PreSonus FireStudio replacement for M2 Mac Mini?

Jay Ashworth

Jay Ashworth

Well-Known Member
We're (finally) looking to upgrade our Late-2012 Mac Minis in our college theatre to M2 Mac Minis.

I know I'll have some software version upgrades forced on me (will Qlab 4 run on M2?), but the primary thing I'm concerned about is my Firewire Presonus FireStudio 1818's, which will obviously be staying on the machines they're on.

These were mid-line interfaces, with 8x8 analog and whatever random digital connections I never needed; does anyone have a handle on what the equivalent 8x8 analog box is these days, presumably connecting via TBolt?

Also: since a TripleHead2Go adapter is clearly right out, how does one run 3 projectors plus the command monitor on one of these? Are there any dual or triple video adapters with Thunder in and DVI-D/HDMI out?

Not that I can't google, of course, but Google does not always represent ground-truth well about compatibility and usability.
 
Jay Ashworth said:
We're (finally) looking to upgrade our Late-2012 Mac Minis in our college theatre to M2 Mac Minis.

I know I'll have some software version upgrades forced on me (will Qlab 4 run on M2?), but the primary thing I'm concerned about is my Firewire Presonus FireStudio 1818's, which will obviously be staying on the machines they're on.

These were mid-line interfaces, with 8x8 analog and whatever random digital connections I never needed; does anyone have a handle on what the equivalent 8x8 analog box is these days, presumably connecting via TBolt?

Also: since a TripleHead2Go adapter is clearly right out, how does one run 3 projectors plus the command monitor on one of these? Are there any dual or triple video adapters with Thunder in and DVI-D/HDMI out?

Not that I can't google, of course, but Google does not always represent ground-truth well about compatibility and usability.
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Technically the base model Mx chip can only drive 2 displays. If you haven't purchased the machines yet, the M2 Pro would get you much more https://www.apple.com/mac-mini/specs/
But what I do is use BlackMagic UltraStudio Monitor 3G to get additional extra displays.

Not sure what your audio console is, but any chance of using Dante? Might save some cabling.
But interfaces, I personally like the Motu stuff, if nothing else because there's meters. But they also have lots of DSP so you can do speaker EQ (if you're sending out effect surrounds or subs or something) https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/828--motu-828-28-by-32-usb-3.0-audio-interface
 
I've seen suggestions on FB to run a 4K 2x2 video wall controller and split that into multiple projectors. Not sure how that works, personally.
 
Our desk is an LS9-32, and its dante -- on two 16 channel cards -- is generally tied up feeding direct outs to Reaper on our Even Older Mac Pro, though perhaps that'll change. I did find a Kensington TBolt dock that does 4 displays with DisplayLink (well, probably 3), and that might be enough...

For patchability and trainability reasons, though, I would like to be able to get at least 2 stereos in and out of the new Mac, preferably in XLR.

[ETA] On the machine going into my blackbox, I don't even have the option: the Qu-16 does not *speak* Dante, and there's no chance on the horizon of that getting replaced. I think.
 
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almorton said:
I've seen suggestions on FB to run a 4K 2x2 video wall controller and split that into multiple projectors. Not sure how that works, personally.
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Probably the same way the Matrox adapters did: lie to the machine about the actual resolution of the secondary display.
 
For Thunderbolt docks, OWC has been pushing crazy sales on their Thunderbolt docks for a few weeks now and I've been thinking of picking one up for my office. I have many of their products and find them all to be reliable and well priced.

As for audio interfaces, I wouldn't really lock into looking for Thunderbolt specific interfaces. USB 2.0 was fine enough for most needs and it took many manufacturers a number of years to switch over to USB-C as an interface, let alone upgrade from a USB 2.0 bus to a USB 3.1 bus even when USB C connectors became standard. You don't see too many Thunderbolt interfaces until you're pushing 64x64.

8x8 Audio interfaces with XLR are hard to find at a price under the cost of your Mac's. With so much I/O being driven over Dante and MADI these days the market has semi diverged into Input and Output devices, and the bulk of the devices that are output heavy carry a few courtesy inputs and the devices that are input heavy carry a lot of monitoring options with courtesy outputs. These days I see a lot of iConnectivity PlayAudio1U's on playback duties because they allow 2 host machines with a Scarlett 2i2 or 4i4 driving inputs when you need them in the music world, and in the both theater and music world I see a lot of RME analog interfaces into Radial switchers to drive backups.

RME Fireface 802 FS
Roland OctaCapture
Focusrite 18i20 (8x Mic Inputs, 10x Line Outputs)
Presonus Studio 1824

I have used all of these options except the Presonus and I own several OctaCaptures. I find the first 3 to all be reliable devices.
 
themuzicman said:
For Thunderbolt docks, OWC has been pushing crazy sales on their Thunderbolt docks for a few weeks now and I've been thinking of picking one up for my office. I have many of their products and find them all to be reliable and well priced.

As for audio interfaces, I wouldn't really lock into looking for Thunderbolt specific interfaces. USB 2.0 was fine enough for most needs and it took many manufacturers a number of years to switch over to USB-C as an interface, let alone upgrade from a USB 2.0 bus to a USB 3.1 bus even when USB C connectors became standard. You don't see too many Thunderbolt interfaces until you're pushing 64x64.

8x8 Audio interfaces with XLR are hard to find at a price under the cost of your Mac's. With so much I/O being driven over Dante and MADI these days the market has semi diverged into Input and Output devices, and the bulk of the devices that are output heavy carry a few courtesy inputs and the devices that are input heavy carry a lot of monitoring options with courtesy outputs. These days I see a lot of iConnectivity PlayAudio1U's on playback duties because they allow 2 host machines with a Scarlett 2i2 or 4i4 driving inputs when you need them in the music world, and in the both theater and music world I see a lot of RME analog interfaces into Radial switchers to drive backups.

RME Fireface 802 FS
Roland OctaCapture
Focusrite 18i20 (8x Mic Inputs, 10x Line Outputs)
Presonus Studio 1824

I have used all of these options except the Presonus and I own several OctaCaptures. I find the first 3 to all be reliable devices.
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I'll look them up, though on some reflection, at least in the main room, since I do *have* Dante, I can probably get by with a 4x4, which will keep me down in the reasonable price range. Thanks.
 
the focusrite scarlet line are the best low-to-moderate cost interfaces out there, in my opinion.

i also like MOTU and iConnectivity.

i also like the higher end ones, but we all have budgets to keep. if money were no object, metric halo cannot be beat. rme is high end but not absurd.

i enthusiastically recommend against presonus, behringer, m-audio, and avid (unless you’re doing protools)
 
Sam Kusnetz said:
the focusrite scarlet line are the best low-to-moderate cost interfaces out there, in my opinion.

i also like MOTU and iConnectivity.

i also like the higher end ones, but we all have budgets to keep. if money were no object, metric halo cannot be beat. rme is high end but not absurd.

i enthusiastically recommend against presonus, behringer, m-audio, and avid (unless you’re doing protools)
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Thank you, though the Firestudio we've used for 8 years hasn't been at all bad.

Do you have any opinion on the Tascam US-4x4HR? I'm really looking for 4x4 with balanced line-level connections for all 8 ports, and that's apparently a little hard to come by; the Tascam hasn't got XLR outs, but I can live with that... all the rest are Rolanding me, trying to read my mind about where they can cut corners because "they know what I want to use it for". They're rarely right. Tascam traditionally had a pretty good rep, but I don't know where they're at these days...

[ I coined the term about many of Roland's packaged video toys like the V4-EX, which only has one HD input, and has a lot of baked in annoyanced -- a client owns one, and I have to use it occasionally. ]
 
Jay Ashworth said:
Thank you, though the Firestudio we've used for 8 years hasn't been at all bad.
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i’m glad to hear that, but you’ve beaten the odds. they have a pretty abysmal track record overall.

tascam is a pass for me, mostly because i just never see them out there and so i am naturally suspicious. i know what you mean about “rolanding”… i find roland gear to be generally well designed, but built absolutely as cheaply as possible which i do not like. i just closed a long tour that used two roland loop stations and they were essentially trouble free, but really felt like they needed to be treated with kid gloves.
 
Sam Kusnetz said:
i’m glad to hear that, but you’ve beaten the odds. they have a pretty abysmal track record overall.

tascam is a pass for me, mostly because i just never see them out there and so i am naturally suspicious. i know what you mean about “rolanding”… i find roland gear to be generally well designed, but built absolutely as cheaply as possible which i do not like. i just closed a long tour that used two roland loop stations and they were essentially trouble free, but really felt like they needed to be treated with kid gloves.
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Honestly, it wasn't the reliability of the Rolands.

It was that they were insufficiently orthogonal to suit me: they knew what I would want to do, they provided easy ways to do that, and I couldn't do *anything else*. What You See Is ALL You Get.

For all the lack of reliability of BMD stuff, the ATEM Mini PRO did *not* do that; it drove like the traditional switchers I was used to.
 
Ironically since you used the term "rolanding" - I picked up a Roland Rubix 44 interface *because* of their 4 line in 4 line out, and it's built surprisingly well for a Roland piece.

For Thunderbolt docks/hubs, I personally like CalDigit. Some of the best out there.
 
The Tascam Model12 is a mixer, on board multi track recorder and a multi-track USB C audio interface. Unfortunately, it's big brothers, Model16 & Model24 are USB 2. I have the Model16, which I'll be using to do live recordings this summer, belt & suspenders mode, on board recording and audio interface recording into Cubase Pro.
 
Jay Ashworth said:
Do you have any opinion on the Tascam US-4x4HR?
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I've sort of used one... it was a very non-demanding application where I just needed a single stereo out and four mics in. Didn't have any issues, but it also definitely the case that no one was listening critically. We were just playing back music and capturing the judges' commentary during a dance festival.

Oh, I take that back. I did have a bit of trouble getting all four inputs individually into OBS on an M1 Mac Mini. Ended up using one of those virtual audio routing applications... Loopback by Rogue Amoeba Not entirely sure whether that was technically a driver issue or an OBS issue, but it worked just fine once I figured it out. I want to say I didn't have the same problem on a Windows machine, but it was too long ago to be 100% confident.
 
kenact said:
There are 2 line level inputs on the front (3&4) and 2 more on the back. The rear inputs don't have volume controls.
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So there are, I see from looking at the photos again.

I was confused because Sweetwater's description says, in pertinent part:

"USB 3.0 Audio Interface, 6-in/4-out, 32-bit/192kHz with 4 XLR/TRS Combo Inputs, 2 Line Inputs..."

Clearly, those "2 Line Inputs" are meant to be 5 and 6, and they should really have named this the UR-64C, in keeping with industry convention. :)
 
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