M-Audio Firewire 410 Mobile Recording Interface

Feature:
Good on paper.
Quality:
Don’t know because it won’t install.
Value:
The product doesn’t work worth a darn.
Desirability:
It looks really good, but the quality control isn’t there.
Sound:
Haven’t heard it because I it won’t install.
Support:
It takes them at least two days to get back to you.
Overall:
I bought this product and wasn’t able to install it on my notebook or desktop PC. After many hours of frustration I returned it to the retailer. I wish I would have read all of the bad reviews and problems in the newsgroups and forums before I bought it. It appears to me that the manufacturer is having quality control problems because the chasis was on this product was warped. Whatever you do DON’T BUY THIS PRODUCT unless you like to waste your time.

Feature:
Good for home user as it’a kind of comprehenssive: 2 mic input co with line input, a midi in & out, 2 headphonejacks (one for the singer & the other one for the engineer)! 100% workable for recording track by track.
Quality:
Hardware: Made by metal. No deffect for the moment. Driver: This is the nightmare i had. I think M-Audio really need invent more on their driver. I had the latest driver but i still can play CD with Media Player. The killing part is i can switch off my PC (Window XP) if i didn’t manually turn the unit off. It crash with my PC a lot of time; for instant when i open a software that play sound, the volumn most probably will automatically go to "0" & i need to manually raise it. And when using softsynth, you will got significant latency.
Value:
If not because of the driver, i will give it 9. But, driver not working mean soundcard nor working. OK??
Desirability:
I just hope that they will fixed their driver; or i will hope harder to earn more and get myself a more expenssive & better one.
Sound:
U can get a clean & cryspy sound. The pre-amp is fine. A value product for home studio.
Support:
I wrote to them about the driver problem, they do reply but doesn’t solve the problem, but i appreciate them for repling me.
Overall:
I give it 9 if the driver didn’t cause further problem.

Feature:
The features are good....
Quality:
But the quality... I get severe audio drop outs after 1he 30 minutes, leading to total loss of sound. I have tested this on three macs with the same result.
Value:
It’s cheap. Apparently in more ways than one.
Desirability:
I want something else. I’ll not buy another interface from M-Audio
Sound:
The sound is fine....
Support:
...and the support is terrible. I eventually got them to allow me to send it back for testing and repair. They said they ’soak tested it’ but could not replicate the problem, and just sent it back to me. It still does it. I’m almost certain they did nothing at all, and just did not want to replace it.
Overall:
I can’t afford to waste money on equipment lie this, and not receive appropriate support. Avoid it at all costs.

Feature:
Direct sound monitoring. Able to push more tracks than other interfaces with the same machine. Very efficient.
Quality:
Very happy. Just as good as the other interfaces I listed above. Especially for the price.
Value:
Havn’t found anything better for the price.
Sound:
Excellent. Used Aardvark Q10, Digi002, Audiophile 24/96 and like the Firewire 410 the best so far.
Support:
Having had to call yet.
Overall:
Will only change if I need more than two inputs at the same time.

Feature:
All you will need. DIGITAL out/in + 1 ANALOG IN (stereo) make "double track" recording possible, which is a really neat thing when it comes to mixing. LOW LATENCY FOR VSTi - feels like real time....
Quality:
Very good - a little to much plastic, especially when it comes to buttons. However, very portable this way...
Value:
Extremely valuable all in one device for home studio / portable studio use.
Desirability:
very sexy look - intuitive handling
Sound:
nothing to complain about. Perfectly suited for professional studio recording (of course, only track by track without the use of an external mixer...)
Support:
never needed any
Overall:
great tool for musicians who want 24/96 recording at a higher level ULTRALOW LAtency with VST Synths - play them IN REAL TIME....awesome

Feature:
says 4 audio in when it’s actually 4 audio in but you have to switch between 2 or 2. not all 4 at once which is implied. in fairness I guess I should have read the one line in the whole manual that says so.
Quality:
if I kicked it really hard and jumped up and down on it, it might still work, unfortunately. the blue light on it can be used as a nightlight.
Value:
wasted my money completely. I do not think I will buy another m-audio product.
Desirability:
it looks really good if you want to impress your friends.
Sound:
cracks, pops, dropouts, stuttering - runs fine if you’re not doing anything serious with it.
Support:
I’ve done everything from reinstalling the drivers to system software, optimizing my system for audio production, everything possible, defragmenting, rebuilding directories, etc.. of no solution with this product.
Overall:
works sometimes. unreliable, unstable, unfit for any professional level live sound production, if you like all the stuff you’ve made garbled and turned into garbage on output, this is the box for you.

Quality:
As mentioned in the sound category, bass drops out due to crappy jack mounts in headphone outs. Not acceptable. The rest of the unit is hefty and appears well built. It’s too bad the way the jacks are mounted or the kind of jacks used have this problem.
Value:
No value if unusable.
Desirability:
I took it back. I used to want it. I bought it. I tested it. It’s not professional quality at all. I don’t want it.
Sound:
The bass dropped out while I was playing back audio from Live. It turns out this occurs in both headphone outs. Jiggling the plug in the jack brings back the audio but I can’t be trying to mix or concentrate on music only to be disrupted by signal/frequency loss.

Feature:
Features rock. 2 mic ins. 2 headphone outs. You can’t record 4 tracks simultaneously unless you’re running SDIF or ADAT from another machine though. Don’t think you’re plugging 4 mics or 4 guitars in.
Quality:
Mechanically, its seems solid.
Value:
I guess it depends on if your unit works or not. A friend of mine has one and his works flawlessly...I’m stuck with my lemon.
Desirability:
Nope, not again. Not, ever, ever again.
Sound:
Scoring the sound depends on when you rate it I guess...when it works, sounds good...the other 60% of the time when it doesn’t..it sounds like a robot belching over and over. That is not an exaggeration, that’s what it sounds like...Audio comes out in a garbled distorted metallic sounding mess. Constantly have to reset the sound card.
Support:
I emailed tech support, got the canned response of IRQ conflict...410 is on IRQ 17 by itself, there is no conflict. They guy actually said, "Ok, well that’s not our problem, that’s your computer, is there anything else I can help you with". A $300 soundcard should not crap out playing freaking iTunes. Their support is a joke.
Overall:
Its just not dependable. Not for recording, not for mixing, not for live performance, not for itunes.

Feature:
YOU CAN ONLY USE 2 INPUTS AT THE SAME TIME. What a load of crap! Someone needs to sue M-Audio for false advertisement. Even the salesman that sold it to me didn’t know how am I supposed to know?! People act like they should’ve known! YOu know what, if it says 4 inputs on the freaking box, that’s what I expect why should I secondguess it?! I am PISSED!
Quality:
Preamps could be better but again decent for the price range.
Value:
If I’d known it was only 2 inputs I would’ve gotten an audiophile.
Desirability:
"I want my 2 inputs"
Sound:
Sound is ok, it’s pretty much what I expected from this price range. No complaints here.
Support:
Never had to deal with them.
Overall:
The is the most misleading crap I’ve ever seen. M-Audio just took a huge dive in my book.

Feature:
4 in 10 out, with phantom power for a condenser mic and all of this withoutt a power supply ( the computer powers the little sucker)
Quality:
very professional
Value:
easy and cheap....for what it does i.e compared to the price of gear that I have purchased in the last 20 years.
Desirability:
It does the job it say’s it will.
Sound:
Sound is great and very easy to use, although you may have to go ro the ’M-audio" web site to get the latest drivers as the supplied CD did not help .
Support:
when I complained to the web site that I had no luck, they sent a very concise and easy to understand e-mail and fast .
Overall:
the only reason I give an 8 and not a 10 is because I had to down load a couple of drivers over the space of 2 day’s untill I found the correct one for my system.

Feature:
Two headphone outputs is nice, bus-powered Firewire makes it useful for remote recording.
Quality:
Too soon to say, but box feels sturdy.
Value:
There’s really no competition at this price point.
Sound:
I haven’t used it extensively, but it sounds great as output device for Reason, using ASIO at 48k or 96k. My initial tests using condenser mics (tlm103, ntk) and electric guitar recording into Cakewalk is that it sounds fine.
Support:
haven’t needed support yet.
Overall:
It’s exactly what I was looking for

Feature:
has everything i needed digital outs and ins, coaxial and optical.
Value:
well worth its price 349.99( what i paid for it)
Desirability:
sturdy built very well.
Sound:
owned a digi oo2 rack ,motu828, emi2/6 and this box is my favourite. the converters sound absolutely great. i use a mac g4 single processer. it was easy to install and has worked out fine with my logic platinum setup.
Overall:
hopefully i’ll be using this unit for a good long time.

Overall:
Ease of use: This interface works as a seamless extension of my Mac G4 (latest OS, computer meets required specs). I posted this review to balance out all the horror stories I read here, reporting crashes, incompability, glitches in sound, and overall instability. I think these people mistakenly reviewed the Mbox. My computer meets the requirements, I installed the latest driver online (the included CD will not have the latest), I keep my OS up to date.... and I have never had a SINGLE problem with this interface except this one small thing: If you disconnect and reconnect the interface and the computer doesn’t see it, unplug and replug the firewire cable at the interface port instead of at the computer. This seems to do the trick but I don’t know why. I also like the layout on the front of the interface. The controls, ports, and LEDs are organized into very clear sections. The hardware and software control of this interface could not be more intuitive.

Feature:
Simple, does what it’s supposed to. Well-made, works fine. Between software and hardware settings, there is way more than enough gain available. I really dig the two separate headphone outs.
Quality:
I like how it looks, it’s solid, I’m not afraid that I’ll break it. The knobs are plastic, but not too bad.
Value:
Not too bad, and better than comparable USB devices.
Desirability:
I wanted this one over the Edirol and PreSonus stuff, partially ’cause it looks better. I needed something better than the USB I/O I had and this was it.
Sound:
Sounds good; I’m using it with a decent mic for vocals/piano/guitar tracking, and it sounds clean and nice. I wish it REALLY had 4 inputs, because tracking drums without an outboard mixer would be nice, but oh well--I didn’t read carefully enough.
Support:
Dunno--haven’t needed to contact them, because everything worked. Either I’m lucky, or the people with problems are incompetent and don’t read well.
Overall:
I figure I’ll be happy with this for a couple years; I’ve got an 1814 on the way for bigger stuff, but this is neat for mobile recording.

Feature:
Latency is out of the question,with anew powerful computer.The two headphone outputs are an amazing tool!!!I don’t need more inputs yet,but it would be nice to have more,just in case...
Quality:
I think it’s very stable and well made.Time will tell...
Sound:
I have the 410 for two weeks now and I’m very pleased with it’s sound.I like the pre-amps very much,for recording condensers,or guitars and bass.I also have the studiophile BX5.My aim was to record and produce my hole cd at home and avoid the lazy and expensive pro- recording studios hesitating producers.I thing I’m going to make that possible with my new equipment.(Don’t forget:You need time to master your hardware/software and inspiration to create good music!!!).Don’t listen to those who say,you need very expensive stuff.Learn to make the best out of your equipment!!!
Support:
Very good drivers!

Feature:
would like additional routing options. I also think the input/output ratio is not compensated: I’d change an output for an additional input.
Quality:
Hardware, construction and finish : Very good. Compact and Solid.Software: I used to blame the drivers because frequent hangs, until I found the problem: The unit is *really* sensible to the electricity purity, for example, if I turn a fluorescent light ON, the drivers hang, same thing as if I unplug the TV. Of course, you can say it’s my fault, but I don’t have a specially bad electricity, it’s the first time I have had these problems. I bought a stabilized UPS and problem persists.
Value:
It’s not an expensive soundcard for its features. I would like to compare it against the new USB2.0 devices.
Desirability:
the look is really really good. I like the materials, the colors, the leds are fancy....
Sound:
Pretty happy with the sound.
Support:
so so.... The customer support answers are really obvious, and often ask you about the same things. The answers are also short and with little detail. In my case they were not helpful at all.
Overall:
In general terms, I’m happy with it. I generally use it with my desktop computer, and occassionally plug it on my laptop for live performances.

Feature:
The jacks and controls are just right for my needs and setups, which is why I bought this although I dind’t really need firewire, a plain old card with breakout box would have been fine.
Quality:
Nice look and feel.
Value:
If I was using a laptop and really needed to have firewire, it would get a 10.
Desirability:
It’s prety cute and high-tech looking, more appeal than most electronic components.
Sound:
I traded up from m-Audio Ozone to this, and the sound is much better. I’m getting warm, pure vocals with my $40 Audio Technica mike and am very happy. Then again, this is the first time I’ve used a pro-grade sound card so perhaps I’m easily pleased.
Overall:
I hope this will take care of me for a while. Assuming it continues to be relieable, this would go up to a 10.

Feature:
Works as advertised. I wish it had ADAT lightpipe but at this price I can’t complain. The latency is good enough to record with software effects, something the USB interfaces just can’t handle - for only a small increase in price. You can also switch to direct, zero-latency monitoring. All in a unit that doesn’t need a powersupply and is easy to carry. Now if only they could convice laptop makers (aside from Apple) to put 6-pin firewire ports as standard...It also comes with Ableton Live software. If you need more ins and outs get the 18/14 or the motu 828. If you don’t need to record multiple player simultaneously, this will likely be all you need.
Quality:
It actually looks pretty nice, too, although the silver knobs look a little cheap. THe front panel is a little crowded, but I guess they wanted to keep it small and portable.
Value:
I think it’s a good deal for the price tag. There are a few absent features comparted to the MOTU, but then again it’s half as much.
Desirability:
It’s cool. I’m happy.
Sound:
Excellent sound and decent mic pre’s for this price point. I A/B’d an acoustic track with one recorded through a Presonus Blue Tube. I’m no recording engineer, but the 410 sounded just as good (albeit different) to me.
Support:
I haven’t had to call them for anything as of yet.
Overall:
I expect to have it for a while, unless I develop a need for more ins and outs, or even lower-latency ASIO monitoring.

Feature:
Wore out after just one year.
Quality:
Product is very cheap. 1/4" Inputs started to fail after 1yr. Then the unit just stopped working altogether. I still have it if anyone wants it. Not sure what to do with it.
Value:
Wore out after just one year. No return. Caveat Emptor.
Desirability:
Wore out after just one year. No return. Caveat Emptor.
Sound:
Wore out after just one year.
Ease of Use:
Wore out after just one year.
Support:
Wore out after just one year. No return. Caveat Emptor.
Overall:
Wore out after just one year. No return. Caveat Emptor.

Quality:
So poorly designed that it is dangerous to your other hardware, and the manual admits this; go read it yourself before buying the product. Software misbehavior on hot-swap is a mild aggrivation, but frying other hardware is just not acceptable.
Value:
Buy this, and you might also be buying a new computer to replace the one this device fried.
Desirability:
Macbooks are sexy. A device that frys their firewire ports is decidedly un-sexy.
Sound:
Sound is irrelevant once the device frys your laptop’s firewire ports.
Support:
The product is unacceptably broken and dangerous to your other hardware, and they admit this in the manual. Support is irrelevant; they should immediately taken the product off of the market.
Overall:
Dangerous for your other hardware, and marketed dishonestly; honestly would require that the fact that this device can fry your firewire ports be plastered all over the box, if the device stays on the market at all.