Exchange my new FireStudio?

[006]

I got a FireStudio for XMas, asked for a Focusrite Saffire Pro 26i/o. The Focusrite won't be in until Jan 08 (only a week or so away, basically). My parents would rather get me a tangible thing instead of a gift card for the amount of the Focusrite...

I was reading on the PreSonus forums that people have a LOT of problems with the FS, and even MORE problems when running it with Leopard. Seems like PreSonus likes to keep everyone in the fucking dark all the time about updates and drivers. Not to mention that the newest driver for one of their products took over a YEAR for them to release it. Horrible. Lots of driver issues, routing issues, compatibility, etc. I'm not even going to bother taking it out of the box and hooking it up. The thing that pisses me off the most, though, is that GC will charge a 15% re-stocking fee if I exchange it. That's $70+ extra, just for them to put it back on the shelf. Fucking bullSHIT. I wonder if they would just let ME put it back on the shelf for them...

I hate recording.

~e.a

 

[JeffTD]

Are you sure they'll charge the restocking fee? Did you open the thing? I've not been charged a restocking fee returning even opened things there.

 

[006]

Yes, they tried it. I exchanged the FireStudio today for a Saffire Pro. They tried to hit me with a restock fee, but I told them simply, "I'm not paying you guys $80 to put it on the shelf. It's not *my* fault that PreSonus can't keep their drivers updated." And the chick at the counter said "alright, no problem."

It's almost as if you just don't say anything they will charge you, but if you do, they'll null that fee...fucking stupid.

Saffire should be in town in a couple of days. Yay!

~e.a

 

[Benny H]

Yep, there's a pretty serious problem running the Firestudio with Leopard .. should clear up when they actually release the drivers.

 

[JeffTD]

Why upgrade though? I've done it on my non-DAW machine, and it really isn't super duper better than Tiger. You really should just get your machine to where it's working for you, regardless of how updated it is, and leave it be until something you *need* to have requires an upgrade.

 

[R-Stuur]

Presonus are cunts and the firestudio is a piece of shit. I know, because I have it.

Gotta hand this to them though: the pre's are nice and the box SOUNDS good when it works. That is when it doesnt fucking crash my system. I'm gonna unload this unit on ebay as soon as possible , as soon as I gots the catch to upgrade to a fireface and some pre's.

uke: Presonus

 

[006]

Jeff: Exactly why I didn't want to bother with the FireStudio. When I called GC earlier (before exchanging the FS) the guy tried to tell me I needed 10.4 for *anything* anyway...I told him "really? Cuz my MOTU 8Pre works perfectly fine. And also the FireStudio and Saffire have both been out before 10.4 was and it seems that the problems with the FireStudio and drivers has been around since it came out." He didn't really have anything to say after that.

You shouldn't have to upgrade your OS just to use gear that came out before the upgrade was out. It should work fine regardless. Much like the Focusrite will, and my MOTU does, work fine with 10.3.9.

~e.a

 

[JeffTD]

Ehh there are some addon's from 10.4 that I find pretty damn handy, and definitely worth the upgrade (Exposé and Dashboard much?), but I agree for the most part.

 

[006]

My friend has a new MacBook Pro with 10.4 and nothing on it strikes me as "Must-Have" for me. That's all. I will upgrade eventually. But it will probably come in the form of an entirely new Mac, not just an OS upgrade on my current one.

~e.a

 

[nwright]

So, are these problems relegated to Macs only? I've heard nothing but good things about the Firestudio (I use a PC), and I'm looking into these as an upgrade from my Presonus Firepod - which I REALLY like and have never had a problem with. The Firestudio's upgraded Pre's and the ADAT I/O has me interested as I move up, but not at the expense of stability.

Presonus's driver updating may not be the best - it did take a LONG ass time for them to get Vista drivers for the Firepod, but the old XP drivers worked as good or better with Vista than the actual Vista driver does.

 

[Let it burn...]

be sure to post a review of the saffire pro once you get it. I'm looking at buying one myself.

 

[006]

So, are these problems relegated to Macs only? I've heard nothing but good things about the Firestudio (I use a PC), and I'm looking into these as an upgrade from my Presonus Firepod - which I REALLY like and have never had a problem with. The Firestudio's upgraded Pre's and the ADAT I/O has me interested as I move up, but not at the expense of stability.

Presonus's driver updating may not be the best - it did take a LONG ass time for them to get Vista drivers for the Firepod, but the old XP drivers worked as good or better with Vista than the actual Vista driver does.

Check out PreSonus' forums for all of the bad experiences. There are several threads about driver issues for both Mac and PC involving the FireStudio.

~e.a

 

[JeffTD]

The biggest complaint I've heard about the FireStudio is that the D/A conversion is absolute shit.

 

[006]

That too,

~e.a

 

[R-Stuur]

The biggest complaint I've heard about the FireStudio is that the D/A conversion is absolute shit.

I dont know, sounds pretty good to me, where did you read this? :zombie:

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

15% restocking fee is bullshit if you didn't even open the thing.

 

[JeffTD]

I dont know, sounds pretty good to me, where did you read this? :zombie:

Dave Otero gave me a rundown of how he liked his compared to his FirePods, as I was looking at getting a FireStudio to replace my FirePod. He said the D/A conversion was a step down from the Pod, which was already pretty bad to begin with IMO.

 

[Metaltastic]

Only D/A, not A/D?

 

[SoClose]

what makes you want the focusrite over an alesis io26?

 

[nwright]

Dave Otero gave me a rundown of how he liked his compared to his FirePods, as I was looking at getting a FireStudio to replace my FirePod. He said the D/A conversion was a step down from the Pod, which was already pretty bad to begin with IMO.

WOnder why it would be worse when everything else points to the Firestudio being the better unit...I really like my Firepod, never had any issues with any aspect of it...Maybe I should just look into another Firepod (or, FP10 as it may seem now).