Presonus Firestudio Chipset Problems and Hardware Compatibility Issues
Recently I purchased a Presonus Firestudio. Following my own advice, I did a search on Google for “Presonus Firestudio Chipset”. Of course, this keyword phrase is useless because Presonus decided to brag about the chipset within their new Firestudio in the propaganda they use at all major retailers. GREAT! In other words, from a search engine standpoint, it’s going to be VERY difficult to get a blog to rank for “Presonus Firestudio Chipset”, but I’m going to give it a shot. (I REALLY wish Presonus wouldn’t waste the customers time by bragging about the chipsets within the Firestudio. That’s a feature, not a benefit. I don’t know or care what components are in an audio interface as long as the audio interface does what I want and sounds good.)
So, I’ve stolen the following data from Presonus. You can find all of this info on the Presonus Firestudio Hardware Compatibility page but if you are like me you won’t find it until you’ve wasted an entire night diagnosing the problem. In fact, I almost found out that I needed an entirely different motherboard. (I have a GeForce3. The Firestudio will not function properly with a Geforce4.). When I finally found this page, I was scared to death that I needed to build a brand new computer. I was NOT happy!
What hardware is incompatible with my PreSonus Interface?
– 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. We strongly recommend that you do not get a system with this chipset, as there is currently no workaround for this incompatibility.
-USB/firewire and s400/s800 combo cards are not compatible. Symptoms are usually no audio recording/playback but device will install and sync, erratic audio performance and rarely will not allow the device to install or sync. We recommend a firewire card that ONLY has s400 firewire connections and preferably with a Texas Instruments or VIA chipset.
-Firewire cards with NEC chipsets are not compatible. Symptoms are similar or the same as combo cards.
-Motherboards with nForce4 chipsets. Symptoms include reduced to very poor performance especially if using the onboard firewire connection. A PCIe (not PCI) FW400 only card with a Texas Instruments chipset is a known workaround, but may not allow full performance.
-SoundBlaster Audigy cards. Symprtoms include pops and clicks and loss of sync. If your PC has one of these cards installed, it is recommended to uninstall it before installing a PreSonus interface
January 23rd, 2008 at 8:50 am
Hmm. I’ve got an NForce 4 motherboard. Looks like I’ll be upgrading my computer for this badboy now. Thanks for the research.
January 25th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
My buddy and I have been building a studio for a few months now, slowly getting the right parts that we need and such.
We recently invested in the presonus firestudio project and have both been pleasently surprised at the level or quality we are able to get out of it.
We did have and issue because although we have gotten a new dual core computer to use for the studio, it did not have a firewire port.
at first we used his ancient soundblaster card but we kept having issue after issue with electrical noise and the interface just not even powering on.
we have since switched to the Creative Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS card with the built in port and not a single issue has held us back. Higly reccomeneded, even if your not recording with an interface. the quality of the signal even at analog cant really be beat(except by newer ones of course)
February 4th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Thanks for your research, bceasue I wanna get 1 too.
February 13th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
For what is worth, I am running the Firestudio 26*26 with my Sonica HUSH-QR computer and Cubase 4. My set-up is 100% rock solid down to 64 buffers. Very neat.
February 29th, 2008 at 7:51 am
Hello, i would post this to the audio interface part of your forum but no matter how many times i try and register it won’t send me a confirmation email….
anyways…
I’m looking into the firestudio as well as m-audio and motu competetors… however i’m really lost when I read about the misleading information virtual v.s. simultaneous inputs.
I looking to use a new penryn core 2 duo 2.4ghz macbook pro, I will be using the audio interface as part of a setup to do live shows with both live instruments mic’d people and acoustics and electronic stuff both lined in and straight from the computer… i’ll be working mainly in ableton live and eventually max/msp to handle my AWS duties.
I’m looking for something that can handle as many high quality line in’s as possible, and at least enough mic inputs to mic a live drum set and maybe one or two vocals (if needed i could convert xlr’s to 1/2″)…
I’d also like to have the head phone mix option like yourself because i’ll be kinda of an improv composer as well as the sound man for the band and i’d like to be able to send out different information to the different members… also any features that would take away strain on the computer itself (processing power that is), since its already going to be both mixing the live show as well as arranging additional loops, live efx, live keyboard etc.
Any suggestions on brand, model, or possible deals/referbs
anything to get me started down the recording path quicker!
March 22nd, 2008 at 5:35 pm
I wish I had found this before I bought my firestudio. The guys at Guitar Center told me it was compatible with any Windows XP system. They obviously don’t know what the heck they are talking about.
I have frequent bluescreen sysaudio.sys and 1394 errors. Presonus has some of the worst customer service of any company I have ever dealt with. On multiple occasions I was on hold for 30 minutes only to get a recording asking me to leave a message. Some guy named Frazier was helping me, if you call it that. He never returned emails or phone calls. When he finally did, he informed me that my nforce4 motherboard was incompatible, but nothing else. He sent me to the presonus forums, which are a cluster.
Unfortunately, I can’t take the product back to GC because the 30 day window has expired. Looks like I am going to have to sell it on ebay. I will never buy another product from Presonus again.
April 3rd, 2008 at 8:45 am
Well, Windows XP certainly works with the Presonus Firestudio, but if they didn’t mention chipsets, they are either incompetent or deceitful.
Brandon
January 7th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
I bought the firestudio
@ the store GC HAHA I grabbed the fourth box down figuring the top box was a return all F@#$%D*( up well it turns out
this unit is nothing to jump up and down about, it won’t sync up with this DELL XPS 420 OR CUBEBASE4 OR CUMPUTER BOTH I read up about installation of this firestudio I installed the cubebase 4 steinburger oy-oy-oy then unplugged the firestudio installed the firestudio cd shut down all virus progs 1ST etc f.walls ran the disc it ran approx 20 seconds stated it had loaded itself down with a nice lil red icon in the tray not BLUE OH NO THE HORROR.
(THE TROUBLE JUST BEGINS)UNINSTALLED IT THEY HAVE A NEWER DOWNLOAD ON THEIR SITE I USED THAT same ol same ol red light
ok approx 8 calls to tech center went to system info… sent off*nfo file to 3 seperate techs you see I’M getting 3 techs to work on it guess what they all had different lil bedtime stories about the problems with this product
it boiled down to well take it back where you bought it
and they will see if their computer will load it…
Yeah great how’s this to help me I take their lead
same ol same ol blind lead the blind whadda waste of time
i get back home and said ok let’s try it again
I get an error horror show nessage windows will not support firestudio then I shut it down the tin can cumputer
now this is just after i turned off the norton 360 anti virus prog now I have the pleasure of enjoying 1 lil trojan horsie and some worms that go into the start up I’LL tell YA this is really building some character I shut down every type media prog in this machine,CAUGHT ALL BAD VIRAL STUFF PUT IN Q bin ran sound card so it’s presonus audio only im at the presonus site again
go to load up firestudio – tube download ok this is good the blue light special pops up on the cumputer tool bar firestudio/w/tube solid blue light I turn on cubebase4 and firestudio it states I’VE Got a new unit the presonus firestudio control program not studio this is some crazy schitt I did download firestudio project I’M still
gonna win this 1 anyone else have a fix ????
chip
January 7th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
It sucks that you are having those problems. However, before you can 100% blame the Firestudio, you need to do a bit of troubleshooting. I suspect the problem is your dirty operating system.
http://www.recordingreview.com/blog/recording-computer-troubleshooting-is-your-operating-system-clean/?/211/1/Recording-Computer-Troubleshooting-Is-Your-Operating-System-Clean/Page1.html
July 9th, 2009 at 8:38 am
I’m not sure if they have similar chipsets, but the Saffire has the same incompatibilities. Also took me weeks of trying out different things to stop the pops and crackles before I found that page. New computer with compatible chipset sorted it out straight away. Would be nice if the info was a bit more transparent.
July 11th, 2009 at 10:27 am
I’ve been researching a small DAW system utilizing the Presonus Firestudio Project and Cakewalk Sonar 8 Producer software. Trying to find an affordable computer that meets all these prequalifications has been most frustrating. Any recommendations would be welcome! Here’s my list of qualifications, a BLEND of Presonus and Sonar’s recommendations: (if ya see an error, please let me know!)
RECORDING STUDIO DAW COMPUTER
REQUIREMENTS FOR USING CAKEWALK SONAR 8 PRODUCER and PRESOUNUS FIRESTUDIO PROJECT:
Any dual core or quad core processor plus
- Windows XP PRO or VISTA (32 0R 64 bit as of 6/24/09)
- Texas Instruments (TI) firewire port
(Firewire ports approved by Presonus : Agere/ LSI FW323, TI TSB4AB23, VIA VT6308.)
- DUAL 7200 rpm SATA drives (MUST have Oxford 924 bridging chip, according to Sweetwater.com)
- DVD+/- RW DUAL LAYER drive
- eSATA port for external HD storage- as recommended on Yahoo Home Recording forum
- PCI(e) port (?)- What is this for? Came recommended on Yahoo Home Recording forum.
- 3+ USB2 ports
NO ATI Radeon 9000/90001 IGP video chipset
NO USB /firewire and s400/s800 combo cards –“get firewire card that ONLY has s400 firewire connections, with preferably a Texas Instruments or VIA chipset”-Presonus
NO USB/ firewire cards with NEC chipsets
NO motherboards with Nforce 4 chipsets
NO Soundblaster Audigy card
Avoid the NVIDA GForce 7300 LE graphics card- noisy! (ASUS EN7300GT Silent- is quiet, no fan!)
Almost any VIDEO card will do, provided it is FANLESS, is NOT “INTEGRATED” video, and CAN SUPPORT DUAL MONITORS (multicard setup?)
Sound card- avoid “INTEGRATED SOUND”- really not important because the Presonus interface provides the sound from the recorded files.
July 11th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
I put together a Quad-core computer that functions just fine with my PreSonus Firestudio for about $400 on Newegg. I didn’t find it all that challenging.
Going with an Intel motherboard solves many of the chipset issues.
Purchasing a separate PCI Firewire card with the appropriate chipset helps too. Firewire isn’t pushed aggressively on most PC motherboards and expecting a Firewire slot with the correct chipset to be bundled with your motherboard dramatically reduced your chipset options.
I’ve never even heard of that and therefore don’t know why it is required. I’m still using 2 ATA drives (along with one SATA 3 drive) in my system. I pay the bills with it. Hans Zimmer would need a more hardcore rig, but the last I saw he had like a 20 computer rig.
I don’t have this. While I don’t use external hard drives with my rig often, when I do I just plug in via USB 2.0.
It’s a PCI express port. Why it is absolutely required is beyond me. I certainly have it.
I took a chance and used the integrated video on my motherboard. I’ve been thrilled with the performance. I’ve not experienced any video problems. I could be taking a performance hit, but it seems to be running fine.
You are going to have a hard time finding a motherboard that doesn’t have integrated sound so I’d leave that off your requirements. Instead, forget about this one and then disable the integrated sound in the BIOS later.
It sounds to me that most of the advice you received is pretty good, but they recommended a few bells and whistles that aren’t absolutely essential. Approaching those as if they are required is going to limit your options dramatically.
Brandon
October 12th, 2009 at 9:33 am
As it has been a real struggle – I would very much like a list of working componets for a DIY recording PC running a Presonus interface with Reaper …it could be emailed to me if posting this info was frowned upon – (i.e. may be seen as paramount to an endorsement)…
October 21st, 2009 at 5:04 pm
I gave up trying to get straight answers from Dell, et. al. They would say they would check and see who made the firewire chip (must be Texas Instrument) and then not call back. It just got to be a big hassle. So I did what Brandon did, bought a recording computer. He got his from Sweetwater; I got mine from Reyniers Audio. My advice: pay a little more for the piece of mind of having a computer put together from the ground up to record audio. My home computer is enough of a hassle. I can’t imagine my band waiting for me to fix a buggy audio computer.
Mike
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Actually, I’ve built all my own computers although I do recommend going that route if a person has the extra cash and doesn’t want to deal with the hassles.
Brandon