Tascam FIREONE Firewire Audio Interface

I recently upgraded to a MacBookPro with Logic 7 on it. I needed a control surface that was Firewire based and would allow good functionality and portability. This audio interface/control surface provides a nice touch. I went from an Ozone Midi controller to this because this one was Firewire-based AND I never was into using the keyboard. For my purposes, plugging a mic, guitar, bass and electronic drums this was a great option. It took a little bit of fiddling to work with a MacBookPro (with Tiger and Leopard) and involved a rollback of Firewire drivers/firmware which is available on the Tascam website.Without the rollback, the control surface will not work (or will work unpredictably). This is a Mac/Logic 7 issue. Anyway, I'm pleased. It looks great, works great (after Fix for Mac OS X 10.4.10 FireWire) and seems very durable.Time will tell.

Tascam killed this interface over 10 years ago. no support past vista 32 bit

I usually don't write such negative reviews, but for this shockingly, underwhelming supported device, I have to make an exception. There is NO 64bit OS support at all and the product is already considered a "Legacy" device. Their drivers for XP and Vista are weak and inconsistent at best. NO drivers for Windows 7 and they are not planning to support Windows 7 at all. The promised and advertised 192kHz recording will NEVER HAPPEN! That's right, THEY LIED about the added functionality.I am in the IT field and have personally worked with a few audio interfaces and this is by far the worst experience I've had. Pops, clicks, bad latency problems and more all wrapped up in a very pretty shell. I've worked with a very cheap M-Audio Mobile-Pre and even that has better support and even performs better. I've also worked with a PreSonus Firestudio Project, a M-Audio Delta 1010, an Echo Gina24 and more. None of them gave me problems like the Fireone does. I've learned my lesson and I know that taSCAM do not stand by their products.If you are into expensive paperweights I will highly recommend this device. If not, then stay far away from taSCAM. Good luck on finding an audio interface and I hope you look somewhere other than taSCAM.

If you've heard about lack of Vista compatibility, Tascam's German site has the new drivers for vista and Leopard compatibility. Just google it.I am not totally happy with my unit. I am using it under Tiger. The volume controls are grayed out in Garageband and other recording programs on the mac. Must be a driver issues. Anyway, it makes it hard to get adequate volume into my recordings without having to go back later and edit each track to get adequate volume levels. Which also introduces a certain amount of noise. Am i alone in having these problems? Hope for driver updates to solve this. Please.update: with garageband remote you can get the transport functions to work in Garageband. It's a bit involved as you have to use a midi output reader to see the values being output by the Fireone and then type them into the contol pane preferences of the Garageband Remote program but everything is explained in the zip file. I was able to figure it out. Even the Transport wheel works pretty good. So don't forget to program that for the rewind and forward buttons (wasn't obvious to me at first either). The stop button doesn't seem to work as a stop but as a rewind back to the beginning. Anyway, limited functionality of the buttons is better than none. No new drivers yet. Come on Tascam, update this thing. They haven't delivered as promised record rates yet, class action suit brewing?

Fireone is a great interface, producing crystal recordings...Be careful, though. It is a very touchy unit, even in XP, and requires a lot of trial and error to avoid popping/clicking in your projects.I had to dual boot my computer with XP and Vista just to run Sonar with my Fireone. After hours of embarrasing (working with clients) downtime, frustratingly working through impossible software issues, I had no other choice. Fireone WILL NOT work with Vista when recording with any premier audio software. I was only able to record with Adobe Soundbooth under the Vista platform, later tranfering to Sonar for editing.USE XP WITH YOUR FIREONE, AND IT WORKS GREAT.I love the control surface aspect. I love the portability, too. Good price, but shop around. The Firone is a very exclusive design, perfect for the small-time enthusiast. Well deserving of a 4/5!

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