User Reviews of Focusrite Saffire Pro Firewire Audio Interface

My Setup: I've been recording live shows using this as my main interface to a laptop. I also have a Focusrite Octopre (connected via adat lightpipe) for a total of 16 preamps. The BNC word clock connection keeps them steady and has worked flawlessly so far. Preamp sound quality: I think the preamps sound good and clean, although the frequency response seems to be not quite as good as the Octopre. Definitely better than the Presonus Firepod, though, which is what I used prior to this. I m interested to hear the MOTU 8Pre although it does NOT appear to have a BNC clock connection :( The Bad: There are some weird things about this box software-wise, which is probably to be expected given Focusrite's hardware background. The phantom power can only be assigned 4 channels at a time and I have experienced some weird noise and stuff. Even weirder is that you can only turn it on using the Saffire control software. Some functions such as control room volume can be controlled either from the knob or the software. Unfortunately preamp gain can only be controlled from hardware. I would LOVE to see this controllable from software also so that it could be adjusted remotely. The power supply is a giant honking thing with a proprietary connector. On the one hand, it is nice that the power is screwed in, but forget finding another power cord in a pinch if you lose this one. The Saffire Pro 26 can be powered via bus power, but I don t think there are many laptop firewire interfaces capable of this. When you make changes such as enabling the adapt ports it takes the Saffire a while to do this and sync up. It seems like perhaps the Saffire has to do a mini-reboot whenever you make a change like that. The Good: I believe this interface to be a great value for the cost. I m glad to see the line between professional recording studio and great-sounding home personal studio continue to be blurred by entries like this one. I hope that Focusrite will continue to refine this product and improve the software.