Focusrite Saffire

David · Post by **David** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 9:50 am

Hi folks,

I'm really tempted to go for this. Up till now I've survived with just built in audio on my laptop, but now I think its finally time to get a good audio card. This one seems good value for money, has a high spec., good quality audio converison, midi IO, and comes from a really good company.

http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/page/shop ... ct_id/5559

Has anyone experienced using this device with Live?

Thanks for any info.

Winterpark · Post by **Winterpark** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 2:24 pm

hey, that looks quite cool!

i'm interested in how the on board fx work... "using the Saffire's own DSP"... it says they are included as vst and au... wondering just how that works in real life situations...

anyone got some insight into this?

Winterpark · Post by **Winterpark** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 2:35 pm

done some research... seems that the vst/au thing actually runs on computer dsp, not Saffire's.... ohh well... can use Saffire dsp effects on input though...

here's a link to stuff at KVR...

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... sc&start=0

puRe · Post by **puRe** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 3:30 pm

I've got one for testing here...basically, it's not worth it...good i/o options, nice compressor/eq (though you already have them from FM CD), crap mixer, the shittiest reverb ever...I'd say it's nice if you ignore the mixer and included effects (though they are one of Saffire's main selling points)...

New Yawkah · Post by **New Yawkah** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 4:16 pm

EMU 1616M

I just got this today. Did a lot of research beforehand, and this seems to be by far the best bang for your buck. I haven't tried it yet, but I'll post a simple review when i can. Link below...

Good luck!

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/fg= ... c_id=98551

P.S. The pre's on the Focusrite Saffire are based on the platinum series- not good...

unklmic · Post by **unklmic** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 4:18 pm

I Have been eyeing out the Focusrite for a while now. There is a review in Future Music out now.

Another to look at - for about the same price, is one of the EMU cards. The advantage is that you can use the PCMCIA card on it's own as a high grade sound card, or you can connect the break out box for all the interfaces. I think it was the 1616M - It has it's own DSP and higher speck than the focusrite - but not as pretty.

amo · Post by **amo** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 4:44 pm

New Yawkah wrote:EMU 1616M

I just got this today. Did a lot of research beforehand, and this seems to be by far the best bang for your buck. I haven't tried it yet, but I'll post a simple review when i can. Link below...

Good luck!

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/fg= ... c_id=98551

P.S. The pre's on the Focusrite Saffire are based on the platinum series- not good...

Yeah New Yawkah you're my man ! I was just about to post a new thread for that one, as I'm very interested in getting one, and selling my multiface. But I don't want to screw as the multiface gives perfect results. The only reasons why I want to switch are:
1. the possibility to use the card only, with headphones, means the ability to make music without power supply.
2. the vynil and mic preamps.
3. the onboard FX.

So if you ca n tell how good all this is, and how the performance is compared to internal sound card... I notices with the multiface that I get much better performances than with the internal, cause of DSP processing. So the Emu seems the same. Just tell about latency, quality of preamps and FX. Thanks.
Cheers,
amo

New Yawkah · Post by **New Yawkah** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 5:00 pm

The main reason I was sold is the convertors and the mic pres w/ soft limiting. These pres are worth 10 times the price of admission alone! And the convertors are IDENTICAL to the Pro-Tools HD convertors. Even if I never use the built-in effects, it's still a steal! I have heard they (the effects) are useful for certain things, but I was just looking for the ultimate front end signal path to the laptop HD. I need to "tweak" my new laptop for audio, (XP is a big adjustment and a lot more work than MAC! but I went w/ AMD 3700+ based on the advice of this forum) and install the EMU, my Glyph HD, Ableton, and than I will test this bad boy for real! Hopefully, in the next week or two.. Look out for it.

spiderprod · Post by **spiderprod** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 5:34 pm

apparently the vsts on the 1616 are trouble makers ,i would wait until a good update comes out to get it .

mrruby · Post by **mrruby** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 6:03 pm

I've been using the EMU 1616m for about 2 weeks now. I too was debating btw this and the Focusrite Saffire. I went with the 1616m to use the PCMCIA on my laptop and to have the other ports available for HD's and controllers.
I'm really happy with it. great with "ASIO for all" I really dont care about the added effects they probably do suck. The sound difference of this thing compared to my MOTU 828MkII is much greater then I could have expected- Like getting the cotton taken out of your ears for real! If you compare it to the Saffire the main differences (other than FW or pcmcia) are the number of ins and outs. My guess also would be that the Saffire probably has much better plugins....Oh yeah, the mixing on the 1616m is a little hard to figure out at first but eventually the logic becomes apparent.
cheers

amo · Post by **amo** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 6:06 pm

mrruby wrote:I've been using the EMU 1616m for about 2 weeks now. I too was debating btw this and the Focusrite Saffire. I went with the 1616m to use the PCMCIA on my laptop and to have the other ports available for HD's and controllers.
I'm really happy with it. great with "ASIO for all" I really dont care about the added effects they probably do suck. The sound difference of this thing compared to my MOTU 828MkII is much greater then I could have expected- Like getting the cotton taken out of your ears for real! If you compare it to the Saffire the main differences (other than FW or pcmcia) are the number of ins and outs. My guess also would be that the Saffire probably has much better plugins....Oh yeah, the mixing on the 1616m is a little hard to figure out at first but eventually the logic becomes apparent.
cheers

Why use asio4all ? Doesn't it come with decent low latency performances with its own asio drivers ?
Thanks for the input...
amo

mrruby · Post by **mrruby** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 6:34 pm

amo wrote:
Why use asio4all ? Doesn't it come with decent low latency performances with its own asio drivers ?
Thanks for the input...
amo

Hi Amo,
I'm finding I get lower workable latency settings with ASIOforAll.
of course its a matter of a few msec (4 to 8 maybe?).

David · Post by **David** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 9:22 pm

I decided to get one! I figure that I've took soo long to decide on one that I just have to pick one and be done with it. So far so good.

Installation went fine (going through a pcmcia -> firewire card), no problems at all. Authorized online via dial up without a hitch.

Sound is good to my ears, but then I've just migrated from built in PC Laptop Soundcard which had an audible hiss. This device is silent when I'm not playing anything. I can 'definetly' hear and feel a better quality (Bass sounds a lot fuller and highs more crisp and distinct), very nice sound, good frequency seperation. Have yet to record, and one of the main duties it will see will be to record vinyl. So, quite looking forward to trying recording at 24bit 192khz (though I think 192khz is probably a bit ott, I'll probably just use 24bit 96khz, still a lot in my book).

So far the saffire gets a thumbs up from me, no problems and sounding good to my ears, though i'm sure some people will require an even more proffesional device more suited to their needs. I'm making sample based electronica stuff so I dont something more suited to recording an orchestra.

bye for now,
David

unklmic · Post by **unklmic** » Fri Aug 12, 2005 2:41 pm

mrruby wrote:
amo wrote:
Why use asio4all ? Doesn't it come with decent low latency performances with its own asio drivers ?
Thanks for the input...
amo
Hi Amo,
I'm finding I get lower workable latency settings with ASIOforAll.
of course its a matter of a few msec (4 to 8 maybe?).

MRRuby - I have just bought the 1616, but cannot get ASIO4ALL to work with it. - It says 'Beyond Logic'. Do you have any tips?

mrruby · Post by **mrruby** » Fri Aug 12, 2005 4:39 pm

unklmic wrote:
mrruby wrote:
amo wrote:
Why use asio4all ? Doesn't it come with decent low latency performances with its own asio drivers ?
Thanks for the input...
amo
Hi Amo,
I'm finding I get lower workable latency settings with ASIOforAll.
of course its a matter of a few msec (4 to 8 maybe?).
MRRuby - I have just bought the 1616, but cannot get ASIO4ALL to work with it. - It says 'Beyond Logic'. Do you have any tips?

UNKLMIC--I'm afraid I'm still in the "figuring it out stage" myself. I have never used asio4all before getting my new 1616m.- and to my embarrasment I just realized I cant get more than one output at a time going yet (at this point I switched back to the EMU drivers until I get time to experiment more

) . If you read the enclosed asio4all manual it does ask that you restart your app after making changes. and I think its settings are not global in that like a synth patch- it remembers setting for each song ( I think?) - it definately does for each application. I checked the ASIO4All forum and there is no info there. I'll post any news of progress in a seperate thread. sorry I can't be of more help yet....cheers

BTW the EMU drivers are pretty good anyway- I wanted to try ASIO4All partly because of the bad rap the EMU drivers have gotten on various forums---Maybe things have changed these seem very stable so far...