Any PreSonus Quantum thoughts/experience?

goldtop

I've got some time to plan my i7-iMac-to-M1 migration. Part of that is about driver updates for the M1 and Big Sur. I'm in no real rush, but wondering if I should also migrate from the Fireface 400 (Firewire 400!) interface to something that plugs directly into Thunderbolt 3.

I like RME stuff and can use the FF400, but it requires a series of 3 clagnut adaptors:

• Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 (£50!)
• Thunderbolt 2 to Firewire 800 (£30!)
• Firewire 800 to Firewire 400 (£10)

Whereas the PreSonus Quantum 2626 would plug straight in and (once drivers are available) give the big benefit of really low latency and easier workflow (no digital mixer to setup - just the DAW).

Any thoughts?

(If it matters, I'll almost certainly be using Logic, although the Quantum comes with a licence for the middle version of Studio One which I might try out.)

John_A

I'd ditch the adapters and upgrade if I were you.  Not too many TB3 options around, the Presonus gets great reviews

Stuckfast

How many inputs and outputs do you need?

WiresDreamDisasters

I'm thinking about going Quantum too, for the superior low latency performance. My Apollo is great if you want amazing DSP effects on the way in, and when I bought it that was my focus, but now I'm wanting to lower my latencies and use more of my native plugins.

I have the added complication that I want to go AMD Ryzen Zen3 fairly soon, so need a board that can support TB3. Looking at the Gigabyte B550 Vision D, which has native TB3 support and is supposed to be pretty great.

goldtop

Stuckfast said:

How many inputs and outputs do you need?

The 2626 that I'm looking at has squillions - more than I need. There was a Quantum 2, but that's now been discontinued. 

WiresDreamDisasters said:

I'm thinking about going Quantum too, for the superior low latency performance. My Apollo is great if you want amazing DSP effects on the way in, and when I bought it that was my focus, but now I'm wanting to lower my latencies and use more of my native plugins.

I have the added complication that I want to go AMD Ryzen Zen3 fairly soon, so need a board that can support TB3. Looking at the Gigabyte B550 Vision D, which has native TB3 support and is supposed to be pretty great.

Yes, been there, too. I liked the Apollo Twin I had for those plugins, but that got spendy quite quickly. And I ended up back at RME, partly for the latency with soft instruments not hosted in the UA-DSP and also because I wanted a MIDI interface in one box+cable.

goldtop

Hmmm... very hard to find real-world experience here or on other music forums, so I think I'll wait a while. Things may have shaken themselves out after Christmas.

For now, the path of least resistance is to stick with RME over Firewire and buy those clagnuts.

WiresDreamDisasters

Maybe try on the Presonus forums?? Have a browse there and see what people are experiencing?

Wonky

I have a Quantum  2626 and it's a great bit of kit.  I use it with a Ryzen  powered PC and I couldn't be happier with it tbh.  My main reason for buying it was the low latency and it certainly delivers on that score.    I can also tell you that the converters on it sound great too.  There's also the fact that there's a  good amount of inputs on it.
I recommend this interface for sure.

goldtop

Thanks @Wonky - I'll keep an eye open for M1-related postings at the Presonus forum as suggested above and take the plunge as/when it's known-good.

PolarityMan

Oooh they sound awesome, a bit out of my budget right now though. 

goldtop

I wonder if Presonus might start a trend for this approach? Not that I've seen much noise about them (except for SoS' review).

robwright

Inta are selling the Quantum 2626 for under £500 on eBay  - does anyone know if it’s the current version? Or is the one being discussed here the 4848? 

Also, i’m using a 2012 MBP - anyone know what type of bizarre adapter I would need to run the Quantum (if it will run it??)?

goldtop

I think the Quantum 2626 only runs on TB3 (USB-C shape), whereas the Quantum and Quantum 2 run via TB2 (old shape). I didn't look at the other models.

So a 2012 MBP has old-shape TB, I presume? And would connect directly to the latter pair. I don't know if Apple's (spendy) TB3-TB clagnut converter works in both directions. The promo stuff shows it connecting old TB peripherals to new TB3 Macs, but I don't think I saw it used the other way around.

Wonky

robwright said:

Inta are selling the Quantum 2626 for under £500 on eBay  - does anyone know if it’s the current version? Or is the one being discussed here the 4848? 

Also, i’m using a 2012 MBP - anyone know what type of bizarre adapter I would need to run the Quantum (if it will run it??)?

There is only one version of the 2626, so it'll be the current version.

John_A

TB3 is backward compatible with TB2 so in most, if not all cases you can run a TB3 audio interface with an Apple TB3-2 converter (it works both ways). Have a google, I’m sure someone will be running a 2626 like this

Heartfeltdawn

WiresDreamDisasters said:

I'm thinking about going Quantum too, for the superior low latency performance. My Apollo is great if you want amazing DSP effects on the way in, and when I bought it that was my focus, but now I'm wanting to lower my latencies and use more of my native plugins.

What's the latency like with the Apollo? Thinking about changing things around for next year as there's a very good chance I'm going back to Bristol and so I can have a proper little setup instead of my cobbled across the kitchen table mass of stuff. 

WiresDreamDisasters

Heartfeltdawn said:

WiresDreamDisasters said:

I'm thinking about going Quantum too, for the superior low latency performance. My Apollo is great if you want amazing DSP effects on the way in, and when I bought it that was my focus, but now I'm wanting to lower my latencies and use more of my native plugins.

What's the latency like with the Apollo? Thinking about changing things around for next year as there's a very good chance I'm going back to Bristol and so I can have a proper little setup instead of my cobbled across the kitchen table mass of stuff. 

I actually threw some figures up in this thread:
https://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/2741721/#Comment_2741721

Long and short of it ... the latency is okay for a lot of situations, and if all you're doing is VST instruments with a small bit of outboard, then great. And if you're doing mostly audio recording without monitoring through the DAW, then it's awesome. Do everything in Console and treat the DAW like a tape machine.

It's that tricky middle ground where you're doing 50% of one and 50% of the other.... the latency can be a bit of an issue in some of those cases. Like I've got a 100 track project that needs a buffer size of 1024 to run properly on my i7 7700K machine ... and all of a sudden I want to add a piano .... can't really play it in real time.

Heartfeltdawn

The limitations of the Komplete Audio 2 are being revealed to me now I've got the big ass MIDI controller and I'm starting piano and strings and wibbles. The SPL Crimson is going to come back out of the cupboard as it is lovely and the drivers are much better but I'd like something smaller than the Crimson and bus powered if possible. 

Short version: I should just buy a Babyface Pro and STFU. 

goldtop

Heartfeltdawn said:

Short version: I should just buy a Babyface Pro and STFU. 

It's a lovely little thing. As long as you don't mind it sprouting leads in almost every direction which occupy a surprising amount of desk space (especially if you use proper cables with pro-quality plugs). RME does at least supply a right-angle USB cable!

Heartfeltdawn

@goldtop there are a few contenders. If my job doesn't go down the toilet in the next month, then the Apogee Symphony Desktop is a consideration. Babyface Pro FS, UA Apollo Solo USB. All I want is a couple of mic preamps really. Simpler the better. Time to take stock of everything after this bonkers year... 

Heartfeltdawn

...and now there's a Babyface Pro FS on the way. 

After selling the NI KA2 this week, I dug the SPL Crimson out. It ran beautifully with my i7 4770 PC that was last year transformed into an R5 3600 machine. I've also added in an i5 8300H laptop and got given an Acer Swift 3 i3-8310u machine. 

Sadly the Crimson doesn't run anywhere near as well with all three as it did with the i7. It's not horrible but the pops when first added to the i5 laptop were very apparent. Spent last night and this morning tweaking all three machines and the Crimson is running but there's now this little blahblahblah in my brain about it as the Crimson drivers haven't had an update since Feb 2016 where the BFP drivers got updated last month. 

Had a Multiface in the past so I know how solid RME is. It's the right choice and I need some entertainment as it looks like I won't be doing much work next month with the Covid rates as they are in this part of London.