Focusrite Saffire Pro 14 user reviews ( 8/10) - 3 user reviews

• 03/03/13

  sw80's review "Had minor issues with my system not recognizing it"

  Characteristics

  The Focusrite Saffire Pro 14 is a 8 in and 6 out firewire audio interface that is perfect for a home studio musician who wants to get rid of the USB interfaces. This interface comes with MixControl which is basically a 18 x 6 DSP style mixer that will let the user make up to 6 different mixes without any latency issues. This interface has very flexible routing via the DSP mixer. You can also use the included VST/AU suite to mix with or use as a sequencer if you do not have a DAW but I never used the sequencer that came with it. There are also effects that come with the interface as well like compression, gating, reverb, and a few different EQ plug ins and you get Ableton Live Lite with all of its standard plug ins.

  Utilization

  Installing all of these plug ins and included software does take some time, so getting the interface running will take a few moments for all of that software to load. Having the proper drivers installed and loaded is very important because I have had many issues in the past with Focusrite drivers and updating. I was running this interface on a Windows Vista 32 bit machine with firewire 400 ports. I had 2 GB of RAM and a fast processor and never had any issues with the Pro 14 but sometimes I have to restart my computer for the interface to read. I am not sure why but sometimes the interface just isn’t recognized by my computer and restarting it is the only way. This interface can also be used on a Mac computer as well if you are running 10.5.8 or higher.

  Getting Started

  The manual was very easy to read and work through. I had to refer to the manual many times during the set up process.

  Overall Opinion

  I do love this interface and I was using it for months but soon found out that there are many other interfaces that are just as good and if not better for the same price range. The sound quality was good and the value of t was great for this price.
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• 03/06/12

  songboy's review "Not bad for a compact, portable FW drive"

  Characteristics

  The feature I was looking for was decent preamps, FW 400, and portability. The Focusrite Saffire 14 has all three. I use this as the main audio interface in my "portable" rig. I have been developing a Drum Suit of sorts and needed a small interface to handle a few inputs and also the rigors of ultra portable performance. Essentially I am street performing and playing small gigs with this rig and I was sick of stripping my main rig all the time only to have to put it back a few days later. In my small rig, the only audio going in are my Vocal Mic (Shure beta 58) into a TC Helicon VoiceLive then into the Pro 14 via spdif, and a stereo mix of my various synths (moog, Korg, roland,yamaha). The Pro 14 has just the right amount of inputs for this and still leaves me two more for the addition of a guitar and bass if the gig allows for it. Having 4 1/4" outputs is perfect for this setup as well because I get the L/R Pa mix and a mono to my guitar amp and mono to my bass amp. I use the Pro 14 in conjunction with a Macbook Pro i7 and Ableton Live 8.

  Utilization

  I have the most recent update from Focusrite and everything is working great. The beauty of this unit is the ultra low latency (1.4ms I believe) dsp Mixer built in that allows for near zero latency monitoring. Coupled with the included SaffireControl software, my audio inputs are routed directly to the outputs and Ableton is set to monitor off and simply just takes snapshots of the incoming audio that I can then control in Ableton as "Clips." Being under 2ms, the latency is imperceptible to the human ear. I don't really track much with this unit yet as I also have a RME Fireface 800 for studio stuff. In the live performance stuff I use up to 6 tracks but these are not being simply recorded, but used as sampling pathways so the CPU is not consistently being taxed. In this setup I have very low usage of CPU, no dropouts or glitches and no crashes.

  Getting Started

  The manual is very helpful in explaining most everything. The only confusing stuff can be understanding the Software. I have used similar stuff including RME's Totalmix, so I was off and running after a few minutes. The setup of the interface is extremely easy, plug in Firewire cable, load DAW, set up in preferences, and then start recording/listening. The software is a little bit trickier. Basic setups are pretty easy, but the using the routing matrix, or Loop back channels can be confusing at first, but it will become second nature. In fact, I am so use to it from the RME that I decided I could not have an interface that doesn't have a loop back feature. The two main functions that need to be accessible on an interface is the main volume and headphone volume. Unfortunately the RME only really has Headphone output control, but the PRO 14 has both!! This is excellent as I treat the PRO 14 as my main mixer and having the main volume fader makes is a lot easier to control the final volume when I need to.

  Overall Opinion

  What I like most about this unit is both the pretty solid preamps and the SaffireControl software. The preamps are much better than the Presonus Firebox I first started off with. They are very quiet and not "stale" like I thought the Fireboxes were over time. They aren't as good as my FireFace's nor my Allen and Heath MixWiz but they are definitely good enough for live performance. I got one refurbished off of ebay for $175 which is a fantastic price for this unit. I give the sound quality a 9 out of 10. It's not a high end piece of gear, but in this price range, I don't think you find better. The software allows for internal routing which I think should be standard with the amount of software users these days. Nothing I can say I dislike about this unit. It does it's job well. I used the Presonus Firebox for awhile and thought it was OK, but the Preamps didn't offer enough boost and the sound wasn't that great either. I am happy that I got this unit instead. It's cheap, solid and sounds great.
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• 10/11/11

  yoTrakkz's review "Focusrite Pro 14 is for winners"

  Characteristics

  The device has an excellent build quality and is cleanly laid out. Three green status LEDs indicate connection status. I would have liked to see an LED for midi activity, but this is very minor. The first thing I noticed when I hooked it up was that there was no noise when the gain is turned all the way up. Even with a pair of headphones on the monitor out cranked all the way up there is almost nothing to be heard. Very impressive.

  Utilization

  I did have some initial trouble with noise coming from the Firewire line. This was digital noise originating from my old music computer that coupled to the outputs on the Focusrite. I tried a stand-alone sound card but that didn't help. When I installed it the focusrite in my newer office machine, however the noise was gone. I wound up replacing the old music computer (I was going to do it anyway) and replaced it with a modern Gigabit/Intel IC5 machine; no noise and it works great.

  Getting Started

  I run it at the fastest latency settings (about 3 ms in and 5 ms out) in Sonar on the new machine and it doesn't hiccup, even with all four analog inputs AND the SPDIF being captured. The fidelity on this thing is phenomenal. Again, I don't spend my days in a recording studio, but this device sounds far and away better than anything else I have ever owned.

  Overall Opinion

  The construction of the Saffire Pro 14 is high quality. Everything from the knobs to the input jacks seem to be well constructed. It’s important to me to have rigid construction because it can withstand the rigors of clumsy users and the hazardous mess that a home studio can quickly turn into. This has been a great piece of gear and has brought my sound production to a new level.
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