Focusrite Saffire

Unit itself is straightforward. Software is fine too, once you get used to it. The unit has tremendous routing flexibility, so it's understandable that the software interface can be confusing at first. Once you understand it, no problems. My unit is fully updated with proper firmware.

The sound quality of the unit shines. It's great having onboard DSP, and the compressor and EQ are great for beefing up your input signal (especially the compressor). All without any latency or hit on your CPU. I use this with condenser and dynamic mics. Headphone amps seem weak at first, but you have to learn to set the thing (use your monitor level)!

My first unit's phantom power died about one month after the warranty ran out. I complained bitterly to Focusrite in the UK, who referred me to a repair business in NV; the repair cost was going to be about half of what I paid for the unit! I was not happy...

Focusrite UK forwarded my complaints to the American distributor (AM&S); they contacted me and decided to replace my unit for free. So far, the new one has functioned fine (hasn't been a year yet).

Focusrite UK gets a 4 for the treatment above; however, because they referred me to the American distributor who took care of me the way a company should take care of its customers, I'm not giving Focusrite UK a 2. AM&S in the US gets a 10 for their support! Therefore, I'll give Focusrite a 7 overall for support (Focusrite UK gets low marks and AM&S gets high marks).

Great unit and great sounding. Reliability is questionable. Still waiting to see if my replacement unit will last. Support for my plight in the UK was not great, but the US distributor took care of me. Therefore, I'm giving a 7 overall.

The Saffire is 4 in (2 mic/line, 2 digital SP/DIF), 10 out (8 line, 2 digital SP/DIF), 1x MIDI I/O Firewire audio interface capable of 24bit at 44.1KHz right through to 192KHz sampling rate.

Twin headphone outputs, 3 LED level meters.

It's main claim to fame and primary differentiator to every other similar device is its DSP effects. However the DSP only works on input signals as you record, not when mixing previously recorded signals (like a Liquid Mix, Duende, TC Powercore, etc.) and can't be used above 96KHz sampling rate. The reverb is monitoring only. Won't work standalone either (not just DSP but entire unit). VST/AU versions of the DSP effects are provided, though of course host-powered.

DSP effects are: compression, EQ, amp simulation, reverrb. Setting up a soft-limit style compression when recording is quite useful, as is a bit of 'verb through the cans.

Thin metal and plastic case. Portable but not chuckable. Plenty of knobs and buttons but most of the functions are set through the SaffireControl software.

Lots of features for a very reasonable price - 9.

Firewire 400 and is bus powered, therefore good with laptops for portable recording. There's a second Firewire port for FW hard drives and the like. All that you need.

Preamps are clean and pretty characterless, though they could do with more gain; even with hot condenser mics I find myself driving them hard. Could be an issue when using ribbons.

Separate XLR mic and 1/4" line/instrument inputs, with line/instrument level switch for the latter.

Digital I/O is limited to 2ch in/2ch out SP/DIF, up to 24bit/192KHz. Useful for expanding to 4 ins, using AD-equipped mic pre/channel strip.

The 8 analogue outs could be used as send/return loops for mixing with external hardware but of course you've only got 2 ins for return (4 with an external AD).

The SaffireControl software allows for great flexibility in setting up cue mixes through using the device's 10 software 'outs'.

Surround monitoring is easily achieved thanks to all the outputs. Actual mixing is best left to the DAW though for watching DVDs or DivXs with 5.1 audio you can control your rear, centre and sub speakers through SaffireControl.

Bus powered, though it comes with a non-voltage switching adapter for those with unpowered 4 pin Firewire ports. Fortunately not an issue with my 2 Macs, and just as well as I bought it from the USA and the pack obviously won't work elsewhere. Phantom power works from bus power, though whether it is true +48v I have no idea.

24bit, 96KHz, or 192KHz with some limitations (ie. no DSP).
Supports CoreAudio, ASIO and WDM.
Direct monitoring is set through SaffireControl, though thanks to the Firewire interface actual latency is pretty low.

Comes with Cubase LE, which is pretty limiting. I've been using mine with Logic Pro 7.

The Control software is SaffireControl, which as the name suggests, is used to control pretty much all the functions on the device. Only the analogue controls on the device (Ins 1-2 gain, headphone vol) can't be controlled via software.

No RCA/phono, no ground lift, no standalone operation.

Ok, I've told you what Focusrite say it is, now I'll tell you what it is actually like. Initial impressions were pretty bad, and nearly 2 years on, haven't gotten a great deal better.

The build quality isn't great. Although most of the case is metal, it is thin sheet metal, and gives the unit a light, hollow feeling. I used to own an Mbox (first gen) and even though that was 100% plastic it felt much more solid. One could argue that devices like these spent their lives on desks and thus don't have to be built strong, but for me its portability and ability to run off bus power meant I wanted to be able to chuck in it a backback with my Powerbook, 2 octave MIDI control and maybe a mic.

When I first got it various software and DSP firmware updates were required. I had terrible trouble getting the firmware to update, as SaffireControl (in version 1.x) would keep losing the firewire connection and when it did stay connected long enough for the firmware updater to do its thing it would invariably fail anyway. In the end I managed to get it updated, using a different Mac.

Once updated the firewire connection was still so unstable it was basically unusable. I experimented with different cables and different ports on my system, eventually giving up and contacting Focusrite. To their credit, they did the best to help, putting me on their beta tester program and giving me access to beta releases of the new version 2 drivers, which slowly improved things to the point where you could make recordings.

Things are vastly improved now with matured v2 drivers and firmware however the firewire connection can still be flaky, even when just running system audio (ie. iTunes) though it... it occasionally clicks itself off and on... yes, clicks... there must be a ton of relays or something inside the tin can of a case... or sometimes just annoying glitches and distortion. Needless to say when you're trying to record and this kind of bullshit is happening, it wrecks takes and ruins your workflow. The fact that it happens every time you open or close SaffireControl or change sample rates is just grating.

The hardware itself is reasonably capable, it certainly 'does' what they say it does. The pres are clean if lacking character or that kind of transparent detail you get in better and expensive pres. They're no worse than the Mbox pres (both made by Focusrite, so probably the exact same thing).

Phantom power can only be switched on and off globally so if you're running a ribbon and a condenser you're in trouble. I haven't been able to test personally, but I don't think there's enough gain to run a non-powered ribbon mic from it - the pres just don't have enough grunt.

The monitoring section is pretty good and the Dim and Mute buttons are useful, however the Monitor knob is not an analog controller, but a digital encoder. The good thing about this is that you can assign it control any number of output pairs, the bad news is that it has terrible resolution and you can easily hear it digitally "stepping" up or down the volume.

The dual, independent headphone outputs are useful but as many people have mentioned in reviews and the like, they aren't very powerful. A headphone amp is a wise investment.

Most critical to the Saffire's actual usability is the SaffireControl software, which is required to control all the internal mixing and DSP effects. Now it is immediately obvious that Focusrite put a lot of effort into SaffireControl, because it looks much more polished and professional that the vast majority of audio interface control software I've ever seen. Unfortunately while they made it look nice, it is something of a usability nightmare, with very small buttons and controls, and how to go about routing signals is not immediately apparent either - you'll need to spend time figuring it out.

I've just about run out of words, so I'll be brief. The Saffire is a disappointment, there's so many other choices out there - some of th

for me this is very easy to use. the GUI interface is straghtforward. sound quality is excellent. for my setup which is basically writing and arranging prior to final work at a higher end facility, it is perfect.

sound quality is excellent. had some noise issues if i had an exteral hard drive plugged into the fire port on the saffire, don't do that and it's very clean.

you can read the below, i submitted this to focusrite tech support. only one place in the u.s. can work on it, and when i spoke with them on the phone they weren't sure if they could fix it. it's either $120 to reload the original drivers (which you can't get online btw, the original drivers aren't aren't the updates), or it's garbage and he will toss it for no cost or ship it back to me for the shipping. even if i do shell out the $120 and it works, what caused it to fail in the first place? will it fail agian?

also, research online indicated that earlier models would break while providing phantom power. after i realized the thing was tweaked, i popped the cover and found two blown diodes. these diodes are installed in a 'jumper' fashion, i.e. they were added in funky manner due to poor board layout, tacked to one of the outer circuit boards. the repair guy informed my that these were called the 'G5 mod', and are part of the phantom power circuit.

my advice? sounds good, easy to use, you may have to buy a new one every 14 months.


original submission to focusrite for background:

>Here is a detailed description of everything.
>
>Mac 1.6GHz G5, 3.5 gb ram, 10.4.2
>
>Logic pro 7.2
>
>Interface: Saffire plugs directly into Mac, no fire wire daisy chain.
>
>Maxtor hard drive fire wire peripheral also directly plugged into Mac.
>
>Edirol midi controller, USB, directly plugged into the computer.
>
>Saffire is powered by the fire wire cable.
>
>Saffire 1&2 outputs used for powered monitors.
>
>System has been running perfectly for 14 months.
>
>Issues: about a month ago I noticed large steps in the monitor volume
>knob (in terms of output to the monitors, the knob turns smoothly) as
>it was adjusted. Based on inputs from Focusrite, I updated both the
>Saffire software and the firmware, and the problem seemed to go away.
>
>Noticed two evenings ago that I was getting some clicks and popping out
>of the monitors and the headphones, didn't bother to chase it down.
>
>Last night I had major problems, appears the Saffire is not really
>working at all. If you do multiple Saffire reboots or restart the Mac
>Saffire operates a little differently every time.
>
>Some issues:
>
>In Soundcard mode, the GUI knobs (when selected to hardware control)
>all respond to the monitor knob, but nothing comes out of the headphones.
>
>Tweaking the headphone knobs in the GUI environment does nothing.
>
>I see input signal, but nothing shows on the output. Actually, if you
>reboot it enough, you sometimes get output, but it's very noisy.
>
>The onboard DSP effects aren't working.
>
>Attempts to correct:
>
>Reinstalled the firmware update three times.
>
>Deleted and reinstalled the Saffire software.
>
>Used different fire wire ports.
>
>Of course, I bought this 14 months ago, so I just missed the warrantee
>if it really took a dive!!! Great product design!!! :)

very responsive and helpful, but i got screwed because i was 2 months past the warantee period. friendly, nice people.

Overall, the Saffire is very straightforward to install and use. The Saffire Control is kind of tricky at first, but after reading the manual, you should get it:)

Definitely worth the money, nice preamps and good converters for the money.

This is where Focusrite surprised me: the drivers are quite solid and support multi-client-operation. Running ASIO and WDM applications at the same time is no problem.

The Focusrite support has been friendly and helpful so far.

The Saffire really changed the way I think about mobile recording-devices. For homerecording, there's no need for an external pre, if you don't use gain-hungry mics like a SM7 for example. 10 points.