M-Audio FireWire Solo - appropriate for what I need? Compatible with FCP?

Hey all:
I'm shooting a video short next week with a DVX100. Eventually I'll need to do some voice over work in my... "studio." I have mics but need a preamp. The M-Audio Firewire Solo fits the budget comfortably. My minimum requirements are one XLR input and Phantom Power, which it has.
I'm just wondering if anyone has advice against the decision. I have very little experience with audio interfaces. Anything I should be watching out for? Any other suggestions? My budget tops out at $400US or so, but I don't want to overdo it, either. I'm not looking for something that will perform things I may need in the future, I just need a quality, compatible, reliable preamp.
Thanks in advance, everyone.
Michael

I teach in a school that uses Tapco Mix60 mixers (http://www.tapcoworld.com, approx $60) with FCP with great success. So much so, I bought one for use at home with my rig.
True, the whole path is analog. But using the speaker/microphone jacks on the back of a G5 work well. So far with about 30 students using the systems we have had no problems. Just buy some Hosa cables (Mini to 1/4” Phone Stereo Breakout) from your favorite supplier to connect the Mac to the mixer. Add a microphone and you are all set.
As a side note, I generally use Soundtrack Pro to record voice overs. It seems a little easier and I have access tools to make me, or talent, sound better.

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Is M-Audio FireWire Solo ok for Logic 9 ?

Is M-Audio FireWire Solo ok for Logic 9 ?

Yes. All M Audio interfaces work very well with Macs running Lion and Logic Pro 9. It all just depends on what specs you're looking for in an interface. Assuming the FireWire solo meeting your demands in terms of sample rate, bit depth, and ins and outs, go for it!!
Cheers,
Electrik

Anyone using M-Audio FireWire Solo for iChat audio output?

Audio output for iChat works perfectly through my G5 internal speaker but does not work through my FireWire Solo. It yields 100% digital distortion everytime the person on the other end speaks. Everything else in my setup works beautifully with my M-Audio device (Logic, Pro Tools, Reason, iTunes and all other applications).

You have landed in iSight Discussions. You may find better help in the Expanding your Power Mac G5 Discussions or iChat AV 3 Discussions area.
I do not use M-Audio or any of the other things you post about except iChat AV, and iChat AV does NOT work through my DP G5's internal speaker.
I offer the following possibilities for your consideration if you cannot find better help:
(0) When using iSight or iChat AV, you may be experiencing Possible hardware or software conflicts. This link gives tips for investigating that possibility.
(1) You may be trying to use M-Audio FireWire Solo for other than its intended purpose. The web site states, in part: The FireWire Solo is designed from the ground up as an easy-to-use, high-quality interface for songwriters to record guitars, vocals and more on the computer.Perhaps your M-Audio's documentation or the "Support" information linked on the web site can help you determine whether your device is compatible with iChat AV and your other AV equipment.

Suggestions between m-audio firewire solo versus tascam us-122?

I'm new to audio recording and garageband, and am looking to get into it for messing around to make decent sounding voice-overs and home studio music to integrate into my final cut projects.
Any suggestions between the two of these interfaces?
m-audio firewire solo
tascam us-122
(maybe even the m-audio fasttrack or mobile pre...although I don't mind spending a bit more for the above models instead)
I'll probably be buying either the mxl v67 condenser mic or the m-audio Nova to go along with it...mainly for vocals.
Thanks guys!

I think all of these are good audio interfaces, judging from what people tell about it. To throw in another alternative: If you're fine with two inputs, the Presonus Inspire is a good bargain at around 200 dollars.

Help with recording guitar on GarageBand using M-Audio Firewire Solo

Hello everyone. I hope someone can help me. I recently bought a new mac mini and M-Audio Firewire Solo to record music. I'm new at recording so I have no idea what to do.
The problem is when I record playing the guitar, the sound is so low, I can barely hear the guitar playing when I play it back. I turned the gain to maximum level and I still can barely hear the guitar record. I know it's recording because I can hear the guitar when I play the record back, but the sound is way too low.
The weird thing is that the microphone works fine and when I record vocals, I can hear the playback fine.
Did I miss anything? Is there a good setting for recording guitars using M-Audio Firewire Solo? Is it because M-Audio Firewire Solo is not compatible with the latest Mac Mini system?
Please help! Thank you!

I connect the guitar to the guitar input that is in front of M-Audio firewire solo using this cable: http://www.livewire-usa.com/products/products.cfm?sBrand=adv . Then I turn gain up to the maximum level.
When I play the guitar, you know the bar that goes green on garageband (not sure what it's called)? Even if I strum really hard, the green never goes up past 1/4 of the bar. When I'm using the mic and speak a bit loudly, I can see that bar turning red. So it seems like it's not reading the input properly, but really I'm not sure, so hopefully you'll be able to help me
I'm actually using the mac mini's speaker to hear the sound, so I'm not sure if it's only coming from one speaker or not.
Sorry if I miss any important detail. I'm a newbie. And as always, I appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions!

Recording mono tracks with m-audio firewire solo

I am having a devil of a time recording tracks (both xlr mic and 1/4" guitar input) to right and left channel...when I unclick stereo setting on track recording I don't get a level.
After I have recorded a voice or instrument in one channel I can't copy the track and bounce it to the other channel using the pan...what can I do? Is it the firewire solo that is messing this up or am I missing a setting?
I just want to be able to record mono voiceovers and guitar tracks in left and right channels in with soundtrack loops using a firewire audio interface.
Thanks...
middle school video teacher going crazy in dc...
Mac OS X (10.4.8)

My problem is pretty much the same except that I can get it to work with my microphone (which is channel 1).
(M-Audio Firewire solo)
From the recording tab I select firewire solo multichannel as the input) and i UN click stereo.
When using the microphone (channel 1) it works - I get a mono recording on a given track.
When I use the guitar (channel 2) it does not work.
(Note that, if I select stereo and play the guitar it works, but only records in one stereo channel and I want it to just record mono).
(Also note that I can get it to work in garage band where, for inputs you have the options of 1/2 stereo, 3/4 stereo, 1 mono, 2 mono, 3 mono, or 4 mono - all I have to do is select 2 mono and I can record from the guitar using mono).
So the problem is that I can get sound track pro to record from channel 1 mono, but not channel 2 since I can't find any setting, similar to garage band, where I can specify which channel to get the mono signal from and, I guess, by default it does it from channel 2.
I've been struggling with this and combing the web for ever and can't seem to find an answer for how to change this simple setting.
Help!

Soundtrack Pro + M Audio FireWire Solo = Confusing

Hardware in use:
-Mac Pro
-M-Audio FireWire Solo
Software:
Soundtrack Pro (latest version)
I could save a lot of backstory if the person reading this is already familiar with M-Audio FireWire Solo. It's an external Firewire interface for audio recording. It has two inputs on the front. One XLR (for my microphone) and one 1/4 inch audio in (for the guitar).
My goal is to record on two tracks simultaneously in STP. Right now I am able to do that in Garage Band using the current equipment, but STP gives me more control over the sound, so I want to switch over.
And now, for the problem. When I try recording using STP, there's an error message. The message pops up as soon as I set the "Input" on the "Recording Tab" (this tab is located in the upper right corner on default layout of STP). When I specify that I want, say, "Track 1" to receive audio from "Input Analog 1" (that's what I have channel one linked to), I get this error: "An Unexpected Problem. NSInternalInconsistencyException *-[NSCFArray replaceObjectAtIndex:withObject:]:mutating method sent to immutable object."
I then have an option to quit or click ok. When I click ok, it still doesn't get the signal from that individual input. Basically it's only letting me use multichannel, which puts both guitar and audio on the same track. This is bad because I can't edit them individually. Sorry for all the gibberish I just wanted to put as much specific information as possible.

Alright, you're very close to fully grasping my situation, and I'm really glad you posted the picture. Basically, just under where it says "input" I click & drag it to the M-Audio Multitrack option. But what it should have is "M-audio input 1" and "M-audio input 2" in that same pull-down menu. I tried to bypass this problem by going into preferences and setting the little "1" button for input 1, and "2" for input 2. So far so good. But as soon as I click the 1 or the 2, it gives me the error message listed above.

M-Audio FireWire Solo problems.

Hello all,
I am having trouble with my M-Audio FireWire Solo interface. (Does anyone else have this?!?) Anyway, about two weeks ago, GarageBand and FireWire were cooperating very nicely, but I turned on the computer today, and GarageBand isn't picking it up! There are no levels, no sounds, no nothing.
I looked in preferences, and the FireWire was set as my input source, and it said that it detected one interface as usual.
No tracks are muted or anything like that. GarageBand is updated, and I just updated the driver for the interface, too!
When I open the driver, it picks up the interface just fine! GarageBand is the only problem, and I have no idea what's going wrong!
Any help would be MUCH appreciated!
Thanks,
Blake
Mac OS X (10.4.10)

hey, firstly, your not the only one going through this, since the last 10.4.10 update, heaps of us musicians have notice fatal errors with the update, mainly, the mac not recognising our devices that were once working fine, but now with the update that are not being recognised by the mac.. check out the other threads and make a complaint to apple:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=4967716#4967716
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4884775&#4884775

"Line 6 TonePort UX2" vs "M-Audio FireWire Solo" vs "FIREPOD" with GB3

Hello Folks,
I just purchased GarageBand 3 and I want to get some hardware to be able to play and record my songs with good recording quality. I will be using my voice, a guitar, GaragaBand 3, and a music keyboard.
Has any of the PRO's here tried the "Line 6 TonePort UX2" and "M-Audio FireWire Solo"? They cost about the same.
I am also looking at the PreSonus FIREPOD.
1. What are the pros and cons of each with GB3?
2. Which one will allow me to make good quality recording of my voice and instruments?
Any comments and/or recommendations?
Thank you in advance for your time.
Cheers!

Your FireWire drive didn't stop working because of an OS upgrade. It may have died, but the OS change didn't "Stop supporting it" (I have 8 FireWire drives online, all the time, 2 of which are from about 6 years ago)
Everyone's needs are different, so only you can make the final decision, but like Schneb said, those are probably all good choices.
From my readings here I shy away from M-Audio because their driver updates have lagged behind OS updates. They DO update them, but sometimes people have been stuck because they updated their System without checking if there were new drivers yet, and then found they weren't available yet.
My opinion (IOW, if I were buying right now) would be one of the PreSonus products, neither of which require drivers (though the Inspire does have a software control panel, this is not necessary for the operation of the interface itself)
Once that decision was made, it would be a time to figure out future needs. If you think you might like to be able to record 8 tracks at a time, hands down, the FirePod would be my choice. If not, then the Inspire would be a fine choice.

Getting Soundtrack Pro to record with M-Audio Firewire Solo?

I'm having trouble trying to record 'live' into Soundtrack Pro. I've got a mic into analog mixer into M-Audio Firewire Solo audio interface into ibook set up.
In STP, I can select firewire channels 1 to 2 (under "Recording" tab) for the input device but nothing is recording when I hit the record button. the mic>mixer bit is working fine. I'm quite certain the mixer>audio bit is working so I think its a problem with compatibility between the M-Audio Firewire Solo device and Soundtrack Pro software....although it shows up as an option in the select audio input/output settings in STP... I've also got the latest Tiger driver for the Firewire Solo device and the latest update for STP.
I CAN record from the in-built mic on the ibook so that bit works...
Currently, I've been recording individual tracks into Audacity then exporting them all as separate tracks into Soundtrack Pro for post production as AIFF files (drag and drop them into STP in the order I require). I'm doing this as a temporary measure until I can find out how to get M-Audio Firewire Solo talking to Soundtrack Pro.
Anyone got any ideas?

Well, I got it working with Soundtrack Pro and Audio Hijack Pro in the end. It seems that only the front side of M-Audio FireWire Solo recording interface actually seems to work and only the right channel (mono). Its a little bit annoying but it works...not sure why the back ones did not work (s/pdif, balanced and unbalanced phone jacks plugs), perhaps its something to do with the fact that the front has gain level knobs and the back doesn't....hmm...maybe not enough power to drive the back connectors?
Anyway, if any of you happen to use M-Audio FireWire audio interfaces (analog to digital converter) and you face a similar problem, then its probably going to be a similar thing...

IMac and M-Audio firewire solo

Hi everyone!
I've recently bought an M-Audio firewire solo interface, installed the last certificated driver, shut down the system as recommended, plug in the interface and turn on again the system. Unfotunately Mac OSX doesn't recognize the interface.. I've tried it on my mac book pro and it does work perfectly, and the firewire 800 port on my iMac seems to work, cause I take my iMac to the assistance and they try a firewire hard disk that worked without problem.
Now my question is: how can i fixed this problem? does anyone suggest me to fotmat and reinstalling the OS or maybe try to install an update of the firmware? the iMac is new, bought on March of this year..
Thanks for your help, and sorry for my english!!
---Marco

The easiest way would probably be to put a pair of 6 pin to 4 pin adaptors (of opposite "genders") into the cable run, or to use a 6 pin to 4 pin cable with a single 4 to 6 pin adaptor on the end of it, vivajam. THis should cut the power supply from the Mac to the device.
http://www.granitedigital.com/catalog/pg20_firewiregenderadapters.htm seem to have the sort of thying you would need.
Cheers
Rod

Record sound from M-Audio Firewire Solo input with S/PDIF

Hey there, I am using a m-audio firewire solo and connect it to my mac mini 2013 with firewire cable. If I try to record sound from my guitar, it is ok, however the sound from S/PDIF input cannot be recorded. I can see the sound signal from the mac input preference, however it just cannot be played or recorded. I have searched through the forum and found some people also have the same problem but just cannot solve it. Does anyone have some idea? Thanks.

Have you selected the correct Input pair in a stereo Logic channel strip? Standard s/pdif is a stereo signal.
Also, the M-Audio device may have to be set to slave mode as the incoming digital signal will have to become the master digital clock for the M-Audio unit.
The M-Audio unit should probably be set to 48kHz, it's doesn't do 96hHz does it?

M-Audio Firewire Solo & Garageband...

I'm trying to get my M-Audio Firewire Solo to work with garageband to record piano via 1/4" cable from my left, or right, main out on the keyboard to the 1/4" "guitar" input on the interface; I'm getting nothing. The computer itself is picking up a signal when I check the input levels through my MacBook's "System Preferences," > "sound," > "input," and I have garageband's preferences set for the interface as the input and the computer's built-in output. Any suggestions? I've tried everything.

Are you using a real instrument track?
Have the correct input channel chosen in track info?
Track record enabled?

M-Audio Firewire Solo on Intel Macs?

Does anyone know whether the M-Audio Firewire Solo is compatible with the new Intel Macs. I've just ordered a MacBookPro and am looking for a non-USB audio interface so that I can record guitar tracks.
thanks

From M-Audio website:
M-Audio is pleased to extend support to Apple’s new Intel-based Mac computers by posting official Universal drivers for a host of USB- and FireWire-compatible peripherals including ProjectMix I/O, FireWire 410, Ozonic, Fast Track Pro, JamLab and many more.
http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=media.new&ID=705

M-Audio Firewire Solo: Compatible with Intel Macs?

Does anyone know whether the M-Audio Firewire Solo is compatible with the new Intel Macs. I've just ordered a MacBookPro and am looking for a non-USB audio interface so that I can record guitar tracks.
thanks

According to their web site, yes. Latest driver:
http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=support.drivers&k=driver&b=1&s=2&p=107a95014 9a9eada0f8629a61f1657f0&o=MacOS+10.4.4+-Intel&f=647

M-Audio FireWire Solo - appropriate for what I need? Compatible with FCP?

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