User reviews: M-Audio Firewire 410

07/25/12

theaudioandvideoguy's review "Powerful and portable"

With 4 inputs and 10 outputs all into a good sized interface this could be the best interface to have for your home setup. Even if you don’t need the 4 inputs or all of the outputs right now, it will still leave some room to grow once you need more inputs or outputs they will already be there and you wont have to go out and purchase another interface. You can also choose to switch the phantom power off or on depending on whether you want the low noise or not.

Utilization

I didn’t like the manual with this interface to much, It seemed to be a really lengthy manual and it didn’t need to be. The unit was very easy to use and to understand I don’t get why the manual would be so complex. You wont even need to touch the manual at all if you have general knowledge of interfaces and even if you are a beginner you wont need to use the manual . Just load the drivers and you are good to go.

Getting Started

The back of the unit does have some inputs on it though, I think it has two inputs and 8 outputs and they are all quarter inch jacks. So this unit is useful on the front of the panel and on the rear panel. So where ever you have this unit at you will need to be able to access the front and the back, which makes me thing they should have just made it a rack able unit and put everything on the front. But I think they where aiming at trying to make it a portable fire wire unit that had plenty of outs and ins.

Overall Opinion

It is portable and still has enough inputs and out puts to run a major session. Using this interface couldn’t be much easier. You wont need a manual , its plug and play. Run it in any major daw that you use on your pc. I am not sure about mac though, I haven’t used it with a mac.

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05/29/09

moosers's review

Characteristics

The M-Audio Firewire 410 is an audio interface that has two microphone preamps and can record two tracks at once. In addition to the mic pres, it has two 1/4 inch inputs as well as eight 1/4 inch line outputs. It has two firewire ports, ADAT optical connections, a MIDI input and output, and S/PDIF ins and outs. It is powered by the 9 volt power supply that comes with it. I have run the M-Audio Firewire 410 on a Mac Book Pro that has a 2.2 Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 4 GB of RAM and have run it with an M-Powered version of Pro Tools.

Utilization

With the M-Audio Firewire 410 you are able to record two tracks simultaneously no matter if you'd like to use the mic preamps or the 1/4 inch connections. I haven't had any latency issues with this interface, but with these type of firewire interfaces this really has more to do with your computer than the audio interface itself. The preamps are decent sounding, but are definitely nothing to write home about.

Getting Started

This audio interface has always run pretty smoothly for as long as I have used it as I've never had any real issues with it. I only use this interface when I want to record on the go and can't bring my whole set up, so I don't use it all the time. The make up of the M-Audio Firewire 410 isn't complicated at all as all of the knobs and buttons are laid out conviently and easy to find. The features include the basic controls including gain knobs for the preamps as well as a pad for each and a mic/line toggle buttons. It also has two 1/4 inch headphones outputs and an assignable level control section. The manual for the M-Audio Firewire 410 is complete and thorough and while I never had much use for it, if you are a beginner and this is your first audio interface, I would definitely recommend having it around.

Overall Opinion

I've had the M-Audio Firewire 410 for about two years and I use it as a supplement to my Pro Tools rig so I can bring it around if I need to record on the go. It is a very reasonably priced audio interface and it is nice to be able to run it with some sort of version of Pro Tools, even if it isn't LE or HD. This is really a perfect audio interface for the user who wants something cheap to get some ideas down or to get their feet wet with recording. This isn't the most well made piece of gear out there, but it gets the job done at a cheap price that makes it a viable option for people with all budgets.

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03/09/09

Audiofanzine FR's review

Characteristics

(Originally written by garabed02/translated from Audiofanzine FR)

Which technical specifications motivated your choice?

Two headphone outputs, powered via the Firewire port, very low latency.

What do you use it for?

Only at home.

What's your setup (motherboard, CPU, RAM, hard drive,...)?

XP Professionnel SP3

Asus A8V VM SE motherboard

AMD Athlon 4200 + Dual Core CPU

2 GB Ram

250 GB HHD

Do you use it with other instruments or systems (mixing console, preamp, DtD, ...) and what's your setup?

A Yamaha mixer is connected to both line inputs.

Utilization

- Did you have any problems during installation?

No problems.

- Did you encounter any incompatibility problems?

If you follow M-Audio's instructions you won't have a single problem (small tip: don't forget to depress the on button before using it... That way you won't spend an hour wondering why there's no sound).

- How complicated is the overall configuration?

Very easy thanks to the integrated control panel and the driver.

- Is the user's manual clear and comprehensive?

What user's manual? Everything is easy if you have some basic knowledge.

Getting Started

Is the driver stable?

NO drop outs until now (I've been using it for two weeks).

- Are they up-to-date?

No frequent updates.

- Which software do you use?

Cubase SX 3 + Magix Audio Studio.

- What's the latency of your system?

I'm surprised because I get a latency of less than 3.5 ms. Nevertheless you'll have to increase it if you use several virtual instruments at the same time.

Overall Opinion

- How long have you been using it?

Two weeks

- Which feature do you like the most / the least?

Pros: two headphone outputs

Firewire

Assignable controls

Very low latency

Stable

Cons: one headphone output has a bad contact

Only two inputs! Why eight outputs and only two inputs? 4/4 would be better. That way I wouldn't need a mixing desk.

Unpleasant crackle noises when it clips. Line inputs have a low dynamic range. When I connect my PA2X, the sound of my computer has more dynamics when I listen to music...

- Did you try any other models before buying it?

Yes, an M-Audio 2496, which I sold again because it didn't have a headphone output.

- How would you rate its value for money?

Good value for money secondhand, but not new (you can find better products for the same price). But it's a good deal if you buy it secondhand.

- Based on your experience, would you buy this product again?

I'd recommend it to people who want to start making music, but I'm gonna get a better product in the future!

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10/31/08

FP User Reviews's review

Characteristics

This card has incredible features for the price. You can read the specs.

Price paid: ~$300

Utilization

Very easy to get started using, easy to use control panel, lots of routing options. The manual is good too. I'm using this with an HP Pavilion P-4 2.8GHZ laptop, with 512mb of ram and an 80gig 4400RPM drive, and I can get around 8ms latency with the ASIO drivers with no dropouts. The website mentions 6-pin firewire, but 4-pin firewire works fine too, you just have to power the device with the included AC adaptor.

Getting Started

The drivers don't work so well with my configuration, unfortunately. I e-mailed tech support 2 days ago but haven't heard back. When using the ASIO drivers, sometimes audio will just stop. Switching to the DirectX driver solves the problem, but after awhile this driver too will stop functioning, at which point switching back to the ASIO driver solves the problem. Very annoying. I'm giving M-Audio the benefit of the doubt at this point as I suspect it is just a bug in the drivers, but it's unsuitable for live performance at this point. This issue also locked up my system at one point, and I lost some work, which was quite upsetting as I've never dealt with these type of issues before. Guess I just need to start saving more often. I've only had the unit for a few days so I haven't lost all hope yet.

Overall Opinion

Very clear! I'm very impressed with the sound quality of this unit. The overall output of the unit could be a bit higher, but I was previously using a Seasound Solo EX, which is quite loud. This unit has much better sound quality than the Seasound.

Overall, if my problems are resulting from a driver issue, and the driver issue is resolved, I will be very happy with my purchase. If it's not, I'll be quite disappointed as I really like this unit, but I'll probably end up selling it.

Originally posted on FutureProducers.com

Posted by: Unknown (January 2-, 2003)

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01/03/04

MGR/Donglai Gong's review "M-Audio Firewire 410"

I purchased the M-Audio FW410 from Sam Ash (12/29/03) for $384 pre-tax to record my girlfriend's audition CD.

I'm using the FW 410 with an iBook G4 and Behringer B1 microphones. For recording software, I use felt tip's Sound Studio 2.11 ($50).

At $400 or less, the FW410 is one of the cheapest Firewire audio recording interfaces. It supports 24 bit / 96 kHz audio playback/recording. It has two XLR microphone inputs and eight channel line level outputs. I also like the fact that the unit can be powered from the Firewire bus alone (though it\'s probably not a good idea if you are driving two condenser microphones off the Firewire bus). Although I haven\'t had the chance to test the SPIF audio stuff it\'s good to know that it\'s there when I needed. Finally, it has MIDI in/out for those who need it. The bottom line is that it has the speed and feature to serve the need of most home recording studios and pro\'s on the road.

Because this is my first computer audio recording interface (skipped USB completely), I have nothing to compare the quality of the audio with so I\'ll have to get back to the discussion of audio quality after using the unit for a while.

The startup is just a little flaky sometimes. There were a few times that I turn on the unit and my iBook G4 doesn\'t see anything connect through Firewire. It might a problem with Mac OS X though. Restarting the computer would fix the problem. (Remember to disconnect any firewire device when restarting your computer, doesn\'t matter what is connected!)

All the inputs/outputs are UNBALANCED. I wish they are balanced I/O but at given that the unit is targeted primarily for high end consumers, not professionals, it\'s really not a big deal.

The FW410 is meant to be used with a computer so it can\'t be used without a computer unlike the MOTO 828 MKII, if you desire computer independent operation, this is not what you want.

Solid construction, have only had it for a few days so can\'t say much about reliability yet. It feels good though.

The M-Audio Firewire 410 is an amazingly well conceived and executed product targeted at musicians and audiophiles desiring Firewire audio without the associated high price tag. It\'s ideal for stereo recording in a home studio setup and to take with on the road. Highly recommended!

I would give it 4.5/5 because it\'s almost perfect. I might write a follow-up review once I have used it for a while.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

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12/16/03

MGR/rupps's review "M-Audio Firewire 410"

I bought this unit because I have a desktop and a laptop system. I wanted a flexible solution to have good sound in both systems and , at the same time , keep the laptop thing portable. I bouhgt it online at Midi-Store (http://cdbm.com)

The sound is really nice. I\'m happy with the latency as well. I use included ASIO drivers (will discuss it after) with 64bit buffer length. I have around 8ms latency, using several outputs and processing inputs in real time.

The drivers are NOT mature. I\'ve suffered a lot of problems. There are conflicts with most motherboards regarding IRQ sharing (specially laptops). I had to reinstall the whole systems several times until I got an stable configuration. My issues are not solved yet, although it works better than first days, when it was really a nightmare. I had to fix many things without help from customer support, which in my case has not been good at all (I sent very long emails explaining all my System/ACPI/IRQ configuration and the answers were like \"have you installed the latest drivers?\" ... About that, they only released one update 2 months ago.

No complaints about this. I like the design and the materials. It\'s a solid metal box with fancy lights. The rotary controls are OK. I like the 2 front XLR inputs.

I think it will be an excellent sound card if proper, more stable drivers are released. I like how it sounds, but at the moment can\'t rely on it for live performances.

I know some people get this to work without problems, but you have to be very very careful choosing your motherboard and peripherals, as most modern motherboard don\'t offer a lot of control regarding resource assignment.

The customer support should really improve, or at least have updated FAQ\'s, as everybody is asking the same over & over again. I\'ve contacted a lot of Firewire 410 users in Cubase.Net forum and we all have the same problems. It\'s a pity we have to trial & error time-costing solutions found wherever in the net, instead of getting a straight solution from the customer support.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

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11/09/03

MGR/Jonzer's review "M-Audio FireWire 410"

I purchased the gear in a shop after looking on the internet for affordable professional recording gear. I bought it because I knew it was exactly what I needed.

I paid £363(528 euro) for the unit.

I am accustomed to the consumer line Soundbalster SB Live for recording and playback. The first, very notable difference was the fact that with speakers or headphones plugged in and with the volume up full (with no noise playing) there was complete silence. There is no background noise or static whatsoever. It makes for crisp, clean recording (from DI source or mic) and incredibley clear playback.

So far, there is nothing unsatisfactory abou the unti whatsoever. It is perfect for recording (up to four inputs at once) and for playback (up to 10 discreet outputs or 7.1 suround sound).

The FW410 is solid in its metal casing. It is heavy duty, but not too heavy for portability. All knobs have a \"nice action\" (as Alan Partridge would say) and it is very simple and straightforward to use and install.

For anyone who is considering buying a low-price, professional soundcard for home recording or for live electronic performance this is the one for you. The unit has 4 inputs for recording (2 XLR / 1/4\" hybrid inputs [with optional pads and phantom power] and 2 1/4\" line inputs) it also has 10 discreet line outputs (8 1/4\" and 2 SPDIF). It also has 2 headphone sockets, each with its own voume control. It works through FireWire and I am currently using it on a laptop and am achieving crystal clear recording and playback audio.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

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M-Audio Firewire 410

M-Audio Firewire 410 user reviews ( 5/10) - 69 user reviews

theaudioandvideoguy's review "Powerful and portable"

moosers's review

Audiofanzine FR's review

FP User Reviews's review

MGR/Donglai Gong's review "M-Audio Firewire 410"

MGR/rupps's review "M-Audio Firewire 410"

MGR/Jonzer's review "M-Audio FireWire 410"

djfilgood's review ( translated ) Improve this translation " Very reliable interface"

clement2635's review ( translated ) Improve this translation

suppahgilles's review ( translated ) Improve this translation " very well to begin"