Presonus Firepod

Simultaneous 8 Track Recording

Anyone with a Presonus Firepod (your comments), and how do you record 8 Tracks simultaneously (in simple English), with N-Track 4.01. How does N-Track compare with Cubase LE. After you install Cubase LE (bundled with Firepod), how can you access the Cubase LE effect plugins, with N-Track 4.01. How do you use the Presonus Firepod as a standalone Mic Preamp. Any other tricks would be appreciated.

Quote (chrisval @ Nov. 13 2004,16:07)
Anyone with a Presonus Firepod (your comments), and how do you record 8 Tracks simultaneously (in simple English), with N-Track 4.01. How does N-Track compare with Cubase LE. After you install Cubase LE (bundled with Firepod), how can you access the Cubase LE effect plugins, with N-Track 4.01. How do you use the Presonus Firepod as a standalone Mic Preamp. Any other tricks would be appreciated.

You need to do the following:

1. Click on the Firepod system tray icon and select your sampling rate (e.g. 44.1KHz, 48KHz, 96KHz, etc.)

2. In n-Track, click on the Preferences icon (5th from the left in the top toolbar). Select the same sampling rate you set your Firepod to in Step #1. Then, click on the Audio Devices button and in the Recording Devices column select all the WDM inputs in pairs (1/2, 3/4, 5/6, 7/8) by clicking while holding down the Ctrl button or by clicking on the first and then clicking on the last with the Shift key held down. Select channels 1/2 of your Firepod for playback if you wish to be able to play some track back to the Firepod for monitoring in the Firepod's mixer while you overlay new recorded tracks.

You'll now have a levels meter for each input and output channel.

3. For each pair of levels meters, click on the little hammer symbol at the bottom and decide how you want each pair of channels to be treated: as a stereo pair or as separate mono channels (most likely). Also, set the bit depth at which you'll be recording (16 or 24 bits). For 24 bits, the plain "24" worked for me.

4. For each pair of levels meters, click the little red dot and select which of the two paired channels you wish to be recorded and which should be ignored (for each pair, n-Track refers to the left and right; thus, for channels 3/4, left is 3 and right is 4).

5. Record! If you've activated both left and right channels for each of the 4 channel pairs, you'll be recording all 8 channels at once.

You may want to play with the Firepod's latency setting (via the system tray icon), trying lower and lower settings until things no longer work. Then, move back to the last setting that worked. Similarly, from the n-Track Preferences dialog box (see Step #2), you can try increasingly lower buffer settings in n-Track. The idea is to reduce the delay between when you hear an existing track played back in your headphones and when the track being newly recorded is actually recorded, so that the two are in sync as best as possible.

David

Thank You, David, I was thinking for a moment, that everyone had forgotten about me. Your help was greatly appreciated. I will be recording Ch. 1 & 2 as mono (2 mics.) and Ch 3 - 8 as three sets of Stereo inputs, on N-Track of course, Drums & Bass (arranger module Korg i5M), together on one set, Stereo Guitar on another set, and Stereo Strings on the third set. I use a Peavey 8 Channel Stereo Powered Mixer (XRD680S+) for my LIVE setup, and I am hoping to record every show (with the Firepod), from start to finish, and then edit the songs at a later date.
I have been recording every show up to now, with an M-Audio Firewire 410, using a program called Polderbits, recording in Stereo (Stereo Line Out), on a similar basis, start to finish, and then edit at a later date. Will my Notebook, Compaq 2538 CL (Pentium 4, 2.6Ghz, with 1Gig RAM), cope with recording 8 Channels at one time, as compared to 2 Channels at one time with the Firewire 410.
Is this the best way to record, all inputs into the Firepod, and then line outs from the Firepod into the Peavey Powered Mixer? As I have no one to monitor the recording, while I am performing, do you have any other suggestions?
Just a couple more questions. The Firepod has trim controls on each Channel, and my Peavey Powered Mixer does not. What will be the difference in the overall LIVE SOUND? I know you have some experience with the Firestation, which could be used as a standalone preamp. How do I use the Firepod as one? Lastly, what is the longest length of Firewire cable I can use between the Firepod and the Notebook Computer, without any problems? Thanks very much, in anticipation, sorry about my lack of knowledge, but I am willing to LEARN. Regards Chris Valladares.

drgreenburg and chrisval,

if you guys get a chance, let me know what you think of the firepod. i’m looking at getting something to do multiple input recording (8-10 channels) and firewire. i think i’ve narrowed it down to the firepod or the edirol FA-101. they both seem to be in my price range.

i’d like to continue to use n-track, but i know the firepod comes with cubase le. any input on the ease of use with the firepod and its compatability with N would be great. thanks.

lates

t-willy