Interfaces - USB or FireWire?

[eric_c]

I'm looking to buy a new machine, most likely a laptop, which means I'll have to get a new audio interface. I currently have an EMU 1820 which I love, but its PCI. I do hate to see it go, but could use a faster machine and something portable.

There's all this talk about FireWire being dead now that Apple has been dropping it. That basically means my choice is made for me, no? But it seems like all the best interfaces are FireWire. Input is appreciated, thanks!

[Pasha]

Apple dropped FW400 in favor of FW800 trough all the product line.
Moreover Apple dropped FW400 on the Macbook completely.
Having said so let's go back to the topic.
It always depends on what you have to do.
I'm Bass Guitar & Guitar player that plays keyboards too (but better if you don't listen.... ).
As a music composer I record one track at a time.
On this forum people suggested NI Audio Kontrol as a USB interface I listened to it in a shop but it was too high priced. I moved to Line 6 Toneport UX1 for 119 Euros, a 4 in - 2 Out USB 2.0 no-MIDI interface. Being a Line 6 , incorporates DSP technology in the box (not in the software) so sound is processed before it actually reaches your DAW and accepts Mics and Instrument simultaneously with a Stereo Line in. You have also the option to record the signal dry or semi processed in parallel with practically zero latency when using only Mic or Instrument in. I use it with my Macbook (C2D 2006 - FW400 equipped) when I need a robust USB interface with me while on the go. A FW400 interface would have been more expensive. There's a big pitfall. Line 6 con considers the UX1 both an interface and a dongle so even if you buy the additional plug-in software, you have to plug the UX1 anyway of plug-in software won't work. This is different from Guitar Rig but it would have cost me 279 Euro for the interface plus 99 Euro to upgrade to GR3 full. Way too much.
My 'main' interface is a FCA202 (FW400) from Behringer and it's used permanently attached to my iMac 2008. So I'm in the cheap here when it comes to Audio interfaces but I'm so satisfied with the results that I'm eventually planning to switch to USB 2.0 completely in the future.
USB 2.0 has enough bandwidth to manage 1 track at a time scenario while listening a stereo input coming from your DAW. If you don't need more than that I think USB 2.0 is fine an new Aluminum Macbooks can be an ideal complement to that. If you plan to have multiple in/out like Presonus Firestudio or FP 10 you need FW. MOTU makes MOTU 828mkII that's a multi I/O USB 2.0 audio interface. In the middle at the moment we have more FW400 than USB 2.0. Given the switch Apple made to FW800, although this could be solved with a FW400-Fw800 cable with no problems, I guess industry will move slowly to FW800 adoption as FW800 chips price will lower. At the same time USB 2.0 Audio will be widely adopted because nobody wants to leave Macbook users out in the cold. The real piss me off factor of Macbooks is that beside the dismissal of FW400 Apple gave us only two USB ports. One goes away with the Audio interface and the other with a MIDI keyboard. To plug an HDD you have to use an USB Hub and an AC powered HDD.
As for quality I cannot say not being a Pro but to my ears I hear no difference. TonePort UX1 must be plugged before switching the computer on.

- Best
- Pasha

[creature]

Firewire can be a bit of a pain in the arse if your audio interface doesn't like your firewire interface much. My advice is if you do go for a firewire audio interface check which friwire interfaces that device is tested with, the manufacturere should state on their site.

I got an Alesis IO|26 which is a great interface but it didn't oplay too well with my original firewire pci card even though it had a TI based chipset. In the end I had to buy a new firewire card off the recommended list on the Alesis website.

When firewire work properly it is great, but if you have any inconsistencies then it can be a real pain in the arse.

Steve

[dysanfel]

I'm looking to buy a new machine, most likely a laptop, which means I'll have to get a new audio interface. I currently have an EMU 1820 which I love, but its PCI. I do hate to see it go, but could use a faster machine and something portable.

There's all this talk about FireWire being dead now that Apple has been dropping it. That basically means my choice is made for me, no? But it seems like all the best interfaces are FireWire. Input is appreciated, thanks!

Firewire is not being dropped by Apple, just off of the MacBook. Fw800 is present in all other Mac Products and is 100% backwards compatible with FW400. Unlike the PC world, Apple is not afraid to drop legacy formats. FW400 is old, FW800 is new, thus FW400 goes away. A simple 400/800 cable solves all the problems.

From a Gearslutz thread: "USB is a master-slave protocol. One of the nodes in the network is the master (the computer) and it must arbitrate communication, polling each of the devices. This places very important limitations.

Firewire, on the other hand, is a peer-to-peer protocol. All the stations are equal (audio interface, disk, computer...) and the only difference is the role they assume. There are relatively new standards such as Yamaha's mLan that exploit this advantage. It couldn't be done on USB.

And of course Firewire is full-duplex. Moreover it can access memory directly, which has an advantage on CPU load and, more important, latency."

[eric_c]

Right now I tend to only record one instrument at a time, an external synth. But one of the reasons I want to move to a laptop is so I can bring my rig to a buddy's place and record with him and potentially another musician, in which case we'd probably be bringing in 3 instruments at once.

But if FireWire 800 is still going to be around for a while, then maybe I don't need to worry about it and I'll just go with FireWire.