[LAU] Focusrite Saffire line

[sevol]

Pieter Palmers wrote:
> sevol wrote:
>> Pieter Palmers wrote:
>>> sevol wrote:
>>>> Hi People,
>>>>
>>>> I'm thinking of getting one of the Saffire audio interfaces from 
>>>> Focusrite.  Anyone on the list using these units & happy with the 
>>>> results? This, a little off-topic & subjective: happy with the pres 
>>>> & conversion?
>>>>
>>>> The SaffireLE,
>>>>
>>>> http://www.focusrite.com/products/saffire/saffire_le/
>>>>
>>>> , is the one I'm eyeing. As far as I can tell it's very similar to 
>>>> the Saffire,
>>>>
>>>>   http://www.focusrite.com/products/saffire/saffire/
>>>>
>>>> , only with 6 in/8 out compared to 4 in/10 out, & minus the 
>>>> hardwar-powered plug-ins. I like having 2 more ins, & wont miss 2 
>>>> less outs. & I imagined the plug-ins, ahreware-powered or software 
>>>> woulkd be useless under Linux. But the recent thread on the M-Audio 
>>>> Profire 2626 leads me to believe, maybe the times are changing.
>>> I personally think times are changing, but change is slow...
>>>
>>>> I'm curious whether the DSP plugins might work in linux with FFADO. 
>>>> Actually, true functionality of any of these models seem to require 
>>>> software to adjust settings, so, what limitations are people 
>>>> noticing right now running these in Linux? & will the pending beta 
>>>> release of FFADO address the Saffire plug-in Suite hardware-powered 
>>>> use & whatever other issues there are, if there are? Or is this a 
>>>> Wine solution?
>>> As things stand now, there are no plans to support the saffire's 
>>> internal plugins. And if I do support for any (hardware or software) 
>>> plugins related to these devices, I'll do whatever I can to make them 
>>> native instead of WINE.
>>
>> I'm not really disappointed - hadn't given the DSP stuff much chance 
>> of use atm. If/When the time comes, native has got to be better.
>>
>> Somehow the plugins thing hijacked my thoughts. In fact, certain other 
>> issues seem more critical & pressing. Like, the front on the LE has 4 
>> nice knobs: 2 level controls for frontside inputs 1 & 2; 1 for levels 
>> of backside Main outs 1 & 2; & 1 for headphone levels. That seems to 
>> leave a lot of input & output control unaccounted for, except via the 
>> Saffire Control LE software GUI.
>>
>> & this would be a no-show in Linux, right? I guess the 2 analogue 
>> line/instrument-in levels on back can be controllrd by, if existant, 
>> volume knobs on whatever devices are connecting to them. So, maybe 
>> that's covered. & sample rates will probably be handled by JACK/JACKCTRL.
>>
>> Then though, the MIDI Through is activated by a software switch. & the 
>> High Gain switches for Instrument level sources is software 
>> controlled. The S/PDIF external sync switch, likewise, & the same 
>> situation as the nonworking S/PDIF input of the Firepod. A lot of the 
>> output & mixing capabilities are based in software too. Is there going 
>> to be a way to manage these? Full details not necessary, but could you 
>> reveal the gist of what'll be lost?
> 
> All input/output gain controls and configuration switches that are 
> provided by the saffire control panel on other OS'es are supported in 
> the FFADO codebase. We have control panels for all of the Saffire 
> devices, and they are fully featured (except for the DSP stuff on the 
> saffire white). There might be some bugs in them, but we have all info 
> to fix them. The only thing you shouldn't expect is a fancy GUI... it's 
> all very basic PyQT rapid prototyping stuff, but it works. If someone 
> wants to tackle the GUI side of things, please do. The current prototype 
> gui's illustrate how to use the control interface.
> 
Excellent! This is great news & really better than hoped, even counting 
Focurite's full support. I'll take this chance & congradulate you early 
on these non-GMO babies, whatever the due date :) Hope the Mackie, Echo, 
& other vendor supported stuff is working out too.

>>>> Last, is anyone working on a clone of Pieter Palmers? That'd be 
>>>> pretty useful...
>>> I am. Still have about 30years of tweaking ahead though :).
>>
>> Ahh, then the rumors ARE true... had to ask, but 30yrs wait time  ;)
> Technically I guess it's not really a clone though... I'm afraid it's 
> going to be only a 50% genetic match. And as you might know that can 
> make a huge difference :).
>
I will have to give that a try :)

>>> Pieter
>>
>> Thanks for the info,
>>
>> sevol
>>
>> p.s.  Just read Andrew's message on the Freebob-devel list & see that 
>> the S/PDIF capabilities are looking better, at least with FFADO 
>> testing on the firepod. Hmmm...
> 
> S/PDIF on the firepod should work when using FFADO. You can even install 
> FFADO only for it's device control capabilities (clock source, mixer 
> settings) and then run jack with the freebob backend for stable streaming.
> 
Sorry, I was thinking out loud. S/PDIF - even FFADO - is beside the 
point re my pod. The sync light glow's blue, never changes & syncs to 
nothing. Use to sync up every 10th or 50th power cycle & stay a while, 
but those days are gone. As an interface it's worthless.

Perhaps it's just as well, my knowledge of linux is straight up flimzy. 
The only thing I 1/2-way understand is the pod problem.

> Greets,
> 
> Pieter
> 
best of luck,
		sevol
> 
> 
>