great!

for the price..........need i say more........the pre's are great and turn any garage recording sound awesome, with the right acoustics of course haha.

It's All Good!!

I bought the profire three months ago and I just got around to recording music. When I tried record at first on my IMac i3 I encounter all kinds of static and I keep get "device not connected error." I tried continuos trouble shooting and nothing worked. Finally, as a last resort I reconneces the profire directly to my computer FireWire port instead of daisy chaining it through my external hard drive FireWire port and turn of the FireWire network feature on and iMac and now it works great! Now the music I record is great and static free and I no longer get "device not connected messages. I like this audio interface better than my digi 003!!!

great i/0

this thing is awesome...really great for any daw, adds 26 i/0 to your current rig, have all the needed connections for personal and home studios and even small project studios. have nice clean preamps and nice clock. works with pro tools m powered and all the other daw... i mainly use it for my personal studio with pro tools and when working on a surround i use logic pro... this is a great i/o probably better or equal than the 003 in quality but more versatile. is a most on any home project studio and even more important if you need pro tools

The best interface for Pro Tools without going to HD!

By far this is the best interface out there for Pro Tools without moving up to HD. You can connect better preamps, A/D and D/A converters, and external clock bringing that HD sound for drastically less. The stock preamps, converters and clock are not bad for getting started. This interface has respectfully low jitter and a clean, uncolored sound.

If your looking to maximize your Pro Tools rig without the insane cost of the pros, this is your ticket.

ProFire 2626 is winning

I always wait a few months before writing a review in order to have an accurate judgement of the gear. The ProFire 2626 is amazing. It's running on a Win7 64-bt system alongside Pro Tools 8. I have had not one single issue with this interface since it was easily installed months ago. I'm also running an API A2D preamp into the ProFire 2626 via s/pdif, using the ProFire's clock. And with the ability to add 16 more channels via Toslink ADAT, this box is a step above most other interfaces, all for under $1000! Couldn't ask for more!

Turn your other Interface's into a Pro-Tools Interface!

So I already had a really nice 8 channel Firewire interface and didn't want to settle for only 8 tracks at once. I though I would have to buy 2 of these to run 16 Tracks at once in Pro Tools. NOT TRUE! You can acutally use the Digital In of this unit from your other interfaces with a digital out and Protool will recognize all the additional track (EVEN IF YOUR FIRST INTERFACE IS NOT PRO-TOOLS COMPATABLE) It's like getting 2 for the price of one! You WILL need to consult the online manual a little to get everything going as routing will need to be edited but it can be done and it will work great! Built in clock even locks your other interface to eliminate any latency issues. Ask for Alan and he'll help you get going right away! As some other reviews stated this also works great for Sonar, Acid and all other DAWS. Get this one and be Pro-Tools ready for the future!

Very simple review

Put simply,this is an excellent piece of gear,not just excellent for the price. Ive used 002 & 003 racks,emu,presonus & motu interfaces and the pre's in the 2626 are quieter and better quality.Also,the AD/DA convertion is great. I could have gone for the smaller desktop unit but i wanted to have a rackmountable interface,a little overkill as i wont use all the I/O.The drivers have also been very solid so far,i use it with Sonar 8 & live 7.If this is in your budget i can't recomend it highly enough & the M-Audio customer service is awsome.

Awesome interface, but picky

Went from a 002 to this unit, and I must say that in terms of sound quality, I can hear the improvement. I even bypassed the converters on the 002 9/10 with better converters, and even still, I feel I am getting a better sound from this box. Sounds clean and basically what you put in it, is what you will hear. Good conversion, decent mic pre's, tons of I/O options, what is not to like? well, at first I did have major firewire issues, as it turns out this unit HAS to be on its own separate firewire buss when using external drives. But a 50 dollar firewire card solved that and has been working great since. A solid sounding interface. I was hesitant to have an M-audio product be my main interface cause well, I am a name snob sometimes, but I think this box sounds plenty fine, and even better then what Digi is putting out with the 002/003 offerings. So give it a try

Trouble Free - A Couple of Little Nitpicks

This unit has worked well with the "mix brain" I use, which utilizes the onboard Firewire of an Asus M4A89GTD. I personally wish that the gain knobs would utilize click stops, or have their position a bit more easily read when in a low visibility situation. I also wish that the headphone outputs would be freely assignable to any audio stream, and not be dependent on the audio stream feeding any other set of physical outputs.

VERY GOOD QUALITY

If you're on a low budget and want to start your project studio with Pro Tools you won't regret if you buy the profire 2626. Despite the brand which builds equipment for home studios (and sometimes that's not what we're looking for), many people has started their own project studios with this beauty. But keep in mind if you want to take full advantage of the 8 mic preamps, you ought to buy some good quality mics. Otherwise you'll have to hit hard in the mix. I did it once with a low budget mic for vocals and I had to bring it up with plug ins. I can't complain with guitars and basses because it's just great! I have a Shure SM57 and I was really impressed. Good quality mic preamps, indeed. Good converters as well but the DA depends also on the type of monitors you're using.

BEWARE: DO NOT CONNECT THIS IS UNIT TO HUBS OR IF YOU HAVE A SIDE CHAIN MAKE SURE IT'S PLUGGED DIRECTLY TO THE COMPUTER!!! OTHERWISE YOU'LL HAVE PROBLEMS AND THE UNIT LOSSES THE SIGNAL!

It's not a high-end piece of equipment but it's a VERY good start to build your studio. If it broke or got stolen i'd by another one for sure. For its price there's nothing out there that can beat it. Well done M-Audio!

Great unit for mobile recording!

For the home/project/mobile studio, this is the best/cheapest way to get a professional 8+ channel pro tools rig. I switched from a Digi002R to this unit. Before I would have buffer underrun errors when tracking 12+ channels, now it seems as if it doesn't even have to try to track 16 channels. Running with M-Powered 8 and a Behringer ADA8000 this thing can take 16 channels like a champ into my MacBook and it sounds great doing so. The built in preamps are pretty decent but my favorite part is the ability to completely bypass the preamp and just use the converter by using 1/4" input, GREAT FEATURE! Just wish it had a designated monitor output with mute switch, the main volume knob also affects the headphone channel 1, which you can around if you have an external fader for your monitors. All in all, this is a great product and I really enjoy using it.

2626-pretty awesome

its awesome for the money. but be aware, if you are using more than one, you will have trouble with your MIDI out. after many headaches and "ummm, ummmm, uhhhhh, derrrrr"'s from M -Audio tech support i discoverd that you must disable the lightpipe to have MIDI out. This is obviously a problem if linking multiple units. other than that, i love it. pres and conversion sound great to me.

Best Audio Interface for it's Price

I ordered my Profire last year and got a defective unit which had to be returned. I had the option of getting another interface or just waiting until they sent me another. I waited for the other one. Installation was a breeze this time. It immediately unveiled the mask that my previous audio interface had. I heard the clarity and was blown away. When I recorded a vocal it was evident I no longer needed to overly tweak plugins to get texture and presence. It was there. Been using it without any glitch! I'm glad I waited!!!

The Profire 2626

This interface is sweet. I've been playing around on my buddies for awhile now and am considering buying the smaller 610 version. The pres are great, very quiet. The DSP mixer is very user friendly, and with pro tools compatibly it doesn't get much better. My only gripe is that they placed the pres on the back, which is why I only gave it 4 stars.

Excellent Unit... If you're in the market give it a look....

M-Audio has done a great job with this unit... Initially I had purchased the Presonus Firestudio... and I used it successfully for about two weeks... I started having a lot of drop out, and lag time... and started looking for a replacement... I was bummed because the Presonus sounded great... However, I was glad that I had tracks to compare, as I've heard, and confirmed, how great the Presonus preamps were... After reading countless reviews on MoTu products, Mackie, and others... I decided to take a chance on this M-Audio interface... I had to wait a bit, as Sweetwater didn't actually have them yet... but after it arrived, i could have been more pleased... Out the box, it's got a great sturdy construction... the nobs all have a great smooth feel... the inputs are in the back of the unit, which was one thing that bothered me about the Presonus (inputs in the front of the unit makes it awkward for fix rack mounting). Instillation with my system was a breeze, and in just a few minutes i was up and running with testing. It had a lot to live up to... after all, i was putting up against the best you can buy in the price range... The Octane preamps were more than satisfactory... super quiet, awesomely accurate, and so very impressive... M-Audio has done a wonderful job with these pre's... if you're looking to get started, and don't have a ton of money for outboard pre's... this is such a great way to go... a few other things i've come to love about this unit... two headphone outs... so if an headphone amp isn't in your initial budget, you aren't stuck with one headset... the routing software runs with minimal lag on your system... has a cool "dark studio" appearance, doesn't take a lot of time to figure out... over all... I'd say this is a great unit... in the price range, i would put it at the firestudio level... oh yeah... did i mention pro tools compatibility? If you're in the market for your first unit, or looking to add channels, I would recommend this product due to it's wonderful sound, great cosmetic appearance, and excellent pricing...

The new Center of my Studio!

Very Nice!

My very first Firewire interface. I have used the 002 and others when I lived in Nashville. For me, this is WORTH every dollar and every hour of research. I was thinking of getting two other company's products (Pre Sonus and MOTU) but considering the Pro Tools compatibility, I certainly made the right choice.

I always heard good things about the Octane (8 channel Mic Pre) but was not sure how that would translate into a digital package. Count me impressed! Lots of gain with only a little bit of noise at the very top.

***WARNING***

Because of the slight noise at the very top, this is not your Preamp If you have a very quiet Mic.


But if you want 8 great pres, Pro Tools compatibility, with tons of I/O options this is the one! I believe this will serve me for many years to come. For the work I do, I may never need to upgrade. I can just have 2 friends bring their 8 channel (or whatever) mic pres and connect through ADAT for 24 tracks into LOGIC 8. They can sync to my clock, connect via my MIDI and go to work.

Love it, Love it, LOVE IT!

Now I just want a couple of Bock Valve mics and I'll be set!

Connection FAIL

The sound of the pres are deffinatly clean and great for the price, and the unit as a whole is pretty easy to use. Even despite the several routing problems when it comes to having to be on top of things to figure out how to turn the headphone outs down independantly of the speakers.

Cons: Since the day I bought this unit there have been issues with the connectivity. I have to mess around with restarts and shut downs 2-5 times before the thing will connect to my computer running windows 7-64bit.

Now I have seen in enough forums to speak up and say that M-Audios support has totally dropped the ball on this one. There are loads of reports saying the same thing and M-Audio has failed to release a driver update since 2009.

I would not suggest this product to ANYONE despite its good sound, only for the reason that it is such a hit or miss.

Firewire Driver Issues.

Pros: good price for a 26 channels. pres sound decent for the price. no noticeable crackling or audio drop outs. you can run pro tools with it. noticeably higher output than buss powered interfaces.

Cons: Nothing really stands out as being innovative or a cut above other offerings. you have to take up a bunch of your outputs and do some DSP routing trickery to be able to turn the volume of the speakers down without it trimming the volume of the headphone outs.

the BIG con:
M-audio is having problems with firewire drivers. It's pretty much hit or miss. it might work flawlessly, or it might give you a BSoD 3 times a day. many users are reporting this issue on the support forums, but m-audio isn't exactly taking it as serious as they could be. there's about 4 or 5 active forum members trying to get m-audio to acknowledge the problem enough to update their drivers.

I know this review will be dated, so you may want to poke around and check the firewire thread on the m-audio forums. as of 12/2009 they haven't officially admitted anything is wrong. this is a problem becasue having constant blue screen crashes hampers my ability to invite people to record, let alone get paid for it.

Customer Service:
here's an example of their customer service level. I am on an imac running windows 7 (bootcamp is merely the drivers apple has made for Windows and a partitioning tool) Here's what they said:

"BootCamp is not supported with any M-Audio hardware. I can't help you if you insist on using an unsupported system. Do you get this error on a PC running Windows?"

I don't want to sound too rude, but that's a load of bologna. a core 2 duo is a core 2 duo. same with all other hardware. there is no difference between mac and pcs in the realm of hardware.