ProFire610: broken or am I just dumb?

[jeffy.dee-lux]

Hi there, I just picked up an M-Audio ProFire 610 firewire audio interface today. A local shop was having a big sale, and these were going for $300 Canadian, which sounded like a great deal and I've been on the market for such an interface for a few months, so I went for it.

Its my first time using an audio interface, so while things aren't working out as I expected, I"m not sure whether the product is defective or if I'm just not understanding things correctly, so I thought maybe somebody else on here who might have experience with the hardware might have a suggestion.

Basically, I think the problem is that the gain nobs for the two input channels on the front of the unit don't seem to work at all. I can plug a guitar into either channel 1 or 2, and I can measure the sound level on the visual mixer in the Control Panel software, and the sound level doesn't change at all, regardless of whether the gain nob is turned all the way up or all the way down. I tried this while recording into garageband too. I was able to set up the inputs alright, and I could get a fairly faint recording, but the level of this recording wasn't at all affected by my turning the gain nob for that channel.

I've made sure to download the latest driver off the m-audio website for my OS (10.4.11). Its a 2.2GHz SR MBP. Something tells me this isn't software related anyways, because I've tried testing this as a standalone, using external power and not connecting Firewire, and just monitoring through the headphones, and I still don't get much of a signal at all, even with all the nobs cranked to max.

So does this sound like a defective unit to you? Or is there still a chance I've missed some critical step?

Thanks a lot for your input. My plan is to head back to the store tomorrow, but I thought its worth looking around online a bit first, though I haven't found much out there on this unit.

Thanks!

 

[jeffy.dee-lux]

Well I got a response from M-Audio tech support, and I was surprised by the response:

Hi,

The unit isn't defective. The Pre amps are for the XLR inputs only. The 1/4
input pass thru the source signal only. If you need a stronger guitar signal
you will need to connect an amp or preamp between the guitar and 610.

The way the product is advertised, and the features are described, I really thought that I would be able to adjust my instrument input level using these gain knobs.

This is from the User Guide:

• Two high-quality mic/instrument preamps featuring OctaneTM technology, LED meters, and phantom power

1 . Mic / Inst Input Combo Jack (Mic / Inst) - Balanced mic-level and unbalanced instrument-level combo inputs .
These combo connectors will accept a standard three-pin XLR plug or a 1/4” TS connector and will appear as the
first pair of inputs (e .g . inputs 1/2) in your audio application . Input levels are controlled by the corresponding Gain
knobs .

These descriptions make me think that the preamp is for mics and instruments and that both can be adjusted by the corresponding Gain knobs. Does this response sound fishy to anybody else, or do I just have a bad understanding of the purpose of preamps?

 

[UltraNEO*]

Guitar/Instrument pre-amps comes to mind...

 

[jeffy.dee-lux]

I know that's an option, but I was under the impression that this one piece of hardware would handle it all in one box.

I've since had a conflicting response from tech support on the M-audio forums. They say that the response I got was wrong and that I should have gain control of a guitar plugged into a 1/4" input in channel 1 or 2, and if not, my product is defective. Now i'm just worried there's some conspiracy here in Canada to offload a bunch of defective products.

 

[UltraNEO*]

I know that's an option, but I was under the impression that this one piece of hardware would handle it all in one box.

I've since had a conflicting response from tech support on the M-audio forums. They say that the response I got was wrong and that I should have gain control of a guitar plugged into a 1/4" input in channel 1 or 2, and if not, my product is defective. Now i'm just worried there's some conspiracy here in Canada to offload a bunch of defective products.

Hmm interesting... Did you try this?

Manual:
http://www.m-audio.com/images/global/manuals/081010_PF610_UG_EN01.pdf

 

[jeffy.dee-lux]

Ya thanks, I did try that. It only makes the level even weaker when I pull the knob, and there's still no change while turning the knob.

 

[jeffy.dee-lux]

solved: defective, jeff=not dumb

I returned the unit to the store today for an exchange, and the new one behaved as I would have expected, with the gain knob controlling the input level for an instrument plugged into the 1/4" part of the Combo jacks on the front.

It turns out the tech support guy who told me the gain knobs and preamps were for the XLR inputs only was confused. What he meant to say was that they were for the Combo Jacks only, including both the XLR and 1/4" inputs for channels 1 and 2. He thought I was plugging my guitar into the Line level inputs in Channel 3 and 4 on the back face of the unit.

The new unit performs without any problems so far. Thanks for your inputs. For future reference, here's the thread on the M-Audio forums that helped me out with this: http://forums.m-audio.com/showthread.php?t=7686

Their forums are really good and frequented by tech support.