Ableton Forum

Well, my 5 year old Firebox died tonight, I do believe. Started up Live and there was no sound engine. Looked at the Firebox and the light was off. Check USB connections = all good. Plugged in the power supply. Sync light struggles to come on, finally comes on and there is a strange tone coming out of the speakers....not a sine wave....more organic than that....actually it sounded a lot like the sound of the clothes dryer going (???)...after 30 seconds of that and *POP* and the sync light is off again. 1 minute later and a bit of smoke is coming out of the back of the Firebox. Unplug it, take it outside don't want to breathe that shit. FUCK! Did my Firebox just die? I think it did. *sigh*

Have you tried turning it off, then back on again?

Yea, tried that originally. I think I'll try one more time to be sure, but that puff of smoke has me worried. Smells terrible too.

It does nothing now. Neither USB or power supply gets any response.

That sucks balls matey, whenever studio gear goes it's always a massive shock, because I buy good quality stuff and hammer it pretty much everyday. So when something does go (a few years down the line) I'm usually thinking 'but you just always work, what the fuck'. Try to look to the positive, time to buy a new toy

I'll probably just get another Firebox. It's been great all this time, can't really afford to shell out for the RME setup I'd really like, and Firebox goes for $200 these days. I did get excited for a minute though thinking of the possibilities!! Hmmm, maybe I will look around after all....

Ugh this sucks. I should be writing right now and instead I have nothing!! AGGGHHGHH!!

Sad day, good to know that my recent investment in one of these puppies will likely last half a decade though.

shame you couldn't have sampled the 'organic' sound ... make a nice 'firebox death' patch with it

How much for the dead box?

$200 for it. I paid $450 5 years ago, that's $50 per year...not bad!

ethios4 wrote:$200 for it. I paid $450 5 years ago, that's $50 per year...not bad!

paypal okay?

Sure no problem, just send me your bank account info and passwords and I'll take care of it.

You have to give the Firebox some credit for living up to its name.

Does this mean that a Fireface will spit flames at your head when it goes out?

Consider the Native Instruments AudioKontrol. With the ASIO4ALL driver, I can get it down to 2ms of latency, which is almost as good as my RME. No power cables or any other issues. Comes with a Hi-Z input for your guitar. And you can likely get it on the cheap, as it's been out for a while.

I'm using it for my gig tomorrow night, running it at the lowest setting, 64 buffers. No issues.