Firewire 410 is a failure

[joeydego]

Am I the only one who thinks this interface is a total flop? It can take 15 minutes to get it working at all. they render it useless if its not tied to a piece of software that simply does not work with any reliability. M-audio for 2008- how about a piece of rackmount gear as an interface, firewire, not tied to a dismal software mixer? BTW, I have an intel mac 2.0 duo core 2 3gb ram. My usb interface was never a problem. pt7.1.1

[JrummerJ]

Could you tell us a little more about your system, specifically how you have it connected and if you have an external drive chained? What else is connected to the computer? What OS are you on?

I am using the 410, and I only rarely have an issue where I have to click the reset button in the mixer. Other than that it works just great. Mine had some issues when running the 410 off the fw ports on the Macbook Pro, but once I moved it to either an expresscard or chained after the external drive, my problems went away.

J

[Hardin]

It can take 15 minutes to get it working at all... My usb interface was never a problem.

Which OS version are you running and do you have the current FW driver for that OS?

I agree with JrummerJ, the only problem I've seen is needing to reset the interface once in a while.

[digidesigner]

I agree with JrummerJ, the only problem I've seen is needing to reset the interface once in a while.

Once in a while? come on! I use it 99% to monitor digital input and route it directly to outputs 1/2 and it NEVER monitors right away! I need to go and switch off the knob 1-2 and on again to get the audio running. And when assigning rotary encoder to control bus levels, when you turn the knob audio level does not change smoothly but jumps very annoyingly. Very frustrating. BTW it was perfect when running on with a Windows machine! This makes me believe the problem could be Apple Mac or really worst device drivers in a history of mankind. Oh and m-audio says:

"We are currently working on an updated driver for our firewire devices running under OS 10.4.9 and we have found that our earlier 1.7.4 driver functions better in some respects. I would recommend using the 1.7.4 driver until our driver update is available"

this was in june, still same problems.

[M.Brane]

In many cases older M-Audio drivers work better than newer ones. I don't know what they are doing over there, but beware of "updates".

[joeydego]

I just went from osx 10.4.9 to 10.4.10, reset permissions, uninstalled then reinstalled the driver and it fired up. so far I'm 1 for 1 but dont have faith I wont have an issue in the morning. I have it connected directly to its own firewire port, and have a HD connected to the other, both FW 400 ports on the intel mac. I notice the assignalbe knob jumps around as well. go to turn it down and it tends to turn up a notch first, etc. Why not make a piece of rackmount hardware that isnt tied to software?

[JrummerJ]

I just went from osx 10.4.9 to 10.4.10, reset permissions, uninstalled then reinstalled the driver and it fired up. so far I'm 1 for 1 but dont have faith I wont have an issue in the morning. I have it connected directly to its own firewire port, and have a HD connected to the other, both FW 400 ports on the intel mac. I notice the assignalbe knob jumps around as well. go to turn it down and it tends to turn up a notch first, etc. Why not make a piece of rackmount hardware that isnt tied to software?

I will agree that the assignable knob is a bit jumpy, but I really don't use it much at all. And as far as making a hardware mixer that isn't tied to software......well, it wouldn't cost under $300 if they did that! Go buy the Project mix or a Digi003 if that is what you want. Honestly, I do most of my routing from within M-Powered, so I rarely touch the M-Audio software or the controls on the 410, and I am using the 1.8.2 driver FYI.

J

[joeydego]

money is not the issue, reliability is. It shouldnt take a witch doctor to get audio out of the interface. Id have paid double to not have these issues. digi 003 and projectmix is overkill for me, as I NEVER record more than 1 track at a time, dont even own a mic, and mix completely in the box. Well so far I'm 2 for 2, looks like problem solved..........for now.

[Hardin]

The Fast Track Pro (USB) is pretty reliable and it doesn't have a separate control panel. If you don't need a pre, that might be a good switch for you and save you a buck.

The pres in my opinion are cleaner with the firewire interfaces. The Fast Track requires some specific attention to the gain staging and it sounds like it costs, but if you don't need pres it's not a problem for you and you could still use SPDIF outs if you put a nice D/A in your chain for mixing.

Just a thought.

Are you mixing surround? That might be your only reason to stay if you're frustrated with it.

Oh one more thing about the firewire drivers - maybe someone on a PC could confirm this? - I remember the control panel monitor section in the Windows driver not linking to the interface at all. You had to run the control panel and adjust it manually apart from the interface. I used to run MPowered on a Mac and a PC. Maybe the Vista drivers are more reliable. Anyone else weigh in about windows?

[joeydego]

hardin, thanks. Mixing in surround? naah. I didnt spend the better part of 10 grand on an HD setup (something all the other DAWs offer at the 500 dollar range). I was in the apple store yesterday, and OMG what logic gives you for 500 bucks! For PT to stay competative they should give you surround sound options in LE or MP, not limit the # of tracks, and not tie you to a piece of hardware. Other than that, the DAW is very stable and doesnt get in the way of mixing. It looks like I'll be installing logic on my new computer unless digi sees what the competition is offering for the same or less money and actually competes.