Topic: M-Audio FireWire Solo, anyone used this?

[smokydays]

This looks like a great little unit for computer based singer/guitarists!

24/96, Mic/instrument In, Line In/outs, S/PDIF in/out (patching at shows!), FireWire bus or DC powered, etc...

Anyone have any experience with this unit?

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FireWireSolo-main.html

[ramallo]

Hello,

I bought one for my son, very good, the only drawback are the lack of a pad on mic input (If you use very sensitive mics will be a problem).

Cheers

[smokydays]

Thanks for the info ramallo!

I have browsing to find the lowest price and found it for $179 + free 3-5 day ground shipping at amazon.com .  Not a bad price.

[ashevillain]

I just got a Firewire Audiophile which seems to be the same except for:

1. Solo has 1/4" in/out where Audiophile has RCA in/out and MIDI in/out.
2. Solo has the mic (+phantom) and instrument level input.
3. Audiophile has a power switch.

So far after having this thing for a couple weeks, I like it. I haven't officially done any DAT transfers with it yet but I did test it and it worked good. Playback through SPDIF was easy to set up also and works very good. I have one gripe though...the power switch is pretty useless...if I turn it off while the computer is on and then turn it back on later it isn't recognized anymore...so I have to reboot...this defeats the purpose of the switch. The Solo doesn't have a switch so you don't have to worry about that. I'm thinking about trading the Audiophile for a Solo. ...or actually I should've bought the Firewire 410 that was FS here recently and got the best of both worlds.

[poorlyconditioned]

This looks like a great little unit for computer based singer/guitarists!

24/96, Mic/instrument In, Line In/outs, S/PDIF in/out (patching at shows!), FireWire bus or DC powered, etc...

Anyone have any experience with this unit?

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FireWireSolo-main.html

I really recommend something with two mic inputs though.  Eventually you may want to do some stereo recording, eg., of your own live show

I think the best deal out there now might be the Presonus Firebox.  This is something like $299.  It has two (reasonable) mic inputs, plus at least 2 (or 4?) more line inputs.  It also has SPDIF (optical and coax, check this?).

Anyway, I think it is worth spending a bit more and getting something with: 1) known decent preamps, 2) two mic inputs, and preferably 3) other inputs besides mics (eg., for board mixes).

  Richard

[ramallo]

Hi,

The F.solo have a pretty decent mic preamp for the price, very good sound with a Sontronics STC5 mic. I believe that is a very good toy for amateur musician, one channel for guitar, another for a vocal mic, and two line inputs (For record a keyboard or take sound from a mixer), bus powered, and drivers for OSX and XP.

179$ is a very good price.

Cheers

[smokydays]

I really recommend something with two mic inputs though.  Eventually you may want to do some stereo recording, eg., of your own live show

I think the best deal out there now might be the Presonus Firebox.  This is something like $299.  It has two (reasonable) mic inputs, plus at least 2 (or 4?) more line inputs.  It also has SPDIF (optical and coax, check this?).

Anyway, I think it is worth spending a bit more and getting something with: 1) known decent preamps, 2) two mic inputs, and preferably 3) other inputs besides mics (eg., for board mixes).

  Richard

Hey this is great Richard, I appreciate you posting about this one.  For a dollar more and change you certainly get alot more features.  +T

[poorlyconditioned]

I really recommend something with two mic inputs though.  Eventually you may want to do some stereo recording, eg., of your own live show

I think the best deal out there now might be the Presonus Firebox.  This is something like $299.  It has two (reasonable) mic inputs, plus at least 2 (or 4?) more line inputs.  It also has SPDIF (optical and coax, check this?).

Anyway, I think it is worth spending a bit more and getting something with: 1) known decent preamps, 2) two mic inputs, and preferably 3) other inputs besides mics (eg., for board mixes).

  Richard

Hey this is great Richard, I appreciate you posting about this one.  For a dollar more and change you certainly get alot more features.  +T

A dollar more???  I think the Solo was $179, and Presonus is $299!  Maybe you can get the Presonus a bit cheaper.  My point is that you'll end up buying this anyway, so $299 is a good place to start.  That is, if you want laptop taping...

PS: I bought the Presonus Firebox, which has 8 mic/line inputs.  I should have got the Firebox or the MOTU Traveler though.  The Firebox is just to big to carry around.

  Richard

[smokydays]

I really recommend something with two mic inputs though.  Eventually you may want to do some stereo recording, eg., of your own live show

I think the best deal out there now might be the Presonus Firebox.  This is something like $299.  It has two (reasonable) mic inputs, plus at least 2 (or 4?) more line inputs.  It also has SPDIF (optical and coax, check this?).

Anyway, I think it is worth spending a bit more and getting something with: 1) known decent preamps, 2) two mic inputs, and preferably 3) other inputs besides mics (eg., for board mixes).

  Richard

Hey this is great Richard, I appreciate you posting about this one.  For a dollar more and change you certainly get alot more features.  +T

A dollar more???  I think the Solo was $179, and Presonus is $299!  Maybe you can get the Presonus a bit cheaper.  My point is that you'll end up buying this anyway, so $299 is a good place to start.  That is, if you want laptop taping...

PS: I bought the Presonus Firebox, which has 8 mic/line inputs.  I should have got the Firebox or the MOTU Traveler though.  The Firebox is just to big to carry around.

  Richard

Dollar as in slang for a hundred dollars..  Sorry bout that...   

Yea looks like $299 is the going rate on those.  Well worth the extra for what you would get though.

[BayTaynt3d]

Do yourself and your son or whoever a favor... Get a stereo version with two mic inputs. You are pretty much guaranteed to regret it at some point if you don't.

[ramallo]

Hi,

Don't worry about me  , I have my own sound card (Apogee MiniMe+MiniDac+RME Digiface) and is stereo  .

For my son the Solo is enough.

Cheers