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PreSonus Inspire 1394 FireWire Audio Interface

The INSPIRE 1394 is a revolutionary FireWire Recording System featuring professional quality 24-bit/96k analog to digital conversion rate, four simultaneous inputs, software control panel as well as audio recording and production software giving you the smallest, most flexible, most affordable and all-inspiring computer recording studio ever! Learn More...

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Overall User Ratings

Overall:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Ease of Use:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Support:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10

Individual User Ratings

Overall:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Ease of Use:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10

Feature:
Cubase LE doesn't last long so I bought another recording software (Magix Music maker 12) and perfectly works out well.

Quality:
The best thing is made out of metal and not space constraining. But technology is expanding , can they make it more smaller! LOL!

Value:
The typical price is just nice for my budget... for a good sound quality

Desirability:
The design & use of IEEE is good, although if they can still improve more on the Mic 2... you'll found out too if you have one.

Sound:
I find the sound quality impress me especially recording my acoustic guitar, I also hooked my keyboard on the line-in and plugged my electric guitar directly to the balance XLR, just nice. For a low budget demo recording , the inspire works well. One good thing is that it use IEEE Connections which is has a faster transfer rate compare to USB, cool!

Ease of Use:
At first I find it too depressing because I had a built i sound card in my desktop and mess up the drivers and later find out that when the inspire drivers are installed I don't need to have my old sound card and have to disabled it for good and it works out just fine.

Support:
So far so good , no servicing maybe at this moment...

Overall:
There are lots of interface you can buy but for the price range & sound quality , presonus will totally be an inspire.

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Overall:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10

Feature:
the latency is always an issue...I deal with the 2 ms, but still hate it ...I use the "control room out to headphone mixer aux in" trick to avoid it...and my computer is almost state of the art...what gives?

Quality:
Box is heavy...and clean...no moving parts...cool.

Value:
great value

Desirability:
It's hardware my wife doesn't understand...

Sound:
The sound is very transparent. All the outputs (I use all 3 - speaker, line, and headphone) are as clean as your power supply will let them be. The preamps don't offer a lot of gain, I get around it by using a dedicated mixer to feed the line inputs in stereo...very clean, and good headroom. The software is bone-simple to use, and the ability to pin the small interface to the desktop allows real flexibility in gain structure and for its use as a output selector...I use phones about 1/2 the time...always, for recording. It's built well (heavy is good), an if you don't rip the cables out of it like a madman, the connectors seem ok...might be different if your going mobile...my partner and I bought 2 Firepods, and rackmounted them for that purpose.

Ease of Use:
Very easy to use...although for the novice, remember to change your soundcard preferences to the Inspire for all you audio...then your cheapo internal card won't have a mental breakdown... LOL

Support:
No need, but did download a upgrade for the Firepods that worked like a charm...wish I could say the same for Nero...they've been doggin' me for weeks...oh sorry, wrong forum

Overall:
I'll use it till it dies...which could be a very long time...

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Overall:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * . . . . . . 4 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Ease of Use:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Support:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10

Feature:
Comes with Cubase LE. Nothing special, but gets any basic recording job done.

Quality:
Headphone slot got damaged, now it flickers in and out. Was in a very abusive environment anyway.

Value:
The price is killer. No matter what job you have or how many greedy baby mommas you got, you should be able to save up enough to buy this. I have about a $4000 setup and this is the best buy yet.

Sound:
For the price you pay, it definitely does the job. The pre's are the best I've heard from this price range. It all depends more on how good you are at mixing and also the mic you're using. I've heard tracks from people that have $600 mics and more expensive audio interfaces and it wasn't even comparable to my mixes. If you know what you're doing, this is a good buy.

Ease of Use:
Very simple interface. Not much to it.

Support:
Never contacted them.

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Overall:
* . . . . . . . . . 1 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * . . . . 6 out of 10
Value:
* . . . . . . . . . 1 out of 10
I Want It:
* . . . . . . . . . 1 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * . . . . 6 out of 10
Ease of Use:
* * * * . . . . . . 4 out of 10
Support:
* . . . . . . . . . 1 out of 10

Feature:
its ok but there are better units out there

Value:
if it dont work then its useless

Desirability:
couples with presonus total lack of customer support and a unit that is so unreliable then I would avoid it like the plague

Sound:
unbalnced outputs not good .... unreliable with my mac with clicks

Ease of Use:
software control only

Support:
I have had 2 so far and they are flimsy and break easliy

Overall:
lost for words

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Overall:
* * * * * . . . . . 5 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * . . . . 6 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * . . . . 6 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10

Quality:
I would not buy it again.

Sound:
RCA connectors for output, unbalanced, make sure that's what you want. The mic preamps are as good as any out there.

Ease of Use:
The good thing about the system is the firewire monitoring with no latency, once again unbalanced.

Support:
I've had the 1394 system for 5 months and I use it to work on my tracks in between my Pro studio sessions. One day it stopped clocking and I called in for support. On the first call I was told to email in my Computer specs, and did not receive a call back. On the second call I was told that my problem was in my computer though he could not explain why my other external firewire components worked fine. He then he suggested that I go find another computer to plug it into. Finally, the tec reluctantly agreed that the product was still under warrenty and I mailed it in... to be continued.

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Overall:
* * * * * * . . . . 6 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * . . . . . 5 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * . . . . . . 4 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Ease of Use:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Support:
* * * * . . . . . . 4 out of 10

Feature:
I wish it had balanced outputs like the presonus firebox. I had a defective unit, I got noise coming from the rca outs when hooked up to my active monitors. I didn't bother trying another unit, as the software control pannel also froze up on me time to time.

Quality:
The unit is actually metal, which is suprisinging, I thought it was plastic at first. You could probably drop it a few times and it would still work. It would have been nice to have external volume controls etc on the unit, but then that bumps up the price.

Value:
It's worth the selling price for a beginner, but it's probably a better idea to go with something like the firebox because of the balanced outputs to your monitors.

Desirability:
I think it has appeal. I remember wanting it a lot because it seemed like the answer to a person new to recording. It has the pro pack bundle, and drum loops and hiz inputs and easy to install etc. but really it's not that worth it, trust me.

Sound:
The sounds I got from this unit were pretty good. The preamps are nice and clean, no pops or crackles etc. Sounded good with my studio projects B1.

Ease of Use:
It is generally pretty easy to use, I learned a lot from using it, it would be good for beginners. Also there are videos on the presonus website to show you some basics about using it and setting up recording a track in cubase le.

Support:
the support was questionable. I got my emails returned but they were short and frustrating responses. I told them about the noise issue and the guy said the inspire was designed to work with computer speakers not active monitors. Even tho the demonstration videos on the presonus website have a guy using it with krk active monitors. doesn't make sense!

Overall:
I returned my unit and am looking into different options for a music recording set up.

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Overall:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Support:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10

Feature:
Love the phono inputs. I've been wanting to digitize my record collection for a while. Also I love the recall of settings and the fact that you can daisy chain them. My music partner is getting one so that we can put them together for more inputs. Wish the main outputs were TRS but RCA are fine.

Quality:
built like a rock

Value:
It's amazing how good this box is for the money. It works twice as good as anything USB and I love the expandabilty. By the way, the drum loops and bundled software are very usable as well.

Desirability:
It is really a tiny box. I don't mind not having knobs because that's just less to break off.

Sound:
Way better than anything else at this price. Preamps are clean and have plenty of gain.

Support:
these guys are the best. Very helpful and got back to me right away. If you get stuck, also check out the videos on their site. I was up and running in 20 minutes

Overall:
Great job presonus! I'm really pleasantly surprised.

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Overall:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Support:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10

Feature:
Well built, solid construction. Comes with Cubase LE, a full version of Acid and over 1gb of drums samples. I'm personally not crazy about Cubase but you may find it a plus. The control panel is a breeze to operate, and the preamps on the lxrs are warm and clean. I do wish it had real knobs for level control, but that's so minor.

Quality:
Not only is it built like a tank, but it looks great as well. I would replace it in a heartbeat. The fact that it can be daisychained to four other interfaces, and to the Firebox or fFirepod as well. Just an all around great little piece of geer.

Value:
worth every penny and then some. You simpley won't find any audio interface with this quality for this price.

Sound:
Awsome and clean. You won't get any better for the money!

Support:
I emailed the company requesting a manual in pdf, and had an answer with in a couple of hours. Although there was a manual already in pdf on the install disc, which I had over looked, Presounus had me one in a flash. I called the support desk, not for tech support, but for a product suggestion, and the support rep was plesent and inthuseastic.

Overall:
I'd replace it in a heartbeat. I plan to buy a Firebox of Firepod later down the road, but this was in my budget at the time. It does all I need it to do. I just need a siple interface to record my keyboards and sound modules with, and a mic pre, and this does it for me. There's no digital i/o but I didn't need it at the time. I can't say enough that this is an awsome product. Blows everything in its price range away.

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