[TheAdvisors]

Quality: 8
Fairly solid knobs, connectors, and chassis. Nothing feels excessively cheap, but don't take a hammer to the faceplate.

While I don't have a lot to compare to since I've had just one other interface in the last 10 years (RME Hammerfall into Fostex lightpipe 8 channel unit), it sounds good, is quiet, and seems to have fairly transparent preamps.

The FP10 will not get in the way of good recording techniques...if you can't get satisfactory results with the FP10, it's probably something other than the interface.

A couple of extra feature from being a straight in/out device: when not connected to a PC, the 8 inputs act as a mixer to mono out...it might be useful, and there's a knob to adjust the direct input, for no-latency monitoring, which balances the playback from the PC to the input. Sometimes, I don't want to adjust the latency of the driver for monitoring through Cubase, so this adjustment allows for quick recording.

Reliability: 7
I've never had an issue with firewire connectivity, even using two FP10s daisy-chained.

I use the FP10 with my main recording computer which is an HP a1600n, AMD dual core, with a built-in FW chipset. No issues. I've also used it with a TI based PCI FW card. No issues. I've recently needed the FP10 with my laptop so I purchased a generic FW PCMCIA card with a Via chipset. No issues.

I know others have had issues with connectivity but I suspect more folks get along with no issues, and do not report non-issues.

I have had two issues: a physical input stopped working (then started working and has since had no issues), and a real PITA glitch with MOTU's Symphonic Instrument.

The input issue may have been simply a stuck connector which became unstuck. I haven't put much thought into it since...it's been more than a year.

The biggest, and most frustrating, issue I STILL HAVE with the FP10 is when using MOTU's Symphonic Instrument VSTi. And honestly, I believe the problem is with the Symphonic Instrument but it is only apparent when used with the FP10. Nutshell: when using MOTU SI Cubase or Reaper, AND being played from a MIDI track, there's a annoying glitch in the sample playback. It doesn't happen while playing it Live, or with a USB interface, but only with the FP10 when played via a MIDI track, on multiple computers, with multiple FW interfaces. I did discover that if I adjusted the LFO parameter to at least a value of 1, the problem went away.

I called Presonus, and they did their best to help, but couldn't figure it out. So, I called MOTU, and they claimed Presonus must have coded their drivers incorrectly. I asked the MOTU guy: "so if you're right and the driver is defective, how does adjusting one parameter on your software FIX their driver?" No answer. I suspect the software is at fault, not the FP10.

All in all, the FP10 just works, with little intrusion in workflow.



Overall Rating: 8
Good sounding, solid, fairly reliable, and flexible as I've used it on several computers with no complications.

If you're a pro, you'll probably have more exacting tastes in preamps and converter. But, for a project studio, or for someone like me that does not record others as a business, it's been a great tool.