? Recording steel with PreSonus FireStudio Tube DAW?

[John McClung]

First, anyone have one of these, and what is your evaluation re sonic fidelity, clarity, etc.? Any inkling how it would compare to the Apogee Duet or Ensemble? It seems pretty amazing for the price, so I'm looking for real-world help from steel players!

http://presonus.com/products/Detail.aspx?ProductId=51

Second: this differs from the FireStudio Project chiefly in the addition of two tube preamp inputs, for vocals, guitars. Would recording steel through a tube pre-amp improve the sound of the steel? Website blurb says it records from "smooth, clean and clear, to warm tube saturation."

Oddly, this unit leaves out the ADAT and S/PDIF digital inputs that Project has; I barely know what those are, will I need them or miss them somehow?

Lastly, there's a great freebie they throw in (thru Dec. 31) with a few DAW's, a free FaderPort control gizmo, looks pretty handy, would it be?

http://presonus.com/products/Detail.aspx?ProductId=2

Thanks for feedback!

[John McClung]

No feedback on this? Dang. Let's try again.

One other feature is that this unit has a built-in limiter on the 2 tube channels. I guess that could be handy, but you experienced guys would know better, is it really useful when recording pedal steel on tracks?

[John McClung]

hallo?