Saffire Pro 40 - still worth a punt?

    Dear All,


    Apologies in advance for yet another interface thread... but we do them so well here :)
    I'm in the market to upgrade my M Audio 1814 FW (Reason: upgrade converters & preamps) and I've narrowed it down to either the Saffire Pro 40 , Scarlett 18i20 or the Roland Octa Capture. Budget roughly in this ball park...


    The Saffire has been out quite a while (2009?) now but this series seems pretty popular in these parts.
    Basically... if buying again would you still consider this or is there something else I've missed? Also any buyer regret? Latency issues? Any thoughts at all!
    The Scarlett looks like the identical USB model although I guess the drivers will be a lot less 'mature'!


    Basic requirements: Spdif, 6-8 instrument ins (I like to keep a fair bit of outboard gear plugged in), 2 outs. Not too bothered about additional DSP or more than 2 pre-amps. Shame really as apart from various Motu models they all seem to be combi jacks and I'm not overly convinced on whether you can ever really bypass these. Plus it must bump the price up. I'm leaning towards firewire as I have a fair bit already using the USB bus e.g midi connections, keyboard/mouse, external hard drive, various other things get plugged in now and again.e.g Live lauchpad.


    It's a shame that the likes of the Forte (none) or Babyface (Toslink) don't have Spdif connections...


    Any thoughts would be gratefully received :P


    Brett

    Suhr Classic Pro, Fender deluxe Strat & Baja Tele, Gibson ES335, Ibanez S Prestige 2170FW, Eastman AR371CE, Variax JTV > KPA > Patch bay inc. Strymons (Mobius, Timeline, Blue Sky), H9 Max, TC Triple Delay, & POD HD500 > Adam A7Xs

    I went with the new scarlet and I'm pretty happy. Once you get your head around the mix control software it's all a breeze. My latency reads at 6.8ms on logic at 32 samples and my laptop is 3 yrs old, 2.4 i5 macbook pro with 8gb ram and im usingthe slow internal harddrive. With the mix control you can do low latency tracking which feels pretty good although doesn't out as good as through the daw. I'd recommend, with spdif it makes life so much easier. I don't see the poi t in spending extra pounds on an intermediate interface like the forte etc which really is less flexible and doesn't sound any better due to the lack of spdif. I'd rather save that money and buy a slate plugin or something. The impact is more noticeable

    I've had a couple of interfaces before I got the Pro40 and they all had their drawbacks, but I must say I've been very satisfied with both the Pro40 AND Focusrite commitment.
    All my previous interfaces were let down due to lack of commitment of the manufacturer, not really for technical reasons.


    So if it would break down today, I would probably scan the market and see what's out there, but the Pro40 AND Focusrite would be the at the top of my list. :thumbup:

    I had to upgrade recently, too, because i wanted S/PDIF for reamping, which my tascam had not.
    i use windows 8, so i had to look for new drivers first. > it all came down to a focusrite or the roland quad.
    i bought the roland quad with an option to change to a focusrite. i reserved one bus of my mainboard exclusively
    for the usb soundcard, the quad. no problems at all!
    lightbox recommended a firewire solution, because there can be problems with too many hardware on the usb bus.
    i bought a firewire card if the usb connection would cause any problems and returned it to amazon, once all worked smoothly.
    so for me at last, with cubase and windows 8, i am happy with my roland. but this is only my setup.
    which OS do you use?

    My occupation: showing teenagers the many hidden secrets of the A-minor chord on the guitar.

    Quote from Brattcave


    Basically... if buying again would you still consider this or is there something else I've missed? Also any buyer regret? Latency issues? Any thoughts at all!


    I had the Focusrite Saffire Pro 26i/o for many years and I wanted to upgrade recently. I would have bought the Saffire Pro 40 but I wanted to avoid these combi jacks. So I went for the Liquid Saffire 56.
    As a long time Focusrite user I can tell you that I'm very happy with their products and most importantly their long time driver support. MixControl is a great piece of software once you get how it works. Very powerful and convenient. The only downside compared to my old 26i/o is the fact that the newer ones can't run standalone (without computer connected). But that's ok with me.


    The big benefit of having the Liquid 56 is the separate plugs on the backpanel. You can keep up to 16 devices connected (18 if we add the 2 Hi-Z inputs on the front panel) and you just select them using the MixControl software. I like that a lot! Another benefit of having the Liquid 56 is the fact that you have all connectors on the back panel, apart from the instrument inputs of channel 3 and 4 and the per channel setting of phantom power. The Liquid Preamps (the preamp simulation) is very good but probably nothing you really need to have.


    If you want to do band recordings you will like the zero latency mixes and the great routing options of the Focusrite MixControl, even individual mixes for each of the 2 Headphones Outputs.


    If you can deal with the 2 combi jacks on the front panel and if you can deal with the combi jacks on the back panel ... go for the Saffire Pro 40. It's a great piece of hardware. :)


    Cheers,
    Martin

    Thanks folks - your quality input is much appreciated :thumbup:


    Quote from AlexanderDoyle

    I don't see the point in spending extra pounds on an intermediate interface like the forte etc which really is less flexible and doesn't sound any better due to the lack of spdif.

    Definitely - I think they missed a beat omitting spdif on these types of devices...


    Quote from Geraldo7

    i reserved one bus of my mainboard exclusively
    for the usb soundcard, the quad. no problems at all!

    I'll have to look into how to do that - I've also amassed a plethora of usb devices. Using Win 7 64 but here btw.


    Quote from lightbox

    The big benefit of having the Liquid 56 is the separate plugs on the backpanel. You can keep up to 16 devices connected (18 if we add the 2 Hi-Z inputs on the front panel) and you just select them using the MixControl software.

    This has seriously turned my head. I'd overlooked this somehow - Many thanks Martin! Another factor here is that the i/o is all on the back - can't stand things hanging off the front of devices! Given my investment in the KPA along with some Adams A7X, the Pro 56 could well round things off nicely. It looks like the extra outlay would be worth it...


    Another hour of research on and I've taken the plunge on the Liquid Saffire. I can dedicate the Firewire bus to it and the i/o, routing options, and liquid pre-amps seem to fit exactly what I need. Should arrive tomorrow! Now the weak link in my setup is... er Me.


    Thanks one and all for your comments :thumbup:

    Suhr Classic Pro, Fender deluxe Strat & Baja Tele, Gibson ES335, Ibanez S Prestige 2170FW, Eastman AR371CE, Variax JTV > KPA > Patch bay inc. Strymons (Mobius, Timeline, Blue Sky), H9 Max, TC Triple Delay, & POD HD500 > Adam A7Xs

    Edited once, last by Brattcave ().

    Quote from Brattcave

    Basic requirements: ... 6-8 instrument ins ...


    Erm, maybe I should have noted that there are only 2 instrument inputs (Hi-Z) on the Liquid Saffire 56 and the Saffire Pro 40.
    But since I can't imagine you have 6-8 guitar heroes playing and recording DI at the same time, this shouldn't be an issue. Just wanted to add that bit of info. :)

    Quote from Brattcave

    Another hour of research on and I've taken the plunge on the Liquid Saffire.

    well, have fun with it, then. and do not forget to report whether things are going smoothly ... :cursing: or 8o



    cheers!

    My occupation: showing teenagers the many hidden secrets of the A-minor chord on the guitar.

    Saffire Pro 40 input channels require too much gain. I used to mic a Mesa MarkIV, cranked loud, mic touching the grill, and had to have the channel gain on the Saffire to around 7.5 to get a usable signal into the DAW. The real problem is the extra noise that brings in when the instrument is silent. I would go with a more recent platform. Just my two cents.