firestudio project set up question

I am considering purchasing the Presonus firestudio project

Please could someone advise me on the following.

My laptop spec is as follows:
Samsung P510
Intel core 2 duo T6400 @ 2.00Ghz, 2Gb RAM XP service pack
I can upgrade memory to 4Gb is necessary

I would be also purchasing a 7200rpm firewire external hard drive plugged into firewire on the back of the firestudio.

I would also buy an express card "Startech EC13942"

Is this an adequate and sensible set up.

Would this system be capable of recording 10 tracks at once and playing back 24?

I have a fgood anal;og mixer which I like to use for compression reverb etc. If I turn the gain down on a line input will it not use the presonus preamp.

Plus one last question can I daisy chain another presonus firestudio project if I want to. I thought you could and then read an article that said you couldnt.

I would be very grateful for answers to these questions.

rog999 wrote:I am considering purchasing the Presonus firestudio project

A fine choice depending on what you want it for

Please could someone advise me on the following.

My laptop spec is as follows:
Samsung P510
Intel core 2 duo T6400 @ 2.00Ghz, 2Gb RAM XP service pack
I can upgrade memory to 4Gb is necessary

I would be also purchasing a 7200rpm firewire external hard drive plugged into firewire on the back of the firestudio.

I would also buy an express card "Startech EC13942"

Is this an adequate and sensible set up.

The concern I have here is regarding the chipset that runs your PCI-Express bus. I had a look at the Samsung site and I cannot find what company makes the chipset for it. The concern here is whether or not it is a Ricoh, JMicron or VIA or other. Some chipsets will affect how the PCI-Express bus will function. If you already have this notebook I recommend you run the OHCI tool on it to make sure it will function properly. If it is a Ricoh there is a chance it will not function even with the StarTech card.

Would this system be capable of recording 10 tracks at once and playing back 24?

It should if there are no other problems

I have a fgood anal;og mixer which I like to use for compression reverb etc. If I turn the gain down on a line input will it not use the presonus preamp.

Not sure what you're asking here. From what I can tell, I think you're asking if you can use the preamps in your analog board instead of the preamps in the FSP. It is possible if you have direct outs on your board you could use them but they are usually pre-EQ and effects. Your option here would be a mix on the board and then to two inputs of the FSP. Most of us bring the signal into the Audio Interface dry in this case and add effects inside the software. There are other ways but more information will make this easier to see.

Plus one last question can I daisy chain another presonus firestudio project if I want to. I thought you could and then read an article that said you couldnt.

Don't believe everything you read...except the manual http://www.presonus.com/media/manuals/FireStudioProjectManual%20v2-web.pdf page 24. Yes you can daisychain the FireStudio Project with itself and several other firestudio devices. I am leary of whether or not the laptop has the horsepower for that many connections simultaneously. It might but I don't know for sure.

I would be very grateful for answers to these questions.

Welcome to the forums.

Many thanks for your detailed response to my post

The ochi tool gave me the following

OS: Microsoft Windows XP 32-bit Professional Service Pack 3 [5.1.2600]
Looking for OHCI 1394 Host Controllers...
Done.

Roger

Sorry, had an idiot moment. OHCI Tool won't work without all the devices connected. Forgot that part.

It should test fine once the Startech card is installed. You have a strong chance that everything will work fine.

There are often tweaks required to get Windows to play nice with audio interfaces. The most common are in the link I posted for you.

If it doesn't work right out of the box or you can't get enough channels then it might be time to start tweakung. Give a yell in here and the kind folks will help you out. And Presonus tech support is even better than that.

Hope all that helps.

I am using a Firestudio Tube with an HP Elitebook 8530w. It has a Ricoh chipset for the firewire and for the PCI express and with the latest drivers I can run with either the onboard firewire or with a Startech card that has a TI chipset. I have recorded 8 channels at one time with no issue and hardly a blip on the cpu performance meter. Here is the kicker, before the latest drivers for the firestudio I couldn't even get the Startech card to work. Oh ya I think I have the built in Ricoh firewire set to Legacy driver also but the Startech is using the Ti driver.

I gotta tell ya xzb6np, you're one of the rare few. From everything I've dealt with and seen Ricoh chips are not to be trusted. I'm glad you're running though.

It wasn't even working with the startech card until the last set of drivers came out. The bam.. it all started working. Guess I got lucky.

Very lucky, I think if we can afford to give it enough time, Presonus will come up with a solution for this Ricoh problem. This driver making your system work is a sign that things are moving in the right direction.

I have a Dell Precision M65 laptop, t7200 Intel dual core 2.00ghz, 2gb ram, with the 1394 port that came with it...

I can't tell what the chipset is for the 1394, but with firestudio project and studio one I am having cut outs and noise and cant record a track, I take it that I need a new 1394 card?

as I read the post above I looked for my pci-express bus, and I think its Intel....

So should I get the startech card or do I need to do something else?

any thoughts?

T.

Hi Tristan,

I sent you a response to your PM. Could you post the full model number of your Dell? You can usually find it on a sticker on the bottom of the laptop.

That will allow me to have a better look under the hood. We will be able to work from there.