PRESONUS INSPIRE 1394 (audio interface)

[Anderton]

Yep, it's that time again: another Pro Review! Seems that interface ones are popular, and the Inspire is an unusual little box.

I've decided on a couple changes this time around:

* First, I'm going to test it with a PowerMac (PreSonus has announced availability of Macintel drivers, but I don't have a Macintel yet).

* Second, I figured there would be some "So what's the difference between the FireBox and Inspire?" questions. Of course we'll address that in the thread, but I also decided to review the FireBox in the HC Confidential Newsletter that goes out next week. That way, I could get into the box with more depth than I would in a review about the Inspire. As it turns out they are quite different, but hey, that's what a Pro Review is about: Going beyond specs to uncover the "gestalt" of a piece of gear. However, this way there's a complementary review as well of an alternative product.

So this is also a heads-up that if you don't subscribe to the newsletter yet, you should! You can sign up on the HC home page.

Another thing is that I try to avoid doing a Pro Review if there's a chance of my travel schedule interfering. However, I have a very heavy travel schedule this summer and it's unavoidable. So, I'm hoping that when I can't post for a few days at a time, you'll find that an ideal time to ask questions, and of course, I've invited PreSonus to participate in this thread so you can get some answers directly from them along with my observations and those of other participants.

[Anderton]

As usual, I don't like to take up a lot of space regurgitating specs, as the point of a Pro Review is to focus on the user experience. Besides, if you're reading this you're online, so you can find out all the specs from the PreSonus web site - click here (http://www.presonus.com/inspire1394.html) for the Inspire 1394 "landing page." It gives details on the specs, a link to a short review that appeared in Tape Op magazine, some videos, and other info. Before we dive too deeply into the review itself, you might want to do a little homework here.

Okay, next thing for me is to set up my mini-photo studio so I can take some pix of the insides, the packaging, that sort of thing. I'll check back when I have some shots.

[Anderton]

Click on the attachment to see everything that’s included with the Inspire 1394 package. Starting at the top is the packaging itself. Going clockwise around the picture, there’s a FireWire cable (4.5 foot, 6-pin to 6-pin), AC adapter and warranty card, four CD-ROMs, and the Inspire hardware interface itself. At the center is the printed manual.

The four CDs are:

* Inspire driver CD (surprisingly, it was up to date – the web site didn’t have anything more current)
* “Pro Pak” add-on with plug-ins and samples
* Steinberg Cubase LE
* Sony Acid XMC

My initial impression of the Inspire 1394 is that it’s targeted toward the same type of person who bought a Portastudio back in the 1970s. As a result, the software bundle takes on greater importance; between Cubase LE and Acid XMC, you can make some pretty cool music. Unfortunately Acid XMC doesn’t mean much to Mac owners, but given that Apple bundles GarageBand with their hardware, a GarageBand-like product is probably redundant anyway.

The Pro Pak CD has quite a few plug-ins, with somewhat different sets for Mac and Windows. We’ll get into that later, as I don’t want to get too distracted from the hardware itself until later in the review.

[Anderton]

And speaking of hardware, let’s take a closer look. Click on the attachment to see the front panel.

It’s pretty simple: There are two pairs of inputs (mic and instrument), and you can use one of either pair at a time (e.g., mic from one pair and guitar from the other pair, two mics, guitar and keyboard, etc.). The instrument input is balanced, so you can use it with balanced line devices, but also has a 500k input impedance so it’s “guitar-friendly.”

The only other front panel attribute is an LED that glows blue if the FireWire connection is happy, and red if it isn’t. No phantom power? Well actually, there is…but not on the front panel. All parameter control is done through a computer applet, which we’ll cover in depth later.

[Anderton]

And of course, equal time for the rear panel. Click on the attachment to see the rear panel.

From left to right, you have a connector for the AC adapter (which you won’t need if it’s powered from a 6-pin FireWire port, but will if your computer’s FireWire port is the 4-pin type), and two FireWire connectors. Is PreSonus just being generous? There’s more to this: The Inspire 1394 is designed to be used with other Inspire 1394s for a true multi-input/output interface. The thinking is that if a band is into using Inspire boxes, they can use their idividual box at home, but when they get together in the studio, they can all access the computer. Very cute, very modular, and given the price, affordable for the band.

Next up is an 1/8” phone jack, 1/8” output for powered computer speakers paralleled with RCA unbalanced outs for feeding line levels, and an additional line input using RCA unbalanced ins. This gives another clue as to the intended audience; you won’t find the 1/4" unbalanced connections of the FireBox. For those who are turned off by 1/8” jacks and RCA connectors, well, there are always adapter cables…

But one very intriguing feature is that the RCA inputs are there for a reason, as they can be switched to phono mode and accept a turntable output. Really! I see two main uses for this: DJs, or course, but I have a pretty decent collection of vinyl and having a preamp to record these directly into my computer for editing is kinda cool. I’m not sure if this would be a Big Feature to the average Inspire buyer, but it saves me from a bunch of hassles.

[Anderton]

Naturally, a Pro Review isn’t a Pro Review without taking the thing apart and checking for build quality. It’s relatively easy to take apart, but there’s no real value in doing so as there’s nothing inside you can adjust. There are two connectors, but I suspect they’re for testing during the assembly process. Click on the attachment to see the insides. Note the quarter to give you some idea of the scale.

Concerning the outside construction, this is clearly designed to accept abuse from Neanderthals. The circuit board is in an all-metal enclosure, with ventilation slits on both the top and bottom. However, if you put this on a carpet you’d block the lower ventilation slots; I don’t think that would kill the unit, but I’d feel safer putting rubber feet on the bottom and placing the Inspire 1394 on a hard surface.

As there are no protruding knobs, the Inspire 1394 is “drop-friendly.” To further cushion any side impacts, there are plastic wrap-around flanges. Presumably, if these cracked – which would take some serious effort, I might add – you could buy replacements from PreSonus.

Now, don’t tell the guys from PreSonus, but I thought something that appeared this sturdy just begged for the “drop test.” So I dropped it from about six feet onto a concrete floor, with a thin towel placed on the floor so there wouldn’t be any scratches. After a suitably scary-sounding “thunk,” I picked it up and shook it; nothing had come loose, which was a good sign. I then plugged it into my Mac, and yup, it worked fine.

Bottom line: thumbs up for reliability and resistance to abuse. Short of building in air bags, I’m not sure what PreSonus could have done to make this better-suited to equipment abusers.

[Anderton]

While the camera was out and the thing was apart, I thought I’d take some more pix. Click on the attachment to see the area behind the front panel. The jacks are the usual quality, with the fingers firmly attached to the plastic casing.

By the way if you’re worried about the use of electrolytic capacitors, which do dry up after a couple decades, it appears they wouldn’t be hard to replace if you had to…then again, a couple decades from now, you’ll probably have moved on to a brainwave-to-audio converter or something.

[Anderton]

Okay, one last inside shot: Click on the attachment to see the bottom of the board. “There’s nothing to see here, move along…” Well actually, the reason why I included this is to show that the bottom of the board is quite a distance away from the bottom of the box (even further than it might seem, as the bottom case plate extends outward another 1/4" or so to allow for the ventilation slots). So, you’d pretty much have to hit the bottom of the case with a sledgehammer to get the bottom of the case to short out to the bottom of the board.

Given the price, I just have to say they sure didn’t cut corners on sturdiness. This is one solid sucker.

[Anderton]

That’s right, no MIDI. So if MIDI is important to you, you’ll need to get a separate MIDI interface, or choose a different audio interface that has MIDI built in. This is why I use the FireBox on stage instead of the Inspire, which would otherwise fit my needs.

[Anderton]

Any comments so far or questions you want addressed? The next sections will involve installation and the applet controls.

[Anderton]

Installation on the Mac consists of dragging over the Control Panel applet from the CD-ROM (or downloading it from the web if a more recent version comes out), plugging in the box, and opening up the applet. Or opening up the applet and plugging in the box. In other words, not only is the box constructed to withstand Neanderthal handling, but the installation process is friendly to Neanderthal brains. (That is, as long as you’re running Mac OS X 10.3.7 or later, as the drivers are included in the Mac’s Core Audio functionality.) If you have an earlier operating system, it’s time to upgrade.

Windows installation is only slightly more difficult, as you need to install a driver. The manual is clear about installation; of course, you have to do the usual “Continue Anyway” when the Windows logo testing screen appears. (You know, the one that says “Your computer may become weird, unstable, blow up, or even act like Tom Cruise if you persist in installing these drivers, which we haven’t personally tested and can’t vouch for. Are you really, really sure you want to continue installing something that might devastate the world as we know it?”) But I installed the Inspire 1394 on an Apple dual G5, Apple standard G4, Rain Recording Windows XP laptop, and ADK Windows XP desktop, and each time, the interface installed easily and painlessly.

I’m starting to form an opinion of the Inspire 1394’s personality: Simple, inexpensive, sturdy – your basic hard-working, no-nonsense interface. Let’s see what the applet brings.

[Anderton]

Okay, I see how they got the price down: The box itself has I/O only; all control of levels, switching, etc. – and I mean all control – happens through the control panel applet. Click on the attachment to see the applet, or the following won’t make a whole lot of sense. As switches, pots, faders, and the like add greatly to a piece of hardware’s cost, it’s obvious that eliminating them is going to save some serious bucks.

First of all, the knobs default to using the “turn the knob with your mouse” protocol. I know all the arguments about that kind of motion giving you finer resolution, but I just find it more awkward. So I’m glad you can right-click (Windows) or ctrl-click (Mac) to choose a linear mode. This is one of the very few things that’s a little out of character with the Inspire 1394’s “what you see is exactly what you get” philosophy. It not only doesn’t have any hidden menus, it doesn’t have any menus, except for the knob motion one. (However the Windows applet, described later, does have some extra options.)

The Control Panel takes up a lot of screen real estate. I usually complain about programs that use gratuitous screen space (e.g., for huge logos, or artwork that simulates hardware but provides no controls or functions), but I’ll make an exception here because the use of screen space is not gratuitous. The controls are big, clear, easy-to-hit targets, which is a Good Thing if you’re in the heat of making music.

Let’s look at the controls, moving from top to bottom and left to right. Note the Phono button on the stereo input, and also, that this is a “virtual concentric” knob – you can offset the two channels’ gain. The headphone level determines the (I'm sure you can see this coming) the level in your headphones.

The middle section is your zero-latency mixer for all the inputs, along with the “playback” (return from your software) control. It’s nothing fancy: faders, mute, mixer bypass to take it out of the circuit entirely and feed only the output of your software to the Inspire 1394, and pan controls. Note that channels 1/2 and 3/4 have a stereo option, which gangs the faders together. However, you cannot gang them in an offset mode. If the faders are offset and you initiate Stereo, upon moving either fader the faders will snap to the same level.

The bottom section controls the preamps for inputs 1 and 2. Each has a gain control (there’s no spec given for the amount of gain – can someone from PreSonus provide this?), boost switch that adds 20dB of gain, +48V phantom power switch, and built-in limiter. There are no clip indicators to indicate you’ve run out of preamp headroom, so you have to use your ears (although if the mixer meter won’t go away higher when you push more signal into the mic, this indicates you’ve run out of headroom or have the limiter on). You can see clipping in the zero-latency mixer itself because the VU meters turn red, but I'd like to see preamp clip indicators added in a future rev of the conrtrol panel software.

The section on the right has a speaker output level control – obvious enough – and a “unit select” option in the lower right. You can chain up to four Inspire 1394s via FireWire, and rename them in this window. As PreSonus didn’t send me several Inspires, I couldn’t test this for myself. I don’t know if using more units causes a latency hit or other problems, and whether you can still use bus powering for, say, four units or whether you need to get the power supply into action. Hopefully someone from PreSonus is monitoring this and can comment.

[Anderton]

This is pretty much the same as the Mac one, except that there are separate settings for sample rate and latency. Note that the sample rate needs to be adjusted manually to match that of the system; it doesn’t automatically “sync up.” And yes, I was able to get latencies below 2ms as long as too much other stuff wasn’t going on. Click on the attachment to see the differences in the Windows applet.

[Anderton]

The Control Panel menu bar also provides two options beyond the usual minimize and close. One is a “pin” option so that the window is always on top. Clicking on the other minimizes the applet to take up less space; PreSonus calls this Win Shade. Click on the attachment to see the “Win Shade” version of the applet.

However, for some reason I couldn’t adjust the preamp gain controls in the Mac Win Shade, but could in the Windows version. I thought perhaps the gain was changing in the Mac applet even though the knobs weren’t moving, but that wasn’t the case. All the other controls in the Apple applet are functional, which leads me to believe this is a bug. For what it’s worth, I’m running Mac 10.4.6, so maybe it’s one of those Mac OS things that seems to trip up designers from time to time.

[Anderton]

I think that PreSonus carries on the Mackie tradition of getting inexpensive mic pres to sound good. Their specs claim response to 50kHz, although they don’t specify how many dB down the response is at that frequency. I don’t know if these are the same preamp design as in the FireBox, but certainly, on playback I got back what I expected to hear. I also appreciate the high impedance for guitar, which really lets the guitar “speak” when going direct – any guitar I plugged into the Inspire sounded great. In fact, I’m pretty sure the instrument input impedance is higher than that of their high-end ADL 600 preamp.

I did encounter a problem, though, which I think might be the dreaded “FireWire whine” that was discussed to death in the Pro Review on the Mackie Onyx 400F, and in other forums as well with respect to other interfaces but which seems to affect only a minority of users. When turning up the channels 3 and 4 concentric knobs with nothing plugged into either input, everything was fine until I hit about 75% of the way up, at which point I started hearing artifacts and a sort of motorboating sound. I disconnected the FireWire cable and reconnected it, to no avail. However, I found that plugging anything into the channel 4 jack (even a Minidisc output with the Minidisc turned off) reduced the noise to about –60dB, even at full gain (of course, you don’t hear any noise if the volume is down for channels 3 and 4).

I also noticed the same issue with the mic inputs. With nothing plugged in (except headphones), listening to only Mic 1 through Sonar with the Mic 1 gain up all the way and Boost enabled, the noise was about –35dB – pretty obvious. With boost off, it hit about -50dB. Mic 2 did the same thing. With the gain down on these controls, there appears to be virtually no noise at all.

Interestingly, if I plugged a guitar into the instrument jack with the guitar volume control turned down, even with the gain and boost maxed out on the Inspire 1394, the noise barely hit about –54dB. I attribute this noise to garbage coming in over the guitar cable, so the "real" noise contributed by the Inspire is probably much less.

Bear in mind that these are absolute worst-case conditions, but still, I think there may be a hardware problem, so I’ve asked PreSonus to send me another one. (And yes, it had this problem before the “drop test.”) What makes me particularly suspicious that this is a problem is because using their FireBox with the same computers and cables is dead quiet, even with everything at full blast.

In any event there’s no need to put the review on hold, because with normal amounts of mic gain and monitoring levels, and having things plugged into the box, you have to really listen to hear any of these artifacts. Still, I’d like to find out if it is possible to have truly quiet operation with very high gain levels.

[Anderton]

I'd be really curious to hear from Inspire owners whether they hear any artifacts, and the platform they're using.

[jamesp]

I'm using one on a PC and channels 3 & 4 are howly. I'd written it off as a ground loop issue, but now I see that 3 & 4 are pretty noisy even with nothing plugged-in.

This was with the Inspire parked right on top of my computer. Moving the unit about three feet away lessens the whine abit, but it's still very there.

I'd try the drop test, but channels one and two are dead quiet for me so far.

[UstadKhanAli]

I know nothing about this. Just wanted to root you on.

[Anderton]

<<I'm using one on a PC and channels 3 & 4 are howly. I'd written it off as a ground loop issue, but now I see that 3 & 4 are pretty noisy even with nothing plugged-in.>>

I was indeed happy to find out that plugging anything into them shut them up, so I assume it's just the inputs picking up stray stuff from the computer. Of course, it's easier just to keep the levels down when they're not in use.

The fact that inputs 1 and 2 are dead quiet for you indicates to me that maybe there is in fact a defect with the Inspire I'm testing. I don't know why it is, but if there's a production run of 1,000 units and one is defective, it will come to me as a review unit!! One manufacturer even joked about it, he said I was providing a public service by keeping products with defects out of the hands of "real" customers.

[Anderton]

<<I know nothing about this. Just wanted to root you on.>>

Cool, thanks! I must say that the Inspire concept is something I haven't touched on much yet, but it's important: This is clearly designed to be something that's totally painless to use. I assume they chose the name "Inspire" because this is such a simple, inexpensive computer recording interface that you're not going to lose your inspiration due to operational complexities. The most complex part of using it is making sure your host is configured properly! The applet is so simple you'd have to be brain-dead not to make it work. I can easily see each member of a band buying one, laying down their tracks, and going into multi mode when they get together; it really does remind me of the first PortaStudio I bought back in the 70s, except that the Inspire costs about 1/6th as much.

[rc3]

Thanks for the review.

One question:

I like the idea of a portable Firewire interface that is reasonably priced. However, one thing is holding me back from purchasing such a unit. You see, I use my own external pre-amps (2-RNPs) and thus end up with 4-line level signals that I would like to feed simultaneously into the computer.

The inputs on the rear of the unit (3 & 4) obviously accept line level, but could the front “instrument” inputs (1 & 2) also be used the same way without “boosting” or affecting the signal?

When you said:

“The instrument input is balanced, so you can use it with balanced line devices, but also has a 500k input impedance….”

Does this mean I could use it in my situation?





Thanks again for the informative review

[Anderton]

My initial take is yes; I don't see any reason why not. But I'll blast some signals into it later and report back with something definitive.

[ricknaqvi]

Hi Craig and hi everyone,

In response to the line3/4 issue, I wanted to clarify a few things.

When nothing is plugged into the inputs and the gain is turned to full volume, the line inputs are picking up stray computer noise. As soon as a connection is made to the line inputs this noise goes away because the inputs are terminated to a device which adds a lower impedance load to the input.

One more note, when the gain of line inputs 3/4 is all the way off, you are actually at 0dB line level unity gain. This means that you probably are not going to even need to turn the gain up when you connect most line level devices (like keyboards, etc..). This 'extra' gain is really for very low level devices like older synths, etc..


Hope this helps.

Regards,

[Anderton]

Hey thanks Rick! That explains why the noise goes away when I plug anything into ins 3/4, even if what's plugged into them is turned off.

Incidentally I've been putting some "real-world" signals into the line ins and you're right, you really don't need much gain, if any, for most signals.

[TeleCarlos]

Cool... just what I needed before plunking down my cash for this... and my Macbook.

[Anderton]

Before I do some more hardware checking, I wanted to mention Cubase LE. I installed it, even though I have Cubase SX installed, because hey -- this is a Pro Review and we leave no stone unturned!

Anyway, I was kind of surprised how full-featured it is. Click on the attachment to see a screen shot of Cubase LE in action. It has the time-stretch tool for time processing, four-band EQ on the VST channels, a decent set of 21 audio plug-ins, video support, hitpoints for "slicing," ReWire, MIDI processing, automation, and remote control....pretty cool. However, the instrument selection is skinny -- LM7 drum machine, VB-1 virtual bass, and a "universal sound module" sorta GM thingie.

This is not one of those pieces of software where you run into something frustrating every time you try to perform an operation and end up wishing you could upgrade; it's more sophisticated than top-of-the-line sequencers were just a few years ago.

If you already have a sequencer of choice, this might not mean much. But for those getting started with computer-based sequencing, bundling this with Inspire definitely sweetens the pot.

There are lots of other bundled plug-ins, but we'll deal with those later.

[Anderton]

<<I use my own external pre-amps (2-RNPs) and thus end up with 4-line level signals that I would like to feed simultaneously into the computer.

The inputs on the rear of the unit (3 & 4) obviously accept line level, but could the front “instrument” inputs (1 & 2) also be used the same way without “boosting” or affecting the signal?>>

I threw a bunch of line level signals into inputs 1 and 2, no problem as long as you don't turn the gain way up. So I would say that yes, you could definitely use Ins 1 and 2 in the way you describe.

[Anderton]

After seeing what PreSonus posted, I went back and tested 3+4 trying to be as critical as possible now that I knew what to look for.

First, my initial comment about how plugging in anything gets rid of the noise on 3+4 holds up. It doesn't matter whether what you plug in is on or off, or has signal or not. So basically, if you're not using 3+4 and have the volume down, no problem. And if you do have something plugged into 3+4, no problem.

Also, I think you would rarely use gain at the levels where you hear the noise -- with almost all line inputs the gain could be at 1/3 - 1/2 and the signal would be comfortably loud. But it is nice to know that if you have an older piece of gear with lower outputs, or vintage "stage" gear that was meant to plug into amps, the Inspire 1394 can handle it.

Bottom line: Inputs 3+4 get a clean bill of health; the noise is a non-issue unless you turn the gain up all the way with nothing plugged in, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense anyway.

[Anderton]

I dunno, maybe the PreSonus guys read the Mackie Onyx 400F Pro Review because the Inspire 1394 definitely has plenty of gain on the line ins (and also on the instrument ins if you use them with line level signals).

There was quite a bit of discussion about whether there was enough gain on the Mackie line ins for such keyboard synths and stuff, and the general opinion was that many, if not most, signal sources would need more gain. That is definitely not an issue with the Inspire 1394, which again seems to point to this product being designed with musicians in mind, who may have older gear, lower level gear, etc.

[Anderton]

Each of the two front panel mic/instruments inputs has a pair of physical inputs, one XLR jack and one 1/4" jack, but you can only use one at a time. I wondered what would happen if I did something "wrong" and plugged into both the XLR and 1/4" jack for the same input. (What with drop-testing the thing, taking it apart to snap pix of the insides, and deliberately doing things the wrong way to find out what happens, I hope the PreSonus guys aren't putting my picture on the wall and throwing darts at it...)

Anyway, it seems that the instrument input takes priority over the mic pre, so you'll hear whatever's plugged into the instrument input and the mic pre is effectively muted. The instrument inputs are definitely dead quiet, by the way.

[jamesp]

Okay, after experiimenting abit more I see that my noise issues were really a PEBKAC.*

I was using channels 3 and 4 as stereo ins for M Audio's Black Box. With the Box cranked up to it's usual line level I was getting really weak read outs on Ableton Live's meters. So, I cranked up the Inspire's gain. This was loud enough to record with but, as I reported, howly. At this point, instead of experimenting more I simply started switching over to the BBox's USB feed to record guitar tracks, saving the Inspire for mics. (Here I should mention how well the two devices play together. In Live, I can switch back and forth between the two with no problem.)


I didn't expect to like not having knobs to tweak, but now it's one of my favorite um... non-features. I hook everything up and stash the Inspire under my desk. No cables, no wires, and no tiny dials and meters in amongst those cables. Makes for a tidy workspace. For workflow, five saved presets configure the mixer to do pretty much everything I usually do. A keyboard hotkey brings the panel to the front for any further adjustments. (Midi or hotkey control of mixer levels would rock, of course.)


Anyway, after reading Rick and Craig's posts I went back and tried running the BBox thru channels 3 and 4 again. Now, with the Inspire's gain at about 10 o'clock and the BBox volume ALL the way up, I'm getting a great clean, fuzz-free sound. Nice. And thanks!

All this goes to prove that no matter HOW simple you make a product, some noob will find a way to mess it up. :)

*Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair.

[Anderton]

<<I didn't expect to like not having knobs to tweak, but now it's one of my favorite um... non-features. I hook everything up and stash the Inspire under my desk. No cables, no wires, and no tiny dials and meters in amongst those cables. >>

An excellent point...I have the Inspire sitting on my desk out of force of habit, guitar and mic going into it, but after reading your post -- you're right!! Why take up space on my desk?

This is why I like doing Pro Reviews so much.... :)

Glad you got your noise problems fixed. Hey PreSonus people -- maybe you need to add some of the comments here to the next version of the printed manual, for the troubleshooting section, so that others don't make the same mistakes James and I made.

[ricknaqvi]

I didn't expect to like not having knobs to tweak

I felt the same initially as well. Nowadays I typically put my CPU under my desk and my Inspire sits on top of it with a piece of velcro to hold it secure. It's one of the nice tradeoffs with not having to deal with a piece of hardware for control. I'll be the first to agree that knobs are a lot more familiar to people. But my workflow is so mouse-dependent that it doesn't bother me anymore to have a control panel hanging around. I typically use the small version of the control panel (select the long dash icon in the top right corner of the control panel) and have the thumbtack selected so that it resides in the right lower corner of my screen at all times on top of my recording software. {editor's note: To see a screen shot of the small version of the control panel, click here (http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=16701846).}

maybe you need to add some of the comments here to the next version of the printed manual

You're absolutely right. We'll make sure that we add that to our next manual revision. Thanks for bringing this issue up to us.

Regards,

[TeleCarlos]

A silly question since I'll be getting one for my new MacBook that's on the way...

I already have monitors (Alesis mk1 powered) that have an 1/4 input. I don't want to get more cables so, I guess I'll get some female 1/4 to male RCA adapter thingys so I can plug it to the Inspire.

Do you thing the weight of the 1/4"plug plus the adapter plugged into the back of the Inspire be a bit much on the RCA outs?
Does it seem sturdy to handle that, long term?

I'm I going about this the right way?


BTW, the no-knobs seem to be something many like and I'm starting to believe rightly so. Seems very logical, I guess.

Thanx a bunch!!!

[Anderton]

<<I already have monitors (Alesis mk1 powered) that have an 1/4 input. I don't want to get more cables so, I guess I'll get some female 1/4 to male RCA adapter thingys so I can plug it to the Inspire.

Do you thing the weight of the 1/4"plug plus the adapter plugged into the back of the Inspire be a bit much on the RCA outs?
Does it seem sturdy to handle that, long term?>>

Well, as you said the Alesis speakers have 1/4" inputs, why not just get a 1/4" male to RCA male cable? Plug the 1/4" into the Alesis speakers, plug the RCA into the Inspire 1394.

Also FWIW the Inpsire outs are paralleled with an 1/8" stereo jack. So you could also get one of those 1/8" male to dual 1/4" female cables and not really have to worry about weight.

Make sense?

[panthalassa]

Craig,
Sorry for what may well be a question with a glaringly obvious answer; but is this device bus-powered? It doesn't have to be for me but I think it would add to the much-touted "convenience" of the unit, unless of course this feature would in some way diminish its performance.

Also, in the last review you mentioned you would go over the revamped M-Audio Oxygen V2. Just curious: is a review in the works? Still, as I look over the Inspire's software applet, I'm thinking I like mouse mixing after all; yet if you could midi-assign those parameters in the applet that'd be killer.

Finally, as someone who's followed your reviews since the Musician magazine days (late 80s), on up through your "Home Recording for Musicians" book, I thank you for helping out those of us who are perpetually curious; I'm continually amazed by all this innovation, especially nowadays!

[jamesp]

I'll jump in here to confirm that the Inspire does run on bus power. One more factor that adds to it's less-is-more appeal. It came with a wall wart. It's around here somewhere...

[ricknaqvi]

is this device bus-powered?

Yes, it is with a standard 6 pin firewire cable. You can daisy chain up to four Inspires together and they will all be powered from a single 6 pin FW connector. We include the AC adaptor for those who are using 4pin firewire on PC laptops.


Regards,

[Anderton]

<<Still, as I look over the Inspire's software applet, I'm thinking I like mouse mixing after all; yet if you could midi-assign those parameters in the applet that'd be killer.>>

As far as I know, you can't assign the applet controls to MIDI. You have to set them onscreen.

But these are things you don't mess with very often once you get the levels set. I think it would be more likely that you would want to MIDI-control levels in the host program you're using with the Inspire 1394.

[Anderton]

<<Also, in the last review you mentioned you would go over the revamped M-Audio Oxygen V2. Just curious: is a review in the works?>>

I gave it a pretty in-depth review in the HC Confidential Newsletter. I've since returned it to M-Audio.

[Anderton]

I received the following email:

<<I registered just so I could send you a quick thanks for your in-depth, yet easy to follow review of the Presonus Inspire. I've been recording casually on my computer through my Creative Live Drive. It has a 1/4 inch input, midi, RCA, optical, and SPDIF, but no XLR. For my mic, I've been using and XLR to 1/4" cable, which I'm told is unbalanced. So, I'm going to upgrade to an APEX 460 mic and invest in a USB or Firewire audio device. I've been leaning towards the Inspire over the Toneport UX2 and your review gives me that much more confidence in my choice.>>

The Inspire 1394 and Toneport UX2 have very different philosophies (I did an in-depth review of the Toneport UX2 in the HC Confidential newsletter and use it a lot). The UX2 is much more about modeling, guitar tone, and mic tone. It has some bundled software and uses USB, but has some clever under-the-hood driver action to give really low latency.

The Inspire 1394 is FireWire, but has no tone-shaping abilities. The phono preamp is something the UX2 doesn't have, and I'd say it would be harder to trash the Inspire.

Bottom line is that AFAIC, the Inspire 1394 is all about simplicity and ease of use, while the UX2 is more about tweaking your sound without having to buy lots of other effects (altough the Inspire 1394 does have quite a few plug-ins included with it for insertion into your host; we'll evaluate these shortly).

[TeleCarlos]

Thanx for the info on the monitor outs...

I guess since the Monster cables were close to $20 a pop, didn't want to buy same cable just to get a different plug at the end.

Anyway, the 1/8 stereo to female 1/4 plug seems like a better idea, didn't know it was available until you mentioned it. And it would make my Inspire "compatible" with my friend's monitors and other studios, since it will be a traveling recording setup. Super cool!

So, does anyone else think this laptop/Inspire setup makes for a great live instrument thingy? I'm a guitarist, but been thinking bout making the laptop/usb keyboard a live instrument and the Inspire's ease of setup just seems perfect for this.

Any ideas, tips, experiences on this?!?

[joel Oporto]

wow I've been looking at simple and cheap firewire interfaces for a while now. Been looking at m-audio, and even looked at the (oh my Gosh!!) behringer, but I always got back to the inspire.
My question although maybe a little ahead of the review is:

Are the preamps or the audio quality for that matter, the same as the firepod and firebox? Can I get firebox quality with the thing?

I very much like the idea of just making initial settings, forget all about them and just play into the thing time and time again.

[panthalassa]

"As far as I know, you can't assign the applet controls to MIDI. You have to set them onscreen.

But these are things you don't mess with very often once you get the levels set. I think it would be more likely that you would want to MIDI-control levels in the host program you're using with the Inspire 1394."

That's true; I hadn't even thought of that. Usually I have problems with controlling progressive gain stages. Didn't someone here mention the term PEBKAC? . . .

[jamesp]

The preamps in the Inspire aren't the same as the ones in the Firebox.
I know it's true 'cause I read in on HC. :)

How they compare I'll leave to "someone" else. No doubt it's coming up.

I also think there might be a "teachable" moment here wrt the use of the applet. Something along the lines of the trim, mix, gain thread going on in the Recording forum? I know how I use it, but I'm strictly a beginning level hobbyist.

IME, Presets in a folder have been key to working the panel. I've always got my two craigslist mics and the Black Box plugged in. Then, depending on the project, I'll load the appropriate Preset file and get to work.

Often, there are small adjustments that need to be made but it hasn't seemed like that big a deal to me yet. I have my Kontrol 49 set up for mixing in Live and (lots of other such.) I leave a Master "panic" (volume iow) fader assigned in almost every Scene.

I should shut up now, but if pressed I'd say that I appreciate the tidy desktop factor more than I miss having knobs. At least so far.

Added (days) later:
I should clarify that by Preset I mean the Mix files (.imx)

Also, one odd behaviour that I've noticed is that sometimes when I recall a Mix file, the gain settings won't work until I've actually fiddled with the gain knob a bit. IOW, there'll be no sound until I mouse around w/ the gain contol. Anyone else experienced this?

Which brings up a question/sugguestion:
I'm not all that wild about the way the "virtual" knobs work, in that you have to swing the mouse pointer all the way around the knobs to turn them up or down. I like the way mouse actions work in Live. Knobs responds to either a vertical movement of the mouse, or a click and then push of the arrow keys. Another alternative would be to have a window where I could enter a value from my keyboard. Then I could tab around between settings within the Control Panel.

Anyway, I'm still not saying that I'd prefer real knobs, just that imo, the action of these could be improved upon.

[ricknaqvi]

I'm not all that wild about the way the "virtual" knobs work, in that you have to swing the mouse pointer all the way around the knobs to turn them up or down.

You can change the behavior of the knobs on the Inspire from either 'circular' to 'up and down'. We wanted to allow the user to pick which type of knob behavior works better for them since everybody has their own preference on this.

Just right click on any area that is not a menu or button, you should see the knob motion options there.

Regards,

[Anderton]

Actually, I already covered the knob thing 12 or so posts into the front page:

<<First of all, the knobs default to using the “turn the knob with your mouse” protocol. I know all the arguments about that kind of motion giving you finer resolution, but I just find it more awkward. So I’m glad you can right-click (Windows) or ctrl-click (Mac) to choose a linear mode. This is one of the very few things that’s a little out of character with the Inspire 1394’s “what you see is exactly what you get” philosophy. It not only doesn’t have any hidden menus, it doesn’t have any menus, except for the knob motion one. (However the Windows applet, described later, does have some extra options.)>>

[rsleonard]

Had a few questions about the Presonus Inspire and Firebox:

1. Can the Inspire handle two inputs (i.e., one mic & one guitar) at once that will both be recognized by GarageBand simultaneously...in other words, could you theoretically play guitar and sing at the same time and have two independent tracks in Garage Band?

2. Same question with Firebox, except with four total inputs being recognized by GarageBand simultaneously?

3. Do either or both of these pieces of hardware require a concurrent piece of software to be run in order to be recognized by GarageBand? I have a TonePort UX-2 (Line6), and one of my great dissapointments is that I have to run the Line6 software ("GearBox) in order for GarageBand to recognize it...and I don't always need "GearBox"

What I'm looking for is recommendations on a direct input (via firewire) to a MAC that can go direct to GarageBand with either 2 or 4 inputs (with speaker outputs). I thought of M-audio Fast Track USB, but it's USB...I'd be interested in comments on that comparison, too.

Thanks to all for your help!

[Anderton]

<<1. Can the Inspire handle two inputs (i.e., one mic & one guitar) at once that will both be recognized by GarageBand simultaneously...in other words, could you theoretically play guitar and sing at the same time and have two independent tracks in Garage Band?>>

I don't have Garageband, but both inputs show up as available inputs in all other programs I've tried. The one thing you can't do is plug into the mic and guitar jacks on the SAME input channel.

<<2. Same question with Firebox, except with four total inputs being recognized by GarageBand simultaneously?>>

Same answer, except because the FireBox uses a combi jack, you are obliged to plug in either an XLR or phone plug into each of the two front channel inputs.

<<3. Do either or both of these pieces of hardware require a concurrent piece of software to be run in order to be recognized by GarageBand? I have a TonePort UX-2 (Line6), and one of my great dissapointments is that I have to run the Line6 software ("GearBox) in order for GarageBand to recognize it...and I don't always need "GearBox">>

You may not, but the TonePort does :)

With the Inspire, you do need to run the applet to vary levels and such, but I don't see that interfering with any other app.

<<What I'm looking for is recommendations on a direct input (via firewire) to a MAC that can go direct to GarageBand with either 2 or 4 inputs (with speaker outputs). I thought of M-audio Fast Track USB, but it's USB...I'd be interested in comments on that comparison, too. >>

Haven't used FastTrack. In some ways, USB is less critical than FireWire, but USB 1.1 is a LOT slower...USB 2 is way better than 1.1. No matter how direct a path you want, there will almost always be an applet of some type sitting between the interface and the application.

[Anderton]

FYI, PreSonus is sending out the replacement Inspire 1394 on Monday! That will let me finish things up.

[WillyDavidK]

Hey there, great review on the inspire so far.

A couple of things I was confused about.

Is the outside of the box plastic or metal, it appears to be plastic from the pics but I can't really tell.

Also I originally thought that all 4 inputs were mapped to the connectors in the front; ie the xlrs are channels 1 and 2, and the 1/4"s are channels 3 and 4, and the rca lines in the back were alternate inputs for 3 and 4, but it sounds like it might be a different configuration, where inputs 1 and 2 are mapped to the front, where there is an xlr and 1/4" for each, and then inputs 3 and 4 are solely the rca lines in the back. Which of these configurations is correct?

Thanks again for the great review, perhaps there are others with the same predicament as me.

[Anderton]

<<Is the outside of the box plastic or metal, it appears to be plastic from the pics but I can't really tell.>>

Good question. The box itself is all-metal, BUT there's a plastic "shell" around it that's actually pretty tough.

<<Also I originally thought that all 4 inputs were mapped to the connectors in the front; ie the xlrs are channels 1 and 2, and the 1/4"s are channels 3 and 4, and the rca lines in the back were alternate inputs for 3 and 4>>

No, that's not the way it is.

<<but it sounds like it might be a different configuration, where inputs 1 and 2 are mapped to the front, where there is an xlr and 1/4" for each, and then inputs 3 and 4 are solely the rca lines in the back. Which of these configurations is correct?>>

The second is the one that's correct.

[Anderton]

I got a box from UPS with a replacement Inspire 1394. The omens were favorable: This box didn't look like it had been used for a quick pickup game of football.

So it was time for another try. I unpacked the new one, plugged it in place of the old one, and booted up on the dual G5 Mac. I plugged into the front panel FireWire jack, and although there was an improvement, it was not as much as I'd hoped.

But I then I plugged it into the rear FireWire jack. Whoa!!! Big difference. It was far quieter. The only way I could hear noise was to enable Boost on the mic preamp, put on headphones, and crank the volume up. And it wasn't much more than you'd expect from a standard mic pre, except that there was a trace of that "firewire whine" to which people alluded on the Mackie thread.

Onward to Windows...

[Anderton]

nd this is where I realized that the real issue had something to do with Mac vs. PC. Or at least, the Mac and PC in my studio.

I plugged the Inspire 1394 into my ADK dual core Windows machine, and went through the same kind of tests I did before: Mic, guitar, input shorted, with gain, with boost, etc.

First, it was clear that the first unit must have suffered some problem during shipping, because out of the box, the new one was quieter. With the mic pre gain at max (but Boost off) and a dynamic mic plugged in, the noise floor was a respectable -55dB, as indicated by Sonar's meters. These levels were confirmed in Wavelab as well.

With these gain settings, I was able to reach full scale on vocals, at "non-screamer" levels. In my judgement, this is the typical performance you could expect with the Inspire 1394, using standard mics and singers. There was occasional spiking higher levels (around -40dB), but although I could see these on the meters, I couldn't hear them.

Puzzled, I did a spectrum analysis and saw that this noise energy was happening between 20 and 40Hz. No wonder it wasn't really registering on the headphones I was using to try and hear as much detail as possible.

With the instrument input, the results were excellent: Setting the gain to drive the input to full scale gave a noise floor lower than -80dB. Again, this was mostly in the under 40Hz zone.

[Anderton]

So why the difference between the Mac, where I could hear some noise and whine (especially with the front panel Firewire jack), and the PC, where any noise was essentially inaudible with the instrument input, and low enough for all practical purposes with the mic input? Beats me. Maybe sending audio over FireWire is a bit more complicated than people realize, and there are "analog electronics" issues (leakage, grounding, etc.) that don't show up when you're shuttling data but do show up in audio. But I also noticed that my PC laptop performed like the ADK as well, and a Mac G4 performed about the same as the G5.

In the Mackie 400F thread, as I recall it was mostly people with Macs who complained about the "FireWire whine." (Sorry, I don't have one of the new Macintel machines for testing to see if there's any difference.) I wouldn't consider the levels to be unuseable for demo-type materials, but they certainly don't come close to the performance obtained with a Windows machine.

It's late, and I'm going to mull this over and perhaps think of some other possible tests...but for now, here's what I'm thinking:

* Inspire 1394 works really well with PCs.
* It may work well with some Macs, and it may not. But at least with mine, performance was clearly inferior to running on any of the PCs I tested.
* Although there is some noise when running with PCs, it's mostly in the 40Hz range and below, whereas with the Mac it's more audible. Adding some sharp highpass filtering on mixdown (which is a good idea anyway, the Inspire isn't the only source of low end energy in a digital system) brings the meter's residual noise reading way down.
* The mic pres are okay, but not as clean as the ones in the Firebox. For most applications, given the price of the Inspire and its intended audience, they'll do just fine. But if you want to up the quality level, feed a mic pre into the instrument input or the 3-4 line level inputs.

More tomorrow...

[Cammy8]

First of all, I want to thank you for this awesome review. It's really helping me to make my decision about which recording setup to purchase for my PC. I have some concerns, however, that are related to the earlier discussion of 4 simultaneous line level inputs. Forgive me if my question seems somewhat redundant, but I'm still a bit of a noob in the area of audio recording, and I don't fully understand things like line level vs. Hi-Z vs. mic inputs, etc.

One of the things that I hope to be able to accomplish with the Inspire is to tranfer some 4-track recordings from my TASCAM Portastudio onto my PC to revive some of my "classic" old recordings. The Portastudio has 4 line outs (one for each track) which I'd like to record onto the PC simultaneously. Now, I'm fairly certain you answered my question about whether this is possible with the Inspire when you responded to rc3's question regarding four line level signals from his external pre-amps:

<<The inputs on the rear of the unit (3 & 4) obviously accept line level, but could the front “instrument” inputs (1 & 2) also be used the same way without “boosting” or affecting the signal?>>

<<I threw a bunch of line level signals into inputs 1 and 2, no problem as long as you don't turn the gain way up. So I would say that yes, you could definitely use Ins 1 and 2 in the way you describe.

However, I just want to make sure that this also applies to my 4-track transfer situation as well. What follows are a few of my additional concerns:

Would the 500k impedence rating of the instrument inputs affect the line level signals I am inputting? If so, how?

Also, a fellow at my local shop suggested that I should run those line level signals into the mic inputs, not the instrument inputs, but said that I would need to pad the signals to bring the levels down? Is there any advantage to going this route? It seems like more of a hassle to me, if I can just use the instrument inputs as line ins.

Any feedback you could give me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Anderton]

Good questions.

<< However, I just want to make sure that this also applies to my 4-track transfer situation as well. What follows are a few of my additional concerns>>

It should work fine.

<<Would the 500k impedence rating of the instrument inputs affect the line level signals I am inputting? If so, how?>>

No. This has an effect only with high output impedance sources, which your Portastudio is not, as long as the cables aren't too long (e.g., under six feet).

<<Also, a fellow at my local shop suggested that I should run those line level signals into the mic inputs, not the instrument inputs, but said that I would need to pad the signals to bring the levels down? Is there any advantage to going this route?>>

No, in fact it will likely produce a noisier result. The instrument ins on the Inspire are really "multi-purpose" kinda inputs that work for a variety of signal sources, including line ins (as long as you keep the volume down).

[crispete]

I have one of these and it sounds great but I never could figure out how to overdub. And sometimes my recordings came out as only static and couldn't be replayed by windows media player until converted to a mp3. Any suggestions?

[ricknaqvi]

I have one of these and it sounds great but I never could figure out how to overdub.

There's a video on our site that covers recording a track and doing a basic overdub. It's called 'Watch a Recording Example with the Inspire1394."

Hopefully it will be helpful to you:
http://www.presonus.com/inspire1394videos.html

If you still have problems, call us and we'll get you going.

Regards,

[fuleiragem]

<<<You can chain up to four Inspire 1394s via FireWire, and rename them in this window. As PreSonus didn’t send me several Inspires, I couldn’t test this for myself. I don’t know if using more units causes a latency hit or other problems, and whether you can still use bus powering for, say, four units or whether you need to get the power supply into action. Hopefully someone from PreSonus is monitoring this and can comment.

However, for some reason I couldn’t adjust the preamp gain controls in the Mac Win Shade, but could in the Windows version. I thought perhaps the gain was changing in the Mac applet even though the knobs weren’t moving, but that wasn’t the case. All the other controls in the Apple applet are functional, which leads me to believe this is a bug. For what it’s worth, I’m running Mac 10.4.6, so maybe it’s one of those Mac OS things that seems to trip up designers from time to time.>>>


rick??

[ricknaqvi]

To my knowledge, chaining multiple Inspires does not increase your latency. In fact, if you record all sixteen inputs at 96k, the latency should actually go down.

You can also chain four of them from a single 6pin firewire port with no problem. You will not have to use powersupplies as long as you are not using a 4pin firewire jack like you find on PC laptops commonly. The only exception to this is if you use a Firewire PCMCIA card, you will have to use the powersupply. Even though it's six pin, it doesn't send power through the extra 2 pins. (bummer for PC laptop guys; you Mac laptop guys have a really nice deal because to my knowledge you are the only ones with a 6pin FW port on a laptop)

Regarding your Mac Control Panel weirdness: That's a first for me to hear about this. I've demo'ed it at every tradeshow that we have done since we introduced it on a Mac and never saw that problem. I will check with Scott Harrell, our digital products manager, about that one. I'll PM you when I find out something.

Cheers,

[fuleiragem]

that applet problem happened with craig. I was only curious to see what could be wrong with the mac version.

thanks for the reply. :)

[jamesp]

I'd be interested in what the pros have to say about the sound quality of the Inspire's outs. I've only be able to A/B test the Inspire against my M Audio Black Box and to my ears the Inspire leaves a lot to be desired.

Playing KeyRig in standalone mode and switching back and forth between the two, the difference just jumped out at me. The Box sounds worlds away better, both thru the headphones and the monitors.

I realize that it's an Apples to Oranges thing. I picked-up the Inspire for the twin pres and phantom power, neither of which the Blk Box has. The Inspire also handles multi-tracking w/ vsts better than the Black Box, due mostly to the Firewire, I think. But they’re both $200 interfaces fwiw.

Is what I’m hearing the difference between balanced and unbalanced outs? I'm also wondering how the Inspire’s headphone out compare to the Firebox wrt sound quality?

[rsleonard]

So I bought an Inspire...a couple of issues, though. I'm primarily interested in this as an input device for a guitar and mic or guitar and guitar, simultaneously, using GarageBand on a Mac.

I have a Mic in Input 1, panned left in the control panel; a guitar in Input 2, panned right in the control panel. I have created 2 new "real" instruments (i.e., one for each) in GarageBand, one for the voice, and one for the guitar. But no matter what I do (assign Line 1 -- in GarageBand -- to the Mic, and Line 2 to the Guitar, etc.), the output for both shows up in both "instruments" in GarageBand.

Before I put this on eBay to sell, can anybody offer a suggestion? Perhaps I'm not getting the control panel set properly...I would really appreciate the help, or suggestions for a link.

if not, I'll be back with a good sale price on a used-once Inspire!

[Anderton]

<<Before I put this on eBay to sell, can anybody offer a suggestion? Perhaps I'm not getting the control panel set properly...I would really appreciate the help, or suggestions for a link.>>

Unfortunately, I don't have Garage Band. But I assume that if it's like other recording software, you can assign track inputs to specific hardware interface channels.

The applet is all about monitoring the inputs; this is the "zero latency" mixer aspect of the applet. Meanwhile, those four channels are being carried down Firewire into your Mac -- think of it like a PA snake, and you then need to assign the right signals to the GarageBand tracks.

The mic/guitar ins are channels 1 and 2, and the are two more channels (3 and 4) for the line ins. With Cubase, the first thing you do is enable these as VST inputs. Once you've done that, with a stereo track, you can choose inputs 1+2 or inputs 3+4. If the track is mono, you can choose among inputs 1, 2, 3, or 4.

My guess is that with Garageband, what's happening right now is that each track is stereo and hearing both channels 1+2. Is there some way you can specify a mono track? Failing that, is there some input selector where you can select In 1, In 2, In 1+2, In 3, In 4, In 3+4?

In Windows, it often works that way: all possible combinations are available to a program's track input.

Don't sell the Inspire just yet, because you may very well have the same problem with other interfaces...let's see if we can figure this out first. Maybe you could do a screen shot of how inputs are assigned?

[jamesp]

The simplest answer would be that you've got the blue "stereo" button turned on for channels one and two. Turn it off if you want two channels. If that's not the case, then it almost has to be a configuration setting in GBand.

[rsleonard]

Thanks for the replies, they have helped! ...I have the basics down now, and can isolate the tracks. Now the challenge is to properly monitor...I have to make sure that the apple system preferences/GB Preferences/ and Inspire Control panel are all in sync. Any guidance on that would be helpful.

What's not clear to me is: If I use GB's built in vocal and/or guitar effects, can those be monitored through the Inspire, or is the inspire just for the un-effected inputs. the Inspire control panel seems to have little effect on Garage Band.

Thanks again for the help, and additonal guidance would be welcome.

[Anderton]

Turn up the Inspire applet's "playback" slider, and turn down the other ones. Now you'll be monitoring solely through the computer, although you'll probably have to set up some kind of "thru" adjustment to allow monitoring through GarageBand.

This is where low latency will REALLY help so you don't hear an annoying delay when you play.

[jamesp]

Soooo.... any input on those outputs Doc?

Another suggestion I'd make would be to have the Presonus "family" of soundcards share the same drivers. That way, if I were looking to buy more and/or better features, I could move up to a Firebox but still use my Inspire for extra inputs. If there's some technical reason why this isn't possible, I'd be interested in hearing about it. Thanks.

[BluesTom]

Thanks Anderton for the great review. I'm new to this forum.

I Have a PreSonus Inspire and when I got it there was a PreSonus rebate, so I got a ton pf great plug-ins on top of the ones that came with the unit (Wave arts, amplitube, Audio Damage, etc.)

I bought the Inspire because I could have 4 simultaneous tracks. For that I bought a SoundCraft Compact4 (A great mixer), which has fantastic mic-pres (IMO better than mackie). The rec-out of the mixer goes to the RCA inputs, and I think the sound is better than the Inspire's mic-pres. I use short Radial Mogami RCA cables to keep things as clean as possible.

When using the mixer I don't have any noise coming from the RCA even at high gains.

[jhampson]

Question for Craig, one of the PreSonus guys, or anyone else who might know the answer...

I'm thinking about getting an Inspire, but I need it for one main purpose, which is to digitize my pretty extensive analog 4-track collection. I've got years' worth of stuff on cassettes recorded using a Tascam Portastudio 424 and I've been looking for a way to get these tracks digitized. So I need something that can handle simultaneous recording of 4 synchronized, cassette-based music tracks.

It looks to me like I can manage this with the Inspire by sending tracks 1 and 2 from my 4-track machine to Inspire's hi-Z instrument inputs on the front and by sending tracks 3 and 4 to the RCA connectors on the back. Seems simple, yeah? Can anyone confirm whether the Inspire can handle this arrangement? Thanks !!

[ricknaqvi]

It should work fine for your application.

The hiZ inputs have a bit more gain since instruments need more than line output devices. However, you can just attenuate them out of the four track to make sure that you don't overdrive the input.

Aside from that, the line inputs also have some gain available so that you can match the instrument inputs. Just make sure that you have about the same healthy amount of gain for all four channels and you should be fine.

That reminds me that I need to do the same thing with some of my old four track tapes. I've been wanting to do a 'Christmas CD' surprise for my old bandmates from way back when and remix some of our old ancient four track masters. Only problem is that I haven't owned a four track in about 16 years or so..... Oh well, there's always ebay....

Good luck to you,

[jhampson]

Hey Rick, thanks for the quick reply. That was exactly the information I needed. Looks like I'll be getting an Inspire before too long, and after I've finished digitizing the old 4-tracks I'll be using the Inspire for digital recording going forward.

Good luck with your Christmas CD for the old bandmates. I've got a similar project to do for mine! Also, I'll bet that prices on old analog 4-track machines are coming down a lot as people like myself are migrating to digital.

Jamie

[Anderton]

Well, it's been a long time between posts, but that's because I've been convinced I could find a solution to the motorboating/noise issues happening with the Inspire and my Mac. AND I DID! Keep reading...

I read Paul White's review in Sound on Sound about the Inspire (he liked it too, by the way) and he also referenced a FireWire whine - but unlike my situation, this one happened when monitoring, and wasn't recorded on to the track. Well, aside from being a great guy he's very knowledgeable about Macs, and mentioned downloading a set of the "CHUD" developer tools from Apple. When he turned off processor cycling, that solved his problem. Cool!

So I downloaded CHUD, turned off processor cycling, got out my mic, plugged in the Inspire, started recording in Cubase LE and...nope, the low-level motorboating was still there, and was still there on playback.

So I closed the Inspire applet, and...hey, what's this?!?!? The motorboating went away! I put the applet back on screen, and the motorboating came back. Closed it again, and the preamps became clean and happy, and of course, because everything had been set in the Inspire, it was still sending signal to Cubase LE. I recorded a vocal track, and played it back, and...

THE NOISE WAS GONE!!!!!!

So if you have one of those weirdo Mac situations where you hear artifacts being recorded on your tracks with the mic ins, just get everything set the way you want, and close down the applet while recording, and all will be well.

Amazingly simple. If I'd only known this a few months ago...

[the stranger]

Thanks for your efforts, Craig and Rick. :thu:

[Anderton]

<<I'd be interested in what the pros have to say about the sound quality of the Inspire's outs. I've only be able to A/B test the Inspire against my M Audio Black Box and to my ears the Inspire leaves a lot to be desired. >>

I tested the Inspire vs. the Black Box vs. the FireBox, and here's my subjective impressions:

Inspire: Less bottom end than the Black Box, greater high end emphasis gives much "brighter" sound.
FireBox: Best of the three. Full low end, nice highs; Black Box sounds more "muffled" when you immediately go from FireBox to Black Box.

I'd say the Black Box has an edge in sound quality over the Inspire but the BB benefits from a bit of a high frequency boost, while the Inspire benefits from a low frequency boost.

[Anderton]

Okay, it's time to wrap this puppy up from my end, although of course, you're welcome to continue to respond and ask questions. We have several very interesting pro reviews scheduled, and it's time to get to those.

Anyway, until today, I would have given a recommendation with reservations, because of the Mac issues. However, it seems Paul White has found out how to get rid of one Mac problem (hmm...wonder if this works with the Onyx 400F) and I've found a workaround for the other. So, it's time to give the Inspire 1394 a clean bill of health for both platforms.

Which means we get down to the basics: Do you get what you pay for? The answer to that is a resounding YES. Given the low street price, the bundled software (Cubase LE, Acid XMC, various plug-ins, the applet, etc.), you get tremendous value. It's a bit unfortunate that there's not a one-to-one correspondance on software between the two platforms (e.g., Acid won't run on the Mac, some plug-ins run on one platform but not the other), but that's not PreSonus's fault. In fact, to their credit, with their Pro Pak they've tried to provide some sort of parity for both platforms rather than just saying "tough luck."

As an audiophile converter for your computer, I think it's worth stepping up to the FireBox, which outperforms the Inspire from an audio quality standpoint, and also includes MIDI. But it's twice the list price of the Inspire, and about 50% more in terms of street price. Nor does it provide the easy "stacking" of multiple interfaces when individual Inspire owners get together for a jam session.

Ultimately, to my mind, the Inspire 1394 is more like a "porta-studio" type of device intended for those getting into recording. You can go into a music store, lay out less than $200, and go home with a very capable sequencer, interface with mic pre and direct ins, more than decent sound quality, a bunch of plug-ins, a compact and durable case that stands up to just about any kind of punishment you hand out, monitoring, the clever applet that lets you hide the Inspire off a corner to minimize clutter and do everything from your computer, and expandability. When I think of what my first cassette-based Portastudio cost...

If you can afford a more upscale interface like the FireBox, that's a great choice...I've found it to be ideal for my live work, and unexpectedly, for a lot of what I do in the studio. But it's hard to beat the Inspire 1394 for sheer value. PreSonus has come up with a product that rocks, fills a unique niche, and will allow a lot more people to get into recording. Good job.

[jamesp]

Nice wrap up. :thu:

[Anderton]

Thank you!

It's funny how every pro review is so different. I had no idea what to expect from the Inspire, and I certainly didn't expect to run into the Dreaded Apple FireWire Deal. But it's nice to know the problem is solveable :)

Overall, PreSonus is IMHO a pretty forward-thinking company. They've come a long way in a short period of time because they seem to understand where the "sweet spot" is between price and performance.

[ViLo]

My Daugther is intrested in buying the Inspire my understanding is that she can record 4 simultaneos instruments/vocals etc..

Am I correct?

From the Presonus Website:
"The INSPIRE 1394 is a revolutionary FireWire Recording System featuring professional quality 24-bit/96k analog to digital conversion rate, four simultaneous inputs..................."

Thanks

[Anderton]

Yes, but note: Two of the inputs are line, one input can be mic or instrument, and the fourth input can be mic or instrument as well.

[RDesjean]

Re: the Inspire 1394 running on an iMac using Garageband. I've notice some latency while recording, is there any way to adjust this? It appears that the windows version has some software adjustment however the Mac version dosen't?

Thanks you!

[Anderton]

Depends on what you mean by "some." There will always be some level of latency; that can't be avoided. Unfortunately I don't have Garageband and I returned the Inspires to Presonus, so I can't give a specific answer. However, with Cubase, you can change the number of audio buffers, which has a direct relationship to latency. Presumably, GarageBand has a similar sort of control.

[RDesjean]

Yes, there is a setting for buffers in Garageband. It offers 2 options, smaller and larger. "Smaller" buffer size equals minimum delay when playing instruments live / "Larger" buffer size equals max number of simultaneous tracks.

My setting has been on "smaller" while experiencing the latency. Does this make sense?

Thank you.

[Anderton]

Yes, it does...too bad I don't know more about GarageBand, maybe I could be more helpful. My understanding is that it's not a "pro" application like Logic or Cubase, so maybe it doesn't give you the same kind of flexibility for adjusting latency.

[ViLo]

Originally posted by Anderton
Yes, but note: Two of the inputs are line, one input can be mic or instrument, and the fourth input can be mic or instrument as well.

And by that you mean, I can record 2 mics and 2 instruments, Right? or for instruments?

[Anderton]

<<And by that you mean, I can record 2 mics and 2 instruments, Right? or for instruments?>>

In addition to two line inputs, you can do:

* 2 instruments, or
* 2 mics, or
* 1 mic and 1 instrument

[Fendercaster]

Thank you for your review, Craig. I'm a newbie when it comes to recording to a computer, but I'm going to give the 1394 a try. I recently purchased a Toshiba notebook and upgraded it to two gigs of RAM, so hopefully the 1394 will be a nice fit. I'm looking forward to having the mobility that this setup will offer, it will be nice not to be tied down to one place when I get the urge to put down a few tracks!
Thanks again, I always value your knowledge. I bought a Tascam 2488 a couple years ago based on your review, and have been very happy with it.

[katscratch]

This is a great thread and very helpful. I'm a newbie myself and after reading Anderton's thread I thought I would add my shopping experiences and something to consider for those other newbies (or not) who might be trying to decide on the Inspire.

Because I am just starting and wanting to get my feet wet in recording, I really had no idea what I wanted. I just knew that I wanted a good quality interface for my iMac G5 at a beginner price. The Inspire was at the top of the list because it seem to have all I needed in a simple, user-friendly box and couldn't complain about the price. And after going to their website and watching the demo videos I thought "That's it! This is the one." But then I started seeing reviews for the Firebox and what it was capable of for $100.00 more. And in Anderton's thread, he made it seem that if you had the money, the Firebox might be a better option. It seemed to me that $100.00 wasn't that much more for something more versatile.
But, still, I wasn't sure if I should stick with something simple and straight forward rather than get in over my head with more inputs and options and, after all, I was only going to be recording myself with maybe two inputs at the most with GarageBand for now, which the Inpire is perfect for. THEN ... I saw this (http://www.jdsound.com/PreSonus-C1084.aspx) from a company that sold the Firebox for the same $299.99 that the other major dealers were selling it for WITH a free Audio Technica AT2020 mic AND mic stand. So .. I figured after spending the $199.99 for the Inspire and maybe another $80.00-$100.00 for the same mic ... I'm up to $300.00 right there.
It seemed that this was now the obvious choice. Yes there is shipping which the larger companies don't charge but it's still a good deal. As a matter of fact the company also sells this same deal on e-bay and charges $25.00 for shipping instead of $35.00 from their website.
The company claims to be a Presonus authorized dealer and hopefully everything is legit. If so, I will have an interface that's a step (or two) up from the Inspire and a pretty decent mic for $300.00 ... not bad.

I have to say, that even without the free mic and stand I think I would have still gone with the Firebox. It just seems better to spend a little more now and have a piece of equipment that I can grow into instead of something I might grow out of.

[Anderton]

Well, the FireBox is a great piece of gear. One of the main things about the Inspire is the ability to chain them together into a bigger interface. The typical scenario is members of a band each having an Inspire they can use at home, then be able to bring to a group rehearsal for recording; another scenario is someone who wants a multi-input interface, but can only afford to buy a few inputs every few months. He could keep adding Inspires on the "installment plan." The applet is pretty cool, too, although the FireBox has something similar. However, with the FireBox, you do need access to the hardware to be able to adjust the gain controls.

And let's also not forget that the FireBox has MIDI, so that will be a defining factor for some people out of the box.

Your post brings up the real strength of the Pro Review format: The ability to discuss something in such depth that you can decide whether something is right for you or not. Some people have read this and felt the Inspire would be perfect for them, while others (such as yourself) see the FireBox as more useful, and I'm sure others have other needs met by other interfaces. It's all good -- as long as you end up with what works best for you.

[RyanE_DRiVEPiN]

Does Cubase LE have a MIDI editor, like the SL3 and SX3 versions of the software?

I'd like to be able to create custom drum tracks on a MIDI track without having to connect an external sequencer or DAW controller. Can this be done in LE?

Thanks.

[Anderton]

<<Does Cubase LE have a MIDI editor, like the SL3 and SX3 versions of the software?>>

Yes, it does. You can use the MIDI tracks to drive the drum sounds in a software synth or external device.
\

[RyanE_DRiVEPiN]

Originally posted by Anderton
<<Does Cubase LE have a MIDI editor, like the SL3 and SX3 versions of the software?>>

Yes, it does. You can use the MIDI tracks to drive the drum sounds in a software synth or external device.
\

I am used to adding a MIDI track in SL3 and then double-clicking on it in order to open a MIDI editor window. I'm used to seeing a piano layout on the left and timline with bars/beats in this window and using a pencil tool to add notes on the timeline...thus creating a drum track.

With LE, I don't get the MIDI editor window to come up by double-clicking on an added MIDI track.

How do I do this in LE?

Note. I'm not connecting any external MIDI controller.

Thanks, again.

[Anderton]

<<I am used to adding a MIDI track in SL3 and then double-clicking on it in order to open a MIDI editor window. I'm used to seeing a piano layout on the left and timline with bars/beats in this window and using a pencil tool to add notes on the timeline...thus creating a drum track.

With LE, I don't get the MIDI editor window to come up by double-clicking on an added MIDI track.

How do I do this in LE? >>

Well, I'm mystified. I just loaded Cubase LE, created a MIDI track, and double-clicked in the track...and got the piano layout and bar/beats timeline. So I don't know what could be different in your setup :confused:

[bwclan]

thanks very much for an excellent review ! being thick n all i am still confused about the "recording 4 tracks at the same time" bit . i bought this (just got it today) thinking i would be able to use it to record something like this setup:
mic up a kit into a mixing desk - get a good mix then take a stereo out to two inputs on the inspire (say the rca inputs on the back) and also have say bass and guitar amps di`d into two inputs on the front .... get good levels in cubase for each of these tracks seperately then hit record and record a song - when its finished i would then have four tracks recorded on cubase reday to overdub n mix ...
is this not the case then ? can i not record four different inputs at the same time on the inspire ?
hmmm knew i should got that 8 track portastudio !
also out of interest - i couldnt get my pc to recognise the the inspire - after loading the drivers i got a message saying the installation had finished but the device was not recognised ! which meant i was not able to add it in cubace using the add device menu .... tried several times to sort this but no joy ! checked the inspire site and saw that there are problems associated with using a firewire card that also has usb ports (combo card) on it ,,,,, have ordered a single firewire 400 card so hopefuly this will resolve the matter ,
re the recording - i was really hoping that i could have bought four of these units and had a 16 track studio to record 16 tracks at the same time - ie a live band !!
am confused ... doh !

[lexeverything]

I just recieved a firebox and after getting it up and running (very simple), after playing around in Garage Band, I noticed that the second mic pre on the face panel makes a high pitched buzzing or whine with the gain turned up, whereas mic pre one does not make this sound at all... and sounds clean. Tried all my mics and they all were affected in this input, but not in the first input. And you really have to crank those pres to get a decent level out of them. Is this tyoical of the unit? Sounds good for the dough, but I think mines a lemmon. Any ideas? Btw, I'm using an iMac and was testing with different SM57's and 58's (which it seemed to have trouble getting a decent level to without cranking the pre's all the way up)

[Anderton]

<<I just recieved a firebox and after getting it up and running (very simple), after playing around in Garage Band, I noticed that the second mic pre on the face panel makes a high pitched buzzing or whine with the gain turned up, whereas mic pre one does not make this sound at all... and sounds clean. Tried all my mics and they all were affected in this input, but not in the first input. >>

I use the first and second inputs interchangeably, no problems...but it's with a Windows machine, which seem less susceptible to whines and firewire issues. Did you see the previous post in this thread (it's also in the Onyx Satellite thread) about downloading the CHUD utility? Fixed several Mac-related firewire problems I had.

<<And you really have to crank those pres to get a decent level out of them. Is this tyoical of the unit? Sounds good for the dough, but I think mines a lemmon.>>

Check the +12dB box in the applet and you should be good to go. I need to do that sometimes when recording low-level signals.

[jbutler1982]

hello,

hopefully this gets read in such an old thread!

first id like to thank you for your work. ive been a long time lurker but registered to post up some praise and a question. i purchased an inspire 1394 after reading and i couldnt be happier with the unit. its simplicity and ease of use is great and Cubase is pretty fun. So thank you for the work.

My question (kinda involved, but i would really appreciate any help) is that when my band records one instrument at a time (like do drums, then vocals, then keyboard, etc...), we have no problems and get great recordings. Recently the band purchased a Studio Projects Condenser C1 mic to record a live show and it worked great. After that we wanted more control so we got another studio projects C1 (What a fabulous mic for the money by the way) and setup the room with one C1 in the middle to get the general house mix, one C1 by the drums and bass. These mics are plugged into XLR inputs 1 and 2 on the front of the inspire to get more post-production control on the bass and drums volume alone. Then we are going out of the tape out on the PA mixer. Vocals are panned to the left on the tape out (so we get them on their own track) and everything else panned to the right. So we have:

Input 1: House mix Condensor Mic.
Input 2: Condensor mic for bass cabinet and snare drum.
Input 3 on back: Vocals alone (some bleeding from the house mix into the vocal mics but barely noticable)
Input 4: Instruments from PA (keyboard, electric guitar, kick drum, snare drum).

It sounds *awesome* in the computer, we are really happy with it, with one huge problem that never asserted itself when we were going track-by-track... every so often, the recording "skips"; almost like the computer cant handle all that data coming in. It just "blips" and sounds like a CD skipping on the recording. Very quick but unfrotunately very noticeable and through tests we determined that the noise was not due to playback.

Could this be due to the amount of data we are putting through the inspire? Is there anything we can do to try to fix this? I have updated versions of the software, adn my laptop is really new so i hope it isnt a hardware issue (512 MB RAM, fast processer (>2 gig i think).

Sorry for the length, i was trying to give you as much detail as possible. I can post up the audio file with the skips in it if that would help. I really appreciate anything you can do to maybe point me in the right direction...

[Anderton]

<<Could this be due to the amount of data we are putting through the inspire? Is there anything we can do to try to fix this? I have updated versions of the software, adn my laptop is really new so i hope it isnt a hardware issue (512 MB RAM, fast processer (>2 gig i think).>>

I would guess that your laptop is using a 5400 RPM drive; most desktops use 7200 or 10000 RPM. First of all, defragment your hard disk and see if that helps. If not, you may need to get a higher-speed external drive.

[jbutler1982]

You are the man.

It just so happens i had a high-speed external drive on my desktop. I used it and it works perfectly. Thanks so much!

-john b.

[Anderton]

But defragment your C: drive anyway!

[fandiaditya]

whoa this is the most comprehensive review about Inspire
i reallllllyyyyy thank you a lot

but i still have one question:

<<* The mic pres are okay, but not as clean as the ones in the Firebox. For most applications, given the price of the Inspire and its intended audience, they'll do just fine. But if you want to up the quality level, feed a mic pre into the instrument input or the 3-4 line level inputs.>>

how to make the Inspire's mic pre stop working when another mic pre is feed to its instrument inputs or 3-4 line level inputs? is it possible by just turn the gain to zero?

im planning to buy a universal audio mic pre, so i need to be sure that we can 'turn off' the Inspire's mic pre so the audio signal from the external mic pre unaffected. im planning to use the Inspire only for converting audio signal while i use the universal audio for the mic pre.

thx

[Anderton]

<<how to make the Inspire's mic pre stop working when another mic pre is feed to its instrument inputs or 3-4 line level inputs? is it possible by just turn the gain to zero? >>

You can do that within the applet, no problem.

[formatk]

Originally posted by Anderton
Well, it's been a long time between posts, but that's because I've been convinced I could find a solution to the motorboating/noise issues happening with the Inspire and my Mac. AND I DID! Keep reading...

I read Paul White's review in Sound on Sound about the Inspire (he liked it too, by the way) and he also referenced a FireWire whine - but unlike my situation, this one happened when monitoring, and wasn't recorded on to the track. Well, aside from being a great guy he's very knowledgeable about Macs, and mentioned downloading a set of the "CHUD" developer tools from Apple. When he turned off processor cycling, that solved his problem. Cool!

So I downloaded CHUD, turned off processor cycling, got out my mic, plugged in the Inspire, started recording in Cubase LE and...nope, the low-level motorboating was still there, and was still there on playback.

So I closed the Inspire applet, and...hey, what's this?!?!? The motorboating went away! I put the applet back on screen, and the motorboating came back. Closed it again, and the preamps became clean and happy, and of course, because everything had been set in the Inspire, it was still sending signal to Cubase LE. I recorded a vocal track, and played it back, and...

THE NOISE WAS GONE!!!!!!

So if you have one of those weirdo Mac situations where you hear artifacts being recorded on your tracks with the mic ins, just get everything set the way you want, and close down the applet while recording, and all will be well.

Amazingly simple. If I'd only known this a few months ago...

I bought the inspire as it was one of the only interfaces at the time of purchasing my MacBook that was compatable with the intel chip. I find the noise of the unit makes the unit un usable. The rear channels 3/4 seem ok as long as you don't push the gain too high, and the guitar inputs are ok, but there's definately noise and interferences going on there. But, if I plug an SM58 into a mic channel, I need to wack the gain on full with boost enabled to get a loud enough signal, and the background noise makes it unusable. I tried DL'ing the CHUD tools, but they don't have an option to turn off processor cycling on the intel chip. I'm really dissapointed, and feel like I need to buy another interface now. Anyone else experiencing similar problems or know what I could do? btw, I'm using Ableton Live 6, but problem is the same with Logic Express too.

[Anderton]

Try closing the applet after you've made your adjustments. There was a graphics issue on my Mac that greatly increased noise when the applet was open.

[formatk]

yeah, I've tried that... unfortunately doesn't affect the noise when the control panel app is not open. I'm not sure whether I should sell it on, or invest in a channel strip and record through the rear inputs.?

[formatk]

I've just tried using a mic cable with a 1/4" adaptor into the front line sockets, and although I still have to crank up the volume and there's still noise... it's not as annoyingly loud... I might see if I can borrow a different XLR cable and see if my one is just a dud.

[lategr8bon]

I was wondering if anybody here uses this product to import vinyl to their computers. Although I will be using this box for recording, converting my vinyl to digital is my primary reason for purchase. If anybody here has used it for that purpose, I would really appreciate any input, insight, opinions, etc.
Cheers!
Dave

[Nube]

Craig, thanks for being available for questions and tips. After installing the Inspire unit with Cubase LE, Cubase only seems to recognize inputs 1 & 2 from the Inspire. When I try to choose inputs 3 & 4 for a new track, the only options I'm given are inputs 1 & 2. I've searched through the Help index and the pull-down menus for some way to set up the software I/O to recognize inputs 3 & 4, but I can't find anything. The store where I bought the equipment was of no help. I appreciate anything you can tell me! The unit is the Inspire 1394, and the Cubase LE is version 1.0.8 running on Mac OSX 10.3.9......thanks again!

[TIKIROCKER]

Thanks for the great review Craig!

This has been a great in depth discussion and has been very helpful to me - I am VERY new to computer recording having always used an outboard recorder. This being the case I have had a steep learning curve to get my head around USB vs Firewire etc and may well be buying the Inspire tomorrow for my new set up.

Just on a purely technical matter ... I have noted the one downside is the lack of MIDI - I am primarily an alt rock/experimental musician but I do want to work with soft synths and perhaps midi guitar in future ... I'd like to hear from anybody else who has the Inspire that has set up an additional MIDI interface with the Inspire and what they have done or recommend doing to get this happening.

Thanks.

[Kamikaze3557]

Thanks for this very helpful thread....I have owned the Inspire for about 2 years now, I am pleased with the interface even though I have had a few issues with it, most of which has been addressed in this thread. I'm not a big fan of it's preamp, kinda noisy at highish levels especially with boost on, I use mine on a PC and used your trick of closing the applet, once set, to reduce noise and it worked, I still get a slight wavery noise. Still most of the time I use my SM pro audio TB202 pre/phanton/compressor/EQ going into the inspire and the SM's tube pre is quiet and much warmer sounding. And I have just ordered a Art tube pre for to use with the Inspire RCA ins mainly as a Ribbon mic pre, Ive read good reviews on it as a Ribbon pre, My SM and Ribbon are fine, but with the Art also that should make 4 inputs at once, I hope......

Mike

[diasporasounds]

Any comments so far or questions you want addressed? The next sections will involve installation and the applet controls.

Hi, I've been using the PreSonus 1394 to record my amateur radio show for about a year now. The box works great and I'm used to the interface and the inputs and outputs.

My one biggest outstanding problem is that I can only use 1 mic input! Sometimes, I've thought about having guests on the show, which I thought would be a snap if I got a second mic for the second input. However, I cannot figure out how to get both mics to feed into my PC. I can get the mic sound out of the headphones but not through to my encoder.

Any help, tips, or suggestions would be tremendously appreciated.

Oh, I use a Dell Inspiron laptop with the generic interal sound card, if that makes a difference. But so far, I've been able to get the encoder to record whatever comes in through the mic input on the laptop so I suspect the problem is that the Inspire 1394 is simply not feeding the second mic out through the outputs.

Help!!

[redpoint]

I read a review that said there's a hum if you use it with an ac adapter on a laptop.
I've only got a laptop with firewire pcmcia card, so I'm wondering if this is going to be an issue if I use the ac adapter.

Thanks!

[Bill Oetjen]

Hi -
I just received and started using a Presonus Inspire (scratch & dent sale for $165!!!) with my Apple Powerbook G3 Firewire (Pismo - upgraded to a 550 MHz G4) and a Yamaha mono powered mixer.

Everything seems to work perfectly - dead quiet inputs, fast and latency free even with my old powerbook if I keep the ins and outs simple. For instance, a single bass OR mic plugged in and recording a single track to Garage Band. Headphones plugged in for monitoring.
That's flawless and transparent sounding.

But it doesn't really serve my needs. I'd LIKE to record rehearsals with my 3 (sometimes 4) piece blues band. That means: voice on dynamic mic, acoustic guitar with high-output pup, my passive bass, and maybe a telecaster. We can use a mono Yamaha powered mixer for everything but the bass. Preferred would be voice and acoustic through the mixer, bass and tele through separate dedicated amps.

Can someone suggest a clean-sounding way to record this using the Presonus Inspire?
If it can be done, that would make this piece of hardware one of the most elegant, useful devices to come along!

Thanks in advance,

Bill Oetjen
billoetjen@fastermac.net

[jamesp]

The most elegant solution would be to use two Inspires.

But a two channel preamp or a DI box would do the trick too.

[ricknaqvi]

You can record four simultaneous inputs with the Inspire (2 line, and 2 mic/instrument).

Like the other guy said, if you need more than four inputs, you can always daisy chain another Inspire to get four more inputs.

But in the meantime, you can always use your mixer to submix a few instruments and plug the output of the mono mixer into one of the line inputs (3 or 4). That would give you three more inputs left. Try to separate the most important instruments (like vocal or lead guitar). That will give you more flexibility when you are mixing down.

If you have a couple of extra DI's hanging around, you can use them to split the signal of your bass and electric guitars (send them simultaneously to the Inspire as well as the amps)

Hope this helps.

Kind Regards,

[4four]

Craig, thanks for being available for questions and tips. After installing the Inspire unit with Cubase LE, Cubase only seems to recognize inputs 1 & 2 from the Inspire. When I try to choose inputs 3 & 4 for a new track, the only options I'm given are inputs 1 & 2. I've searched through the Help index and the pull-down menus for some way to set up the software I/O to recognize inputs 3 & 4, but I can't find anything. The store where I bought the equipment was of no help. I appreciate anything you can tell me! The unit is the Inspire 1394, and the Cubase LE is version 1.0.8 running on Mac OSX 10.3.9......thanks again!

I had the same problem for a while. After playing around for a bit I managed to locate the other tracks.

Try looking in Devices > VST Inputs in the cubase menu. Scroll down and you should see channels 3 & 4. Click on the Active button so that it turns blue.

Hopefully this should solve your problem.

Although my version is windows, so may be different

[doctorrobert]

Hello, and thanks for the thorough review.

I picked up an Inspire from MF, refurb for $130. :cool:

I notice a few issues, however:

1. The Cubase LE CD will not install on my Macbook (a new Intel-based unit). In fact, the CD can't even be read by the computer. Inserting the CD essentially crashes my computer, requiring a hard reboot every time. The CD itself must not be defective as it installs on my ancient Emac. My Macbook's drive isn't defective either, as the other software was installed with no problem. Presonus emailed me a software fix, but this did not help.

2. The mic preamps barely have enough gain when using a dynamic mic. I need to crank the preamp and engage the boost to get a reasonable level.

3. The headphone amp seems too weak to record anything loud with (such as a guitar amp loud enough to overcome issue 2).

4. There is a ton of noise when plugging a guitar into the high impedance inputs, and running through Garageband (since I can't get Cubase running due to above installation issues).

Despite all of this I am able to record music, and perhaps Presonus will provide me an installable version of Cubase. Still, I'm not totally committed to keeping the unit, and may ultimately go for a different interface (Mackie Satellite, save up for a Firebox, etc.).

Perhaps this particular unit was a lemon, having been refurbed.

Suggestions?

[Bobsax]

1. The Cubase LE CD will not install on my Macbook (a new Intel-based unit). In fact, the CD can't even be read by the computer. Inserting the CD essentially crashes my computer, requiring a hard reboot every time. The CD itself must not be defective as it installs on my ancient Emac. My Macbook's drive isn't defective either, as the other software was installed with no problem. Presonus emailed me a software fix, but this did not help.
Suggestions?
Regarding the noise ;it's an issue that may be fixable but if you can you may want to return it.

I would just suggest trying logic express or even sticking with GarageBand.
I really hated Cubase. Once you try Logic, I'll bet you'll love it.

[doctorrobert]

Thanks for the reply. I did in fact return it. I am now running into a Soundcraft mixer and straight into the 1/8" jack on the soundcard. Interfaceless. The sound actually isn't bad.

I just couldn't commit to an interface for the MacBook. It seems the all have issues, in this price range, anyway.

I love Garageband. I will probably upgrade to Logic, and pick up an Apogee or something.

[makeluv247]

Hi

I'm a budding musician, and me and my mates jam once a week (I write the songs and do the recording as well). Had my eye on the Inspire. Can I actually record 4 of us at the same time then? Or is it only 2 at any time plugged in to the front? And is there anything that can do it for the money? Everything else can only do 2.

Thanks

[deadflowers123]

just wondered if anyone uses this on a laptop with 4-pin firewire port and had any problems/success
thinking about getting one any feedback would be helpful
really helpful and good review thanks alot

[Tonesmith]

Hi !! I have been closely following ur posts and hey, it saved me of the trouble of running from pillar to post to find out the right interface for myself. Yes, I have somewhat zeroed in on the Inspire 1394. But still need to clear certain doubts about the set up I have in mind. I have a Yamaha PSR 550 keyboard and the M-Audio Midisport Uno as the Midi-usb interface. My primary objective is to achieve near-zero latency in the reproduction of MIDI triggered sounds. Can I go for the Inspire ? or do u recommend something else for that ? Is it important to have the MIDI data routed through a common audio/midi interface (e.g. Firebox) in order to minimize latency? Then definitely I cannot go for the Inspire. Are the mic pres on the Inspire as good as those of the firebox ? I know, too many qstns and very basic they are. but pls take time out to clear my doubts ! :p

[Tonesmith]

Any advice on how these two compare against each other will be extremely helpful!
Thanks

[Anderton]

Unfortunately I returned the Inspire a long time ago so can't do any direct comparisons. However, I can tell you that it is not necessary to have audio and MIDI in the same interface, assuming you have enough ports to handle two interfaces.

Also, latency isn't much of an issue if you're using a hardware keyboard; latency comes into play when using virtual soft synths, as they're "inside" the computer and have to deal with processing delays.

Hope this helps!

[Tonesmith]

thanks 4 your reply. I meant to use my yamaha keybaord just as a midi controller, to trigger the notes in a soft synth only. do u think inspire is ok for this purpose ? or do i hv to go for the firebox or something similar ?

thanks

[Anderton]

The latency doesn't involve the MIDI feeding the soft synth as much as the audio from the soft synth reaching your interface. This depends on the drivers for the interface to some extent (you want to use ASIO, Core Audio, or kernel streaming WDM for fastest response), but mostly it's a question of your processor speed. There's no way you'll get low latency with a slow computer. Also, the more complex the project, the less likely you'll have low latency because the computer is having to spend time doing "housekeeping" with hard disk tracks, soft synths, effects, etc. Many musicians freeze or disable tracks when recording in order to lower the latency, then unfreeze during mixdown and raise the latency as it's not as problematic when mixing.

[Anderton]

BTW I will be transferring this to the Archived Pro Review section soon.

[Tonesmith]

Thanks a ton. concepts now clear.

tc....

[cycadia]

I read a review that said there's a hum if you use it with an ac adapter on a laptop.
I've only got a laptop with firewire pcmcia card, so I'm wondering if this is going to be an issue if I use the ac adapter.

Thanks!

Anyone got an opinion on this? I'd be in the same boat, so I need to know before I consider buying.

What does the hum come from? Is it with the unbalanced RCA outputs?

[Bobsax]

This thread was started ages ago.
I wouldn't buy an Inspire now. There must be better interface options now.
do some research