Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 FireWire Audio Interface
Need more I/O? Not with this 20x20 FireWire interface. With 8 sweet Focusrite mic preamps and JetPLL jitter elimination, it's a rock-solid DAW front end.
Overall User Ratings (based on 60 ratings)
Submitted December 7, 2011 by a customer from yahoo.com
"Professional sound quality that everyone can afford!"
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I've set off to purchase the Octopre MKII because of how great this interface sounds. In other words it sounds good enough to where I went back to Focusrite to get more inputs!
Sound
I've owned and used the Saffire Pro-40 for a little over a year in my project studio to record countless records. The mic-pres are clean with minimal color and among other variables I attribute the Pro-40 to many happy returning customers. Sounds great with microphones such as; Sterling Audio's ST-69, Shure's SM7B-SM57-SM58, The Blue Bird-Spark-Baby Bottle, Se's X1 and many others. Great for drums, vocals, guitar cabs etc... We have since planned on purchasing the Focusrite OctoPre MkII 8-Channel Dynamic mic-pre to add a few more inputs because of how great this interface sounds. This interface will NOT disappoint!
-Nas Briseno.
www. nympro .com
Features
Excellent sound using a typical setup with SM57, Mogami cables, Crate GLX1200H Amp Head, G412SL Cabinet and Gibson SG 2005. Software takes a bit to take full advantage of everything it allows you to do. Best feature by fare are the pre's!
Ease of Use
The only downfall in my opinion are the drivers and bundled software used as a mixer. For someone who's classicly trained on consoles it was rather counter-intuitive (as it turned out I was not the only one who thought so). That aside, once you've learned the software it work seamlessly with Pro-Tools and I think it's a great addition/upgrade for any serious studio.
Quality
Knobs are excellent quality and feels as sturdy and well built as anything double the price.
Value
Easily sounds like it's worth double. And that's coming from myself as well as others who have recorded/engineered in million dollar facilities!
Manufacturer Support
Haven't had to. I think that says something about the quality as well.
The Wow Factor
Sound quality is amazing and must say it looks damn good sitting in your rack mounts.
Musical Background:
9 years performing and recording. Engineer/Producer @ NyM-Pro Studios.
Musical Style:
Hip-Hop, Country, R&B, Rock etc...
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Submitted March 16, 2011 by a customer from fullsail.edu
"THIS UNIT ROCKS!! ITS GOT AMAZING PRE's AND AMAZING FUNCTIONALITY!!"
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BUY IT, BUY IT, BUY IT!!
Sound
This thing is a BEAST!! Great preamps, much better buy than M-Audio's Profire 2626 or any other interface in its price range. This thing SCREAMS!! Plenty of headroom, plenty of options, super expandable!! BUY IT!!
Features
GREAT Pre-Amps, Great Software Mixer, Great Sound!
Ease of Use
Pretty much plug and play, watched a 5 min YouTube video and I'm captain of this ship now! Really it's that easy to use!
Quality
Very solidly built, made of metal knobs feel sturdy all jacks are Neutrik dual XLR & TRS! GREAT PRODUCT!
Value
Like I said BEST INTERFACE in this price range EASILY, I'd pay $700. I've used the Saffire 56, the $1000 version with Liquid Channels, they sound IDENTICAL aside from the Liquid Pres, which by the way ROCK!
Manufacturer Support
I called Focusrite for an issue I had with shipping, I talked to the VICE PRESIDENT of their shipping department within 10 minuets of being on the phone, they made everything right, right away and mailed me a BRAND NEW unit overnight I received it at my door at 8:30 the next morning!
The Wow Factor
SEXY, SUPER FUNCTIONAL, SOUNDS AMAZING!!
Musical Background:
Active Musician, Recording Engineer
Musical Style:
Rock, Jazz, Hip-hop
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Submitted September 15, 2016 by Joshua H
"Amazing Value"
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I had a rep at another retailer talk me out of this unit -- didn't cost enough! So I picked two up at zZounds for dual mode. Focusrite support walked me thru some finer details of setup and operation. I'm likely to be upgrading within the Focsurite family when the time comes. Very impressed with service and performance. Highly recommended.
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Submitted February 6, 2012 by Travis Chlouber in Houston, TX
"Amazing Interface!! Must buy this"
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I use this for multitrack recording in my studio with Logic Pro 9 and it works Flawlessly. I wanted to use this to track live drums and i'm able to put everything in their own channel. The quality sounds crystal clear, very easy to use. If your looking for good quality with multitrack recording then this is a must for you.
Musical Background:
Audio engineer, Touring Musician
Musical Style:
Death Metal, Deathcore
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Submitted March 2, 2015 by Will K in Houston, TX
"Very Impressed"
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I have already recommended this to my musician friends who are into home recording. The Saffire Pro 40 has exceeded my expectations. Definitely the biggest bang for the buck.
Musical Background:
Musician of 20 years - guitar, keys, drums, bass, vocals ... bands off and on / just getting into home recording
Musical Style:
rock, electric, hip-hop, synth
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Submitted September 29, 2011 by a customer from gmail.com
"Great piece of gear!"
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I expect this to be part of my studio for some time to come - I can expand with it, and if I should ever outgrow it (THAT would be a great problem to have!) I can expand with another of their units.
Sound
Excellent sound, the preamps are very musical - honestly, everything I've tracked so far has sounded great. I like being able to set up separate cue mixes between the two headphone outputs too - very useful for an intimate tracking setup.
Features
Of all the units at this price point I thought this was the best combo of I/O available. Very flexible software mixer - a bit of a learning curve, but they do give you some basic settings out of the box for tracking, mixing etc. that get you started right away. You'll still want to RTFM - but that's true of anything with advanced features. Would be nice if it was FW800, but then again neither is the competition, so...
Ease of Use
There is a bit of a learning curve with the software mixer - again, that's to be expected with a lot of flexibility. Still, it's fairly straightforward getting things going. Being a 1RU size piece of gear the print is small, so it can be hard to read if your eyes aren't sharp...but it's not unworkable. The LED meters on the front are very useful to have!
Quality
Seems pretty solid - I wish the front panel Neutrik jacks were screwed in like the ones on the rear...but they seem OK. I actually had the Pro 14 first, and was more worried about the jacks on that one. I liked that unit enough, though, that when I decided i needed to step up I went with its big brother instead of Presonus, MOTU, Mackie, etc.
Value
I'm very happy - I got 8 really nice preamps, plenty of outputs, MIDI, flexible routing software & some nice plugins and a VSTi as lagniappe.
Manufacturer Support
Haven't had to deal with support, other than online for registering the unit & included plugins. No problems there - hopefully I won't have to find out how they are anytime soon. :) I will note, however, that they seemed to have OS X 10.7 support before most of their competitors, so points for that.
Musical Background:
Active Musician, Audio Engineer
Musical Style:
Funky
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Submitted November 28, 2010 by a customer from msn.com
"In my opinion the greatest audio interface"
I will use this as long as it will work, and thinking that it will for a very long time. If someone stole it, I would definitely buy another, it's just a great interface, does all that is required of it, and does very well.
Sound
This interface sounds great for recording anything! I use it for drums, guitar, vocals, and I have been very impressed with it. It records vocals with clarity, and everything else as well. The preamps sound great, that's actually one of the reasons I bought it, because I have always used, and loved, Focusrite preamps.
Features
Nothing extraordinarily special about the features. It has everything I need for my home studio, and I'm satisfied with
all the features, except I was kind of disappointed that there was only pads for the first two inputs.
Ease of Use
I have to say, this is this is the most intuitive interface I have ever used. There's really not much to learn, you just plug it in to your FireWire input, let your computer install the drivers, install the plug in from the disk, and your set. I was recording the night it came. It doesn't take much to get good sounds from this interface, just set the levels, and record.
Quality
This interface is very rugged. It is made of sturdy metal and I think it will last me a really long time. There are no loose parts or anything, and I have had absolutely no problems with it. It's not really designed for anything other than recording applications, but I'm confident it's reliable, sturdy, and solid enough to go on the road, and will probably handle being dropped a few times.
Value
I believe that even though this is in thE same price range as similar products, such as m audio fast track series, its quality, sound wise and as far as being well built, surpass that of it's competition (trust me, I phave spent years and thousands of dollars buying, replacing, and repairing similar products).
Manufacturer Support
I haven't had any problems, so I've had no need to contact the company.
The Wow Factor
This is a very necessary piece of my setup, though I believe it is the best in it's price range and features.
Musical Background:
Active musician, engineer
Musical Style:
Rock, alternative
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Submitted June 10, 2012 by Curtis Z in Olympia, WA
"Great Sound"
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Wanted something better the my M-Box that came with PT. Zach suggusted the Saffire 40. I was leary because it is FW and Windoze doesn't always play nicely with non native tech. Added a firewire card, istalled the software, turned on the box and everything fired off without a hitch. The sound from this interface is much warmer and to my ear, truer than the little MBox ever came close to. Great device. Loaded the RTAS integrator to try and get it to play better from within Protools, but have yet to have any succes in getting it to work. ProTolls compains about missing or miconfigured I/O settings everytime it starts now, even after I have gone in and reconfigured it to disable the misbehaving inputs. Overall I would give it 8 out of 10 for what it delivers.
Value
Great product for the price. Kinda wish I would have gotten the Liquid 56 now.
Manufacturer Support
Haven't needed any.
Musical Background:
31 years bass player. Session recording for a few close friends that make hits. Occaisionally play live when the mood strikes.
Musical Style:
Any. Always get drug back into country, bluegrass, folk, but my heart is with rock, funk and metal. Go figure.
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Submitted September 19, 2012 by Shawn Siddiqi in Rochester Hills, MI
"this is a good product"
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been using it for a year to mix and record all my tracks clients seem to love it that's why they keep coming back its clean and beautiful just like music to my ears!
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Submitted November 24, 2013 by George M in Ancram, NY
"Great Interface!!!!"
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I've had the Saffire Pro 40 for about a week now and am totally amazed with this interface. I bought it to use with my DAW, Sonar X3.The overall build quality is great. The housing is metal. Very road worthy although that is of no importance to me. It won't be leaving the studio.
Sound
The preamps are very clean and quiet with lots of gain. Does not color the sound. This interface delivers crystal clear audio and reproduces the source material exactly.
Features
The features of the Saffire Pro 40 are fantastic. 8 high quality Mic/Line preamps, 10 outputs ,S/PDIF, ADAT, 2 headphone sends with independent volume levels and Mix Control software. Who could ask for more...
Ease of Use
Just set it up, install the drivers and other software and you're ready to go. The install was a breeze. Sonar recognized the drivers instantly. I couldn't believe how easy everything went.
Quality
The Saffire Pro 40 is built like a tank. The housing is made of metal. All connectors are tight. Knobs and buttons are firm and solid.
Value
Definitely worth the price. What you get for the money is outstanding.
Manufacturer Support
I'm a little disappointed with Focusrite Support which is why I rated them so low. Only snag I ran into was with the bundle code (or authorization code) for the plugin suite. I contacted support, they got back to me and said they would email me a new code but that was 2 days ago and I still have not received it. I can't unlock the plugins until I get my authorization code. Come on Focusrite... An email takes a second to send. No excuse for not sending it. Maybe Monday? We'll see...
Musical Background:
Producer, Engineer, Singer/Songwriter
Musical Style:
Rock, Country, Folk, Electronic
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Submitted February 10, 2011 by a customer from gmail.com
"Ultimate Digital Interface!!!"
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I looked a long time. I built a designated computer system(PC), for my setup. So I was definitely going to be picky about the interface, and the multi-track recorder.I bought Sonar x1, and it all works well together. If anything happens to this it will be replaced with like unit. It does everything I wanted, even gave me some new ideas. I will buy another,,, same one to add in a chain.
Sound
I am a relative NooB, when it comes to setting up a home studio. I have spent much time in Major studios, and several home studios of others. I know the sound and this Pro 40 interface, really helps you achieve that.
It mates up well with my new Sonar x1, had no sound control issues. The match is made in heaven. Now I want a new set of monitors,,,it helps that much.
Features
Straight forward interface with software, has power cord and Firewire cable. Inclusion of Ableton, Live 8le was a nice touch for those who haven't made a choice in a DAW yet, though I am sure most of us have made that choice already. They also included Loopmasters, Bass Station, Focusrite mix control(really nice), and Mix control Snapshot Library. The Focusrite Plugin Suite(VST/AU), and user guides are included. 8, count them, 8, channels with phantom power available, and all the differen passages you can think up!!!!
Ease of Use
If it was any easier, you would probably want to know what is wrong. I immediately went to the tutorials at Focusrite.com and found all the info to have it up and producing sound, as fast as I could install software and view a couple of short to the point Video tutorials.Easily modify, and get any sound you want. This many routings will never leave you wanting, if it does, just add another to the firewire chain. I started out by building an extremely robust PC. Then picked Sonar x1, and the PRO 40, fit right in, with no hiccups. learning curve should be short, even for NooBs. My gitar, and my voice, have benefited while recording. Can't say enough about the sound.
Quality
Metal cabinet, Great knobs, buttons, i/o's all worked well. Great finish,and fit of parts. Has some heft to it, can be used in a rack system.
Don't think I will worry about damage, but I am gentle on my gear.
Value
I would do it again gladly. when I expand, I want a second one.
Manufacturer Support
Haven't needed to call them. With there system of tutorials, and knowledge base, I found everything without having a wrinkle on my brow. Can't imagine calling them, but with this amount of attention, before the fact, I can only imagine they would do well in this area.
The Wow Factor
SEXXY.. Black, with blue accents, nice lighting, well laid out.
Musical Background:
Musician, roady, soundman, hobbyist.
Musical Style:
Blues, R&B, Classic Rock, Acoustic(folk,old country)
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Submitted September 7, 2011 by a customer from gmail.com
Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 Customer Review
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Sound
The sound quality of the Saffire Pro 40 is amazing... Extremely reflective of the tone going in, and I've discovered that the software that accompanies the hardware produces fantastic quality as well.
Features
This is a very no-nonsense, easy to use interface... I didn't want something with lots of glowing buttons and fancy knobs... I appreciate the resistance in the knobs, not cheap and thin like lots of high priced JUNK.
Quality
This is a very sturdy piece of equipment and comes with the ear coverings if you're not ready to rack mount it... Sleek and sound...
Manufacturer Support
I have not had to call for help with this product
Musical Background:
Singer, Songwriter, Recording Engineer, Produceer
Musical Style:
Rock, Pop, Country
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Submitted January 25, 2011 by a customer from gmail.com
"A must-have for any project studio."
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Looks great and works like a charm. Solid 64-bit drivers for windows 7.
Sound
Great sound. This is a rock solid unit and works flawlessly with my 64-bit windows 7 PC.
Features
Great features for the price point. I gave it a 9 because it would be nice to have a built in pad on every channel when tracking drums. It works great with the gain knobs turned down to 1 or so and I don't get any clipping. I plan to expand my system with a Focusrite Octopre Mkii dynamic and connect it to the ADAT portion of my Saffire 40. The mix control application is incredibly powerful but takes a little time to master. Once you learn how it works, routing audio signals is easy and limitless.
The TWO headphone amps that are built in are more powerful than some of the competing units within the same price point.
Ease of Use
The mix control application is incredibly powerful but takes a little time to master. Once you learn how it works, routing audio signals is easy and limitless.
Quality
Nicely put together. It has worked flawlessly for me.
Value
Great product and lots of features for the price point. I have personally recommended this product to numerous friends who are all happy with it.
Manufacturer Support
I had a static issue with a similar product from a different manufacturer. I contacted the Focusrite customer support before I purchased this unit to see if they had experienced any of the problems that I had with the competitors unit. They were extremely helpful and confirmed my research that this unit doesn't have any history of static problems. I have not had to contact them with any issues.
The Wow Factor
Looks great and works like a charm. Solid 64-bit drivers for windows 7.
Musical Background:
Active musician, Recording Engineer
Musical Style:
Rock, Jazz
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Submitted October 5, 2010 by a customer from msn.com
"Great interface. Doesn't have problems with static electricity in dry climates like similar interfaces from other manufacturers"
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Sound
Works great. As good as others in the same class with a few more features. IT would be nice to have a pad on each channel.
Features
It would be nice to have a pad on each channel not just the first two.
Ease of Use
There's a little learning curve on the mix control software. Once you get it down it has great flexibility.
Value
Works great. I use it to record my drumkit.
Manufacturer Support
Questions I asked Focusrite before I purchased it were answered promptly. Haven't had any issues with it.
Musical Background:
musician/drummer
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Submitted July 31, 2010 by a customer from yahoo.com
Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 Customer Review
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get an echo
Sound
spits and sputters the driver continues to drop out of my DAW, make sure you have a decent firewire card with TI or VIA chipset, not NEC...
Features
not bad if working properly
Ease of Use
doesnt work enough to record a song
Quality
i hear focusrite charges an arm and leg for parts if its out of warranty...it seems sturdy
Value
doest work, why buy it?
Manufacturer Support
they play email dodge ball, email is sent asking to check this, send it back, get another back 1-2 days later saying check that...hahahaha
The Wow Factor
it looks good, but doesnt work
Musical Background:
semi pro
Musical Style:
blues jazz rock progressive rock
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