Replacement for Digi 003r..Focusrite Safire Pro 40..?

[Piers Gibbon]

Have been advised by a highly trusted supplier (Martin Fletcher at HHB in London) that the Focusrite Safire Pro 40 will be a great slot in replacement for my old 003r...

My preamping is done by an Avalon so I just need broadcast quality voiceover (one mono track!) via its AD/DA and enough ins/outs to connect my isdn codec etc (see sig)

Does the DUC hive mind agree with his suggestion? Will it happily see me through PT11 eventually? Should I spend a bit more and get something more futureproof/shiny??

Why? My Digi 003r is freaking me out with flashing lights and no host light when connected to my studio MBP as detailed in sig...LUCKILY it still eventually works when connected to my old MB running PT 7.4.3...so the plan is to replace it NOW, get it mended (scrape power bits?) and then have it as a backup (so I'd like to buy something that will slot in/out easily with the 003r)

THANKS!

[cwsand]

The Pro 40 is a great unit for the price. Has nice, clean preamps and works well with Pro Tools. I had one for about a year (also to replace a 003R) and now have the 56.

[Piers Gibbon]

Thanks for that, good to know

[Dism]

Originally Posted by cwsand

The Pro 40 is a great unit for the price. Has nice, clean preamps and works well with Pro Tools. I had one for about a year (also to replace a 003R) and now have the 56.

^ everthing he said.

I also have a 56 with no regrets. MixControl might be a bit overwhelming at first, but once you get the hang of it, it's quite useful for setting up even complex low latency monitoring.

[EGS]

Originally Posted by Dism

^ everthing he said.

I also have a 56 with no regrets. MixControl might be a bit overwhelming at first, but once you get the hang of it, it's quite useful for setting up even complex low latency monitoring.

A similar story here. I went from a Black Lion modded 002R to a LS56. Then I got a Pro 40 for my 2nd rig. Both units sound & work great.

[Piers Gibbon]

this is great to hear, thank you


reading the Safire pro website I wondered whether this quote might mean I could use Skype as a way of being directed down the line remotely when clients don't have ISDN or source connect...

"two virtual ‘loopback’ inputs for routing digital audio between software applications"

Something I have found impossible to do on my current 003r setup

[TAPSpace]

Originally Posted by Piers Gibbon

this is great to hear, thank you


reading the Safire pro website I wondered whether this quote might mean I could use Skype as a way of being directed down the line remotely when clients don't have ISDN or source connect...

"two virtual ‘loopback’ inputs for routing digital audio between software applications"

Something I have found impossible to do on my current 003r setup

That is definitely what that means. It has a number or really cool functions but basically it means that you can route the output of your mac back in to Pro Tools (or other daws).

[nst7]

You might want to check out the Focusrite Scarlett 18i20. It looks like it's basically a USB version of the Saffire Pro 40.

Being USB, it would be a little more flexible in regards to what kind of computers you can use it with.

[Piers Gibbon]

and it's a very nice red colour too

Actually I decided to stick with firewire as that's what is already plumbed into my Esmono studio - and I hate ramming more cables through!

Oh and I also want to be able to rapidly swap between the saffire and the old 003r (once it is mended), if the saffire ever goes down - I like backups and levels of redundancy and I hate letting clients down

[dr_daw]

+1 on the Saffire Pro 40. I've been loving mine, I'm very happy with the sound of the pre's on it. I've used the mixcontrol loopback feature to record itunes back into PT when working on cover songs. It works great, it takes a little to get used to the mix control, but once you understand it, it is awesome.

The one drawback is that I wasn't able to get mine to play nice with my Glyph GTP 50 FW drive. This forced me to use the Thunderbolt port with a tbolt to FW adapter. I think your MBP has two FW ports though, so you might be ok. I'm usure of what external drives you're using, but just be prepared for some fiddling around if you're daisy chaining.

Good luck Piers...jealous of your Neumann and Avalon :P Still saving up over here