Re: [LAU] Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 - reliable?

From: Jeremy Jongepier <jeremy@email-addr-hidden>
Date: Sat Feb 28 2015 - 21:17:37 EET

On 02/28/2015 05:19 PM, Ben Bell wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> My dual Delta 1010 setup is on its last legs and I'm thinking (again) of
> retooling with a Saffire Pro 40. I've been bitten in the past by upgrades
> like this which is why I'm still on the 1010s, but there's only so many
> times I can repair them before I have to admit defeat.
>
> Is anyone out there actively using a Saffire Pro 40 in a serious setting?

Hello Ben,

Not anymore, I switched to USB. But I've used one for a couple of years
and I've also used the 24.

> Is it reliable for low latency, with all channels working at once? Does it work
> with any recent ffado, or do you need specific versions, patches or anything
> else?

It should work with any recent version of FFADO. And it was reliable,
everything worked (except for some silly design flaw with the first
channel that doesn't always work as expected). No need for patches or
specific versions.

>
> I've read plenty of vague comments about which firewire chipsets might be
> good or not, but are there known-good PCI Express firewire cards that are a
> sensible price and work well?

By now all known good PCIe Firewire cards should be available at a
sensible price because Firewire is on it's way back. I got a card with a
LSI FW643 chipset off of Ebay for like $5 and as far as I know you can't
get any better than that with regard to the host controller. Looked it
up, it was a Dynex DX-ECFW FireWire 800 card:
http://www.dynexproducts.com/products/computer-accessories/DX-ECFW.html

>
> I'm really hoping for "Yes, I've been using one for a year and it's rock
> solid," rather than "I've googled and it claims to be supported," or "Yes,
> it's fine if you pull the latest beta7 branch from git and only use Acme
> 2000 firewire interfaces." Sorry to sound unduly cautious or skeptical ;)
>
> In short, if I bite the bullet, retire my Delta 1010s and buy a Pro 40, are
> the drivers and tools now at the stage where I reasonably expect to be up and
> running again in a day rather than still fighting problems a week later?

You should be up and running within a day. Make sure to get a decent
Firewire cable too! The one Focusrite included when I bought it was so so.

Jeremy

>
> Cheers,
> bjb
>
>
>
>
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Received on Sun Mar 1 00:15:02 2015

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