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Focusrite Saffire Pro 40
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Old 3rd February 2009 | Show parent
  #31
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gimboid's Avatar
 
🎧 15 years
I thought the DICE chipset was related to control/firewire implementation... or does it handle conversion as well?

Chris
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Old 3rd February 2009 | Show parent
  #32
Registered User
 
🎧 10 years
For the DICE thing I completely don't know. I said that without knowing if it has to do with conversion.
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Old 4th April 2009 | Show parent
  #33
Registered User
 
🎧 10 years
Hi guys. I swapped out a 002 in a friends studio for a Saffire Pro 40 but couldn't find any OS X files on the provided CD. I downloaded the drivers from the website but can't find the apparently included Focusrite plugins anywhere.

Does anyone have any advice on this? Thanks
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Old 4th April 2009 | Show parent
  #34
Gear Nut
 
carma's Avatar
 
🎧 10 years
DICE handles firewire, but the converters are upgraded
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Old 27th April 2009 | Show parent
  #35
Registered User
 
🎧 10 years
Did you have any weird problems with the audio buffer sizes? I just got my device and I can't get the buffer sizes below 288 samples. If I set the device to 128 samples it still reports 288samples in my host. As the device also won't run properly in "normal mode" and I have to use at least safe mode 1 this adds up to a latency of ~20ms, which renders the device completely useless for me.

Any ideas how to fix this? I also wrote to Focusrite, but no reply yet.

Thanks in advance.
spree

Quote:
Originally Posted by daal ➡️
Got it !

First impressions : (note that I had a firebox before so it's kind of my "reference" unit in comparisons)

+ Preamp gain seem good compared to my firebox, especially with my Rode NT2-A (my only static with Phantom)
+ Preamp quality seems really ok as the noise is a lot less important than with my firebox on same "high level"
+ Routing soft is really really great. My firebox had only a mixer with really basic routing (one output pair or one another, zero latency monitoring only on headphones). Here you have 8 stereos mixes you can save, and in each one you can chose what you mix (preamp inputs, adat inputs, DAW outputs...) and on what outputs you want to route it (headphones, monitors, 2 headphones + monitors). So you can have 8 different stereo mixes routed to 8 different outputs (one for the singer, one for the guitarist ...). Quite impressive for me.
+ Except DPC latency reported due to drivers, the unit seems efficient in the conversions, and with right settings (256 samples in my case in Vista) you don't hear cracks and pops.

- Vista drivers seem badly supported as my DPC latency is always around 500-1000 where it was 60-200 with the Firebox
- Knobs don't look solid at all
- Headphones inputs seem fragile and the jacks don't fit perfectly in so they can easily be accidentally unplugged
- Volume knobs behaviour is quite strange. In the first half, they seem like they don't affect amplification at all. But in the second half they are quite sensitive
- Routing soft is maybe too complicated at first
- Samples settings are not very flexible. In the normal settings you have quite few "hidden security buffers" so that's great. But if you use "Safe Mode 1" (goes to Safe Mode 3, Safe Mode 1 being the less safe) which is there to have more security, you already have a LOT of latency (512 samples = 12ms I/13ms O in 48khZ).

Didn't test saffire plugins yet.
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Old 28th April 2009 | Show parent
  #36
Registered User
 
🎧 10 years
Sorry, I usually work with 256 samples set, which results in a 6.5/6.5ms reported latency in reaper and that's ok for me. No idea how to get it lower (on my vista computer).

Did you already have a firewire interface on the same pc with lower latency before ? If not, try to use the DPCLatency tool to see if the problem can't come from your computer, in what case you have to solve it before being able to use the saffire at low latency.

What is DPC Latency?
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Old 9th June 2009 | Show parent
  #37
Registered User
 
🎧 10 years
Any one got ecperience with MAC?

I will buy one and use with LOGIC

Also can you (or do you need to) use the soft mix software alongside DAW for monitoring with headphones if 2 people want different mixes etc.etc.
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Old 9th June 2009 | Show parent
  #38
Registered User
 
🎧 10 years
Hi ,

I didn't test it under MAC. I heard there was a problem on first versions because drivers were not physically delivered on the driver cd included, but don't know now.

For the second question, I do that often. Physically you can choose the volume on the two headphones output. BUT it's linked to global monitor volume. So if you want LOUD headphones mix, you have to disable main monitor outputs (it's easy to do with the mixer interface) or have a preamp between the sound card and you main monitors to lower the volume there, or becoming deaf because your main speakers blow your ears out at the volume needed by headphones ^^.

You totally can have different mixes in the two headphones. The idea with the mixer is that you can define 8 different stereo mixes (you select each input and each daw output you want to let out) and each mix can be routed or not on all inputs (including headphones that are separate outputs).
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Old 9th June 2009 | Show parent
  #39
Registered User
 
🎧 10 years
Ok,

my old MOTU 8pre has near 0 latency monitoring if not 0 latency, would this be comparable? Bearing in mind MOTU is solid as a rock on OSX but not so much on PC.

What are the preamps like? Quiet? As good as other Focusrite preamps?

Firewire? What about plugging a HDD into the saffire pro 40 as I only have 1 FW port on my mac?

Does this cause more latency or skips in audio as they share one FW400 port?
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Old 9th June 2009 | Show parent
  #40
Registered User
 
🎧 10 years
As far as I used it, monitoring using mixer is really near 0 latency. On my Vista PC drivers are quite stable (Got only 1 suspicious behaviour in 6 months). DPC Latency is not very good but really usable, and under XP it's very good (maybe a vista drivers issue, didn't check if there were new drivers).

Preamps are really crystal transparent. A friend of mine tested them with a round-trip test, and original and treated signal totally cancel themselves. Really like them with my mic as they give absolutely no color.

Didn't test firewire chaining.
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Old 23rd August 2009 | Show parent
  #41
Registered User
 
🎧 15 years
Hi,

Does the Saffire Pro 40 run in standalone mode?

I would like to ad it to my setup and use it as an ADAT in and out converter for my other DAW.

Thanks!
D.
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Old 23rd August 2009 | Show parent
  #42
Registered User
 
🎧 10 years
Read from the FAQ :

Q: Can Saffire PRO 40 be used in standalone mode (away from a computer)?
A: No. The Saffire PRO 40 can only be used as an audio interface, connected to your computer via firewire.

Focusrite Audio Engineering | UK Site | Products | Saffire | Saffire PRO 40
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Old 25th August 2009 | Show parent
  #43
Focusrite
 
🎧 10 years
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dennisb ➡️
Does the Saffire Pro 40 run in standalone mode?
There is now a public beta release of the firmware/software required to run the Pro 40 in standalone mode available here:
Focusrite / Novation Beta Testing :: Releases

If you have any questions about the Pro 40 or standalone mode then feel free to contact us at [email protected]

Best regards,

Chris Ready
Focusrite Tech Support
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Old 25th August 2009 | Show parent
  #44
Lives for gear
 
🎧 15 years
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Focusrite ➡️
There is now a public beta release of the firmware/software required to run the Pro 40 in standalone mode available here:
Focusrite / Novation Beta Testing :: Releases

If you have any questions about the Pro 40 or standalone mode then feel free to contact us at [email protected]

Best regards,

Chris Ready
Focusrite Tech Support

Whoa - is this then the cheapest way to get 8 decent mic pres into a lightpipe?
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Old 7th September 2009 | Show parent
  #45
Registered User
 
🎧 10 years
I'm very much interested in one of these for my Nuendo rig. What are the D/A converters like? How would these compare to Digidesign's 003, TC Studio Konnekt 48 or Mackie 400F stock converters? Are the preamps really good?
Any problems with drivers on Windows?
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Old 26th October 2009 | Show parent
  #46
Here for the gear
 
🎧 10 years
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dennisb ➡️
Hi,

Does the Saffire Pro 40 run in standalone mode?

I would like to ad it to my setup and use it as an ADAT in and out converter for my other DAW.

Thanks!
D.
Using the new updated MixControl 1.7, your mix setting can be loaded to the hardware and you can use it in standalone mode.


Quote:
Originally Posted by daal ➡️
Hi ,
Physically you can choose the volume on the two headphones output. BUT it's linked to global monitor volume. So if you want LOUD headphones mix, you have to disable main monitor outputs (it's easy to do with the mixer interface) or have a preamp between the sound card and you main monitors to lower the volume there, or becoming deaf because your main speakers blow your ears out at the volume needed by headphones ^^.

You totally can have different mixes in the two headphones. The idea with the mixer is that you can define 8 different stereo mixes (you select each input and each daw output you want to let out) and each mix can be routed or not on all inputs (including headphones that are separate outputs).
You definitely don't have to disable your main monitors to get independent headphone mixes. In both versions of the software (Pro 40 Control, and MixControl 1.7) you have 10 buttons that control monitoring on the 10 channels. If they are blue, they are on AND linked to the main monitor control. If they are red, they are muted. However, if you shift+click on them, they go grey. This means that the full signal is sent to that channel. If you make 7 and 8 grey (or 9 & 10 for the second headphone mix), then the headphones get the full signal and they are attenuated only by their respective hardware knobs. This is how most people are used to it. (It is strange that this was not included as one of the monitoring presets, and I only realised this after reading the manual.)


I've run this interface very successfully on both XP (SP3) and XP 64bit versions with both Nuendo and with PreSonus Studio One. You get about 55dB of gain on the mic pre's and they are very quite. For this price the quality is not only acceptable, but actually quite good. Routing software is fantastically flexible.

I have a major problem though, and I wonder if someone can help. While it works perfectly on my PC, I've not been able to get it to work with a MacBook Pro. The device works perfectly, but not the software. I've tried both Pro 40 Control and MixControl 1.7. I've also tried on more than one MBP. The first was a 2007 15" core 2 duo MBP running 10.5.7. The other was a 2009 unibody 15" running 10.6. Using Pro 40 Control, the computers sees the device (and I could track in Logic) but Pro 40 Control just says device is not connected. The MixControl 1.7 would even run on either MBP. Any advice?
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Old 28th October 2009 | Show parent
  #47
Focusrite
 
🎧 10 years
Quote:
Originally Posted by blouhond ➡️
I have a major problem though, and I wonder if someone can help. While it works perfectly on my PC, I've not been able to get it to work with a MacBook Pro. The device works perfectly, but not the software. I've tried both Pro 40 Control and MixControl 1.7. I've also tried on more than one MBP. The first was a 2007 15" core 2 duo MBP running 10.5.7. The other was a 2009 unibody 15" running 10.6. Using Pro 40 Control, the computers sees the device (and I could track in Logic) but Pro 40 Control just says device is not connected. The MixControl 1.7 would even run on either MBP. Any advice?
Hi Blouhond,

It's possible that the problem you are experiencing is related to Digidesign drivers as they have been known to conflict with the Pro 40's driver and prevent the software from being able to see the unit. Could you try temporarily moving these from system>library>extensions to another folder if you have any present.

If this doesn't help, feel free to email [email protected] with more information about your problem and we'll be happy to help.

Best regards,

Chris
Focusrite
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Old 13th January 2011 | Show parent
  #48
Registered User
 
3 Reviews written
🎧 10 years
Pro 40 Beauty Contest
Quote:
Originally Posted by sigmatibet ➡️
To me it looks terribly ugly and cheap. And if I had to say it all...it looks like they do the same interface in that chinese factory and they only change brand. My opinion.
She ain't that easy on the eyes but very functional. I like the easy access to the knobs on each channel and the LED's are excellent. The knobs have a nice "heavy" feel when you roll them. It's built like a tank even if it did come from China. Maybe the Brits are just more picky about how their stuff gets made.

Anyway, I just got mine a week ago. The gain isn't as mighty as I had expected but it's still plenty powerful. the sound is very bright and accurate. For the money this is a powerhouse unit to slip into your rack. I'm still wrestling with latency issues but am confident that in the next day or two I will have sorted it out. I have a pro engineer who will come by and get me straightened out - he's the one who got me into this and he sets up recording studios here in NYC.

Having said that - I'm into rock and acoustic/electric progressive music with a a bit of synth. Our vocalist has a strong voice in the mid-range. I think this unit will get us to where we need to be with sound.

So it ain't pretty. I've seen worse. As for Focusrite Liquid - I don't know what those guys were thinking when they came out with that look but when you are sitting in a dimly lit studio their stuff really stands out.
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Old 3rd March 2011 | Show parent
  #49
Registered User
 
🎧 15 years
Red face My fix to saffire pro 40 latency issues in windows 7
1. Change to the legacy driver (Control Panel->Device Management->1394 device-> etc...)
2. Change the priority of your ASIO application to "Realtime"
3. Change ASIO latency to approx. 128 bytes

This solved my latency issues!
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Old 28th March 2011 | Show parent
  #50
Registered User
 
🎧 10 years
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sugarnutz ➡️
The big deal for me was that there is no way you can do Protools with the Focusrite. I got a 2626 and all is right with the world. May or may not float your boat.
You can't? I have the Pro40 and I can use it with ProTools.

Quote:
Originally Posted by halfnormalled ➡️
Hi guys. I swapped out a 002 in a friends studio for a Saffire Pro 40 but couldn't find any OS X files on the provided CD. I downloaded the drivers from the website but can't find the apparently included Focusrite plugins anywhere.

Does anyone have any advice on this? Thanks

I have this same problem.
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Old 23rd June 2011 | Show parent
  #51
Gear Head
 
🎧 10 years
help with pro 40
Quote:
Originally Posted by AvenueKRecording ➡️
You can't? I have the Pro40 and I can use it with ProTools.




I have this same problem.
Hi,

I heard the pro 40 comes with a coupon with serial numbers or codes which you can avail the free plug-ins of focusrite.

hope this helps.

1. now i have a question. i'm looking to buy pro 40 for its focusrite product having 8/in 10/out but 1/2 out goes to your main monitors when 7-8 and 9-10 outs goes to with the 2 headphone ports on the front panel which leaves only 3-4 and 5-6 outs to be used for any send fx/devices/headphones monitor for booths. this is only if i'm using both headphones me and my client. how do you manage?

2. does it work when you disconnect it from pc any time or each time you set for standalone switching on pc and switching off? my basic use for standalone is to do practise sessions when i'm free without switching pc on. in all forum threads i read about standalone is for A/D connections. but i dont need for this, i need for practising connecting my keyboard or electric guitar and put speakers out or headphones.

3. does it work with protools, win xp/7 64bit and MAC?

4. For the reason of standalone mode and separate headphones out not sharing your line outs, and pad switches, I am interested with Profire 2626. But i heard its preamps aren't that great. But its new octane preamps n'times better than m-audio's FW 410 which i'm using now?

5. I finally came to 2 options
a. getting pro40 and using its own preamps for vocals, acoustic string instruments and percussions (not drums)?

b. Getting a m-audio profire 2626 and connecting 2 channels preamp such as presonus bluetube dp2 or focusrite ISA828 mk2?

Please tell your experience recording with saffire pro 40's built-in preamps without pad to record loud instrument..

Sorry for such long post but i don't like to ask each questions in each posts.

I need a help.

thanks in advance

regards
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