Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 Professional 20 In/20 Out Firewire ... - 2024 report by Whydis

Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 Professional 20 In/20 Out Firewire Audio Interface with Eight Pre-Amps

style:PRO 40 – 20 inputs (8 mic pres) / 20 outputs The Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 represents the new generation of Focusrite multi-channel firewire audio interfaces. Focusrite's unparalleled pre-amp legacy forms the foundation of this new interface, ...

Reviews by Features

Product

(15 reviews)
Input

(6 reviews)
Price

(5 reviews)
Gear

(5 reviews)
Route flexibility

(4 reviews)
Pres

(4 reviews)
Gain

(5 reviews)
Amp

(12 reviews)
Quality

(17 reviews)
Unit

(21 reviews)
Preamps

(15 reviews)
Software

(10 reviews)
Time

(8 reviews)

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Reviews around product (5.00 of 5)

  • First of all, great quality product, perfect audio interface, does exactly what you need it to do without taking up a ton of space or requiring a rack
  • But overall, for the price, the product is really good.
  • Focusrite is an excellent company with great products and support
  • This is a great product, I really think the Saffire is above the rest of the 8-channel interfaces on this price range because of the excellent mic preamps the monitoring options and the routing possibilities
  • Come On guys you're selling a really good product here, don't screw your customers by not letting them use the hardware they are buying
  • Read remaining 15 reviews for product

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Reviews around input (5.00 of 5)

  • The one minor negative thing is that it seems like the inputs have to be "woken up" by setting the Saffire as the default input/output device (within the operating system settings on the computer), and then audio must be played (like with iTunes or Windows Media Player)
  • It's got more than enough inputs and outputs, which can be expanded still using the light-pipe inputs to daisy chain more Pre's if needed
  • I would rather have a straightforward left-to-right (input-to-output) router section below the mixer, instead of the myriad of buttons and sections that the Mix Control has
  • As expected really straight foward to use, very clear pre-amps, really useful instrument inputs on the front, nice mixer software for routing and monitoring plus the meters on the front side that also help to have a quick peak while setting up to record
  • I have not used the ADAT, Optical, or MIDI functionality yet, but expect they will be as seamless as the other inputs
  • Read remaining 6 reviews for input

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Reviews around price (5.00 of 5)

  • Focusrite listened to their end-users and produced a nice piece of recording equipment for home users at a fair price.
  • They have the customer in mind and are NOT riding on the 'fake' word of mouth spin on over-priced packages like Waves and MOTU.
  • because its price was fair its features were great and it was not that old compared to some others
  • I've worked in a number of pro studios since the late 70's, owned and used most of the greatest gear ever made, and can say without reservation that the Liquid Saffire 56, and other Focusrite products, will give you professional results at a very fair price

You are reading snippets from reviews of Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 Professional 20 In/20 Out Firewire Audio Interface with Eight Pre-Amps


Reviews around gear (5.00 of 5)

  • Best gear in the businessand their drivers are rock solid...
  • I've worked in a number of pro studios since the late 70's, owned and used most of the greatest gear ever made, and can say without reservation that the Liquid Saffire 56, and other Focusrite products, will give you professional results at a very fair price
  • In the future, I'm sticking with pricier, but more reliable gear.
  • The 2x2 phantom power works as excepted however I would have liked to see 4 separate phantom power channels rather than groupings for inputs 1-2 and 3-4

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Reviews around route flexibility (5.00 of 5)

  • All that said, it does give me good sound, great routing flexibility, rock-solid stability thus far, and a large number of ins and outs for the $$
  • It's got a lot of great aspects to it, though - preamps are great, tons of i/o's, easy to use -
  • The sound quality is good, the signal routing flexibility is great
  • All that said, it does give me good sound, great routing flexibility, rock-solid stability thus far, and a large number of ins and outs for the $$

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Reviews around pres (5.00 of 5)

  • I am not a computer technician, I am an effing guitar player and I shouldn't have to crack open my computer and slide in an all new card just so I can have nice mic pres.
  • It's got basically all the same ins and outs, but like mentioned twice as many mic pres, and dual headphone outputs which is super super useful to me
  • The pres are clean, and even when they are cranked all the way, I don't hear any additional noise
  • The liquid pres sound great, but they're not going to sound exactly like the preamp they're modeling

You are reading snippets from reviews of Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 Professional 20 In/20 Out Firewire Audio Interface with Eight Pre-Amps


Reviews around gain (5.00 of 5)

  • The gain pots for each channel are exponential (non-linear) and most of the useful gain is in the last 25% of the turn
  • While I could always use a bit more gain headroom on any preamp, one must consider that if you're trying to record something with these (or any) preamps and you find you are not getting enough gain, you should probably just move the mic
  • The 2x2 phantom power works as excepted however I would have liked to see 4 separate phantom power channels rather than groupings for inputs 1-2 and 3-4

You are reading snippets from reviews of Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 Professional 20 In/20 Out Firewire Audio Interface with Eight Pre-Amps


Reviews around amp (4.49 of 5)

  • As for the design of the interface, having two pre-amps in the front is helpful when working on small projects
  • great).After plugging his bass into this audio interface, my bassist went on a quest to replicate the sound that this thing gave him (ended up with a great sounding TC Electronics head and amp).Sometimes the focusrite mix program will have issues and I'll have to power cycle the audio interface, but besides that I have no complaints.
  • Even my cheap little old M-Audio Fast Track Pro had a couple of insert jacks.- Focusrite is very specific in their manual about not turning the Saffire on or off while the computer is powered on, or damage may occur
  • This unit may have great pre-amps but sadly the fact that it is poorly built, I rarely get to hear them shine
  • As expected really straight foward to use, very clear pre-amps, really useful instrument inputs on the front, nice mixer software for routing and monitoring plus the meters on the front side that also help to have a quick peak while setting up to record
  • Read remaining 12 reviews for amp

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Reviews around quality (4.30 of 5)

  • it's hard to find distortion or poor quality coming out of them, even when using a terrible microphone
  • and I have no input level problems on my DAW.The dials on the front are of excellent quality and feel tight.
  • If you want something to exceed the quality here, you need to spend a good amount of more money
  • The build quality for these devices is just plain bad
  • First of all, great quality product, perfect audio interface, does exactly what you need it to do without taking up a ton of space or requiring a rack
  • Read remaining 17 reviews for quality

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Reviews around unit (4.09 of 5)

  • The unit is amazing, solidly built and basically completely transparent.
  • The Sapphire Pro 40 is a clean sounding unit, and works great for my setup with Logic Pro, and my Mac Pro(original 1,1)
  • I realize this unit is no longer available (shocking) but my intent is to potentially save you headache if you are considering buying one on the used market
  • I upgraded to the Focusrite Pro 40 from the M-audio Delta 66 (which by the way, was a bullet proof solid little unit that I used for about 8 years).As of right now, I couldn't be happier with my decision to upgrade to the Focusrite.
  • The Pro 40 unit refused to connect to my PC which was a custom built quad-core
  • Read remaining 21 reviews for unit

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Reviews around preamps (3.86 of 5)

  • Unfortunately, this is bad for at least two reasons: 1. introducing another piece of equipment before the focusrite degrades the recorded sound, especially if the preamps are junk.
  • The preamps are very good and better than other units I tried
  • It's got a lot of great aspects to it, though - preamps are great, tons of i/o's, easy to use -
  • Pros: 8 Great sounding preamps with plenty of gain to accommodate any recording situation I've been faced with thus far
  • Love all of the aspects and the onboard preamps are not terrible for demoing or even some final release purposes
  • Read remaining 15 reviews for preamps

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Reviews around software (3.86 of 5)

  • The 2x2 phantom power works as excepted however I would have liked to see 4 separate phantom power channels rather than groupings for inputs 1-2 and 3-4
  • The software is absolute crap
  • The delta 66 software had a similar feature, but never actually worked!!Again, I haven't had a lot of experience with the focusrite
  • Dependent upon saffire software, which is good software however limits available use of preferred third part
  • As expected really straight foward to use, very clear pre-amps, really useful instrument inputs on the front, nice mixer software for routing and monitoring plus the meters on the front side that also help to have a quick peak while setting up to record
  • Read remaining 10 reviews for software

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Reviews around time (3.04 of 5)

  • This allows you to spend some time to get your gear up and running, working the way you want and SAVE the settings that you have.
  • The only limitations I am finding is that I have not been able to spend enough time to fully understand how it all works together.
  • Really easy to set up, I have used the item several times in my small studio setup and highly recommend this.
  • Yeah, so the whole thousands of people who DON'T know this or who don't know what conglomerate company manufactures their Firewire cards just have to waste their time, money, and energy on troubleshooting these things.
  • Even my cheap little old M-Audio Fast Track Pro had a couple of insert jacks.- Focusrite is very specific in their manual about not turning the Saffire on or off while the computer is powered on, or damage may occur
  • Read remaining 8 reviews for time

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More about Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 Professional 20 In/20 Out Firewire Audio Interface with Eight Pre-Amps

  • style:PRO 40 – 20 inputs (8 mic pres) / 20 outputs The Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 represents the new generation of Focusrite multi-channel firewire audio interfaces
  • Focusrite's unparalleled pre-amp legacy forms the foundation of this new interface, with eight award-winning Focusrite pre-amps
  • Legendary sonic performance is combined with the very latest in firewire interfacing technology to deliver seamless integration, excellent routing flexibility, and future-proof, rock-solid driver stability
  • With Saffire PRO 40, sonic integrity reigns supreme
  • The eight Focusite pre-amps ensure low noise and distortion, whilst quality digital conversion and JetPLL jitter elimination technology ensure pristine audio quality as your audio flows between the analogue and digital domains
  • Alongside the eight Focusrite pre-amps are a host of i/o options; 10 analogue outputs, ADAT i/o, stereo SPDIF i/o and 2 virtual ‘loopback’ inputs for routing digital audio between software applications - ideal for capturing online audio
  • Every channel features phantom power, with the first two channels also featuring -9dB pads for additional headroom
  • Front panel 5-LED metering for each analogue input offers accurate viewing of levels
  • Saffire PRO 40 comes with a Suite of Focusrite plug-ins
  • All-new Focusrite Compression, Reverb, Gating and EQ VST/AU plug-ins provide a significant upgrade from standard sequencer effects, bringing a touch of class to your session
  • Focusrite’s established xcite+ bundle is also included
  • The bundle includes Ableton Live Lite, Novation’s Bass Station soft synth and over 1 gig of royalty-free samples
  • Saffire PRO 40 Control, the zero-latency 18 x 16 DSP Mixer/Router software provided with Saffire PRO 40, sets a new standard at this price point for audio interface control
  • It features unparalleled output routing and monitoring, as well as intuitive one-click set-up solutions, a clear and concise mixing layout and large on-screen metering for inputs, outputs and submixes
  • Two independent headphone buses are provided, each with their own level controls available on the front panel
  • A dedicated stereo monitor mix output features pads for improved sound quality when connected to active monitor speakers
  • An 'anti-thump' circuit protects your monitor speakers from spikes when booting up or shutting down
  • Front panel controls include a main monitor dial with dim and mute switches, all of which fully integrate with customisable software to cover every possible monitoring need, providing a set of controls for any set-up from basic stereo to full 7.1 surround.