PreSonus FP10

The PreSonus FP10 use to be called the “FirePod” and it has 8 different PreSonus microphone amps which is really a lot of power for your home set up. It feels like they made this interface for the home musician but I really don’t know many musicians from home that would need that many microphone inputs at home. Maybe someone who is mic’ing up a whole drum set, or a large band would need that much but it was too much for use to use for a small set up.


UTILIZATION

There are 2 Fire Wire ports on the PreSonus FP10, this will make it easy to use more than one FP10 at the same time because you can firewire them together if you needed more inputs. But you wouldn’t need that unless you had a lot of different stuff going on that needed to be recorded. But its nice to know that you have that feature available just in case you might need it down the road.


GETTING STARTED

There are no compatibility issues with the FP 10, every thing seems to work great and the set up was very easy. There is not anything that’s complicated with this unit, its pretty much plug your stuff up and start recording. It does come with a manual but we didn’t even open it out of the plastic it was wrapped in. There was just no need to use the manual. All of the functions of these unit are easy to use and to understand. The unit is rack able and will take up 1 rack space.


OVERALL OPINION

Overall, the PreSonus FP10 is very well built and strong taking up minimal rack spaces while still giving your plenty of inputs to plug microphones into right on the front of the unit. So if you put it on your rack you wont have to get behind it to plug anything in. Well great audio interface with a lot of inputs. Make sure you have a fast computer though so you don’t experience any latency.

I bought a Presonus Firebox before I bought the Firepod.  I love my Firebox but I needed more XLR Inputs.  It was a logical choice when someone offered to sell there's to me for a good price. 
I use a Macbook with 2.2ghz, 4GB of ram, and a 320GB HDD.  I also run Logic 9 for my main DAW and occasionally Ableton. 
I use this as my main firewire device in my studio.  I also use it outside of the studio to do onsite band recordings (a little business I am working on).  It takes all of my drum mics (4), as well as one bass and one guitar mic and a two vocal mics.  I run the Vocal mics through a ART MPA gold preamp first.  I also run directs out of the instruments via DI Boxes into the back for even more options. 
Besides the XLR and 1/4" jacks you also have Digital ins and outs and 2 Firewire ports (Computer Connection and Daisy chain), oh yeah, and Midi in/out.

UTILIZATION

Yes the Drivers are stable.  I have no issues running the Firepod on a Mac.  As for updates, I am not aware of any.  As far as I know it hasn't needed them.  There is a very small amount of latency that I notice most when I am doing vocals myself.  Its not very much at all really, sounds like a very slight chorus effect. 
I most often use the Firepod with Logic 9.  It works correctly with Logic and is very well integrated into the system.  It is very easy to select input sources via individual track parameters and audio output routing is easy too.
So far I have only done Six at a time.  I guess I haven't thought about finding out the max until this review.  I will be checking that out soon. 


GETTING STARTED

There was no compatibility issues whatsoever.  Plug n play on my mac.  The manual is clear enough.  There is a lot less stuff for mac users to read than there is for PC.  It has to do with installation mostly. 
For the most part, yes, the general setup is simple enough.  If you are comfortable selecting inputs on your DAW, then doing everything you need to do to get strong, clean signal recorded should be a breeze.


OVERALL OPINION

Two things seem a little strange to me.  First of, the Input/Playback knob, which balances the mix between the actual inputs and the playback, seems weird to me.  I guess its a neat tool, but I can't quite get comfortable with it.  I usually feel when I get the correct volume for my input, the playback sounds too quiet and vice versa. 
Two, it would have been nice if they had a seperate effects loop in/out instead of having to use the first two inputs with a stereo pair of outputs.
Besides that, what I like about this unit is a lot of things.  Good clean, crisp sound.  Very quiet preamps and great compatibility with my gear.   Can't really ask for more. 
I got this used for around $300.  I am very happy with paying that. 
There is very little latency and the sound is very clear and present.
I own presonus firebox and an Alesis Firewire Mixer.  All serve there purpose well, but the Firepod is my "go to" unit in the studio.
Yes, I would definitely make the same choice again.

I got this a while ago before switching to a MOTU interface. It served me well while I had it though the MOTU I have now has more features. I used it basically for the preamps and for AD conversion. I used it with a PC running Nuendo. The PC has a dual core processor and 4GB of RAM so it's a higher end box. This has got 8 XLR inputs, all with gain controls and phantom power for your condenser mics. It connects with firewire. It also has MIDI in and out, which is a nice little bonus if you need it. It has a 1/4" jack on the front for headphone monitoring, and also SPDIF connections on the back if you need them.

UTILIZATION

This was very easy to install like most firewire interfaces. You just install the drivers, plug in the power and firewire, and turn it on, and your computer and host do the rest. You will of course want to make sure that your host is using the inputs from your FP10 and not from an internal sound card if you have one. Other than that there isn't much configuration to worry about. There aren't compatibility issues with my computer. The manual is sufficient, but this thing has limited functionality so there isn't much to explain.

GETTING STARTED

The drivers were fine on my computer. I never encountered any bugs, so I'm sure they're stable enough now that they don't need to be updated often. This again was using the FP10 with Nuendo on a PC, with Windows XP. The latency is marginal since firewire has good bandwidth. You can get 8 audio inputs simultaneously with this. There are also 8 independent outputs on the rear panel, all of them 1/4" outputs which can be useful if you have a slightly more complex setup.

OVERALL OPINION

I used this for about a year before upgrading. The sound of this box is okay - definitely good for the price but not breathtaking or anything. The affordability and convenience are its best assets. However, you have basically no metering, so you'll have to rely on your host to tell you what's going on with your levels and clipping, which is really a pain for someone like me. You don't get XLR outputs, so you might have to go with some non-traditional cabling for connecting other devices. At $400, this is one of the best entry level converters for more than 1 or 2 channels. You'll definitely want to upgrade to something else with more features eventually though. Overall, not a bad piece of gear, and a good value. I wouldn't get it again now, but I'd recommend it for a beginner.

All dj t said about the characteristics.
Too bad the chaining of two units deprives us of the e / s spdif.
A BNC word clock connector would have been welcome.

USE

Simple and quick problem. You just find the right Parameter cpu to overcome any crack.

IMPLEMENTATION

Drivers stable.
The updates have long waiting, s hope their development more REGULAR henceforth. The latest driver / firmware seems to pose a problem to some, I was going very well.
4ms latency audio with 20-track playback and some treatment. Not complain ...

NOTICE GLOBAL

Since then, six months, is going well ...
What bothers me:
-Of Knobs a fragile hair (hand level crachotte some)
-Of Preamps certainly good for this price range, better than a motu eg but a bit artificial (Chinese tell us any claret) and some just for the softer sources. Static is made in china evittera to add to them which may accentuate the artificial ct upper-medium and sing lullabies in a dynamic.
-the Absence of internal routing path by forcing materielle suffer latency, however small it may be in the musicians returns or s'quiper a splitter not really inexpensive and a mixing desk ind pending. Too bad.
What I like:
-The Overall quality compared to the price, convertos very honntes the trick mix knob.