PreSonus Inspire 1394

Using it with an iMac desktop OS X 10.5.6 platform for home project studio to do DAW and for monitoring of audio to playback system for mix down. Using Logic Pro 8. I've had it for about a day and after some initial wondering about the setup, I finally heard what it produced and it sounds great! No incompatibility issues. Works fine! Evidently the drivers in the iMac desktop have been updated. Controls are software-based. No controls on the unit itself. Heavy-durable metal case. No issues with overheating as some laptop users have reported. Using both mini-stereo jack output for Bose desktop speakers and RCA stereo for the big speakers in my studio. Hooked it up, the blue light came on that it was synced and I was ready to hear it. Had to go into Logic Pro preferences for audio and select it as the output source, but that was all the adjustment that was needed.

Firewire IEEE 1394 connection through a breakout box. Additional port for daisy-chaining. Firewire cable included along with CuBase LE software which I won't use.

Haven't used them yet.

Has external AC supply, but I use the firewire. No overheating issues for me. Maybe this summer it'll get hotter. I'll have to see.

Had initial buzz in speakers, but the mini-plug wasn't seated properly. As soon as I plugged it all the way in, the noise was silenced.

With all the hassle about compatibility with OS X 10.5 Leopard, this works great. I've had no issues other than the initial wondering where the software driver upgrades were on the Presonus Website. I guess they are in the Core Audio of the iMac. If I get a hit record, I may try Apogee Duet, but until then this will work great for me.

Please see other reviews for features.

Came with Cubase LE, not bad.

Well sometimes my computer finds the unit and I'm able to make a few projects. The next day, my computer could not find it anymore. I do not have any system requirement issues or wiring issues whatsoever but for some reason these problems occur. Latency has occasionally been an issue. My Behringer Xenyx mixer hooked up to a Mixcraft software somehow works better in times of reliability.

This is a basic desktop, 4-in, 2-out IEEE-1394 (firewire) audio interface. No meters, no physical level controls, plastic case appears solid

Firewire with daisy-chaining.

When it works, the preamp quality seems fine. Two dedicated inputs for XLR (with phantom power), two 1/4" for guitar, two RCAs for line-in, 2 more for line-out, plus and extra IEEE-1394 for daisy chaining.

Can be bus powered, or can use an external (wall wart) power supply, which is included. 48V phantom power available.

192k X 24 bit resolutions.

Driver: Ah, here is the rub. I replaced my venerable M-Audio Omni-I/O, which always worked perfectly and met all of my needs, when I upgraded to a 64-bit computer system and found that M-Audio did not yet have 64-bit drivers, and failed to respond to my application to be a beta tester. I selected the PreSonus based specifically on its claim to be compatible with Windows Vista 64-bit. When I received the unit, the included drivers simply would not install, so I downloaded the latest version from their website. This did install, but the unit would stop responding after I'd use it for anywhere from fifteen minutes to a couple of hours. Rebooting would sometimes, but not always, resolve the issue. Multiple reboots would eventually restart the whole procedure.

I contacted PreSonus, and to their credit, I must say that their response was fast, courteous, but unfortunately, not ultimately helpful.

First, they suggested that I should go out and buy another FireWire interface, stating that the chipset used on my computer's motherboard was not among the ones their product liked. (My understanding is that the IEEE-1395 signal should be more-or-less universal.) They also advised that I should remove the SoundaBlaster sound card I had recently installed. Seems to be that one shouldn't have to reconfigure one's entire computer system just because their product won't play nicely with other components.

Suspecting that Vista might be the culprit, I tracked down a copy of XP (also 64-bit), rebuilt my system, but to no avail. I'm sure this is a decent unit for 32-bit systems, but have to conclude that their assertion that it is 64-bit compatible is simply false.

Yeah, it comes with a light version of Cubase, which is of no use to me, since I already use Cakewalk Sonar 7.0 PE. The mixer applet is okay -- not as flexible as my old M-Audio, but adequate. Not sure about stand-alone operation.

Well, I'd be hesitant to call it a "hunk of junk," hence, I'm not giving it a rating of "1", however, I believe it is grossly misrepresented as being compatible with 64-bit operating systems/computers, and as such, is absolutely useless to me.

Since I haven't really had a chance to test it in an environment on which it is stable, I can't comment on how it might work, but if you're using, or are considering eventually upgrading to 64-bit (which is clearly the wave of the future), I could not recommend it at all.

I would not replace it, and am in the process of negotiating its return to Musician's Friend. Problem is that I messed around trying to get it to work for so long that this may not be possible, in which case it will end up on Ebay.

Only thing I wish it had is legitimate 64-bit drivers, as claimed.

Portable unit, no meters on unit just a sync light, has a limiter and a boost of +20dB, no DSP or plug-ins, the rim is plastic but the whole case is made of metal and is pretty small, its smaller than a mac mini so its pretty good for the road, all the regular interface functions are handled in the mixer software: the 2 preamps, phantom power, limiter, boost, headphone volume, the 4 individual tracks volumes and even panning.

FireWire 1394 connectivity which is the best way to go for me cause i use up all my usb ports, plus firewire is 6 pins and i think it for audio it should be at least 6 pins, actually i think it should be firewire for all the high speed and high data equipment now, cause were heading to a era of higher speed and bigger amounts of data per second

preamps are very good, clean like a good interface should be, it has 2 instrument inputs which i think you can put a bass or a guitar in there, no digital outputs, but has 2 rca and 1/4 mini jack output and a separate volume control for one headphone, no midi, no cue mix outputs.

bus powered and ac adapter powered, true +48v

all the sample rates supported, no drivers needed for mac, and for pc just download from page, direct monitoring yes.

i've used it for a month or so and it's been good, i would recommend it but they should have put more outputs in it, at least 4,