Ableton Forum

Looking at making a purchase and upgrading from the Presonus Firepod I've had for years (and now seems to be going out on me). The Firepod has been good, no complaints really, but I do some Post Production work in Ableton and could use a card with wordclock sync.

Just curious if anyone on here is using this interface and on what kind of box are you using it (I'm on a iMAC 2.93 i7 w/ 12 GB RAM, running 10.6.8 )? And are you happy with it? Anything I should know?

Give Thanks!

No complaints whatsoever. RME make great products.
Had it for about 5 years now. Used it with a dual 2.5 G5 and more recently with the 2.4ghz core 2 duo macbook pro.
Them or MOTU for syncing is about all I would trust.

Machinesworking wrote:No complaints whatsoever. RME make great products.
Had it for about 5 years now. Used it with a dual 2.5 G5 and more recently with the 2.4ghz core 2 duo macbook pro.
Them or MOTU for syncing is about all I would trust.

Damn didn't realize the RME Firface 800 had been out 5 years. Good to know. You're running Live 8 brother?

IMO audio interfaces are the one thing you really don't have to worry about being out forever.
At some point Thunderbolt will take over for firewire, but there are already firewire converters with zero latency added.
Live 8 Suite and Snow Leopard. Have to say I've never had an audi interface that had an issue with a DAW, though a Logitech mouse driver hosed Live once, but not Logic or DP, that was odd.

Machinesworking wrote:At some point Thunderbolt will take over for firewire, but there are already firewire converters with zero latency added.

You mean Firewire to Thunderbolt converters?
Which one, that isn't inside a current Apple Display?
Edit: I thought at first it was iMac only, but it's the display right?

Machinesworking wrote:IMO audio interfaces are the one thing you really don't have to worry about being out forever.
At some point Thunderbolt will take over for firewire, but there are already firewire converters with zero latency added.
Live 8 Suite and Snow Leopard. Have to say I've never had an audi interface that had an issue with a DAW, though a Logitech mouse driver hosed Live once, but not Logic or DP, that was odd.

Word! Thanks for the info brother. That is weird about the Logitech mouse driver...I'm pretty married to my trackball. Would be pissed it it was flaking!! Probably dropping the cash on this tomorrow as it appears the current sound card is now screwed.

Opz wrote:

Machinesworking wrote:At some point Thunderbolt will take over for firewire, but there are already firewire converters with zero latency added.

You mean Firewire to Thunderbolt converters?
Which one, that isn't inside a current Apple Display?
Edit: I thought at first it was iMac only, but it's the display right?

Hmm? Seems they still haven't released the adapters? by the time firewire is abandoned on macbooks etc. there will be a solution. I suppose right now when every mac product except the Air has firewire it wouldn't have much of a customer base though.

Osmose wrote: Word! Thanks for the info brother. That is weird about the Logitech mouse driver...I'm pretty married to my trackball. Would be pissed it it was flaking!! Probably dropping the cash on this tomorrow as it appears the current sound card is now screwed.

Are you in need of decent built in mic pres? IMO although I love the RME, it's pretty expensive whereas the MOTU 896 is about $700 cheaper. The pres in the Fireface are better I would bet, but nothing special.

I have a fireface UC, super low latency (zero latency is impossible) in BIG projects.

The total mix software is quite usefull, so fa rno problems with it, I love it.

Machinesworking wrote:

Osmose wrote: Word! Thanks for the info brother. That is weird about the Logitech mouse driver...I'm pretty married to my trackball. Would be pissed it it was flaking!! Probably dropping the cash on this tomorrow as it appears the current sound card is now screwed.

Are you in need of decent built in mic pres? IMO although I love the RME, it's pretty expensive whereas the MOTU 896 is about $700 cheaper. The pres in the Fireface are better I would bet, but nothing special.

I've got nice outboard pres.

login wrote:I have a fireface UC, super low latency (zero latency is impossible) in BIG projects.

The total mix software is quite usefull, so fa rno problems with it, I love it.

The digicheck is a big plus for me since I need to meet LKFS specs for the broadcast work. Anything else in the total mix software is a def bonus!

Fireface 800 rocks... Another cool feature it has is loopback so you can sample from the internet and dvds/cds etc.
Had mine for a long time .. Probably 5+years with 0 problems

works fine here.. get it used! no sense in buying new.. make sure you properly test it, not just plug it in and see if it lights up.. i got mine for $1100 a few years ago.. worked fine until i expanded my setup and started using a d-box for summing.. one of the external outs was faulty.. the tech said the capacitors needed replacing, so just make sure you test all analog I/O, spdif I/O, and adat I/O.. if buying used, ask how he racked it.. this gets hot and needs proper air circulation.. the tech said most likely the guy i bought it from didn't leave any space on top and bottom of unit, which is probably how the capacitor got fried... that's he's theory anyways.. good luck

Just wanted to thank everybody that replied to this thread with their insight and knowledge. It is much appreciated!

BlackMath wrote:Fireface 800 rocks... Another cool feature it has is loopback so you can sample from the internet and dvds/cds etc.
Had mine for a long time .. Probably 5+years with 0 problems

thanks