Review: M-Audio Profire 2626 Firewire Audio Interface

It’s been a really long time since we’ve had a gear review here, probably because I haven’t bought any gear for almost a year. There’s a lot to cover in this one.

For a long time I’ve been looking for an alternative to my Digi 002R, a product I’ve never been completely happy with, and paid way too much for. When the Profire 2626 was announced I was immediately intrigued. It seemed to have all the features I needed and wanted plus it worked with Pro Tools, and it didn’t cost a fortune. I finally got to borrow a Profire 2626 from work along with an iLok so I can try it out on my system.

Features

• 8 analog inputs and outputs
• Signal and Clip indicators on analog inputs
• 8 Octane microphone preamps and 2 instrument inputs
• -20dB pads on each preamp by pulling gain knob
• 16 ADAT Optical inputs and outputs
• 2 channel S/PDIF  I/O
• Wordclock ports for sync
• MIDI in/out
• 2 headphone outputs
• 1 U rack space design
• Software control panel/mixer for low latency free monitoring

Installation

Set up went very smoothly. I downloaded the latest driver from M-Audio’s website. Ran the program, turned off the computer, plugged in the Profire, turned it on and started the computer. Windows found the new hardware, installed drivers automatically and within a minute I was playing music from Foobar 2000 out the Profire. Now why is that anything to write about, well previously with the 002R I had to play music through the onboard pc soundcard, with a cable going into the 002 alt input and push a button on the front to send it to the speakers. The Profire just works.

DSP Mixer and Routing

This took a bit to wrap my head around, I’ve never had an interface with a dsp mixer, the 002 didn’t even have a control panel! I had a brief run glance through the manual (again a download from M-Audio) and then I remembered the tutorials Jeff Dykhouse (at HowAudio) did not too long ago. The dsp mixer allows you to route the input directly to the outputs for zero latency monitoring and custom cue mixes. This is something I’ve got no experience with, in fact I usually tell people not to use the the “mix knob” on their usb interfaces and always monitor through the software. I can definitely see the benefit with this, but it’s no good if I want to monitor through effects.

Preamps

The preamps are very clean and low noise compared with any preamp I’ve owned previously. I would consider these on par with the Presonus Digimax series, 1000x better than the 002, which is unusable. I love that there are -20dB pads on all the preamps. The ProjectMix I/O is an excellent interface, but it’s useless for recording drums because the preamps have no pads, turned all the way down they still clip like a mofo. Not the case with the Profire 2626, I’d have no problems with recording drums with it.

MIDI, S/PDIF, BNC Wordclock Connections

To save space on the interface, a few of the connections are on a short breakout cable that connects to a 9-pin D-SUB jack on the back.  There are no pictures of this that I can find online, or in the manual, so I took a picture of the actual cable.

Working With Pro Tools M-Powered

Along with the 2626 I borrowed an iLok so I can try it out with Pro Tools M-Powered. Installation went smoothly for me, largely because I know what I’m doing. I got the PTMP 7.4 download from the dealer site, installed, restarted, got the latest CS update (the Profire came out after 7.4 was released and requires at least CS 5), installed and restarted.

Opened up Pro Tools and did the Dverb test. Previously my computer could do a maximum of 220 dverbs, the Profire has a larger maximum buffer of 2048, I can now exceed 260 Dverbs. My old pc with a dual core AMD processor would max out at about 80 dverbs. The new quad was definitely worth the money. The lowest buffer size is 128, which is pretty good for monitoring with plugins IMO.

I think Pro Tools is also more stable with this interface.

The Negative Stuff

• It’s not the perfect interface, but I’d say its pretty close. There are a few things I’ll miss having.
• No Mono button
• No Mute button
• Master volume control is digital, there is not a lot of resolution in the counter clockwise position. Turning it up slowly, it remains silent for a bit then it suddenly turns up, not loud but not quiet enough either. I need to open the software control panel for fine adjustment of volume.
• There is constant soft white noise from the speakers with this on, there are lots of clicks and noises when you first turn it on that get sent out of the speakers. This wouldn’t happen with a real analog volume control.
• Headphone out 1 is not independent of the master output, maybe I have something configured wrong but I have to have the speaker volume up to hear anything out the headphone amp. I don’t get it.
• Power supply is a “line lump” ac adapter rather than a full size IEC cable with big transformer. Seems “unprofessional” but of course that keeps this a 1U rack space and the weight down.
• DSP Mixer can only handle 18 I/O at once. I saw a post on GearSlutz by an M-Audio engineer saying more than that would require an additional DSP chip and much higher pricetag.
• Setting up this to work with Skype has stumped me at the moment. I can send my mic through skype no prob, but to playback something pre-recorded doesn’t get sent out.
• Only 18 I/O available in Pro Tools. This is a limitation from Digidesign in the software, all 26 I/O are available in any other DAW and you can even daisy chain them for more. This really isn’t a limitation for me, I don’t own a single piece of outboard gear (yet) and rarely use more than 2×2 I/O

The verdict

The pros far outweigh the cons on this interface, it’s a major upgrade from the Digidesign 002 Rack and I’m thoroughly enjoying playing around with it this weekend. I’m expanding and simplifying my DAW at once.

I have no choice, I have to buy it.

Also Interesting:

1. M-Audio Axiom 61 Review
2. Vocal recording update and mini gear review
3. Getting Started: A Guide To Recording At Home – Your new interface