6 x 10 USB/FireWire Audio/MIDI Interface
The Behringer Firepower FCA610 is a 6 x 10 FireWire/USB 2.0 audio/MIDI interface that offers a rich feature set, lots of I/O options, and a surprisingly low price. The half-rack unit sports 2 front-panel mic/instrument combo jacks—equipped with Behringer's top-of-the-line XENYX microphone preamps—as well as 2 balanced line inputs, 8 balanced line outputs, and MIDI in and out jacks on the rear-panel.
Digital I/O includes TOSlink optical and RCA coaxial connector pairs, each of which supports 2 channels of S/PDIF. When both analog and digital I/O are utilized, the unit is capable of streaming 6 inputs and 10 outputs simultaneously.
Each front-panel input channel is fully equipped, including an input-level control knob, a 48V phantom power switch, a switch for a low-cut filter (great for preventing the pickup of low-end rumble), and a Hi-Z switch with an LED indicator. When activated, the Hi-Z switch sets the input's 1/4-inch jack to handle high-impedance sources like guitars and basses.
The FCA610 features direct hardware monitoring, allowing you to monitor as you record without distracting latency delay. The Direct Monitoring knob lets you smoothly crossfade between the direct signal you're recording and the one returning from the DAW. The two headphone outputs offer source-select options, and each has its own volume control.
The unit is equipped with a variety of useful LED meters and status lights to give you visual feedback during recording. A master level knob lets you control the signal going to your studio monitors. The FCA1616 runs on AC power (an AC adapter is included), but can also be bus powered via a 6-pin FireWire cable, contingent upon a computer that feeds sufficient power.