# Anyone use the M-Audio Profire 610?



## Anthony

We got one of these for work for signal processing (non-audio applications). It is really well built and I like the interface, but it has been problematic. It is VERY sensitive to the firewire controller in the computer.

We originally put in on a Toughbook CF-30 and the device disappeared randomly while we were using it. The TB has a VIA chipset, IIRC. Bought a Belkin firewire PCMCIA card for my Dell laptop (no internal firewire) and it works great. The Belkin card has a genuine Texas Instruments (TI) chipset, which is apparently the standard.

Something about time-slicing and latency makes non TI chipsets screw up with firewire audio. The TI chipset has been rock solid, though. Now that it is working, it is a great audio card.

6 inputs, 10 outputs, phantom power for mics, hybrid TRS-XLR connectors, low noise, and can be used as an inline DAC with no computer connection.

If anyone here does have one (or needs help with one), chime in. I will help when/where I can.

Anthony


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## ejbragg

This looks a lot like Digidesign's small footprint interfaces for ProTools. Our studio had a small mobile unit set up with this type of audio, and it worked pretty well, aside from the delay during live tracking. I assume, with M-Audio's reputation, they took care of the delay problem. ...(?) Or can you say?


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## Anthony

It was never a problem with the unit, it is just sensitive to the controller.

TI chipset on a desktop: works fine all the time
TI chipset on a laptop or PC card: mostly works fine as long as you shut off all other processes (so it doesn't get interrupted)
Non TI chipset: hiccups in the playback audio, dropped interface (whole soundcard goes away), etc -- unusable.

Thankfully M-Audio does have good support and they recommend specific cards that are known to have the TI 1394 chipset. 

I was sold on M-Audio a few years back when their tech support got me all the impedance and voltage data for their MobilePre soundcard. I was making a component test rig for some speaker building experiments and those parameters were not in the documentation. Their support team is definitely knowledgeable and helpful.


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## FenderBender

I just bought the M-Audio Profire 610, and I am having playback issues. I think it's due to incorrect audio settings rather than an equipment problem, but I may be wrong...

(Dell xps9000, i7 core 920, 8G ram, 1T memory, Windows 7 64-bit)

I am not sure of the manufacturer of the firewire hardware in my PC, all I know is that it came with a jack already on in the back of the PC, next to the USB ports.

The playback is cutting in and out whether I'm using Cubase or just playing a song in Windows Media.

I'm thinking its related to the sample rate/buffer size combination because it seems to get better when I up the sample rate and drop the buffer size, but it still does not correct the problem.

So, is it my equipment, or just incorrect audio settings? 

Thanks


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## DragonMusic

Do you have a virus scanner or something else running. Seems to that something is running in the background.


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## FenderBender

I wouldn't doubt it...but I don't think I do, I normally try to close all running programs that are on my task bar, but I don't see an icon for my virus software, although I'll get warnings that pop up saying that my software has stopped a virus every once in a while...


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## DragonMusic

If you have one it's probably running, so is your firewall.
Try to disable it, and your Internet connection too. Don't let it run, especially your LAN or WIFI connections.


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## FenderBender

Okay I'll give that a shot, I appreciate it & will let ya know what happens...


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## Kirill

Hi there Anthony. I have a smaller version for small works, that is called M-Audio FireWire 410.

The main advantage is a sample rate, me version can go to 24bit/ 96kHz , *yours in fact can go up to 192kHz*... The amount of simultaneous I/P and O/P is exact same as on 410:

6 I/P - 2 XLR Mic; 2 1/4" TRS; Stereo S/PDIF-In
10 O/P: 8 Analogue 1/4" TRS Line-Out; Stereo S/PDIF-Out

So I personally only see a good side of it is the Higher Sample rate, and that's about it...

Kirill


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## Anthony

I couldn't find the 410 for sale anymore from our usual vendors (Newegg, zzounds, musicians friend, etc). Looks like the 610 replaced it. I like the 610 and think most of the problems it has would occur on any streaming firewire device.

I have another data point for the computer interaction / problems.

Used a Dell T7400 tower (dual quad core Xeon) with the internal Firewire port (TI chipset on the motherboard). Ran it continuously for hours several days in a row with no difficulties (and didn't have to turn off the networking, virus scan, etc).

Dell Latitude D620 (dual core, Core2). Did okay (never lost the soundcard), but would occasionally hiccup for a split second. Sadly, that was enough to disrupt our testing experiment, so we had to lug the giant tower to our customer.

So it looks like horsepower and the TI chipset are key. Any interrupt to the data stream will translate into a measurable hiccup at the device. I guess that's the price you pay for near zero latency. So go with multi-cores and all the RAM you can afford to minimize any issues.

But I will say it again, since moving to genuine TI chipset firewire ports, I have NEVER lost the device entirely. The only issues since then were split second drops in the streaming audio, and even then only on an older, slower, computer.


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## FenderBender

*I think I finally got it figured it out...apparently my PC thinks it can re-enable WLAN wireless drivers that I have disabled all by itself, without my consent. So after finally realizing what was going on, I uninstalled the drivers and bingo! No playback issues...Ultimately, I still don't know what the primary source that caused this to happen, is it the WLAN wireless card, it's drivers, Windows 7, or does my PC have a mind of it's own?
Oh well, I can take that up with Dell @ a leter time...I'm just happy everything is functioning like it should....for the time being.....

Thanks again for everyone's help! *


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## DragonMusic

No, your PC is just fine. It's a known problem if your internet connections are enabled. It can happen. Don't know why it's happening to one user and the other one is fine.

Always try to minimize the background processes when recording and mixing. That's why there is no internet in my studio.


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## FenderBender

Touché  well on the bright side, I definitely broadened my knowledge of computers! Well thanks for the help!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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