox with a zero latency setup. But if you want to use any bells or whistles you are obviously going to use processing power and thus create latency. I do play some guitar riffs live to tracks I record, even thrue an amp simulator but then the latency becomes very noticable. I just learn to live with it and, not being a guitar player my guitar recordings need a lot of editing anyway ;-)
The other firewire connection is for daisy chaining another FW device to the system. Be careful when you do this, I know from previous experience that it can slow your FW connection down.
how do you find the firebox now that you've had it for a few months? it's always a good indicator of quality, if it still works the same after a while!
also, the behringer brf2000 is it a good piece of gear?
The firebox is completely invisible in my system. I turn on the computer and start working with audio. I hardly know the box is there. A better compliment I can hardly give. It's a very nice and convenient piece of kit.
The bcf2000 also keeps working but keep in mind that the faders and knobs do not receive the same punishment they get in a pro-studio (believe me, I know the difference). But for home use, without too much bashing around, it works fine.
I did. And, yes you can record guitar with the FireBox. In my version (Europe) it came complete with enough software to get you beyond started! I'd have no problem recommending it.
Oh yes, one more thing, I need to know if the headphone output has a good output level because in clubs can be pretty noisy and sometimes it's necessary to pump up the volume more than usual.
Hmm, it's loud enough for my situation but I know what it can be like in a club or live concert situation. I think it is plenty loud enough for that as well but it also depends on your cans of course. I do think however that the FireBox has a higher than usual output so you should be alright.
hey man loved the video so much!!!....very entertaining..anyways can i record my bass guitar with my 1/4 cable onto the firefox which leads to the computer/laptop? also can i record my guitar with 1/4 input cable and my mic with 1/4 onto the computer/laptop as well?...i want to make songs with my buddies/band and i want to no if i can edit our riffs and bass and vocals to make it sound like a real song...ty plz help!!
Well, the Firebox has two intrument/mic inputs on the front. That means they are combined. So yes you can plug in your bass/guitar/mic, just not all three at the same time. You might consider a cheap mixer and using the line inputs on the back of the firebox for that.
Also: the firebox can be power-fed by the firewire port so no lugging another wallwart around. Check before you leave though, because some laptops use the four pin firewire port instead of a six pin one. Which means it may not feed power to the firebox. would be a bit of a bummer arriving at the gig and discovering that you needed the wallwart after all. Or practice your mime skills just in case ;-)
Do you know how to update the firmware of the FireBox through windows? Also, I am getting a lot of crackling in Windows 7. I don't know why. Even in just simple audio play back in iTunes. I have played with the latency settings buy no luck.
MrWant2Know 5 months ago
can i attach the fire wire straight into my pc and it will work ?
LiLMoNeYvevo 1 year ago
ok where do i attach the firewire in ?
and wat mixer do u have to use usb ?
LiLMoNeYvevo 1 year ago
can sbody recomend best usb audio card?
leparditas 1 year ago
The pre-amps are good. Especially at this price. But having worked with very esoteric pre-amps in pro-studio environments I do notice the difference. But again: look at the price. You can either buy a car and this box or you can buy a top pre-amp. Forget the advertising hype: for the price these are just plain good and my guess is that in most situations the problems of the room, monitors and other gear will show up well before the quality of these pre-amps becomes an issue.
A crazy Dutchmen ;)
tdaonp 1 year ago
"say what? [giggle]"
"Electrocuting the singer?... Ah."
lol Oh, you crazy Dutchmen... :)
How are the preamps and A/D in this unit? I watched some other PreSonus video, and they were boasting best sound quality and conversion and dynamic range and blablabla. Does this live up to that at all?
Thanks for posting!
yobhsiFehT 1 year ago
does this power through the firewire cable?
razorkick4321 1 year ago
@razorkick4321 Yes, it does. Although I run it on external power to relieve the Firewire bus a little. But it's a truly mobile solution connected to a laptop.
tdaonp 1 year ago
@tdaonp - I used to run it only using the firewire cable but when I switched my new powered monitors I had a lowerage on voltage and it would unpower my externals HDs. The only solution was to plug the Firebox power supply and that ended the problem.
MrRenealexis 7 months ago
bow chika wow-wow
yousurfer2 1 year ago
@IbanezCHRIStmas To my ears, they are fine. For the price maybe even better than expected.
tdaonp 1 year ago
@tdaonp do you need interface for the PreSonus FIREBOX?
dog009988 8 months ago
@MrFrancescosmusic Well, if you are using the one FW port for some other device, then maybe you need another one. Although the Firebox has one spare port as well so you could try daisy chaining the devices you want to hook up. I don't think it's a good idea to do that as it tends to load the one FW channel too much. But it's worth a try.
By the way: a FW card for your PC only costs a few dollars so it's not too much of an expense to add a port.
tdaonp 1 year ago
Does all that stuff come with the Firebox? if not you should make that clear... i mean you have "unboxing" in your title, some people could get it confused.
mitchio83 1 year ago
hey, great video.. only one question, I play guitar with Guitar Rig in Nuendo... and i'm thinking of buying this interface, cause the most important things to me are the bits and the holly LATENCY jaja, that's the most important thing i need so I can play guitar and recording and monitoring it without latency..
so... does this interface give you cero latency when recording some instrument with the FX from your main software (nuendo, cubase, etc???? Thanks for your help, I realy need it.
SergioWW1WW2 1 year ago
@SergioWW1WW2 Don't hold me to it entirely because I haven't used my Firebox the way you want to use it but there is a way to use the Firebox with zero latency. Although there is no hardware option, there is one in software. It allows you to route the audio in such a way that it reaches your monitors before it goes to the computer (and Nuendo). You won't hear any effects of Guitar rig, though. That can't be helped. I wonder if any interface in this price range would manage that!
tdaonp 1 year ago
you have behringer controller and you are using Logic, it's means behringer works with logic yes???? because so many people said me:it has a problem with logic!!!
meschiann 2 years ago
Ordered mine today.
Quite excited.
JoshTruex 2 years ago
Have you recorded anything with it yet? How is the quality?
poklar 2 years ago
Most certainly I have. Only small projects, though. Which I bought it for in the first place. Sounds great for what I use it for (video scores and leaders and stuff), even better than I would expect from such a cheap, small box. It all depends on your expectations and needs I guess. But it certainly sounds good enough for semi-pro work.
tdaonp 2 years ago
What type of microphone do you use? I had planned to purchase a Shure SM57/58, but I've heard that these microphones don't work too well with this box.
poklar 2 years ago
SM57 or 58 (very different beasts of which the 58 is the more versatile but 57 is the more distinct; listen before you buy) both should work fine but remember they are dynamic mics, so they do need a bit more gain than a condenser mic. I use a cheap as chips Behringer mic. Not because it is particularly good but because it is cheap and serves my purpose. Having worked with Neumann 47's and other esoteric mics a lot I know the pitfalls. Again, listen before you buy!!! And balance budget / needs.
tdaonp 2 years ago
Okay, thanks for the advice, man. Sorry to be pestering you with so many questions, but I'm pretty new to this whole thing. Now you mentioned that they would need more gain than a condenser mic. Do different audio interfaces offer more gain? I do at one plan plan to get something like the Profire 610.
poklar 2 years ago
The gain on anything with an amplifier in it will differ for different devices. As with all audio equipment - and I can't say this enough - let your ears do the leg work. Having said that, I am quite sure that an SM58 or 57 with the Firebox will do the job well. If for some reason it doesn't you can always buy a cheap mixer to crank things up a bit. But I doubt you will need this. Also, why the Profire later and the Firebox now? At first glance there is not a huge difference between them...?
tdaonp 2 years ago
i think that the sm's have a db boost built in which is why they are good for live. you need a neutral mic if its for recording otherwise you wont get a exact replica of the sound your recording.
thispagesux 2 years ago
The whole point of creative mic use is that sometimes you don't want an exact replica of the sound you're recording. And as far as the SM's are concerned: we used them a lot in the studio on snares for instance. And we had a lot of choice, with regards to mics. They just sometimes did the job the best.
There's only one criterion when it comes to choosing the right mic: use your ears!
SM57 vocal recording greats: Tom Petty, Robert Plant, Paul Rogers, Daryl Hall, Bjork, Mick Jagger, many more.
tdaonp 2 years ago
Hello ezvryone!!! I am from Holland; isn't dat veird!?
ZachDRUMMOND 2 years ago
Weird? There are almost 17,000,000 of us so chances are you will encounter them on YouTube. My accent is weird, I grant you that, but if I had said it in Dutch only 17,000,000 people would have understood what I said. ;-)
tdaonp 2 years ago
Wow...Are you really from Holland?
ZachDRUMMOND 2 years ago
Jazeker. Ik kom uit Nederland. Translation: for sure, I come from the Netherlands (NB. Holland is only a small part of our country, never mind though, I'm not chauvinistic).
tdaonp 2 years ago
Wow, I didn't think you really were. I was only quoting that Austin Powers movie.
ZachDRUMMOND 2 years ago
Yeah, although Goldmember sounds even weirder to a Dutchman used to Dutch-English accents than it does to native English speakers. Mike Myers' accent is a strange amalgam of Dutch, German and Danish accents to my ears. None the less funny for that ;-)
tdaonp 2 years ago
Shmoke an'a pancake?
ZachDRUMMOND 2 years ago
Hahaha, you know the movie well! Well, I do smoke (as you can see in my video's) and I do eat pancakes occasionally. Although Mike Myers is I believe referring to 'pot and sweets'. I don't smoke pot. Not for any moral reasons (it's legal here anyway and I do smoke tobacco and drink alcohol so moral reasons for not smoking pot would be bogus; alcohol is at least as dangerous as pot, if only governments would realise that; oh, no rather not. They might ban it all), it just doesn't attract me.
tdaonp 2 years ago
I see your point.
ZachDRUMMOND 2 years ago
Sweet video!
I've been searching for a good audio interface to use with my new mac and logic, and I think i've decided on this firebox.
Keep it up.
JoshTruex 2 years ago
Thanks. Hope you will enjoy your firebox and make some great noises with it :-)
Oh, and thanks for all your reactions to my other video's. Things like that keep me going. Much new stuff coming this year so keep an eye on my channel.
Kind regards,
Henk
tdaonp 2 years ago
I just bought the Firebox, but Im waiting on my 4pin to 6pin cable.
Oh and to counter your "Windows vs Mac" stuff, that "tons" of writing for windows just says "install the driver from the CD." Thats it :)
dodge70chargerrt 2 years ago
I know, I'm just a bit of an Apple fanboy and used to stuff just working out of the box. But I'm also glad it works well with Windows. I don't really care what you use to make noise, as long as you make it :-)
tdaonp 2 years ago
thomann its great)))) i ordered my phones and mic there)) in separately boxes// it was a big boxes full of plastic and a small item inside))))))))
nickukraine 2 years ago
Yeah, they make quite sure that what they send can take a beating and still arrive in one piece :-)
tdaonp 2 years ago
hmmm Im new to recording and I think I want to buy this but my laptop is a PC and I don't think it has a firewire port only usb
JeromeDude24 2 years ago
@JeromeDude24 you can get a firewire port i think
kdnh93 2 years ago
@JeromeDude24 you can. on the side of your laptop there should b a slot for a card like thing, like where you could, for example, put in a wireless card i think. and you should just b able to go to guitar center or some other music store and order a firewire port card thing, thats what i did.
TornIdentity1 2 years ago
i've got the presonus firepod fp10, its a bigger one, witz 8 inputs, yours looks so cute next to mine :D but i also ordered mine at thoman, thoman is simply the best ! have fun with it :)
o0metalrecords0o 2 years ago
Yeah. Thomann is a good place to buy your gear. Never had any trouble with them. Good aftersales service as well!
I did not need the extra inputs so I saved a few bucks by getting the smaller one. But I'm sure yours performs as easily and well as its smaller brother. Have fun with it and make some noise! :-)
tdaonp 2 years ago
@tdaonp
hehe dude :) sure :) alright :P
have a nice day!
o0metalrecords0o 2 years ago
"firm knobs" LOL
Rizo619 2 years ago
:-) you're the first to comment on that...
tdaonp 2 years ago
the firebox has xlr inputs, quality mic pres and 24 bit/96kHz sample rate so will be great for vocals. either would be fine. neither would really be better than the other but I'd recommend an audio interface as they are much cheaper
Rizo619 2 years ago
I like the Firebox. I just wish it came and worked with Pro Tools 8. Cubase gets on my nerves sometimes. The audio quality is better than the old $800.00 Digi 001 It replaced. Just posted a blues demo with garage band using firebox with old beat up guitar that had the pick ups falling out and it came out pretty cool.
benthemiester 2 years ago
Just ordered mine from B&h photo and video, for 175 dollars : o It's a very good Price. uh the shipping was freeeee yay .
huesos79 2 years ago
Have fun with it. I'm sure you'll like it!
tdaonp 2 years ago
Have you evver recorded a guitar lined in together with an amp-simulator like amlitube or guitar rig?? U need a very low latency for that.. like between 2 and 5 milliseconds.. That's easy to get with an PCI internal audio interface.. But Can u do it with this peace och firewire gear??
and the same thing is it low enough latency for you to record vocals and have the DAW's reverb on it without geting a long delay berfore hearing the processed sound?
thanx, cheers from sweden/lenny
Lennyrapid 2 years ago
I haven't had the need to set it up, but I believe there is a way to use the FireBox with a zero latency setup. But if you want to use any bells or whistles you are obviously going to use processing power and thus create latency. I do play some guitar riffs live to tracks I record, even thrue an amp simulator but then the latency becomes very noticable. I just learn to live with it and, not being a guitar player my guitar recordings need a lot of editing anyway ;-)
tdaonp 2 years ago
Hi there.. what can I do with the extra firewire input? one for conection.. and the other??
ERIC126552 2 years ago 2
The other firewire connection is for daisy chaining another FW device to the system. Be careful when you do this, I know from previous experience that it can slow your FW connection down.
tdaonp 2 years ago
how do you find the firebox now that you've had it for a few months? it's always a good indicator of quality, if it still works the same after a while!
also, the behringer brf2000 is it a good piece of gear?
thanks
darren
nubeez 2 years ago
Hi Darren,
The firebox is completely invisible in my system. I turn on the computer and start working with audio. I hardly know the box is there. A better compliment I can hardly give. It's a very nice and convenient piece of kit.
The bcf2000 also keeps working but keep in mind that the faders and knobs do not receive the same punishment they get in a pro-studio (believe me, I know the difference). But for home use, without too much bashing around, it works fine.
Henk
tdaonp 2 years ago
do you produce music/beats? or record guitar? will this suit me for recording my guitar?
rockmasterdan1993 2 years ago
I did. And, yes you can record guitar with the FireBox. In my version (Europe) it came complete with enough software to get you beyond started! I'd have no problem recommending it.
tdaonp 2 years ago
Whats with the foam, does the Firebox vibrate or something.
DALE97DSM 2 years ago
The foam is for my monitors.
tdaonp 2 years ago
Oh yes, one more thing, I need to know if the headphone output has a good output level because in clubs can be pretty noisy and sometimes it's necessary to pump up the volume more than usual.
goldenpica 2 years ago
Hmm, it's loud enough for my situation but I know what it can be like in a club or live concert situation. I think it is plenty loud enough for that as well but it also depends on your cans of course. I do think however that the FireBox has a higher than usual output so you should be alright.
tdaonp 2 years ago
I use a MacBook that means my FW ports are six pin, sweet.
goldenpica 2 years ago
hey man loved the video so much!!!....very entertaining..anyways can i record my bass guitar with my 1/4 cable onto the firefox which leads to the computer/laptop? also can i record my guitar with 1/4 input cable and my mic with 1/4 onto the computer/laptop as well?...i want to make songs with my buddies/band and i want to no if i can edit our riffs and bass and vocals to make it sound like a real song...ty plz help!!
ChrisGarciaX 2 years ago
Well, the Firebox has two intrument/mic inputs on the front. That means they are combined. So yes you can plug in your bass/guitar/mic, just not all three at the same time. You might consider a cheap mixer and using the line inputs on the back of the firebox for that.
tdaonp 2 years ago
Looks cool, I'm seriously considering one of these because I travel a lot and it will fit nicely into a backpack I guess.
goldenpica 2 years ago
Also: the firebox can be power-fed by the firewire port so no lugging another wallwart around. Check before you leave though, because some laptops use the four pin firewire port instead of a six pin one. Which means it may not feed power to the firebox. would be a bit of a bummer arriving at the gig and discovering that you needed the wallwart after all. Or practice your mime skills just in case ;-)
tdaonp 2 years ago
fuck u and this shit ass video im goin to watch david carino
olanda500 2 years ago
I'm sure David Carino is very happy with intelligent, well spoken viewers like you.
tdaonp 2 years ago