OT - Using Presonus Firepod with Vegas

Steve Mann wrote on 2/2/2012, 6:11 PM
I have a shoot this weekend where it would be nice to get more channels of audio, so I founf my Presonus Firepod FP-10 (the original one) and attempted to set it up with Vegas (pro 11).

I think the last time I used it was probably with Version 6 or 7 of Vegas.

I installed the firepod drivers, and in the windows Audio panel I see the firepod channels. But, in Vegas, I arm for record, but I can't see the Firepod channels on the inputs list.

Anyone else using the Firepod or similar external audio I/O that can tell me if I missed a step somewhere?

Thanks


EDIT - I found it in Preferences/Audio Device. But I am still having some problems, so anyone else using a Firepod?

Comments

deusx wrote on 2/2/2012, 9:02 PM
Yes it's under preferences/audio and you should have ASIO drivers option.

I assume you've already found that. I don't have that interface, but it should work the same as my fireface. You don't say what kind of problems you're still having. The only time I had any kind of a problem and managed to get a BSD was with a sampling mismatch between the interface and Vegas. Vegas default is 48k and my Fireface was set to 24 bit / 96k. You may want to check for that.

Other things. Once you select your interface drivers and input/outputs in preferences you have to right click on your track and make sure it is set to record those same inputs ( there is a record inputs option when you right click somewhere under track's number or record ready button ) .

Even if you do select the right ones ( default would usually be 1 and 2 for stereo left and right ) you may have to go into your interface's software and re-rout your inputs to corresponding outputs. Hard to say exactly since I don't have the same interface. On mine I have a mixer with a bunch of input/output faders. I can either mix them down to stereo and send to whatever stereo pair and select that as my track's input in Vegas, or I can set each track in Vegas to record directly from each output from the mixer.
Hulk wrote on 2/3/2012, 9:22 AM
One other thing. If you have wireless on that laptop DISABLE IT WHILE YOU ARE RECORDING AUDIO! I have found that with that interface and driver combination it produces a dropout every 30 seconds or so when recording. It did this for me on 3 different system. It *might* not happen to you but it's easy enough to disable the wireless device while you're recording and then enable it when you're finished. Also, do a test recording of 3 minutes minimum with constant audio so you can check for dropouts before recording.

The FP10 should work fine with Vegas I used to use mine with version 10 no problem and I use me Firestudio Tube with 10 no problem as well. The sample rate mismatch is a good thing to check as well as making sure in audio devices you have the FP10 selected. It'll revert to Windows audio for some reason every once in a while.

- Mark
ForumAdmin wrote on 2/3/2012, 10:17 AM
Hulk, good advice. I've found that to be true as well. It seems to improve a little if you use an express firewire card, rather than the internal firewire card, which uses a Ricoh chipset on most laptops. Still, you'll be much better off disabling the wireless card while recording.

Steve, if you're still having trouble getting Vegas to recognize the interface, another suggestion would be to try different drivers. Presonus provides several Firepod driver versions for Windows 7, one labeled FP-10 and another labeled Firepod. My interface says Firepod on the front, but will only work with the FP-10 driver. Go figure.

Paddy
SCS
fldave wrote on 2/6/2012, 8:51 AM
Sorry, just saw this. I set up a separate user on my windows vista laptop for FP10 recording, and disabled most windows startup items and wireless network. Someone also suggested "ASIO For All" drivers instead of the Presonus drivers, less latency issues. No issues at all using Vegas 8, with 8 channels running in.
Steve Mann wrote on 2/6/2012, 10:29 AM
Thanks for all the input. The shoot went well and the six mics in the orchestra area recorded via Vegas Pro 11 just fine. I think the problem was mostly from not using the Firepod for several years. But once I selected the audio device in prefs, things finally started to click.

I also learned that my 100-ft 20-channel (16+4) snake is way overkill. And a back-breaking 75-pounds. (It didn't seem that heavy ten years ago). I promised my assistant that we would buy a 50-ft 8-channel snake (8+0) for the next project with this client.