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(More customer reviews)When I saw the 1 bad review for this product, I had to post MY review to counter act.
to the other reviewer: you are calling for a firewire interface, but using USB?.. did you know there are 2 drivers for this, 1 for USB and 1 for Firewire? You cannot install both on the same system. If you read the manual...
I've been using the Firefly 808 since the first revision that didn't include USB. You CAN pair the older non-USB revision with the Universal and they play together well. I admit, when I first got the second interface (you can daisy chain up to 8 to octuple your inputs and outputs.. maybe more) They were going out of sync, I kept getting clips and pops, but THAT WAS MY FAULT - I didn't set 1 to be the clock source and the other as the slave (CS...and something... I don't have my rig on at the time of writing this) It was the customer service at Phonic's main page that helped me with this. They responded in less than 24hours!
Using Reason and VST's I get near zero - at the most 2ms latency which is not really detectable when using Midi instruments. ALSO there is a direct monitoring fader (within driver software) that allows for direct monitoring for your singer/drummer. I've plugged guitars directly into the firefly and used VST amp modelers with ease.
My main DAW at this moment is Ableton Live for all the built in instruments, VST compatibility, composition and recording capabilities. I have used the Firefly 808 Universal successfully with Reaper, Sony Acid, Sony Soundforge, and Native Instruments bundles. I created a box with two of these units, headphone distribution amp, SM Pro Audio EP-84 Multichannel Microphone Preamplifier with ADAT add-on (you can use the Behringer ADA8000 8-Channel Converter also) to add 8 more mic preamps for individual recording channels, 1 space mixer and a couple compressors. It is portable and was set-up for stage use. My computer is a Windows 7 x64bit machine.
The set-up is quite unique as I have tied my turntables into the mic inputs directly. I then rout my turntables to use in Tracktor Pro 2 and use my Numark Omni control as my mixer - this might sound complex, the set-up takes a moment to wrap your head around, but it works! I also use it to record drums (phenomenal results - I use a rack compressor, but there is no need, you can do it with software if you need), guitars, vocals and whole live sessions. Preamps are very low noise... I can't say enough good things about it.
The only features I would add to the driver software, is the ability to save your presets. Every time I boot for a new session, I have to set the Master Clock/Slave and also pan the direct monitor mixer. Something simple to do, but something that should be done once with a preset. And maybe tone controls (can be software) for the headphones.
Upon researching; I found the price of this unit is so low because they are OEM builders for the other major brands you see. They get their parts in bulk, no advertising, totally invest in the product.
I was not new to recording when I made the purchase for the first Firefly 808 nor new to computing.
A suggestion: DEDICATE a computer for audio capture - slim down your operating system by using a fresh install, without graphical candy, no internet connection or virus detector program running; as they have the potential to 'erk' your recordings.
There are many topics the novice should research before delving in. ASIO (this unit has low latency ASIO... that's what you want), DAW (start with REAPER, it is free), VST, MIDI, compression (or learning to record below the RED +0db)... I can go on for days... better yet, get this unit (it is best price/feature unit you'll find)
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