M-Audio FireWire 410 4-In / 10-Out FireWire Mobile Recording Interface Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I bought this soundcard and have been wrestling with the drivers non-stop for two months... nothing seems to work. Crackles and a high level of whitenoise in the background.
Tech Support responds very courteously and quickly, however, their advice is to reinstall the drivers... Gee who would have thought of that. I've only done that about 100 times... Sometimes the meters on the driver interface are dancing wildly when no sound is going through it... Sometimes when I reinstall the meters behave normally. That's the only thing "fixed" by reinstalling - however the fix is always temporary...
I get the impression that the tech support knows that there are some problems with the driver and with the unit. Hot swapping has blown a lot of firewire boards - including mine (replaced it and now I never hotswap).
I have had nothing but problems - my ipod's system software is trashed if ever I plug it into the firewire port beside the 410. It took me three times to realize that the problem was the 410 not the iPod. This was just salt in the wound... Solution from Tech support - "don't plug an Ipod OR ANYTHING ELSE into the firewire port if the 410 is plugged in also. But, whatever you do, don't hot swap the 410 or it could blow your board!" Thanks a lot. So I have to shutdown. Unplug the 410, plug in the iPod and restart just to sync my iPod... so much for the convenience of firewire.
Tested the 410 in my powerbook in an attempt to isolate the problem... bad idea. Now my once rock solid powerbook doesn't recognize the firewire card and the wireless PC card would not talk to the airport base station. Solution: reset basestation, clean reinstall system software to reinstall drivers for the PC cards (native to OS 10.3). Thanks alot.
I have read reports of people having problems with this unit. It only seemed like a fraction. I hoped I wouldn't be one. I am.
If I had a G5 that was dedicated to music, I bet I could get this soundcard to work great. But, unfortunately, I have a G4 (maxed out with RAM and the hottest processor I can put in it). And I use it for writing, photos, video, games AND music.
For any mac user who is not making a dedicated music work station, I would highly recommend that you steer well clear of the 410 and of M-audio products just to be safe. There are other options out there that don't have the same problems.

Click Here to see more reviews about: M-Audio FireWire 410 4-In / 10-Out FireWire Mobile Recording Interface

Click here for more information about M-Audio FireWire 410 4-In / 10-Out FireWire Mobile Recording Interface

Read More...

M-Audio Firewire Solo US35030 Firewire Audio Interface Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I'm using this on an Apple PowerBook G4 with a 1.33 GHz processor and 768 MB RAM. I mainly record through GarageBand, and after about 10 hours of use, it has worked flawlessly so far.
Controls in front are intuitive. The clip LEDs let you know when your input volumes are maxing out.
Note that you can record only two sources at once: either the front two (mic and line in) or the rear two (two line ins). I initially thought you could record 4 simultaneous tracks with this. There is, however, a switch on the front of the unit that allows you to choose front or rear inputs.
There is an extra firewire plug in the rear of the unit, which allows you to daisy-chain several firewire devices. This works perfectly for me on my 12" PowerBook, which only has one firewire input.
Very low latency on this unit. I can play my electric through GarageBand's multi-effects units while listening on my headphones, and I notice almost zero latency. I'm anxious to try it on my amplifier, to see if it would be suitable for live performance.
I would recommend this for anyone who's thinking about getting into home recording. It's very well designed, well built, and should suit me well for years.

Click Here to see more reviews about: M-Audio Firewire Solo US35030 Firewire Audio Interface

The FireWire Solo is designed from the ground up as an easy-to-use, high-quality interface for songwriters to record guitars, vocals and more on the computer. Compatible with most popular music software, this compact bus-powered unit is small enough to go anywhere you want to take your music. In addition to the 1/4" guitar input right on the front panel, a professional XLR microphone input also lets you record vocals and acoustic instruments. There are also dual line inputs for effects, drum machines and other outboard gear. FireWire connectivity, up to 24-bit/96kHz sample rate support and digital I/O all add up to outstanding sonic performance. As simple to connect and operate as it is powerful, FireWire Solo is the foundation of your computer-based songwriting studio.

Analog and Digital Inputs The FireWire Solo features two front-panel inputs, one XLR for microphones (featuring phantom power, gain control, and a clipping LED); and one guitar input (with gain control and clipping lED).
The rear of the device features 2 unbalanced 1/4-inch line inputs for connecting drum machines or other devices, and a front-panel switch toggles between front/rear inputs.
The rear also features a two-channel S/PDIF digital input and output. Connect another device and get four simultaneous in/out channels.
Headphone Output Use the 1/4-inch stereo headphone output to monitor, or use the two-channel rear 1/4-inch outputs.
The front-panel knob controls both levels.
Mac and Windows Compatible The FireWire Solo will work with both Macs and PCs with FireWire ports. It's powered by the FireWire bus (power supply included for use with 4-pin ports), and features an additional port for easy device chaining.
On either platform, you'll enjoy flexible software-based routing/mixing with near-zero latency monitoring.
Includes Ableton Live Lite Ableton Live Lite delivers much of the functionality of Ableton Live—the revolutionary, multi-award winning music production solution that allows you to spontaneously compose, record, remix, improvise and edit your musical ideas in a seamless audio/MIDI environment. Live brings your acoustic, electronic and virtual instruments—as well as your digital audio recordings and MIDI sequences—together in a single interface with unparalleled ease of use.
What's in the Box FireWire Solo Recording Interface, CD-ROM containing driver software and user manual in PDF form, Printed Quick Start Guide, 6 pin to 6 pin FireWire cable, 6 pin to 4 pin FireWire cable, Power Supply

Click here for more information about M-Audio Firewire Solo US35030 Firewire Audio Interface

Read More...

SIIG CE-S00012-S2 USB SoundWave 7.1 Audio Adapter Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)The hub of our home entertainment system is an Intel-based Mac Mini, which does a great job with video but has terrible built-in audio: the output level is way too low, and when amplified is nearly drowned out by buzzes, whirs and other ambient electronic noise.
I bought the SIIG USB SoundWave 7.1 to bypass the lousy built-in audio, and it works perfectly. I just plugged it in, connected the stereo to the 1/8" jack, and selected it as the default audio device. The driver built into Mac OS offers only volume and balance controls, but I wasn't expecting anything fancy. Now I can leave my stereo volume way down at 4 instead of 40, and enjoy clear, undistorted audio.


Click Here to see more reviews about: SIIG CE-S00012-S2 USB SoundWave 7.1 Audio Adapter

Get 29% OFF

Click here for more information about SIIG CE-S00012-S2 USB SoundWave 7.1 Audio Adapter

Read More...