Members amplayer Posted December 6, 2006 Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 I am in the market for an upgraded front end to my DAW. I currently us an 828 MKII, but I need something way better: along the lines of the Apogee Ensemble. Unfortunately, I saw from their FAQ that the Ensemble requires power sequencing because it isn't hot pluggable.That is a major blunder in my opinion! There is no way every manufacturer can expect their own product to always be powered up first. Power sequencing means I can't leave my computer on all the time, and that is a deal breaker for me. Thank God I saw the FAQ before I plunked down my $2000! I think there are numerous Firewire and USB devices with similar restrictions. Considering I need something with excellent performance, what would you suggest? Edit: Changed power up of Ensemble from last to first. Original post was erroneous on that line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted December 6, 2006 Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 Originally posted by amplayer Unfortunately, I saw from their FAQ that the Ensemble requires power sequencing because it isn't hot pluggable.That is a major blunder in my opinion! There is no way every manufacturer can expect their own product to always be powered up last. Please excuse my addled brain, but I'm not sure I follow this. If it's not hot pluggable, doesn't that mean you have to power the Ensemble up *before* (or while) you turn on your computer, and not power it up last? I'm sure I'm missing something here, but I'm not sure what it is. In either case, I don't know of anything that can compare dollar to dollar with the Ensemble right now, but maybe next month at NAMM someone will announce something even cooler. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Alndln2 Posted December 6, 2006 Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 Originally posted by amplayer Power sequencing means I can't leave my computer on all the time Not sure what you mean by that. In either case, hot plugging has been known to burn out many 1394 inputs and or interfaces. Although I do it myself on rare occasion, it's something I try and avoid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members amplayer Posted December 6, 2006 Author Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 For everyone, here is the FAQ I'm talking about Apogee Ensemble Firewire Issue Basically, what this says is that you always have to power up the Ensemble before you power up the computer. For me, that means I wouldn't be able to leave my computer on all the time and only power up the Ensemble and other audio stuff when needed. I don't know about the rest of you, but I leave my computer on all the time and just put it to sleep when not in use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted December 6, 2006 Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 I power my computer off all the time. Could you leave the Ensemble on all the time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members amplayer Posted December 6, 2006 Author Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 Originally posted by UstadKhanAli I power my computer off all the time.Could you leave the Ensemble on all the time? For me, it isn't acceptable to leave an Ensemble on always:1) I have other I/O gear that I also need to power up, so if Ensemble was always on, I'd either need to put it on a separate power supply, or else I'd need to always power the other stuff as well. 2) Always powering a unit that has preamplifiers is just a bad idea IMHO unless the unit has a sleep mode. Just out of curiosity, why do you always turn on and off your computer? Sleep mode on computers burn almost 0 current (on good implementations). If only firewire and other audio I/O devices had sleep mode... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Alndln2 Posted December 6, 2006 Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 Well if you want another FW device with similar converter quality, you'll have to look toward Metric Halo or RME. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted December 6, 2006 Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 Originally posted by amplayer Just out of curiosity, why do you always turn on and off your computer? Sleep mode on computers burn almost 0 current (on good implementations). If only firewire and other audio I/O devices had sleep mode... I have disabled sleep mode on my audio computer, although I suppose I could command it to shut down. The other reasons include saving energy, and not using the computer for a day or more. If I used it all the time, then sure, I'd probably just go ahead and leave it on, but I don't. I'm open to any views on this, so if there's a reason I should be using sleep mode and leaving my computer on, I'm all ears (I have a G4 with an upgraded 1.5MHz processor running a dual boot of OS 9.2.2/10.3.7 and Pro Tools 5.1/6.4, in case it matters). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members amplayer Posted December 6, 2006 Author Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 Originally posted by UstadKhanAli I have disabled sleep mode on my audio computer, although I suppose I could command it to shut down. The other reasons include saving energy, and not using the computer for a day or more. If I used it all the time, then sure, I'd probably just go ahead and leave it on, but I don't. I'm open to any views on this, so if there's a reason I should be using sleep mode and leaving my computer on, I'm all ears (I have a G4 with an upgraded 1.5MHz processor running a dual boot of OS 9.2.2/10.3.7 and Pro Tools 5.1/6.4, in case it matters). I disabled all the energy saving features on my Mac so that they don't interrupt the audio processes. When I'm done for the session, I command the computer to go to sleep.I'd suggest doing the same because:1) Waking the computer up takes WAY less time than booting from power up.2) Waking up is much less stressful on the system than booting from power up.Of these 2 reasons, number 1 is the more important to me, although my understaning is that number 2 is important as well, especially for MTBF for hard drives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted December 6, 2006 Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 Originally posted by amplayer I disabled all the energy saving features on my Mac so that they don't interrupt the audio processes. When I'm done for the session, I command the computer to go to sleep.I'd suggest doing the same because:1) Waking the computer up takes WAY less time than booting from power up.2) Waking up is much less stressful on the system than booting from power up.Of these 2 reasons, number 1 is the more important to me, although my understaning is that number 2 is important as well, especially for MTBF for hard drives. Okay, thanks for the info. Of the two above, #2 would be more important because my computer boots up absurdly fast (probably because the thing has just about nothing on it except for Pro Tools and iTunes! ). Usually by the time I power everything up, including taking the external HDs out of the safe and connecting them turning on the other equipment, the computer's booted up anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members amplayer Posted December 7, 2006 Author Members Share Posted December 7, 2006 Update! I spoke with a tech support person at Apogee and it seems Apogee's online FAQ is out of date. According to the Apogee rep, the Ensemble no longer has a power sequencing issue. So... an Ensemble is in my future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bp Posted December 8, 2006 Members Share Posted December 8, 2006 I'd still take a strong look at a RME Fireface 800. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted December 8, 2006 Members Share Posted December 8, 2006 Originally posted by amplayer Update! I spoke with a tech support person at Apogee and it seems Apogee's online FAQ is out of date. According to the Apogee rep, the Ensemble no longer has a power sequencing issue. So... an Ensemble is in my future. that's cool. I have an Apogee Rosetta 800, which I would imagine have very similar (if not the same) converters, and I'm really happy with its conversion and ease of use. And you'll get four mic preamps as well if you get the Ensemble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members amplayer Posted December 9, 2006 Author Members Share Posted December 9, 2006 Originally posted by UstadKhanAli that's cool. I have an Apogee Rosetta 800, which I would imagine have very similar (if not the same) converters, and I'm really happy with its conversion and ease of use. And you'll get four mic preamps as well if you get the Ensemble. According to the Apogee rep, the Rosetta is a cut above the Ensemble in terms of conversion quality. Nevertheless, I think the Ensemble will be good enough for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members amplayer Posted December 9, 2006 Author Members Share Posted December 9, 2006 Originally posted by TinderArts I'd still take a strong look at a RME Fireface 800. I don't like the Fireface because it has the XLR inputs on the front. That is very inconvenient for me. The Fireface has great specs though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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