Comments on: M-Audio introduces ProFire 2626

By: Yuma studio

Yuma studio — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:28:55 +0000

So I found that Mixcraft will run at 16, 24, and 32 bit up to 192khz. But the thing I like about mixcraft is that it will let me use my 3 presonas firepod 10’s with my m audio 2626 profire together. WOW thats alot of inputs. So give it a try, its free for 10 days. But if you waunt to buy it, it’s under 80 bucks. I still use pro tools for 90% of the job.

By: knuckle

knuckle — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:28:56 +0000

M-Powered is a great version of PT. But keep in mind that is very specifically targeted at music production. Thus explaning it’s compatability with the Music Production Toolkit and no the DV Toolkit. It would be nice if you got both, but this is Digidesign making judgements about the use of it’s software and its users, right or wrong.

I.E. if you’re a small project studio, it’s likely that you’re not doing Post Audio and are focusing primarily on band recording. therefore, why the heck would you need the DV toolkit. And if you do need it, then why the heck aren’t you upgrading to HD.
And when it comes to sampling rates, if you have the kind of clientelle that
A) know the difference between 16/44.1 and 24/192
or
B) can hear the difference, then you should probably have the money to buy an HD system. Or else you’re severely underselling yourself and your services.

As for the Profire, I haven’t had the pleasure of checking one out yet. But the immediate benefit to it, if what i read is accurate, would be utilizing the lightpipe and the Spdif simultaneously. Something you just can’t do with other digidesign pre’s like the Profire lightbridge or the ProjectMix (or the 003, correct me if i’m wrong on that)
And the ability to bypass the analog inputs altogether. Meaning you could use both lightpipe in’s for 16 channels of Digital I/O from two other devices and then grab your SPDIF as well. Thats a pretty fat perk for a project/home studio user in my opinion.

I have an Octane myself as my second set of pre’s and I think they sound great. Very Warm. So the fact they’ve used the same technology on the 2626 pre’s means you have a solid little box, that can travel without a lot of space, for $$peanuts$$.

While I don’t agree with Digidesigns practices of limiting it’s software I can see why they do it. It is afterall, a money thing and they are a business. And they know if you start making the kind of money, you’re probably gonna upgrade.
I don’t however understand the track limitations. 18?? thats a stupid #. at least go it 8’s people…..come on now!

So I am curious about the Lightpipt/SPDIF. Has anyone used these in tandem for the full 18? any issues??

By: Yuma Studio

Yuma Studio — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 21:59:28 +0000

ya stiff I found out the same boost on mine, but still over all verry nice sounding.

By: mike

mike — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 03:54:57 +0000

I upgraded to this unit from the 001 rack (about time). I now use this the 2626 as my soundcard for general music listening as well. First, i have to say that even itunes sounded noticeably better. And i know that the pre amps sound ‘better’ than the ones on the 001, although i have no comparison to offer to any of you. I did an A/B test with an old session and the pres sound much better. I dont want to throw out a bunch of words that dont mean anything to anyone, like ‘tight’ or ‘airy’ so im just going to leave it at ‘better’. However, the preamp pots have almost all their gain in the last few degrees of the turn. Turn it all the way to three o’clock and you get about +20db, and then turn it all the way till 4 o’clock, and bam! you get 30more db. that will be kinda annoying, but its a solid unit other than that.

By: stiff

stiff — Sat, 24 May 2008 07:18:06 +0000

Thanks for that Yuma Studio!

Anyone done a preamp shootout yet?

By: Yuma Studio

Yuma Studio — Fri, 23 May 2008 15:30:40 +0000

WOW, I got this baby in yesterday. Hooked it up and …
Well you know “wow”. I do how ever agree with you guys on PT m powered. It should be if the hardware can handle 24bit 192khz then the software should aswell. Plus its limited to m audio products so what are they going to loose? nothing. Evan cakewalk’s sonar gose all the way.
anywho, The Profire 2626 is a verry nice unit im using it along with my presonas firepods and to answer the question on linking the two to gether, well it dose not work that way. but over all still better sounding than the 002 or Mbox 2.

By: stiff

stiff — Thu, 15 May 2008 16:03:36 +0000

That’s my type of mix (besides the fact I’m experimenting with minimizing EQ at the moment).

Any other impressions of it?

By: J~P

J~P — Wed, 14 May 2008 17:02:22 +0000

Without knowing it beforehand it turned out I worked with one off these today. I like these preamps better than the 002 or Mbox 2. Beautiful unit this is…Switching between Nuendo and PT M-powered I mixed a live performance of 40 minutes. Comping the original Nuendo session and mixing in M-Powered. Which also had the SSL duende running on a separate firewire card. WOW! that’s something I love! 32 channels of SSL EQ and compressing. There is something spectacular about running the same EQ and comp on all the channels. Only other 3 plug ins used are the PSP Vintagewarmer (on drumgroup), Altiverb (using the EMT plate impulse) and Waves L2 on the Master.

By: ~Jon~ @ Audiogeekzine

~Jon~ @ Audiogeekzine — Sun, 11 May 2008 18:07:25 +0000

The two features Gordon complained about are features lacking in both M-Powered and LE. The reason he mentioned M-Powered is because it is relating to the Profire 2626.
It has most of the same features as LE, or you can see it as an even more limited version of PT than LE. Music production toolkit works with M-Powered but not DV Toolkit, thats a big drawback for some users. No MacDrive with M-Powered, LE has it included. That can limit compatibility when sharing files.

By: Blake Gaston

Blake Gaston — Sun, 11 May 2008 01:00:02 +0000

Whats so bad about Pro Tools M-powered. Its nearly identical to LE, works with all the same plugins as LE, works with way more interfaces, and has add on capibilities such as the music production toolkit.

Whats so bad about Mpowred?