All user reviews for the RME Audio Fireface 800

I put 9 because there are better convertos because it has no physical knob for volume and it has no built-in effects etc. .... and that new laptop does not have firewire (except mac) ...
but frankly for the home studio is at the top, the preamp quality headphone amp convertos of the very very good, I / O.
RAS is very clean!

UTILIZATION

Driver ultra mega stable pc .. whether is be on xp, vista or win 7 Vista64 64 ...
I never had a problem.
I rarely record more tracks.
I record the MIDI tracks with synths Vsti or externally, with voices and guitars of time.
A recording components and I have a 2ms latency (48ms buffer) with a PC running win7 64 on ssd and i7 2600k.

GETTING STARTED

Installation "finger in the knose"
the manual is clear, the routing is complex but logical so no worries

OVERALL OPINION

the key words are "efficiency, robustness, reliability and ENJOY THE EARS" it fills me frankly ... there may be better elsewhere now ... Orpheus or appolo ... but with the Fireface 800 can be of very good job already.
RME thank you, it really is secondhand in an excellent value for money ...

made in germany, height reputation.
I have a pentium duocore with Windows XP, 4g ram and chipset texas, it works very well.
word clock available (I use yet), optical inputs and outputs, SPDIF, TRS, opportunities to chain multiple maps .. that's heavy.

UTILIZATION

stable drivers.
I use ableton, reason, soundforge, mixvibes, etc. .. more software at the same time ..
10 inputs 10 analog outputs + 2 + Optical SPDIF -> great!
most: 1,7,8,9 and 10 entries lined front ... can work together!

GETTING STARTED

I have a patch in addition to avoid putting their hands behind the map to change the wiring for it is not practical when rack ...
Do not put it on a table after running if it's getting hot, but it works anyway .. Deutsch qualitat!
General config "easy", no incompatibility problem.
manual in English or German, normal English is essential in the manuals!

OVERALL OPINION

very happy, no problems in 4 years!
It's solid!
This product has existed for a decade I think it is always in the middle of the jungle sound cards, proof that this is not the m ****!!

Cons by now it's true there are table + sound card combo .. to see ...

quality of the recording.

UTILIZATION

drivers are stable.

Cubase, Logic, Ableton Live.

8 tracks on pc, mac 10 tracks.

very low latency

GETTING STARTED

no problem for instalation

this is to be used but the matrix is ​​well made and simple configuration and axcessible.

no incompatibilitée under pc and mac

the manual is quite simple and sufficient

OVERALL OPINION

4 years

echo, pro tools.

the +: quality converter
the preamp
the matrix
DIGICheck (vector audioscope)
the soliditée

The -: I do not see, be little more preamp with adjustable gain would be welcome
a stereo loop is on a mac to predict what the audioscope lost two in and two out but ...

very good value for money, ca seems expensive but it worth the cost

Yes I certainly do it again this choice, it is a very good card that I was disappointed jammais (it stays on almost 24/24)

I use it with Windows XP, Pentium IV, Texas Instruments FireWire chipset.
I bought it for its reputation and numerous inputs / outputs.
I use my home when I need quality sound for recording multitrack live in groups, and to the routing of sound (I do not know if this is the right term), c ' ie you can send any input hardware or software on any output with volume control for each shipment. It replaces the much more expensive system, and once settled there is no computer required. For example, send the sound in front of the PA, other things in return for a commissioner, other things in the line input of a camera etc..

It lacks a separate output with volume knob, which would connect the monitors directly without going through a mixer. The headphone output has volume and is also designed for this use (asymmetric top), but you have also connect headphones.

The DI is very good, a bit too bright perhaps, below the Avalon U5 but light years above the low-end DI.

UTILIZATION

I did not remember any stability problem. I use it with Samplitude. I sometimes recorded on 28 tracks.

GETTING STARTED

The translation of the French manual was not developed, but there was a much better version of the second, memory.

OVERALL OPINION

I use it since 2004. Good quality / price ratio. I would do maybe not this choice because I need much less input than before, so I would look at other models, knowing that I am very satisfied with it, and it's still a chance very good choice, even for 10 tracks.

8 XLR inputs with preamps with excellent quality.
Headphone input facade.

Easy to move with a laptop.
Ability to chain multiple Fireface 800 and thus record more than taken all at once.

UTILIZATION

Extremely stable in FW 800 (PCI Card Belkin) (I sell elsewhere if interested in the world ca ...).

Used with Cubase or Samplitude.

I made my first record with, what precision in sound reproduction!
To listen:
www.seddmusic.com

GETTING STARTED

Simple, obvious.

OVERALL OPINION

Unfortunately, I am made the steal ...

But to redeem the eyes closed!

I was looking for a sound card impeccable both preamps that Converting, after searching a lot I turned to the Fireface 800.

I use it with or without a Firewire extra preamp. Mic, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass. The sound is clean, precise.

I have a quad core PC running XP that I use to record on Samplitude 10 Pro Reaper and the last. Nothing to say, this is good. I really tried to sound cards, it propelled me into another world.

UTILIZATION

Nothing to say about the drivers. The virtual mixer sometimes gives me trouble but I'm not a beast in the routing. However, with Reaper, I'll make one discovery. The ability to route anything to anywhere, with the Fireface mixer and virtual monster.

GETTING STARTED

Installation is no problem and the updates that are rare because the system tied. Apart from the mixer that requires learning, setup is easy. No conflict to date. Manual? Look, I do've never used!

OVERALL OPINION

I use it for at least 4 years. What I like most is the sound, the less I do not know. Value for money justified.

I wanted some good preamps, the possibility of having a dozen entries, low latency, and a good conversion, on a budget: the Fireface was needed! This is a reference and an excellent choice.

It is connected to a computer controlled and core i7 with 4GB of RAM but only fit the bill!

I use it to save the black metal albums of my group, and sometimes other groups to repeat the headphone too.

I am not 10/10 because this material, although solid, has aged and USB connectivity seems more interesting today, and an interface and a more modern management. But cons, in terms of hardware, not a wrinkle!!

UTILIZATION

Drivers very stable, no problems or dropouts in Sonar.
I record and I read a dozen tracks simultaneously.

GETTING STARTED

No major problems of installation, except for the firewire chipset to be branded as Texas Instruments for the Fireface works, I had to buy a FireWire expansion card for my computer.

Once installed, the Fireface works quite intuitively, not even really need the manual, everything is clear, but it takes some getting used to the interface of the Fireface mixer anyway.

OVERALL OPINION

Used for 2 years, bought used at the time, never any problem or incident.

I have not tried many other models before myself, but I had the opportunity to see alternatives rotate, and listen to the sound, including mixing consoles with converters who don ' did not look as robust as the Fireface.

It has a capacity of routing incoming signals to different outputs, which is extremely handy! But it is firewire ...

The value for money is unbeatable and in my choice I would do it again!

My choice was motivated by the reputation of RME, especially at the pre amps
I turned on the ff800 for the number of analog inputs
I have a small family-type PC with winXP ... lol
Purpose: to include models with good sound for local bands
One can "pair" up to three 800 ff, use it as a Standalone Mode pre amp and pre amp fuck what!

UTILIZATION

besides, it's the computer, no worries of drivers
I use it with Cubase
Latency level, the manual says between 3 and 0.068 ms following software, computer, connection, ... I'm not a pro, never had the idea to calculate it ...
The ff800 can simultaneously record 10 tracks analog, 16 track ADAT and SPDIF 2-track. Personally, I've only record from analog inputs, there's a routing system killer that I have not had the courage to really understand, I block a bit, but a friend who is not pro swears by it (TotalMix) routing for his studio.
entry and exit south are quite useful for updates stuff (my Line 6 M13 has become even more interesting)

GETTING STARTED

The only concern I had was an Acer PC ... compatibility problem Acer / RME parasites which created sharp style "cracking twiter," infernal brief
With an HP PC: no problem, there's just that I'm sick of PC, I switch to Mac vai
I have a manual in French, so I made my little brain work and I got there fast enough for what I wanted to do

OVERALL OPINION

I use it for 5 years, this is my first real sound card, i like death to these pre amps (there, I think it's clear) and the autonomous mode is frankly quite handy for me (I requisitioned and used in small coffee-concerts)

The downside: it's been in, because then when you got a good map, you wanna bah good mics, you buy a good amp, a good instrument, you throw your PC to a Mac so you change your apps ...

In short music is a sports town, but must know what you want, the RME ff800, if I need a second, I'll buy it without hesitation

My choice was made following the opinion of someone more qualified than me on the subject, a good secondhand and I use it for almost 8 years with one or multiple PCs, all equipped with an Asus CM, 2 to 4G of ram and an intel mid-range (dual core) HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200tr / m su'il there anything more to standard.

A tube preamp and a small compressor, a guitar and you're done.
A remake, I make this choice without hesitation, I have never known instability problem to another ... except a firewire output that does not work, fortunately there are two ...

UTILIZATION

This card is very full in connectivity and allows very low latency, it's everything I asked him for the easy use of virtual instruments ...

It is used primarily with cubase ...

GETTING STARTED

Worry-free installation, hardware pro

OVERALL OPINION

8 years of trouble-free.
I tried other lower-end model, this is disappointing ...

The +: connectivity, latency, updates,

The Cons: price

Note: 9 because nothing is perfect in this world.

What characteristics have motivated your choice?
The number of inputs, the quality of the converters, the output dynamics.

- I'm mainly taking voice (that was for recording my 3rd album)
- I also am taking the guitar, bass and drums.
- I was on mac OSX 10.5 Power PC G5 2Ghz core duo and am CoreDuo 2.4 ghz macbook pro
- Logic Pro 8 and 9
- Preamp: LA610
- Rode Classic 2

UTILIZATION

The drivers are stable?
rarely planted (not in session)
How often are updated?
I hardly made (once only)
What you get lag?
Buffer to 64 or almost 128
How many tracks do you manage to record / play simultaneously? ...
Read my session up to 20 tracks
At max I did take the battery (5 Mics) + bass (2 Mic): 7 tracks in all
I was very satifait

GETTING STARTED

The installation is done it without problem?
no problem
Have you encountered any incompatibilities?
not
The general configuration is easy?
yes
The manual is clear and sufficient? ...
no because in German and English at the time. Honestly very intuitive to install and use

OVERALL OPINION

How long you use it?
6 years
What is so special that you love the most, least?
Accurate mix every move eq was heard near db (I also ASP8 event).
The dynamics are excellent. Depth and precision
Did you tried many other models before buying it?
Yes, Motu 828, then 2401
How would you rate the quality / price?
Good because this is a war machine. Worth.
With experience, you do again this choice? ...
Yes.

I bought this card when finally made Digidesign Pro Tools software is compatible with the most sound cards market.
So, after 8 years of use Pro Tools, it turned out to be a small revolution in the studio.

Basically the configuration consists of:
A MacBook Pro 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
8 GB DDR3 1067 Mhz RAM
And a stable operating system, the 10.6.8

I use this sound card live (to trigger a bass drum using Drumagog for example). But also and especially for home studio compositions or recordings album.
Not only, the card features four mic preamps, a DI preamp line inputs and 4 analog, 2 ADAT inputs but also allowing a multitrack recording of 26 lines! Very useful for recording a live!

UTILIZATION

The drivers are stable and work well since the acquisition of the card and if not to buy there was no reason to update.
I mainly use Pro Tools 9 and it works perfectly. I also use Live Logic Pro 8 or 9. The card is recognized by all software with no worries. Be the software used some latency is very low at the moment or you do not overload the CPU with plugins. According to the mix, we appreciate the new management function of latency for Plugins.
As said before, I just recorded up to 20 lines simultaneously with two racks of outboard preamps plugged in ADAT sound card. The sound card can be as master or slave clock. I recommend that it be master unless you are working with A / D converters type Rosetta 800.

GETTING STARTED

The installation will do without any worries. There is no inconsistency encountered to date. The general configuration and more particularly the management of the card with the software FireMix is ​​rather complicated at first but got used to it very quickly and really understands the full scope of possibilities of the card.
When the manual, I admit to not having needs to get out very often, almost never see.

OVERALL OPINION

I use this sound card since 2010 and I made lots of recordings of any kind with.
This is not the product "ultimate" but he does what is asked of him and rather good value. The preamps are neutral so do not expect the color of a source. Work out your sources for your sound.
Before deciding to purchase the Fireface, I was the possessor of a Digidesign Mbox 1. I had also repeatedly work with a Digi 002 Rack from the same vendor. I was pretty happy with the Mbox but strangely not the DIGI. Having purchased the Fireface 800 threw me into another dimension!
I think the price / quality ratio is quite reasonable for this type of product and compared to other manufacturers. Of course, there are always better. But your wallet may become very thin ...

Enough said.
With a used Macbook Pro Logic and 2.4 GHz in 2011, connected in series after a WD 2TO Fireface. Patched at the moment, I use it with a BBE 882i and a TLA 5021 for transplanting old songs and to make the composition.

UTILIZATION

Stable drivers, used with Logic, I can go down to 12ms or less.

GETTING STARTED

Nickel. A little hair pulling on the total mix, but everything is pretty simple assignment of tracks, turning on the power supply Fantom, etc.. The card software starts up when connecting and all parameters are accessible.

OVERALL OPINION

Already a few months. The sound is superb, a little cold but fine enough. The preamp save me life and convertos are more than honest. They catch their tone, put the warm and repel by keeping noise out. (This is a good metaphor eh, but there's a little idea. Looks like the card that focuses on the characteristics of its pleasant ... when there).
I went through an Alesis I/O2 after a Guillemot ISIS so good, day, night, coughed coughed ...
Solid in appearance, although an element wanders in without my having dared to open it or bring it back. But suddenly I avoid I also walk with me.

I would do that choice again if I had more, but I do not see why I should replace it.
In fact.

Voilou

The Fireface 800 is a very powerful firewire interface, one of the reasons I chose to use it is because it has the fast technology for a firewire interface. It has real time sample rate lock and sample rat control during playback and recording. Most interface don’t have all of those features either, they mainly have one or the other. Also, I used it on a windows computer for service pack 2 and it worked great because they created an upgrade which fixed some of the lagging and not syncing problems.


UTILIZATION

The FireFace 800 has eight line inputs and outputs which was just enough for what we needed to use it for at the time. We used 7 of them though which left one open for something maybe we wanted to add on later down the road but at the time we only needed 7.


GETTING STARTED

Another great feature is the Steady clock technology. You can synch reference everything for the whole studio and session with it, I havent had another interface that could do that so it was big for me to be able to do that on this. It includes a midi option as well for those who use a lot of midi set ups.


OVERALL OPINION

There are other versions of the FireFace like the 400 mode which is a step down from the 800 if you are really arent in need of all the inputs and it can basically do the same thing as the Fireface 800 and its cheaper so check that one out if you don’t need this much inputs and outputs. Actually the 400 might be a better fit for a home studio that the 800 is because at home you really don’t have the need for that many ins and outs. But all in all the FireFace 800 is one of the best firewire interfaces out.

the number of e / s RME quality, and mobility. for studio and live concert recording, purchased with 2 + octomic a few preamps

UTILIZATION

yes and also very very very easily installed and it weighs nothing at all (given the flow rates that have been ridiculous here ... personally I do not search for updates, I just downloaded the latest drivers at time of acquisition that is in January 2011 and then after it works since I do not even ask the question

GETTING STARTED

RAS on OS 10.6.8 64-bit and 64 bit seven

OVERALL OPINION

used for 1 year and trifles in the studio to record live, I have a whole slew of motu (2408 mk2, mk3, mk3 traveler ...) but also the RME (multifaceted), Digidesign (digi03 rack + mbox pro ...), FW Hercules16/12 ...
the least is the lack of preamp gain a bit like the octoprés, just a little to save a kora example if tt the rest is perfect
excellent value for money (for 56 th / s)

-What characteristics have motivated your choice?
Its number of channels. And system stability.

-With what instruments or systems (console, preamp, DtDs ...) use it and how you connect? ...

Park microphone (vocal, drums, Gratt, violin ...) Combined with a OctaMic D ADAT. Roland Fantom G6 Workstation, MPC 1000 ...

For what purpose?
Recording and multi-listening ^ ^

What is your config (Motherboard / CPU / RAM / Disk, ...)?
Asus V-P8Z68 Pro/GEN3
Proc. Intel Core i-7 3.50 ghz
Kingston 16 gb ram
Corsair SSD HDD 3120 GB sata Force 3 (system / project)
Velociraptor 320 GB SATA HDD (bank)
2 x 500 GB HDD (data)
Alim. Corsair HX 650
UAD Quad Core
TI FW card
...

UTILIZATION

-The drivers are stable?
There is not another question??
...
Yep!!

-What software do you use most often?
Cubase 6

How many tracks do you manage to record / play simultaneously? ...
I recorded something like twenty track at the same time without problems.
Read? lol 100 + ^ ^

-Are they updated frequently?
We speak of RME there or not??

What You Get-latency?
Input / output around 4/5 ms

GETTING STARTED

-The installation is done it without problem?
I'll answer even to this kind of question!

-The general configuration is easy?
Yes as long as they do with the logic of TotalMix and after it's cake.

-Have you encountered any incompatibilities?
No, because when I took the card, I had anticipated Texas Instrument chipset.

-The manual is clear and sufficient? ...
Dou you spique angliche? Otherwise the French manual is in pdf on the net.

OVERALL OPINION

-How long you use it?
Good at the risk of sounding crazy, I had a FF800 ago it 7 years, I had sold it to pass on a Tascam DM-3200, I sold 2 years later ... RME FF800 for a ^ ^ What I have to sell because the sound is no longer part of my main activity:-S But I still wanted to redeem myself a little map to compose from time to time. And what I bought??? Well yes a UC RME!! The Crazy Gauls!!

-Did you tried many other models before buying it?
Uh .... Alesis I / O gizmo thing, does that count? ^ ^

-What is so special that you love the most, least?
All, quality preamp, Converto, stability, possibility of development, ease of routing etc. .... Everything, everything, everything!! Even the color ^ ^

-How would you rate the quality / price?
A Auvergne will tell you it is still too expensive! But here, the quality is really the appointment.

-With experience, you do again this choice?
No, I will take a RME ^ ^ (pissed off with these questions!)