PreSonus - FireStudio 26 x 26

PreSonus FireStudio
26 x 26 Fire Wire Recording System

Audio Interface solution for Digital Home Recording.
When you get started recording, one of your first decisions should be what audio interface and software you'll use in your home studio, if you're planning on recording straight to your computer. a computer with mid to high specification, add more RAM and hard disk space to get full performance of your computer while recording your audio, and an audio interface, a USB or FireWire attachment to your computer that allows you to input your microphones and instruments into your computer. You'll also need a software package to mix and edit your audio.

An audio interface with plenty of input is a standard requirement for digital multi track recording, "PreSonus FireStudio 26 x 26 Fire Wire Recording System" meet all needs of audio interface for digital recording with multi track audio.

DESCRIPTION

The PreSonus FireStudio is the next generation in FireWire recording systems from PreSonus. Based on the award-winning Firepod, the FireStudio combines superior analog circuit design with new advanced platform technology to deliver enhanced performance for music recording and creation.

The FireStudio is a 26x26 24-bit/96k professional recording system combining eight XMAX Class A PreSonus microphone preamplifiers, up to sixteen channels of optical ADAT input / output, S/PDIF and MIDI input / output, along with the Control Console - a 36x36x18 zero latency mixer/router. The FireStudio also includes the ProPak Complete, a bundle of over 2GB of award-winning recording and production software, virtual instruments, plug-ins, drum loops and samples to get you started making music immediately.


8 XMAX Class A Preamplifiers

The FireStudio includes eight custom-designed high-voltage, discrete, XMAX Class A microphone preamplifiers for all types of microphones. Many other companies offering recording interfaces add the cheapest possible microphone preamplifier as an afterthought to the interface. PreSonus knows that the preamplifier is a key component in the sonic quality of a recording. The job of a microphone preamplifier is to boost microphone level signals to line level so that the signal can be converted from analog to digital. This mic to line boost is generally a preamplification of over 400 times the voltage of the original mic level signal. This preamplification stage is one of the most important stages that the signal will go through before converted to digital, and is why a high performance preamplifier is important to achieving great results. A cheap "off the shelf op-amp" type mic preamp that is found in most interfaces translates into thin, noisy and harsh results.

All XMAX preamplifiers are built with the same three elements:

- High Voltage - The XMAX preamplifier runs on power rails of 30V. Most off the shelf op amp based designs run on power rails of 10V to 18V. Higher voltage power rails deliver more headroom, deeper lows, smoother highs and an overall fuller sound.

- Discrete - No op amps. Only transistors, resistors and capacitors. Op amps add noise, coloration and harshness to a signal. Discrete designs deliver ultra low noise and transparency.

- Class A - When a circuit is running in Class A mode the circuit is always in an "on" state operating at its optimal voltage requirements. Class A mode has zero crossover distortion and delivers purer, clearer and more musical sonics than class A/B designs which are found in most op-amp circuits.

The net result of the XMAX preamp design is high headroom, low noise, wide dynamic range and wide frequency range, and most importantly, musicality and transparency - smooth highs, solid deep lows, and everything in between.


Digital Converters and JetPLL Sync

The FireStudio touts A/D/A converters with a dynamic range of over 114dB for unbelievable clarity as well as synchronization using patented JetPLL™ jitter reduction technology. JetPLL™ incorporates noise shaping to virtually remove all audio band jitter. JetPLL™ ensures the highest converter performance possible, resulting in better stereo separation and clearer more transparent audio. JetPLL™ delivers ultra-fast locking to any digital format through a wide range of frequencies and is extremely robust and tolerant of wide variations in clock frequencies. JetPLL™ ensures near perfect clock performance when networking audio devices, thus creating the most stable and robust synchronization to the computer.


Ins and Outs

The FireStudio is loaded with I/O for an extremely flexible and expandable recording system. The FireStudio starts with eight Class A custom-designed PreSonus microphone preamplifiers. You can add additional preamplifiers or analog inputs via the dual optical light pipe ports on the rear panel. You add up to two DigiMax FS, for a total of twenty-four microphone preamplifiers all in only three rack spaces! Additionally word/clock I/O for ultra tight synchronization, MIDI I/O and SPDIF I/O are on the FireStudio for further expandability.


Control Console - Zero Latency DSP Mixing/Routing

The FireStudio also includes the Control Console - a 36x36x18 DSP mixer/router for flexible mixing and direct routing any input to any output including the headphone output, with zero latency. The Control Console software application lives between your FireStudio interface and your DAW software enabling the mixing and routing of input streams coming into your FireStudio interface and playback stream coming from your DAW software. The Control Console is capable of creating up to nine stereo mixes and then routing to the outputs of your FireStudio for headphone mixes and various aux sends. This way everyone in the band and the recording engineer can have a custom mix. Also, the FireStudio is loaded with internal flash memory so that all Control Console settings are saved and recalled in the FireStudio during power off/on. This allows you to configure your FireStudio as a stand-alone device, without being connected to a computer for uses such as a submixer, A/D and D/A-converter, headphone mixer, format converter, instrument or microphone pre-amplifier!


ProPak Software Suite Included

• Cubase LE 4 48-track music recording and production software
• Cubase LE 4 Demystified by PreSonus - DVD tutorial video on how to use Cubase LE 4
• Reason Adapted - Virtual Instrument
• Amplitube LE - Virtal Guitar Amplifier
• Drumagog LE - Drum Replacement plug-in
• Lounge Lizard - Virtual electric piano plug-in
• Analog Factory - Virtual synthesizer plug-in
• BFD Lite - Virtual Studio Drummer
• Wave Arts TrackPlug LE - EQ and Compressor plug-in
• Wave Arts Masterverb LE - Reverb plug-in
• Audio Damage– FuzzPlus2, Filterpod plug-ins
• Pluggo Jr. – Average Injector, Chamberverb, Feedback Network, Filter Taps, Generic Effect, HF Ring Mod, Jet, Limi, Nebula, Resonation, Resosweep, Spectral Filter.
• Camel Crusher – Distortion Compressor plug-in
• Discrete Drums Sampler– over 1GB of drum loops and drum samples
• Twiddly bits – 100 MIDI drum loops created by real drummers
• Riffworks Jr. - Guitar oriented recording software

Optional Monitor Station Remote (MSR)

The optional MSR (monitor station remote) for the FireStudio is a complete surround/stereo speaker manager, input switcher and communication system delivering a more efficient and flexible work flow. The MSR connects to the FireStudio via standard Cat 5 Ethernet cable to keep your work space as clean as possible. There are also two headphone outputs on the FireStudio for even further flexibility and convenience.




FEATURES

• High-speed FireWire (IEEE 1394) audio interface
• 24-bit resolution, up to 96K sampling rate
• 26 simultaneous inputs and outputs
• 8 Class A microphone preamps w/ trim control
• 8 analog line Inputs, 2 Instrument Inputs
• 16 channels of optical ADAT I/O (8 ch. via 96k dual SMUX)
• S/PDIF I/O, MIDI I/O
• DICE II Chipset - ultra efficient data transfer
• JetPLL™ – jitter elimination technology
• Zero latency DSP full-matrix mixer/router
• PreSonus ProPak Complete Audio Software Suite with Cubase LE, Reason Adapted, Amplitube LE, BFD Lite, Drumagog LE and more

TECH SPECS


Computer System Requirements
Below are the minimum computer system requirements for your FireStudio Tube.


Windows

• OS: Microsoft Windows XP and Windows Vista
• CPU/Clock: or Athlon 900MHz (1.5 GHz or higher recommended)
• Memory(RAM): 1 GB (more recommended)

Macintosh

• OS: MacOS X 10.4.x or later (10.5 supported with driver update)
• CPU/Clock: PowerPC G4/Dual 1 GHZ or faster, all Intel-based Mac models.
• Memory(RAM): 1 GB (more recommended)

Windows and Macintosh Systems

• IEEE 1394 FireWire 400 Port
• Internet connection
• DVD-ROM drive
• Internal or external 7200RPM storage drive is highly recommended

"Note that the speed of your processor, amount of RAM and size and speed of your hard drive will greatly affect the overall performance of your recording system. Also, a more powerful system (faster processor with more RAM) will allow for lower latency (signal delay) that you might experience while monitoring audio or MIDI signals."


"Monitor resolution for both PC and Macintosh should be no lower than 1024x768 pixels."


Known compatible and incompatible hardware

APPROVED FIREWIRE CHIPSETS

PreSonus interfaces will work with a wide range of firewire cards and configurations. Due to the plethora of firewire chipsets currently on the market, it is not possible to thoroughly test each one for compatibility. Most users will not need to alter their current PC configuration to use their PreSonus interface.
The following firewire chipsets, however, have been tested and approved for use with all PreSonus interfaces :

• Agere/LSI FW323-06
• TI TSB43AB23
• VIA VT6308
• VIA VT6306 (on some older motherboards this chip-set will only support a limited number of playback channels: 32 channels at 44.1 or 48kHz; 16 channels at 88.2 or 96kHz)

These chipsets are available on a wide range of motherboards and PCI/PCMCIA firewire cards. Here is a brief list of manufacturers and models of PCI firewire cards :

• Lucent IEEE 1394a
• Syba SD-LUD-4F
• HP PA997A
• Eforcity PCRDFW31CON1
• Sabrent SBT-VT6306
• Micropac Technologies SBT-VT6306
• SIIG NN-400012-S8

Please note: manufacturers may change chipsets at any time, so it is recommended to verify these models still employ a chipset in the above list prior to purchasing.


At this time, PreSonus only recommends the following Express cards :

• ADS Pyro 1394a
• StarTech EC13942

KNOWN INCOMPATIBLE HARDWARE :

• ATI RADEON 9000/9001 IGP video chipset. Symptoms are consistent click and pops during audio playback. This video chipset is only found in PC laptops and is entirely integrated as the computer’s only video controller. PreSonus strongly recommends that users do not purchase a system with this chipset as there is currently no workaround for this incompatibility.
• USB/firewire and s400/s800 combo cards. Symptoms usually include no audio recording/playback but the device will install and sync and erratic audio performance. Rarely combo cards will prevent the device from installing or achieving a stable sync. We recommend firewire cards that have s400 firewire connections only.
• Firewire cards with NEC chipsets. Symptoms include installation issues, erratic audio and extraneous static and noise.
• Motherboards with nForce4 chipsets. Symptoms include reduced to very poor performance especially if using the onboard firewire connection. Installing a PCIe (not PCI) FW400 only card with an approved chipset is a known workaround, but may not allow full performance.
  

Microphone Preamp 1-8 (XLR Balanced)
Type		XLR Female Balanced
Frequency Response (±0.5 dB)		>20 Hz to 50 kHz
Frequency Response (±3.0 dB)		20 Hz to 150 kHz
Input Impedance (Balanced)		1600 Ohm
THD+N (unwtd, 1kHz @ +4 dBu Output, Unity Gain		< 0.0003%
EIN (unwtd, 55dB Gain, 150 O Input, 20Hz to 22kHz		-126 dBu
S/N Ratio (Unity Gain, unwtd, Ref. = +4 dBu, 20Hz to 22 kHz<		> 101dB
Common Mode Rejection Ratio (1 kHz, 55 dB Gain)		> 55dB
Gain Control Range (± 1dB)		-4 dB to 50dB
Maximum Input Level (Unity Gain, 1 kHz @ 0.5% THD+N)		+14 dBu
Phantom Power (±2 VDC)		+48 VDC

Instrument Input
Type		1/4" TS
Input Impedance		1 Mega Ohm

Preamps 15 & 16
Gain Reduction		-16 to +20 dB
ThD+N (unwtd, 1KHz @ +4dBu Output, Unity Gain)		<.2%
Limiter		0 to -18dBu
Gain Control (+/-1dB)		+4dB to +58dB
80 Hz filter		< 0.0003%

Line Inputs 9-14 (1/4” TRS)
Frequency Response (+0,- 0.5dB)		20Hz to 50kHz
Frequency Response (+0/-3.0 dB)		20Hz to 150kHz
Input Impedance (Balanced)		10 KOhm
THD+N (unwtd, 1KHz @ +4dBu Output, Unity Gain)		< 0.003%
S/N Ratio (Unity Gain, unwtd, Ref. = +4dBu, 20Hz to 22KHz)		>101dB
Maximum Input Level (Unity Gain, 1KHz @ 0.5% THD+N)		+20dBu

Headphone Output
Type		TRS Active Stereo
Maximum Output		150 mW/CH @ 60 Ohm Load
Frequency Response (±1.0 dB)		10 Hz - 70kHz

Digital Audio
FireWire (IEEE 1394) Speed		400mbps
ADC Dynamic Range (Awtd, 48 kHz Sample Rate)		114 dB
DAC Dynamic Range (Awtd, 48 kHz Sample Rate)		114 dB
Bit Depth		24
Reference Level for 0dBFS		+10 dBu
Internal Sample Frequency Selections (kHz)		44.1, 48, 88.2, 96
Jitter Specification		<20ps RMS, 20Hz-20kHz
Jitter Attenuation		>60dB; 1ns in approx.1ps out

Power
Input Connector Type		IEC
Input Voltage (factory configured)		90 to 240 VAC
Power Requirements (Continuous)		20W

Physical
Main Chassis
Package Type		1U - steel chassis
Dimensions		19(W) X 1.75(H) X 7(D) inches
Weight		8.0lbs