This is the best firewire interface you can buy. 
by Rhett T. from Las Vegas, NV, June 2008
Music Background:  Recording Engineer

I was skeptical of Presonus but am blown away now that I have done several sessions using the Firestudio Tube. The preamps are exceptional. The tube preamps sound natural and actually out performed some of my other outboard preamps that cost way more than the entire FS Tube. They have obviously upgraded their A/D converters because this sounds 100 times better than my old Firepod. Everything feels solid; no wiggly pots. THANK GOD they put an internal powersupply so I don't have to deal with a wall wart!! Great job Presonus.

  The Ultimate 16x8 Interface! 
by Level 10 Productions from Minot, ND, June 2008
Music Background:  Production Engineer/Musician

This product is everything Presonus claims it is, and more! 16 clean inputs, super low noise and actually 8 (not 6) digital and analog outs, if you count the headphones. I first tested on my HP pavilion laptop with Sonar thinking I would never get 16 tracks to work at 88.2kHz/24 bits, but it does! Sonar gives me occasional dropouts which I don't believe is due to the Firestudio, it's very common to Sonar and Windows, however, Presonus has a very nice feature in the mixer s/w which helps alleviate much of this as well.
I was truly surprised at how well the limiter works, which is actually a compressor/limiter in my own estimation. It starts compressing where ever you set the threshold. The compression ratio is automatic and seems to work just fine and becomes a super clamp when levels get dangerously high, but it is important to test and adjust the two settings carefully before recording.
The tube drive sounds very clean and warm! These two inputs work exactly as stated. I wouldn't use them for recording anything where super accuracy is needed as they do add coloration and some tube distortion, but that is what they're supposed to do! They add silky smooth warmth! You can't get that kind of sound with any s/w that I know of. They work fantastically on vocals and guitar (which use these channels anyway).
When you need clean, the XMAX pre's are the best! I am seeing around -82.5db noise floor with the trims all the way down and no inputs. Tube inputs (15 and 16) read -81 and -84 (quite different, each and hense the half-star off) and the line inputs around -96db.
Another thing you can't learn from specs is how nice all the controls feel. All the knobs have nice tight click-stops with no sloppyness and push buttons are solid. The led's shine brightly and there are plenty of seperate switches to control 48v phantom power.
The mixer software is nice! Everything worked right out of the box. The mixer is intuitive and very flexible, even switching between more firestudio units if you have them. You can route anything to anything and yet, the interface doesn't use up much screen realestate at all. It has everythihg I can dream up!
To sum up, if I were designing something I could record a whole band with in one shot, this would be it! Look NO FURTHER! And it all fits in ONE rack space? Wow!!! Thanks Presonus, it was worth the wait!
BTW, if you've never bought from Sweetwater before, their shipping, handling, and customer support here will spoil you rotten!! Yuval, you rock bud!

Firestudio Tube: 9.5 out of 10
Sweetwater: 10 out of 10

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