In addition to occasionally writing for fizmarble.com, I play in a band.  I write, record, and produce music.  I depend on my various PCs for this and also among other things, an audio interface.

For years I used a Presonus Firepod (Later called the FP10) generously donated by my friend Jaret.  It originally cost quite a bit (450-600 dollar range), and so I didn’t hesitate to pay the $100 repair fee when it eventually crapped out.

It took me from Windows Vista to Windows 7 and eventually Windows 8 on the same desktop PC.  It worked beautifully on Windows 8 by the way, but the desktop was ~6 years old by this time, and a failing hard drive and old hardware beckoned me to upgrade to a new PC, a PC with *gasp* Windows 8.

Of course I didn’t think twice about the Presonus Firepod’s compatibility with the Windows 8 PC.  After all, I had been using the Firepod on Windows 8 for several months on my older, upgraded PC.  Why would the new PC behave any different?

Ahh, poor, poor ignorance.  Little did I know that the “great” minds at Presonus would be so cunning, so conniving.  Whereas my Firepod worked fantastically with Windows 8 when it was upgraded from Windows 7 with the Firepod driver already installed, installing the driver on a Windows 8 PC was a different story altogether.  No no, poor ignorance, Presonus had behind the scenes altogether blocked their driver installer from even running on a Windows 8 PC.  So, if you had the driver installed first and then upgraded to Windows 8, you’re golden.  If on the other hand you ignorantly try to install the Firepod/FP10 driver on Windows 8, you will receive a popup from Presonus telling you that the driver is not supported on your Operating System.

Gee Presonus, if you wanted me gone, why didn’t you just say so?  This is how you support your customers?  By forcibly blocking the driver installer from working on a modern OS.  This ensures that customers need to upgrade.  But if you think this customer is going to upgrade to another Presonus product, you have sorely miscalculated.

Instead, a reasonably priced and very stable audio interface now sits on my desktop where once sat the Firepod/FP10.  Now, an Avid Fast Track C600 processes my audio, including the recordings of Twiztid praising the demise of Presonus in a chorus unfit to print here.

If you are in the same boat, check out the Fast Track C600.  Amazon has them for a pretty sweet deal (duh), and Presonus can say they have taken my last dollar.  Now, let’s make some music!

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Update: Reader Alex has shared in the comments section a workaround to the installer issue.  Follow his method if you want to keep that Presonus pumping out the jams.  He writes:

1. Download the “FireBox Installer v5.13 – PC” from their website (http://www.presonus.com/support/downloads/firebox)
2. Right click on the downloaded file “PreSonus_FireBox_Installation.exe” and choose “Properties”
3. Click on “Compatibility” tab
4. Check “Run this program in compatibility mode for:” and select “Windows 7″
5. Click on “OK” and run the installer again and it should work this time and install all the drivers flawlessly

Thanks, Alex!