Topic: ESI Quata-Fire?

[Craig T]

http://www.esi-pro.com/viewProduct.php?pid=16&page=1

supports 24/192, spdif i/o, 2 mic pres w/ phantom, firewire

anyone have any info regarding price & availability?

[Cooker]

looks like a UA-5 killer. wonder how the pre sounds......

[greenone]

Nice...wonder if it can be run standalone, or if you'd need a similar digi-mod? Firewire's a plus and the ESI product I've been using for three years (the U2A) is bit-perfect, so hopefully this is too. The only knock on ESI stuff I've heard is that the U2A's analog inputs are noisy - maybe they've remedied that by now. How big is a "1/3 rack unit", like 6 inches? Pretty small too - the UA5 is 8...

[Chris K]

audiomidi carries it at $399US...but it has not been released yet by ego-sys

http://www.audiomidi.com/common/cfm/product.cfm?Product_ID=3936

does look like it has more options than the ua-5

[Chris K]

rear shot

[Simp-Dawg]

it does look pretty sweet...

[greenone]

rear shot

That's weird...the back is slightly different in the one on ESI's site...

[Simp-Dawg]

maybe one is the prototype...?  dunno...has the same features on each though, just the spdif and the mixouts are switched.  the one on the website looks like a pic taken more in the work in progress stage, has no screws in the pic that i can see and fw port looks kinda exposed.

anyway this thing looks to be pretty sweet, now we just need to hear one and verify it works correctly!

[scb]

24/192 digi in?  wow

sign me up

[blu666z]

Looks nice.

-Kevin

[greenone]

Just heard back from ESI-Pro on this - availability looks like January or February. Not soon enough to help with my hosed U2A...looks like I'm in the market for a U24.

[caymanreview]

looks like it has one of the same problems as the ua5... no meters/lights. the ua5 has at least one 2db light

but what are tyhe 2 green lights and 2 red lists above the headphone out?

[scb]

jan or feb?  dammit!  this thing was originally supposed to be out in MAY 2003 according to press releases...

[greenone]

I know...pisses me off. Scott, thanks for the rec on the emi 2|6 - guess I'm eBay-hunting for one...

I hope that this thing can be used or modded to be used as a standalone...not that I'm keen on ditching my V2, but how cool would it be to have one device I could use as pre, A/D and sound card, for what looks like around $400 street price?

--Dave

[greenone]

Some more info pursuant to a query I emailed them...doesn't look good on standalone operation, but she did confirm 24/192 in AND out!

-----Original Message-----
From: greenone@bluestraveler.net [mailto:greenone@bluestraveler.net]
Sent: Sunday, November 30, 2003 5:45 PM
To: Kelly Williams
Subject: RE: QuataFire availability?
 
Hi Kelly - thanks for the information, I'm very much looking forward to the release. I'm curious to know how the QuataFire will operate; is it able to function in standalone mode, i.e. without the firewire connection hooked up to a computer? I'm envisioning possibly using this as part of a mobile audio recording setup. Eventually I do plan on using it in conjunction with a laptop (the 24-bit/192kHz is a big selling point in that regard!) but for the time being I'm restricted to using a portable DAT recorder. Any information you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thank you again!
 
--David

===============

Hi David,
 
Thank you for your further interest and inquiries.  Regarding the QuataFire 610 I do not believe it operates as a stand alone unit; here are some additional specs:
 
QuataFire 610:
 
6in/10out FireWire recording interface
2 Mic/Instruments Preamp inputs & Headphone out
2MIDI I/O & 24bit/192kHz Coaxial Digital I/O
Superb quality 4in/8out analog I/O

Please do not hesitate to let me know if I can be of further assistance.

Warm Regards,
 
Kelly Williams
Sales Manager
Ego Sys, Inc.
Direct: (408) 232-5449
Fax:    (408) 519-5786
kelly@esi-pro.com
www.esi-pro.com
www.egosys.net
www.audiotrak.net