PreSonus Inspire 1394 FireWire Interface User Reviews at zZounds

"Presonus Inspire" submitted March 20, 2009

By a customer from cinci.rr.com

Overall

Sound

Features

Ease of Use

Quality

Value

Manufacturer Support

The Wow Factor

Musical Background: hobbyist

Music Style: better than yours

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Sound: There's a bit of noise in recordings but way better than any m-audio interfaces at this pricepoint. The preamps are decent. Feature: At first I was hesitant about the controllers being via software, but have come to utilize this and be happy with it. The main reason being I can save settings and reload them whenever I change my inputs. Ease of Use: For me it was as simple as dragging and icon and plugging it into the back of my computer. Quality: The product seems to be of good construction. Its small and sits on my desk so I don't worry about it breaking. I have moved it several times for tracking drums and it's been no problem. Value: Good unit at a fair price. Manufacturer Support: never dealt with. The Wow Factor: if you're in need of something its definitely desirable. Overall: If this unit broke, I would probably upgrade to a better unit and it probably would be made by presonus.

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"Presonus Inspire 1394 . . . Priceless" submitted November 20, 2005

By a customer from chipmccain.com

Overall

Sound

Features

Quality

Value

Manufacturer Support

The Wow Factor

Musical Background: professional playing musician

Music Style: Rock, Country, Island, etc. Play it all.

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Sound: Awsome and clean. You won't get any better for the money! 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. Manufacturer 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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"bah" submitted March 28, 2006

By a customer from hotmail.com

Overall

Sound

Features

Ease of Use

Quality

Value

Manufacturer Support

The Wow Factor

Musical Background: hobbyist

Music Style: rock

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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. 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. 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. 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. Manufacturer 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! The Wow Factor: 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. Overall: I returned my unit and am looking into different options for a music recording set up.

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"Check to make sure your system is compliant before you buy this." submitted October 1, 2008

Overall

Ease of Use

Value

Manufacturer Support

Musical Background: retired bassist

Music Style: alternative

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Sound: Important!! Listen up. Before you buy this product, read the forums to make sure your system is compliant with this product at www.presonus.com. I spent months saving to buy this, only to find that it doesn't run on my system. Check to see what type of video card you have, and what type of firewire port. Also, Tech support told me that Windows XP media center doesn't work well with it. I have an HP Pavillion a1410n desktop-- Doesn't work Ease of Use: It was easy to install, but it never worked. Value: If it worked, it would be a great value Manufacturer Support: I emailed and got no response. I called 3 times. I have a cell phone, so I didn't want to remain on hold. Dial "0" after you get the automated service, and demand that they call you back- worked for me. Overall: I would not have purchased if I knew what I know now.

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"at least they answer the phone" submitted May 20, 2006

By a customer from ij.net

Overall

Sound

Features

Value

The Wow Factor

Music Style: alt rock

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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. Quality: I would not buy it again. Manufacturer 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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"Disposable Gear" submitted November 25, 2011

By a customer from gmail.com

Overall

Sound

Features

Ease of Use

Quality

Value

Manufacturer Support

The Wow Factor

Musical Background: 10 years, guitarist

Music Style: rock

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Sound: Never had an issue with the sound, worked as advertised. Feature: Basic features which were controlled by an old Control Panel. Ease of Use: Fairly easy to use. Quality: I bought one of these used as i wanted a decent priced Firewire interface with very basic functions and figured this would fit the bill. I also thought it would last a long time as it does not have any moving parts. Well I certainly was wrong about that as the 1st input channel stopped working after about 7 months and since this was used it was NOT under warranty. So i started using the 2nd channel and then that went out about 8 months later. Keep in mind this has been sitting on my computer table the whole time in a non smoking environment. When i contacted Presonus i was told the price to repair would be $75 which in my opinion seems excessive when you consider the item was made in China. I don't know if the country of origin or the bad design contributed to the failure but i will not consider this brand in the ffuture. Value: Not a good value as mine stopped working after 14 months. Manufacturer Support: They responded quickly when i had an issue. The Wow Factor: The appeal is poor as it is not well made. Overall: Would not purchase from Presonus again.

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"Thank you for a great interface" submitted December 16, 2005

By a customer from aol.com

Overall

Sound

Features

Quality

Value

Manufacturer Support

The Wow Factor

Musical Background: Active Musician

Music Style: Rock

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Sound: Way better than anything else at this price. Preamps are clean and have plenty of gain. 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. Manufacturer 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 The Wow Factor: It is really a tiny box. I don't mind not having knobs because that's just less to break off. Overall: Great job presonus! I'm really pleasantly surprised.

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"Inspire, or simply Inspiring!!!" submitted May 26, 2008

By a customer from msn.com

Overall

Sound

Musical Background: Recording engineer, producer, musician

Music Style: Instrumental Rock, Fusion, Progressive Rock

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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. 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? 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 Quality: Box is heavy...and clean...no moving parts...cool. Value: great value Manufacturer 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 The Wow Factor: It's hardware my wife doesn't understand... Overall: I'll use it till it dies...which could be a very long time...

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"Great Value!!!" submitted May 19, 2008

Overall

Sound

Features

Ease of Use

Quality

Value

Manufacturer Support

Musical Background: Producer

Music Style: Hip Hop, Rap, R&B

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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. Feature: Comes with Cubase LE. Nothing special, but gets any basic recording job done. Ease of Use: Very simple interface. Not much to it. 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. Manufacturer Support: Never contacted them.

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PreSonus Inspire Customer Review submitted June 3, 2008

By a customer from gmail.com

Overall

Sound

Features

Ease of Use

Quality

Value

The Wow Factor

Musical Background: Hobbyist, church band

Music Style: Praise & Worship

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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! Feature: Cubase LE doesn't last long so I bought another recording software (Magix Music maker 12) and perfectly works out well. 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. 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 Manufacturer Support: So far so good , no servicing maybe at this moment... The Wow Factor: 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. 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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"terrible piece of kit" submitted January 10, 2008

By a customer from goondi.freeserve.co.uk

Overall

Sound

Features

Ease of Use

Value

Manufacturer Support

The Wow Factor

Musical Background: Musician ..active

Music Style: ambient

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Sound: unbalnced outputs not good .... unreliable with my mac with clicks Feature: its ok but there are better units out there Ease of Use: software control only Value: if it dont work then its useless Manufacturer Support: I have had 2 so far and they are flimsy and break easliy The Wow Factor: couples with presonus total lack of customer support and a unit that is so unreliable then I would avoid it like the plague Overall: lost for words

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PreSonus Inspire 1394 FireWire Audio Interface

User Ratings

"Presonus Inspire" submitted March 20, 2009

"Presonus Inspire 1394 . . . Priceless" submitted November 20, 2005

"bah" submitted March 28, 2006

"Check to make sure your system is compliant before you buy this." submitted October 1, 2008

"at least they answer the phone" submitted May 20, 2006

"Disposable Gear" submitted November 25, 2011

"Thank you for a great interface" submitted December 16, 2005

"Inspire, or simply Inspiring!!!" submitted May 26, 2008

"Great Value!!!" submitted May 19, 2008

PreSonus Inspire Customer Review submitted June 3, 2008

"terrible piece of kit" submitted January 10, 2008