Any one with ProFire???

[pcmusicpro]

Hi all

I looked at the recent new ProFire interfases by M-Audio and I can see nice features on them. I want to ask the users how do you find them and what are the pro's and cons of these interfaces.

Thanks

ed.

[SixChurchStreet]

In regards to the 610...
The biggest CON with the ProFire 610 is being limited to 6 inputs. And this is only if you add a good way to get another 2 channels in via spdif. Doing so will cost you a minimum of about $399 for something like the ART Digital MPA (which is a pre I don't particularly like the sound of, not to mention I wouldn't say the A/D conversion it's doing is very good). Or you could go with something like the RME ADI-2 to get that extra 2 channels (with very good conversion) for about $799.

That said, if you don't want to shell out another 400+, you're stuck with 4 channels of input. Now, this might be FINE for what you're doing. You haven't said if your studio is strictly project, with you recording yourself, or if you record bands (or plan to). To me, the 4/6 input at a time limit would turn me off to this unit. If I wanted to record drums with a full set of mics, I'd be out of luck unless I had that extra two channels of SPDIF, and even in that case you're limited to 6 mics. Which CAN very well be enough, but you're limited. Should you want to add a room mic, or a stereo pair of room mics, or do something creative, you'll not be able to do this. If you only record yourself, and know you're never ever going to want to record more than 4/6 things at once, then I think this might fit the bill for you.

Personally, when I first moved from my Digi001 to M-Powered, I got a 410 interface. My thinking was... I'm just a project studio recording myself, so I really don't need any more than the 2 inputs (4 with spdif). But it occurred to me pretty quickly that i couldn't record a stereo guitar with accompanying vocals at the same time. Nor could I record a stereo piano with an additional room mic. And if I ever wanted to do a session with a drummer, I'd be S out of luck. Granted, the ProFire has a 2 input advantage over the 410, but you see where I'm going with this. It wasn't a month before I sold my 410 on eBay and bought an 1814 to replace it.

It seems like you're really looking for something with good/better preamps onboard so you don't have to deal with this right away, I fully understand that. But don't cripple your I/O just to get a minor step up in onboard preamp quality.

The one last thing, and you may never care about this or want to do it at all. But should you decide at some point you'd like to upgrade your conversion, you can only do it via SPDIF. Meaning, you'll only have 2 channels of high quality conversion EVER with the ProFire 610. In contrast, something like the 1814 gives you the ability to add 10 channels of high quality conversion. The 2626 gives you the ability to add 18 channels of high quality conversion. And at the risk of sounding redundant, you may not give a hoot about your conversion and will be just fine with M-Audio's onboard conversion (lots of people use it with plenty of good results). But I just like to make sure you're aware of all possibilities before you spend your hard earned money. I made a few bad calls buying gear here and there and like to see others avoid it if possible. :)

In regards to the ProFire 2626... I love the I/O options. It seems to me with this unit you'll most likely never need to upgrade it do to I/O reasons. You can expand and grow with this and never hit a brick wall due to the shortcomings of the interface. I think I mentioned this on your other thread, but if I ever need more I/O than my 1814 is giving me, the 2626 is on my short list of candidates.

[weezul]

just been using the ProFire 2626 for a couple of days.. not heavy usage. Just armed all the tracks in pro tools, see if it would track stabley.. However my heavy heavy mixes seem a lot slower using M-Powered software.. my RTAS bar on the System Usage is about 90% full at a 1024 buffer.. It looks the same on LE but seems a little less sluggish. Could be the change from usb to firewire but I was always led to beleive that Firewire was superior... Will have to wait a while, see what it's like tracking more than two inputs at once, which i'm yet to do at home for anyone other than myself because I used to have an MBox 2 Mini... Im only on a dual core 2.16 though so a better processor might help. Hoping to upgrade to a q6600 soon....

[MDog]

Hi,

I have a ProFire 2626. It's very stable and has lots of I/O. The thing you need to be aware of is that there is a limit of 18 I/O in the Protools software, so 8 of the hardware input/outputs will be useless if you're only using PT. They all work if you're using different software.

That said, it's much better sounding and more flexible than an M-Audio 1814 which is what I replaced.

[airops2]

i've been multi-tracking with Protools 7.4 from a M-Audio Profire Lightbridge from 4 Behringer ADA8000 Ultragain Pro-8 A/D/A Converters to direct audio outputs from the mixing console and has been working flawless for many weeks now

[MDog]

Originally Posted by airops2

i've been multi-tracking with Protools 7.4 from a M-Audio Profire Lightbridge from 4 Behringer ADA8000 Ultragain Pro-8 A/D/A Converters to direct audio outputs from the mixing console and has been working flawless for many weeks now

That's 32 inputs. The software only allows for a maximum of 18 inputs as stated on the Digi website -

"Pro Tools M-Powered and Pro Tools LE software allows a maximum of 18 audio inputs and outputs, depending on your audio interface I/O capability"

http://www.digidesign.com/index.cfm?...4&itemid=28430

Hope this helps.

[airops2]

Profire Lightbridge adat 1 an 2 from two Behringer pro-8's to one laptop and 3 an 4 adat from two more behringer pro-8's to another laptop so that how i get my 32 channels in live multi-tracking

[paranoid android]

Pros: I've been using a Profire Lightbridge with MP7.4 for nearing a month now and it's worked great so far. The drivers are very stable and all around I think it was a good purchase. I'm using the unit with an Apogee AD16x and an Apogee DA16x for conversion. Works good so far. It's great though because I initially bought the unit just for PT compatibility, but add two more outboard converters (in my case my RME kits + Apogee kits) and I'm also able to use all of it's ADAT I/O simultaneously in my other DAW software, equally as stable. It's also bus powered!

That said, I'd assume that the non-lightbridge Profire units have stable drivers also, and I hear they sound pretty good too.

Cons: No real cons for me. The only gripe I had was that the H/W buffer in MP doesn't go as low as that in LE (to my knowledge). But that's easily remedied. Everything else are biases and nitpicks that don't matter: I hate the breakout cable and I hate half-rack units (not as annoying with a Midisport 4x4 beside it though, though the MidiSport is fugly :) see? Don't matter.

[tha]-[acksaw]

Just a comment about the limitation of ProTools M-Powered to 18 inputs at once. I know when getting the ProFire Lightbridge its kinda lame that you get 32 inputs but cant use them in ProTools. About the only time I need more then 18 inputs is for live tacking, so if I need to do this, I use another DAW like Sonar 4 Pro and then import the tracks into PT after I'm done recording. The Lightbridge works with all 32 inputs in Sonar so its not a total waste of 32 inputs.

And I love my Lightbridge. I also use my with Apogee converters and it works great. Pro Level audio through Consumer Level gear. I LOVE IT!!

Nick

[paranoid android]

Yep. The Lightbridge works fully in Nuendo 4 and Digital Performer 6 also.