Soundtrack Pro & Firewave question.

[allan_zip]

I'm thinking of buying a Griffin FireWave with a view to monitoring surround sound in my video projects. I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with this device, it appears to be the only one of it's kind (or am I wrong?).

My only real query is, am I able to assign all my 6 surround channels in Soundtrack Pro to the outputs in the FireWave and use it as a monitoring device? Or does the FireWave device only allow the decoding of extant ac-3 files (on a DVD for example) into discreet audio channels?

I hope someone can help.
Thanks in advance.

(note to mod. Not sure if this should go in the digital video or digital audio thread, sorry)

 

[hgm]

I have been working with Soundtrack Pro and Firewave for about one week now. I wanted it in order to position voices in a sound field. After some twiddling it seemed to work well at first. The documentation by Griffin is so minimal that you're left to your own resources (experiments). Lately, I am getting a lot of hum (powerline noise) and a nerve-wrecking beeping/whistle sound in the background of the rear channels. I sent a note to support, but they responded with the standard advice (try different cables etc.).
Meanwhile the high-pitched whine/noise continues.

The Firewave seems to be the only affordable solution around, but its documentation sucks, and you're left in the dark about most of the things you need to know or do, in order to get it to work properly.

Make sure that you find and use the Audio Midi Setup control panel. And make sure you're running 10.4.6 or higher.

No idea whether it works with 10.5

 

[hgm]

Now Griffin support tells me the unit might be defective. I should return it. Well, it cost me 62$ plus 35$ shipping, plus German customs fee. What a hassle.

The Firewave is, basically, a pice of scrap, sorry. The 3.5mm connectors are low-grade and don't keep the plugs safely. There is no way to ground the unit (in order to get rid of the hum and noise). The manual is not very instructive, the software driver is, if at all, below beta.

I'm sorry Griffin, this product should have never seen the market.

I now own an Edirol FA-101. That one costs a lot more, but it works out of the box.