Presonus Firebox Reviews?, Anyone actually use this yet? Options

[ArchivalAudio]

wondering if anyone has actually used the new PreSonus FireBox? Its been available in Europe for a month now... and just became available here in the US. I am wondering if any has tried this unit out... I am strongly considering gettting one. I would like to hear any reviews of this new interface.

any opinions?
power consumption in the feild? etc.

thanx
-- Ian

[arvidtp]

thats cool.

Ok, so here;s the story. Getting a bit frustrated with the firebox for the 1st time. Trying to use it to perform with in MaxMSP. Seems like patches that the internal card can handle the firebox keeps popping and clicking on. I have to go from 128 samples buffer and signal vector size, to 256for both for it to work smoothly. and even then there is a click every few minutes (not bad, but there all the same). I keep getting these CPU spikes. activity monitor shows kernel_task spikes in CPU up to like 95% every once in a while while the firebox is plugged in. None when its not. Whats up? i heard something about this from someone else. They said Presonus or maybe apple claimed it was normal and should not affect operation. But it does - my pops are usually synced with such spikes, occurring about every 15 sec when at 128 samples buffer. It cant be normal for firewire audio interfaces. I dont like it for normal operation of the computer either (when crunching big files, who wants an unused audio interface hogging CPU? arrrrg

I still get pops every once in while when on 256 samps even though MaxMSP reports my CPU usage as down to about 34%!(activity monitor showed much higher, around 60-90% for MaxMSP) My internal card runs with no discernible clicks/pops at up to about 55-60% processor load in Max at 128 samps buffer normally. Its these darn CPU spikes belonging to the system that happen every once in a while with the Firebox plugged in. I tried everything i could think of to turn off, not turn on, restarted several times...

So then i tried Logic 6.4 - adding spacedesigners until it choked - i got to i think 5 and logic reported nearly maxed CPU (music have been 90-100%, but there's no numerical display in logic) but the firebox did not click or pop at all, at 128 samples buffer. What the heck? Of course it clicked (choked) when i added the 6th, but the 5th was definitely showing 90-100% usage with no pops. Is there a difference in the way that MaxMSP and Logic access a coreaudio device that makes this disparity in popping/clicking? Or is Logic's CPU meter just wussy? But no... the 6th space designer REALLY choked the machine (unresponsive for about 15 sec) so that could not be it...

This is starting to anger me - its like i can only use half the processor power i did before in MaxMSP if i still want decent latency using the Firebox. Would a MOTU or something like that be better? and RME? Cause i could (very reluctantly) i think still return the firebox until the end of the week... I really like it with logic ad stuff, but its not really cutting it in Max right now and I dont know why.

Anyone have any ideas?

Ce message a été modifié par arvidtp - mer. 22 juin 2005, 06:07.