Edirol FA-101

Very easy to setup. A lack of included software to control monitoring etc is a shame.
I wish there were more options to perform internal routing and mixing. The small excursions made into controlling the internal mixing sounded zippery, IIRC. This was from Max/MSP though, YMMV.

Using the FA-101 for a number of different goals:
- getting stereo mix from mixer back into digital realm
- getting AUX sends from mixer into digital effects chain
- drum machines / synths straight into DAW
- outputting AUX returns to mixer
- outputting mono and stereo channels to mixer
- outputting to other outboard equipment

I have witnessed no significant noise on my main DAW, but am not that much into clean and pristine recordings. Digital distortion always present when overdriving, but that is to be expected, seeing there's no auto-gain present on the device.
From memory my main DAW has a VIA FW chipset, but no problems whatsoever.

My laptop however is connected to the FA-101 via a generic PCMCIA FW card with a NEC chipset and will slightly garble the sound every now and then. This is clearly due to the PCMCIA FW <-> FA-101 compatability, or lack thereof... I wish it was different, but there you go.

Very dependable so far, although have witnessed a couple of spontaneous disconnects and a few occasions where the device would not be recognized by the host. Power cycling the FA-101 always fixed this, however.

n/a

Very versatile piece of kit, 8 x 8 analog in/out. Never enough of course, but very good performance for this price. Have used it standalone and with a DAW and always able to make music with it.

Very spartan supporting software and internal routing virtually non-existent.

I had been trawling the net for multi-port input/output devices, and no supplier came near.

All the I/O sockets on the box are clearly labelled.

The channels could be labelled more clearly by the drivers: "Left EDIROL FA-101 MicIn1 Left", "Right EDIROL FA-101 MicIn1 Left" and "Stereo EDIROL FA-101 MicIn1 Left" for the first stereo pair make it easy to make mistakes selecting channels when working quickly.

Also, it?s a slight annoying you have to set the sampling rate manually and then power cycle the unit for it to take affect.

Otherwise it?s very easy to use and works nicely with the likes of Cakewalk SONAR 5, SoundForge 8 etc

I'm using the FA-101 with a Dual Althon 1900+ 1GB RAM running SONAR 5. Performance is good; latency can be kept low with no pops etc.

I was surprised how good the sound quality is, it makes my Creative Audigy sound rubbish. Sound is crisp and clear. Preamps are great, very low noise, my Sennheiser mics sounds great through it.

Build quality seems good and so far i've had no problems. Firewire appears to be significatlty more reliable and robust than USB - at least when running Windows XP.

Haven't dealt with them.

I would definitely buy another if it was stolen. Its a pleasure to use; it works first time every time, no messing about.

Very easy to use; about as plug and play as you can get. The device is clearly marked to assist with routing your inputs/outputs. It should be noted that the monitors don't utilize any outputs; they have their own dedicated out. Came across this unit by accident because the M-Audio Firewire 410 was my first choice.

Good sound quality. I use the FA-101 with an 17" 1.8GHz IMac G5 running Logic Pro 7. KRK Rokit 6 are my monitors of choice. Maybe to the trained ear there's probably a difference in sonic quality but Joe Average on the street doesn't think so. Accurate detailing. Almost too clean, yet not thin. I'm definitely satisfied.

As long as the power is on, it works. Even when my computer conserves power in sleep mode it still allows you to hear with good quality.

Haven't had to call Edirol at all

I've been producing for about a year now - mainly hip-hop and R&B. I don't practice enough to call myself a musician, but i know enough to get by. The FA-101 is the hub to my set-up. If it were stolen, I'd have to buy another one! Ten inputs/10 outputs; mic pre-amp; capable of 24bit/192KHz recording; it doesn't hinder my process at all. It does what I need it to do.

this is an update of former review.....

update of former review:
The musicshop in Amsterdam replaced the broken FA 101 for a new one. So I don't have any complaints about Roland service. They could'nt tell me what was wrong with the broken one. It was sent to the service department in Belgium. There they decided right away to replace the box, and not to repair it. I have not yet connected my drummachine, for I will need the FA 101 for a concert in a while. Not had any problems yet...

Very easy to use. It has 10 unputs and 10 out. first check in your recording software if the outputs and inputs are rightly chosen; had some trouble at first with no sound, because I had no experience with that. Manual is simple and understandable. Driver can be downloded from their site.

Better than my soundblaster Live, which I had before and still have. low noise level, can record on 44,1, 48, 96 Khz. Only used 44,1 till now. Did'n do much recording with it because... (go on to reliability!)

It went broke after a couple of month's! First I used only input 1 and 2. I recorded the singers parts of ten songs; no problem, very fine sound quality. A couple of weeks ago, I bought a drummachine, a Korg Electribe. Well, lets use input 3 and 4 for this gadget, I decided, and started to make a probe recording of some electribe rhytm's. input 3 and 4, which are line inputs, worked properly. Until after about half an hour, suddenly al sound stopped. First I blamed the drummachine, but that appeared to work proberly. Then I dicovered that, alhough the red LED of the firewire connection was on, there was no communication between my laptop and the FA 101. The thing was dead. I returned it to the shop. At first I got the promise that is would be back the next week, but then I got a phonecall that 'the problem is more complicated' and that the fctory will have te repear it. I don't have a clue what went wrong, only that i for the first time used input 3,4; never used 5 and six and 7 and 8. perhaps I turned up the drummachine to loud, but I do'n think so, because when I checked it afterwards, the output was not more than '3 o' clock', never turned it up complete. Beware of drummachine's. (But I'm not sure there is the problem)

Fine in the shop in Amsterdam; they took responsibility,and I have still half a year warranty. But I have no clue at all when the FA 101 will be returned, and if it will be fixed properly. So I can't yet comment on that. It's no about 3 weeks in repair.

I used it for recording song parts of my musical. Worked fine, waxs surprised by the soundquality. One remark: If one uses it with a notebook, what I do, and the notebook has only the four pins firewire, (the one without powering current), the connection is very 'flimsy'. The connection between cable and notebook is broken quite easy if one happens to touch the firewire cable. That results sometime in a hanging software system. So, although its propagated to use with a notebook, the best thing is to use a pc with a 'full' firewire connector, or ues a notebook which has one, such as an Apple.

Very easy to use ... good start manual. It could have a better ASIO driver GUI that shows more info on the latency, but the host app usually will show this anyways.

For the price, the mic pre's are excellent -- low noise, no coloration. They don't provide a huge amount of gain, but even when the sensitivity is turned to max, there is very little noise.

Extremely reliable so far. You should use a TI firewire chipset for best compatibility. VIA, Agere/Lucent chipsets are not as good as TI.

Edirol have good support through their web site. And it is a testament that the drivers for XP are at v1.0.0 and they are rock solid and stable.

Great value. Very good for portable recording or a small home studio. Search on google for "FA-101 review" and you'll find all good reviws on this unit. Sound On Sound gives it a good review, as have others. Pros are low price, firewire, stability, 192 kHz capable (6 channels), low noise. Cons are no software monitor mix capability (maybe in the futuire, though) and no hardware switching of the sample rate. Overall, for <$500 USD, this is a fantastic deal.

It is easy to use, after you find out that there is no independent hardware monitoring...

Good sound quality. Except when the laptop is charging, then you get a noise like a distant car horn.
Shouldn't they isolate the unit from things like that?

I wouldn't use it on a gig. No independent hardware monitoring!

I dealt with Musifex, in Portugal (www.Musifex.pt). They're great.

Three things that are very wrong:

1) No independent hardware monitoring! Everything goes to output 1 & 2, but what if I want only the guitar a little louder? Crap.

2) You can't use more than one output at the same time! Either choose digital out or audio out or one of the useless "direct outputs" (software direct equals latency)

3) Forget about it if your laptop is charging. A constant background noise will wreck your patience to hell. Don't give me excuses about noise filters and crappy laptops (which it is not the case, by the way). Edirol should build the noise filters within the FA-101, not a third party!