FW-1804 vs Presonus, Echo, Motu

Did you ever decide or get useful input on the Tascam FW-1804 vs Presonus (or Echo, or Motu) comparable products?

The Echo Audiofire8 looks interesting, but don't think its shipping yet.

-Qua

jsanfilippo5 wrote: Hey all,

Im looking into this Firewire device, im kind of stuck I dont know if I should get the tascam 1804 or the presonus firepod, Any reccomendations would be greatly appreciated!

THanks

It seems that the firewirecards inside the computer can be the biggest problem. I like mine FW-1884 it works without any problem, and without the sliders it is almost the same as the FW-1804 :lol:

i bought the firepod, sounds really good but it seems to stop producing sound sometimes for a second or 2 then it comes back on this will happen while recording or playback, its wierd though when im recording and it drops out it still records what i was playing during the dropout.

im still considering returning it.

I'm hoping to avoid any product that folks report as having weird problems, or poor quality - such as you mentioned above about the Firepod. But I suppose so much depends on your computer setup etc etc that any product could run into glitches .

for my particular needs (recording instrument through pre/DI, not currently using mics) I don't need many mic pres. The new Echo Audiofire8 might work well for me. Or the Tascam FW-1804. These are a little more in my price range than the Motu products. So far, I haven't heard any problems or complaints about these new Tascam products. and their model FW-1082, appears to be the same as the FW-1804 but with a control surface, for only $200 more.

what do you think?
-Qua

tascam fw-1804 vs presonus firepod

I recommend the tascam fw1804 over the presonus firepod. The firepod has more preamps but no inserts. This means that you can't add a compressor (or anything else) between the preamps and AD converters. I really don't see the point of having preamps without the ability to add compression. Without compression, for things with a high dynamic range (like vocals or drum overheads) you have to keep the recording levels very low to avoid clipping, and you lose sample resolution. The only firewire units with inserts after the preamps are the tascam fw series and the Mackie 400f (which hasn't yet been released).

The other thing that the firepod lacks is zero-latency monitor mixing. You can not adjust the monitor mix of the inputs without affecting what's being recorded. You could instead monitor the outputs but you won't get latency below 10ms.

I recommend the Tascam fw series over any other firewire interface with preamps. That is until the Mackie 400f is released, if it ever is released.

i own a tascam fw. just got it. simplest best machine ever

I got rid of this after two loooong weeks...random clicks and the inability to use a firewire HD at the same time was pretty frustrating. I ended up going for the FireFace and am glad I spent the extra $. I would skip over the 1804 and look at something else.

-Jeremy