Focusrite FireWire audio interfaces

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.

VST inputs are great with the presets but you still get to tweek it. Price paid: $450 USD UTILIZATION This is easy to use but if like to be hands-on it doesn't have very good knobs. The gain led's on the hardware suck. You always have to adjust the gain on the software. I had a problem with the device driver but that was handled easy by downloading the new saffire control at www.focusrite.com. The website has tutorials that make it easy on the rookie. GETTING STARTED Its built very well with a sleek look that could match with Mac's. OVERALL OPINION Though theres only two mic pre's, the sound quality is excellent. Its what you would expect from a Focusrite. VST inputs are great with the presets but you still get to tweek it. Saffire is a great way to realize your musical talent. The price takes from knobs and mixer led's but it doesn't suffer in Quality in the sound. Originally posted on FutureProducers.com Posted by: ChaseMillions ( 2-, 2006)