Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 FireWire Audio Interface

[Tweak]

Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 FireWire Audio Interface

The Focusrite Saffire PRO 24 is the latest in Focusrite's new generation of FireWire audio interfaces. As with all Focusrite interfaces, Saffire PRO 24 is the best sounding interface in its class, attentively designed with recording musicians and the modern home studio in mind.

http://www.zzounds.com/a--3745/item--FOCSAFPRO24

[t0yz]

Hi,

I plan on buying this interface. It has ADAT (8 x 8 at 44,1 KHz; 4x4 at 96 KHz) and Wordclock, according to it's manual.
Windows 7 support is only available if you use the legacy Firewire drivers. Native support will follow.
I'm no pro so I maybe understood wrongly, as in the chart comparison these are not mentioned.
The interface is 300 Euros in Romania, best deal I could find yet. However, I don't have all that cash yet, so it has to wait for 3 months :/
I'm a little puzzled by the specs. Aren't they a little too much for this kinda money and a Firewire interface?

[Tweak]

Hi,

I plan on buying this interface. It has ADAT (8 x 8 at 44,1 KHz; 4x4 at 96 KHz) and Wordclock, according to it's manual.
Windows 7 support is only available if you use the legacy Firewire drivers. Native support will follow.
I'm no pro so I maybe understood wrongly, as in the chart comparison these are not mentioned.
The interface is 300 Euros in Romania, best deal I could find yet. However, I don't have all that cash yet, so it has to wait for 3 months :/
I'm a little puzzled by the specs. Aren't they a little too much for this kinda money and a Firewire interface?

I see that now on the ADAT. Thanks! I think the specs must have changed. You should try to get more detailed info from someone who owns one. I notice they are no longer in stock and won't be till June! Perhaps this is a second build.

[ditto]

In a day of searching, this is the closest to what I'm looking for that I've come across.

I've got a question about preamps on interfaces - can they be bypassed?

I've got another question about inputs on interfaces, and I'll use the Focusrite as an example. It's got two XLR/TRS ins on the front, each with a preamp, and two TRS lines in on the back. Is the only difference the preamp and connector?

[ditto]

This has been a day of me answering my own questions, so why stop now. If the preamped channels could be bypassed on the Focusrite, there'd by a bypass button, but there isn't, so the preamps can't be bypassed. Answer to the second question: yes.

If I keep hanging here, I'm going to get really smart.

[t0yz]

Eh, so long time has passed, I already bought this interface, didn't use it much time, about a month. It sadly went up in smoke(&fire), together with a pair of KRK RP5G2s and some other stuff in the room. The electrical installation was very old from 1976 or something, and it just burned, probably overloaded with all the equipment in the room. Only my fault, as I had 2 previous outlets melting the cords that were plugged in them, and when I called the specialist to replace them, he said all electrical wiring (within the wall, that had to be broken) must be replaced as it is very old - didn't take his advice, until too late.

The Saffire is an exceptional piece of equipment, that cost this much partly because of the classy Focusrite pres. I didn't get to use them at all, only used the outputs on the interface, so can't really answer you ditto.The certain thing is I'm saving some cash now to buy another Saffire, to complement my new HS80s (that I plan on reviewing for the site when I get some time)

[t0yz]

For Tweak:

I think there are 3 models of Saffire on the market at about this price:

There is a vanilla model (to be retired soon, you can find this one at discount prices if you look), white colored, with DSP. NO ADAT!!! Named simply Focusrite Saffire. Vertical standing. They "split" the low-end Saffire line in these new interfaces:

Focusrite Saffire Pro 24, no DSP, rack-mountable type, WITH ADAT.

Saffire Pro 24 DSP, with DSP and "Virtual Reference Monitoring", this model is not listed here, I think it has exactly the same characteristics as the above, plus DSP&VRM. And the higher price tag.

[ditto]

Eh, so long time has passed, I already bought this interface, didn't use it much time, about a month. It sadly went up in smoke(&fire), together with a pair of KRK RP5G2s and some other stuff in the room. The electrical installation was very old from 1976 or something, and it just burned, probably overloaded with all the equipment in the room. Only my fault, as I had 2 previous outlets melting the cords that were plugged in them, and when I called the specialist to replace them, he said all electrical wiring (within the wall, that had to be broken) must be replaced as it is very old - didn't take his advice, until too late.

The Saffire is an exceptional piece of equipment, that cost this much partly because of the classy Focusrite pres. I didn't get to use them at all, only used the outputs on the interface, so can't really answer you ditto.The certain thing is I'm saving some cash now to buy another Saffire, to complement my new HS80s (that I plan on reviewing for the site when I get some time)

That's too much fire in the firewire.

Thanks for the endorsement. Thanks also for the heads up about the three different types.

[gaius]

I've got the Saffire Pro 24. I like the sound of the Preamp, over Mackie VLZ3. Though I didn't expect a significant edge of the Focusrite Preamp from a budget unit like this. But The difference was significant enough (I switched from Behringer to Mackie to Focusrite Saffire), though admittedly my ear is rather untrained. In short, I LOVE it!

When you say Bypass the preamp, so you mean you wanted to treat it as a line input say for your synt's L/R output?
If that's what you are looking for, you could use input 1, 2, 3, 4, any of them.

Say you are using 1, 2 (which comes with the pre) then you have to select in the Saffire MixControl 'Line' instead of 'Inst'. Say you are using it for your Bass, Guitar's 1/4 inch output, then you have to select 'Inst'. It switches the input to take high-impedance input, via the software selection.

I've got a little problem for now. When playing back music form my Mac Mini, I turned the fan off, and to my amazement, there were silence for 2 sec, and the music comes back. It happen consistently for a few times. I switched OFF then ON a florescent light in my room, tried it with another in the living hall, another ceiling fan in the living hall, they turned the saffire silence, with the 'FW' LED off for abt 2 sec! Sometimes, Garage band complained, shouted out Saffire not detected, and asked if I would quit or use the built-in speaker.

To be fair, I can't conclude that's the Saffire problem. It could be my Mac problem or my firewire cable (from LaCie!), power supply problem (Belkin power surge protector), or whatever... I'm checking out with Focusrite still. Within 1 week, they replied my mail 3 times, first one being auto generated. So I'm actually quite OK with them, for now.

[sigmundklaus]

hi,

I made a video on VRM in action. Recorded it with an other soundcard and ran through the presets, monitors, listening environments, switching VRM on/off etc


I thought it could be interesting for those thinking about buying the unit ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUlyIEH--d0

[ditto]

Very cool demo.

Gee, I dunno. I learn slowly. Right now I'm learning the monitors I've got in the room I've got. If I used VRM, I'd have to learn 8 different monitors in three more rooms. It scares me. I can see me dicking around with all those possibilities, trying to EQ bass so that it sounded good on everything, and spending lots and lots and LOTS more time than I do now. But what a cool feature. If I didn't have real monitors already, I think I might be all over that.

Thanks again for the demo. Very useful.

[aww-de-oh]

ditto;
A great method of learning your monitors (and your room) is to put up a track [of good-sounding /well engineered] music. You can have it in a seperate project, or even just drop it into a track with your music (use 'mute', un-mute).
Don't try to match the loudness per-say (as it will likely be a 'mastered' track) [in fact, you should lower the levels of it so it's comparable to your preMastered work].. but listen to the relationship of the freq/instruments/ect. If you find your track booms the monitors, and the other doesn't.. you've probably got tooo much bass going on,.. and so on.
A/B-ing between the two.

[ditto]

That's a good idea - thanks. I like the idea of dropping the pro tune into a muted track right in the session I'm working on. I'll try that. But the biggest difference I notice between my stuff and pro stuff these days is not so much the lows and low mids, but just the c-l-a-r-i-t-y of the recorded tracks.

[t0yz]

You record vocals&instruments I assume. There's a big difference from recording in the untreated, small, boxy characteristic room of a "bedroom studio" (I'm not intending to offend anyone! I do have exactly one of these rooms, but I had the luck to be in the studio as well), with cheap pres and effects - from the costly studio with tons of cool gear available. And a pro engineer at your service, too! I guess that's why many still book studio time, instead of doing it themselves. Also, besides being recorded and then mixed in a pro environment, the music you have is also mastered... especially to make it sound better.

You could try and do some electronic stuff, if you have some good VST, like Omnisphere let's say, and compare it to other electronica. You will see the difference is not that big anymore.

There's only this much you can do within the boundaries of a home project. But it's obviously that this amount grows everyday favouring us, the home musician.

[ditto]

Yeah, vocals and instruments. I don't mind exploring electronica, but I really enjoy playing and singing and recording through mics. It's part of the joy of the project. I don't expect my sound to be pro, but I enjoy coming up with ways to keep nudging it closer to pro. Playing and singing good songs in time and in tune is the best approach I've come up with so far.

[Tweak]

The "new" Saffire Pro 24 is in stock and says it has ADAT in.

Though the docs say 16 inputs, I only count 14 audio channels

1-2 Mic pre/ inst
3-4 Line
5-6 s/pdif
8 ch adat
_______
14

Still this is the first i've seen adat offered under 300.

http://www.zzounds.com/a--3745/item--FOCSAFPRO24

[t0yz]

There are 2 internal loopback channels counted. Check http://www.focusrite.com/answerbase/en/ ... php?id=338

Total I/O Count of 16 Inputs and 8 Outputs
A host of I/O options are provided, including a unique loop-back facility for routing audio between software applications via Saffire Mix Control.

"

[Tweak]

Thanks! Nice chart.