[alco123]

Quality: 8
I’m having difficulty interfacing a relatively new PC laptop running Vista 32 bit (SP1) 2 GB RAM, and the Presonus FIREBOX I just bought. What I’m looking for is a latency-free ability to record “realtime” MIDI to USB digital drums onto stereo tracks, using TOONTRACKS' Superior Drummer 2.0 digital drums on the PC… and recording them digitally onto a Roland VS 2480CD utilizing S/PDIF Coaxial connectivity. Are you with me so far? This is proving to be more difficult than going ASIO out into the analog inputs on the VS 2480. I seem to be getting about 10 ms of latency from the Coaxial I/O plus a loud SMPTE input noise factor (RF?) as well. I need to be able to monitor the drums in “real time” from the Roland VS 2480CD workstation (under 4 ms latency).



I’m an experienced engineer / producer… most recently with 7 yrs experience on the Roland VS 2480CD under my belt… so I am very familiar with various audio setups. This issue may be an incompatibility between my ACER Aspire 5520 laptop (Vista 32bit SP1) and the Presonus FireBox unit, as the digital connection between the FIREBOX and Roland VS 2480 seems just fine until I insert the firewire cable coming from the laptop into the FIREBOX. (I can also output digitally directly from the laptop… which seems to work just fine going directly into the Roland VS 2480CD, except for the latency of digital drivers.) I'm wondering if anyone in the forum has had a similar experience and perhaps has found a solution or workaround for this set of issues.


Reliability: 7
The FIREBOX seems to be well made and reliable... though I have my concerns about the SPDIF output seemingly to include RF interference carried through from the laptop when attached to the Roland DAW. I'm looking into RF filtering for SPDIF Coax at this point... if such a thing is possible. Perhaps simple DI boxes will work. I'll be trying that next.

Overall Rating: 8
It's too soon to tell if I can recommend the FIREBOX. I'm really hoping to solve all set up issues, then properly test it. I really was impressed by the dynamic output from the headphone jack.