Audio Interface - Firewire or USB

siddhu · Post by **siddhu** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 11:10 pm

Tone Deft wrote:
siddhu wrote:However if you are serious about getting into production then FW is the way to go.
disagree.

how can you support your claim?

either is fine.

By serious I meant that if you are recording and need a more robust interconnect and/or need to send out multiple streams of audio (more than 3 or 4 stereo outputs) FW is the way to go because the data transfer protocol in FW is specifically geared for this sort of use.

That's why I qualified my statement by telling the OP that if he just needs to DJ with a few tracks, he can get away with USB.

Do the research on FW data transmission vs USB. It's all there. Plus re-read the quote from the FW engineer about FW data transmission.

skent · Post by **skent** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 11:22 pm

Well if it helps qualify your reply I will be using quite a few tracks. Currently a song I am working on has 14 scenes and over 50 clips. But really I just need this audio interface to feed audio to monitors and headphones. There is a chance I would use a hardware synth but I will not be using any live instruments.

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 12:18 am

siddhu wrote:
Tone Deft wrote:
siddhu wrote:However if you are serious about getting into production then FW is the way to go.
disagree.

how can you support your claim?

either is fine.
By serious I meant that if you are recording and need a more robust interconnect and/or need to send out multiple streams of audio (more than 3 or 4 stereo outputs) FW is the way to go because the data transfer protocol in FW is specifically geared for this sort of use.

That's why I qualified my statement by telling the OP that if he just needs to DJ with a few tracks, he can get away with USB.

Do the research on FW data transmission vs USB. It's all there. Plus re-read the quote from the FW engineer about FW data transmission.

ok. your example is for video which has MUCH higher bandwidth requirements than audio, it's cranapples vs Granny Smith (tiny vs huge.)

I've just never heard of someone saying "damnit, I can't do what I need to do because I have USB, I HAD TO go firewire."

the quality of drivers between various cards of any type would seem to me to be a bigger problem.

YMMV IMO if you can use either, just focus on the cost, reputation and features of the sound card, form doesn't matter.

nice link though.

leedsquietman · Post by **leedsquietman** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 2:02 am

I think this is true when not much I/O is needed but most USB interfaces on the market are just a couple of ins and outs with sp/dif.

Also many USB interfaces are still running USB 1.1 and their performance is really pretty bad. Drivers are obviously also a factor, but I have not liked most of the USB interfaces I've seen working, including the Fast Track Pro, Lexicon Omega and Edirol's USB interfaces. Even the MOTU 828 mkII etc which have USB and firewire seem to be better on firewire, hardly anyone I know has a USB version. The Digi MBox is not that great either, even the Pro version.

With firewire you can daisy chain up to 3 firepods or Alesis IO26s or Apogee Symphonys etc for 24 I/O and external ADAT lightpipe doubling up on this etc.

dcease · Post by **dcease** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 2:24 am

leedsquietman wrote:The Digi MBox...Pro version.

you do know it's fw, right? lower latency than the ff400, and sounds exactly the same, just as stable, on either xp or osx. very nice interface, the only thing that would make it better is direct monitoring, and possibly adat. don't compare the mbox2 to the mbox2pro, not even in the same ball park. they just look similar, and run fooltools le.

leedsquietman · Post by **leedsquietman** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 2:54 am

I meant the mbox2 regular version, got confused, yeah you're correct about the mbox pro.

And the mbox mini and mbox regular are also USB.

I don't know about the latencies, but RME are well known for having ultra low latency, although their PCI and cardbus interfaces are better than their firewire interfaces in this respect. The RME also has better pres and converters, but is more than the MBox2 pro. If digi's interface is low latency that is good, they are not that well known except for the TDM HD system for that quality.

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 3:27 am

leeds - you give good advice and I have no experience running multiple ins and outs at the same time, but when giving advice on the forum, 99% of the time...

leedsquietman wrote:I think this is true when not much I/O is needed but most USB interfaces on the market are just a couple of ins and outs with sp/dif.

USB vs firewire doesn't really matter.

FWIW I've been using an Edirol UA101 9USB) for years, can get <5mS latency with ASIO4ALL. only 1 out, 1-4 ins at once. you can also chain up to 3 of them together at once, not that I've ever tried it.

the first sound card I tried was a FirePod, it would burp silence every 3 seconds in every audio app I tried, bummed, I exchanged it for a UA101, worked fine.

it used to be USB for PC, firewire for Mac, that has changed since Apple dropped firewire.

Hooray USB 3!!

condra · Post by **condra** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 4:02 am

I'm curious about the NI Audio Kontrol recommendations thing.

In my experience, the Presonus Firebox is currently the golden child of Pro-Sumer audio interfaces.

SubFunk · Post by **SubFunk** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 9:00 am

condra wrote:I'm curious about the NI Audio Kontrol recommendations thing.

In my experience, the Presonus Firebox is currently the golden child of Pro-Sumer audio interfaces.

I tend to agree, good price, good specs / sound, small and sturdy built and under osx dead stable drivers.

aeon · Post by **aeon** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 11:02 am

wherever possible try to plan for the future.

if you think you might use a hardware synth at some point, think about 3 years time... let's say you have an old Nord (that's 4 outputs and 2 inputs) or a Virus (6 outputs) and perhaps you pick up a nice Lexicon reverb (that's another 2 outputs and inputs). suddenly you're looking at 8 simultaneous I/O just to use all your gear, which means Firewire all the way.

of course it's not possible to predict than in 18 months you'll be in an industrial grime crossover group and need a full 32-channel desk interace, but try to think about what you are likely to need. the key is not to spend loads of money on something that is outstripped by your requirements or by technological advances / redundancies.

leedsquietman · Post by **leedsquietman** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 12:19 pm

TD - I haven't tried the particular interface you're using and if that is working fine then great.

Yes, what I said has a bit of generalization about it. And really, latencies will vary from user to user depending on their setup (especially PC users) and sometimes the driver issues can be circumnavigated by asio4all. (sometimes being a key word here).

I am sticking to my point that with a lot of simultaneous I/O happening that FW is the better choice. But for the needs of the OP, a good USB interface would probably match up in that price range near as dammit.

soundwave · Post by **soundwave** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 2:15 pm

I had M-audio firewire solo = firewire and NI's Audio kontrol 1= USB
In order for the FW solo to work well, I had to get a firewire PCI card with TI chip and I had worst latency and sound.
The AK 1 was a fantastic card, soundwise the best I ever owned, latency 2ms..midi, assignable, bla bla bla....

dysanfel · Post by **dysanfel** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 3:02 pm

I predict Apple will have FW400 back on their 'Brick' MacBooks within 2 revisions.

Mr Mowgli · Post by **Mr Mowgli** » Tue Dec 09, 2008 12:47 am

1+ Firewire - MOTU 828MKII Swear by them!