Sensibly designed for serious amateurs or professionals. 
by Patrick B. from MI, USA, February 2008
Music Background:  professional tracking, mixing engineer 5 years. Performing musician for over 10 years.

The Firestudio is a well thought out product. It has very usable pre-amps that are, subjectively speaking, rather neutral sounding, (though without the super-clarity of certain high-end pres that specialize in clarity). The converter quality is decent and practical for it's price. One could not reasonably compare the converters on it to anything proven as high-end but they will not hold you back due to lack of quality unless you're a professional with the budget and taste for better. The routing options via the software routing mixer are fantastic. I felt the routing mixer was not as intuitive and simple as I think it should be but it is useful and can be figured with relative ease. The unit also has great expandability. It can easily be combined with up to two Digimax FS units at 44.1kHZ sample rate via it's ADAT/SMUX inputs and outputs for a total of 24 in's and outs, all of which can be controlled via the software routing mixer which is a great feature. Also, the Firestudio's build quality seems solid and able to withstand the rigors of rack-mount life. The unit lacks polarity invert and the phantom power is only selectable in groups of four but these are not problems just design choices by Presonus that do make sense given the size of the unit and it's target market's typical needs and desires. Overall it's a great piece that can be used to make professional recordings if one has the skill to do so. If one's recordings come out poorly it would not be due to the Firestudio.

  Great 
by Tim from Philadelphia, PA, January 2008
Music Background:  Recording, Live Sound, and Musician

Wow what a great product. You can't beat this package at this price point at all. The mic pre's are great as are the converters. I was blown away when i started doing projects with it. Im waiting for something to go wrong with them because of how little they cost. Everytime I use them they are perfect. If you are considering jumping into recording I couldn't think of a better package to get.

  Very Surprising 
by J.Hen Productions from Dallas, TX, August 2007
Music Background:  Producer

I was not expecting the Firestudio to be a lot better than my old 002r but I was totally amazed. It sounds 100 times better - preamps are dead quiet and have plenty of gain for my Fathead ribbon mic. The construction is very solid. I anxious to try the remote next. GREAT PRODUCT. Worth every penny.

  For anything up to 24 channels at 48kbps, the best buy for your buck 
by Joel from Jerusalem, Israel, July 2007
Music Background:  Pro Drummer, Recording Engineer

Sure, it's not a neve mixing console, but it sounds every bit as good as the Focusrite octopre, which gives you no extra features, and gives you more features than even its Motu counterpart, the 896HD, which can't give you 24 channels even at 48kbps.

Granted, the software package is far from a professional suite - not to mention that adding preamps without buying a better DAW is a waste of money.

But when working on only 8 inputs at a time, the software gives kids with a small band enough juice to make a decent demo without having to steal additional software. It's a studio in a box- just add a laptop and a pair of speakers.

Haven't tried the remote yet, but If it delivers what it says it does, it's a pretty good buy. - I'll try it playing live and see how it fares.

  The best firewire interface out there!! 
by John Blais from Orlando, FL, June 2007
Music Background:  Recording/Live Sound Engineer

Presonus has done it again with the Firestudio, its the perfect firewire interface period! I've used it both in my project studio and on live gigs. The preaps are absolutely amazing, pretty much invisible. It has great expandability options, you can add 16 more channels via ADAT lightpipe and 2 more via SPIDIF. In adittion you can have 9 completely different, latency-free mixes, great for providing each musicians with his own personalized mix. It comes bundled with Cubase LE (great for starters) Reason Adapted and a bunch of other programs. So if you are looking for a great, do-it-all interface, THIS IS IT! believe me, i've done my homework and this unit wont dissapoint. Great job Presonus!

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