Is the RME fireface 400 reliable?

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
galo
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Re: Is the RME fireface 400 reliable?

Post by galo » Wed Feb 03, 2010 3:43 pm

So hopefully if i can get my hands on the pre snow leopard drivers it should be rock solid

Tarekith
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Re: Is the RME fireface 400 reliable?

Post by Tarekith » Wed Feb 03, 2010 3:44 pm

They archive all the drivers on the site, you can easily get the old ones.
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glitchrock-buddha
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Re: Is the RME fireface 400 reliable?

Post by glitchrock-buddha » Wed Feb 03, 2010 4:11 pm

I don't uderstand how a company would release a driver update meant for snow leopard which is less stable than the previous one which was already fine as is. WTF. First of all if it worked fine why update it, and secondly how would they make it more unstable on the operating system is meant for. None of this makes sense.

My fiteface 400 just arrived. Now I'm not sure whether to install the leopard or SL driver.
Last night I hadn't yet downloaded the drivers and I tried using the FF. I was surprised that it wasn't recognized at all sine my presinus stuff didn't need drivers to work. (there's no Internet where I was). I dowloaded the drivers from home and installed the latest software last night. The fireface mixer wouldn't open though. I guess the FF needs to be attached?
Professional Shark Jumper.

Tarekith
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Re: Is the RME fireface 400 reliable?

Post by Tarekith » Wed Feb 03, 2010 4:18 pm

Yes, the mixer won't open if the FF is not attached, it's only a virtual representation of the hardware settings.
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funky shit
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Re: Is the RME fireface 400 reliable?

Post by funky shit » Wed Feb 03, 2010 4:20 pm

Might get the 400 actually.
Need to get an ADAT device aswell though as it dosnt have enough ins/outs initially.

Recomendations?
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Hidden Driveways
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Re: Is the RME fireface 400 reliable?

Post by Hidden Driveways » Wed Feb 03, 2010 4:41 pm

funk poo - On the cheap you can get this:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/control ... 746&is=REG

The best way to go in this category is M-Audio. Yes you heard me right:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/3 ... reamp.html

The best sounding ADAT lightpipe device I've heard is the OctaMic, but it'll cost ya:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/5 ... _Line.html



I've been a huge fan of RME for a long time, but ultimately I've recently decided to go with MOTU. Yes, there can be funky driver issues with RME, but that is true of all DAW gear, so don't let that be the defining thing in you decision making. Jeff at Synthax (the US RME distributer) is very active in helping users sort out issues.

I've been doing a lot of location work for video shoots, and the MOTU Traveler makes the most sense for my current interface needs. I haven't decideed whether I'm going to keep my RME OctaMic II or not (because I also have the Octane, and it sounds pretty darn close to the OctaMic, but the OctaMic is better).

I'm pretty psyched about getting the Traveler.

funky shit
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Re: Is the RME fireface 400 reliable?

Post by funky shit » Wed Feb 03, 2010 4:48 pm

Cheers HD :D
Yeah the Octamic is more than the damn 800 :lol:
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CR78
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Re: Is the RME fireface 400 reliable?

Post by CR78 » Wed Feb 03, 2010 5:12 pm

I sold my FF400 and bought an Echo Audiofire 4; identical Pre Opamps and the Echo drivers are good- I'm running my buffer at 256 on a MBP 2.5GHz with 4gigs ram: Snow Leopard 10.6.2. The only thing I lost was RME's ADAT connectivity; I mostly use the SPDIF on the AF4.

This looks great:

http://www.echoaudio.com/Products/FireW ... /index.php

zalo
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Re: Is the RME fireface 400 reliable?

Post by zalo » Wed Feb 03, 2010 5:27 pm

CR78 wrote:I'm running my buffer at 256 on a MBP 2.5GHz with 4gigs ram: Snow Leopard 10.6.2.
with my FF400 im using a 96 sample buffer on a 2.4GHz MBP with 3gigs ram with OSX 10.6.2

no pops or crackles at 80% cpu

CR78
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Re: Is the RME fireface 400 reliable?

Post by CR78 » Wed Feb 03, 2010 5:54 pm

zalo wrote:
CR78 wrote:I'm running my buffer at 256 on a MBP 2.5GHz with 4gigs ram: Snow Leopard 10.6.2.
with my FF400 im using a 96 sample buffer on a 2.4GHz MBP with 3gigs ram with OSX 10.6.2

no pops or crackles at 80% cpu
That's great. Is Live the only program you have open? Airport turned off? 44.1khz/48/88.2? 16 or 24Bit?

zalo
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Re: Is the RME fireface 400 reliable?

Post by zalo » Wed Feb 03, 2010 6:34 pm

CR78 wrote:
zalo wrote:
CR78 wrote:I'm running my buffer at 256 on a MBP 2.5GHz with 4gigs ram: Snow Leopard 10.6.2.
with my FF400 im using a 96 sample buffer on a 2.4GHz MBP with 3gigs ram with OSX 10.6.2

no pops or crackles at 80% cpu
That's great. Is Live the only program you have open? Airport turned off? 44.1khz/48/88.2? 16 or 24Bit?
no, i usually have other applications running and i dont turn off airport, 48khz and 24bit (i dont think 16 bit is an option)

aqua_tek
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Re: Is the RME fireface 400 reliable?

Post by aqua_tek » Sat Feb 06, 2010 4:27 am

OK here's two new issues I've encountered with my FF 800.

First of all, and this one had been happening before, then went away, and now strangely came back. If I connect the FF 800 to my macbook pro and don't reboot, when I select it as the default interface in Live's preferences, I end up getting a kernel panic. This is like clockwork. Happens every single time now.

Another thing is, the FF 800 seems to be interfering with my Airport in some weird F-ed up way. If it is connected, Airport simply does not work. As soon as I turn the FF 800 off, the network comes back on and it all goes back to normal. Big WTF with this one.


I'm up to date with everything: OS, firmware, and drivers. This shit is doing my head in. It used to be so rock-solid before. :cry:

illsub1
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Re: Is the RME fireface 400 reliable?

Post by illsub1 » Sat Feb 06, 2010 7:46 pm

had a similar problem when updating to Snow Leopard. The interface just would freeze up and need a restart. I went back to Leopard and use the latest driver for regular Leopard. Back to smooth sailing... Funny, I've had the FF 800 for years and have never had any problems before that.

Furland
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Re: Is the RME fireface 400 reliable?

Post by Furland » Sat Feb 06, 2010 9:20 pm

Works like a charm here, where the FF400 is daisy chained through a LaCie Rugged drive feeding it's Firewire 800 into a MBP running 10.6.2 with no issues at all. It's been disconnected hundreds of times, thrown in a backpack with the rest of my bit's'n'pieces and lugged around without special care.
Runs off buspower mostly and even when running off the battery from the MBP it works fine with the above units.

If I disconnect the cable accidentally, it's just to plug it in again and restart the RME software, Presto, Control restored.

Not to mention the actual quality of the in and output is fantastic for the price it costs.

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