Superior Analog Circuitry - XMAX Class A Preamplifiers
The FireStudio starts with eight custom-designed high-voltage, discrete, XMAX Class A microphone preamplifiers. Many other companies offering recording interfaces add the cheapest possible microphone preamplifier as an afterthought to the interface. PreSonus knows that the preamplifier is a key component in the sonic quality of a recording. The job of a microphone preamplifier is to boost microphone level signals to line level so that the signal can be converted from analog to digital. This mic to line boost is generally a preamplification of over 400 times the voltage of the original mic level signal. This preamplification stage is one of the most important stages that the signal will go through before converted to digital, and is why a high performance preamplifier is important to achieving great results. A cheap "off the shelf op-amp" type mic preamp that is found in most interfaces translates into thin, noisy and harsh results.

All XMAX preamplifiers are built with the same three elements:

High Voltage - The XMAX preamplifier runs on power rails of 30V. Most off the shelf op amp based designs run on power rails of 10V to 18V. Higher voltage power rails deliver more headroom, deeper lows, smoother highs and an overall fuller sound.

Discrete - No op amps. Only transistors, resistors and capacitors. Op amps add noise, coloration and harshness to a signal. Discrete designs deliver ultra low noise and transparency.

Class A - When a circuit is running in Class A mode the circuit is always in an "on" state operating at its optimal voltage requirements. Class A mode has zero crossover distortion and delivers purer, clearer and more musical sonics than class A/B designs which are found in most op-amp circuits.

The net result of the XMAX preamp design is high headroom, low noise, wide dynamic range and wide frequency range, and most importantly, musicality and transparency - smooth highs, solid deep lows, and everything in between.

New Advanced Platform Technology - DICE II and JetPLL
The FireStudio is loaded with the new ultra powerful DICE II FireWire chipset delivering 26 channels of simultaneous inputs and outputs at professional-quality 24-bit. The strength of the DICE II chip lies with its ability to easilly handle high channel count at high bit-rate while minimizing latency and load on your computer.

The synchronization of the FireStudio is handled by patented JetPLLTM jitter reduction technology. JetPLLTM incorporates noise shaping to virtually remove all audio band jitter. JetPLLTM ensures the highest converter performance possible, resulting in better stereo separation and clearer more transparent audio. JetPLLTM delivers ultra-fast locking to any digital format, through a wide range of frequencies and is extremely robust, and tolerant of wide variations in clock frequencies. JetPLLTM ensures near perfect clock performance when networking audio devices thus creating the most stable and robust synchronization to the computer and all devices synchronization with the FireStudio.

Ins and Outs
The FireStudio is loaded with I/O for an extremely flexible and expandable recording system. The FireStudio starts with eight Class A custom-designed PreSonus microphone preamplifiers. You can add additional preamplifiers or analog inputs via the dual optical light pipe ports on the rear panel. You add up to two DigiMax FS, for a total of twenty-four microphone preamplifiers all in only three rack spaces! Additionally word/clock I/O for ultra tight synchronization, MIDI I/O and SPDIF I/O are on the FireStudio for further expandability.


Control Console - Zero Latency DSP Mixing/Routing
The FIRESTUDIO also includes the Control Console - a 36x36x18 DSP mixer/router for flexible mixing and direct routing any input to any output including the headphone output, with zero latency. The Control Console software application lives between your FireStudio interface and your DAW software enabling the mixing and routing of input streams coming into your FireStudio interface and playback stream coming from your DAW software. The Control Console is capable of creating up to nine stereo mixes and then routing to the outputs of your FireStudio for headphone mixes and various aux sends. This way everyone in the band and the recording engineer can have a custom mix. Also, the FireStudio is loaded with internal flash memory so all Control Console Mixer and Ouput Router settings are saved and recalled in the FireStudio during power off/on. This allows you to configure your FireStudio as a stand-alone device, without being connected to a computer for uses such as a submixer, A/D and D/A-converter, headphone mixer, format converter, instrument or microphone pre-amplifier!

ProPak Complete Software Suite
The PreSonus FireStudio also comes with the new ProPak Complete Software Suite, which includes more than 20 real time plug-ins, a number of virtual instruments and over 2 GB of drum loops and samples including: Steinberg - Cubase LE; Propellerheads Reason Adapted PreSonus Edition; IK Multimedia - Amplitube LE; FXpansion - BFD lite; Drumagog LE; Sonoma Wire Works-Riffworks Jr.; Wave Arts – TrackPlug LE, MasterVerb LE and more!

Optional Monitor Station Remote (MSR)
The optional MSR (monitor station remote) for the FireStudio is a complete surround/stereo speaker manager, input switcher and communication system delivering a more efficient and flexible work flow. The MSR connects to the FireStudio via standard Cat 5 Ethernet cable to keep your work space as clean as possible. There are also two headphone outputs on the FireStudio for even further flexibility and convenience

Features
- High-speed FireWire (IEEE 1394) audio interface
- 24-bit resolution, up to 96K sampling rate
- 26 simultaneous inputs and outputs
- 8 Class A microphone preamps w/ trim control
- 8 analog line Inputs, 2 Instrument Inputs
- 16 channels of optical ADAT I/O (8 ch. via 96k dual SMUX)
- S/PDIF I/O, MIDI I/O
- DICE II Chipset - ultra efficient data transfer
- JetPLL™ – jitter elimination technology
- Zero latency DSP full-matrix mixer/router
- PreSonus ProPak Complete Audio Software Suite with Cubase LE, Reason Adapted, Amplitube LE, BFD Lite, Drumagog LE and more