Excuse My Ignorance But What Is A PCMCIA Interface ??

Hypomixolydian · Post by **Hypomixolydian** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 3:07 am

Hello,

As the header says, excuse my ignorance but what is a PCMCIA Interface and how does it work?? I have done a Google search but only found sites selling them without exactly explaining what they do.
Could this make looking for a firewire interface obsolete?? As far as I know so far, the data transfer rate is much faster and equal to a PCI card.
How would it connect to my laptop? Does my laptop have a PCMCIA slot?? I use an ASUS 6000NE (as far as I know???)
Could someone please explain what they are and how it all works and connects up to a laptop?? It would be much appreciated!!!!

My apologies if it is a banal and silly question.

Thanks in advance!!

Vercengetorex · Post by **Vercengetorex** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 3:24 am

PCMCIA is also sometimes know as CardBus or CardBus II, depeding on the particular incarnation. The expansion slot is found on the side of your laptop (usually the left) and is approximately 5.5cm x 5mm (per slot, many machines will have 2 slots stacked, some will have only one).

Some manufacturers producing cardbus audio interfaces:

http://www.rme-audio.com

http://www.echoaudio.com

http://www.digigram.com

Hypomixolydian · Post by **Hypomixolydian** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 4:51 am

Another "stupid" question on the subject.

How would I connect my guitar for example or a microphone? Is there a breakout box? Do they do 24 bit recording? If there is a breakout box will it give me a preamp for my guitar?
What are some good brands?

Thanks again!!

4am · Post by **4am** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 11:10 am

i have always heard good things about echo indigo pcmcia cards, but as fair as i know they don't have mic preamps

Pitch Black · Post by **Pitch Black** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 11:32 am

The PCMCIA slot on a laptop is the equivalent of the PCI slots on a desktop.

i.e. a kind of "direct injection" to the computers CPU. This is why PCI/PCMCIA is very efficient for audio and MIDI interfaces. The CPU doesn't have to go through an extra "gearing down" phase [i.e. translating it's instructions into the extra level of protocol for FireWire or USB.] It just talks straight to the interface, rather than go through this extra layer of instructions.
- USB being a particular offender cos its quite demanding on CPU cycles to serve up the instructions AND then a low-bandwidth protocol into the bargain. euck!

A PCMCIA audio interface will come with either cable pigtails (the Digigram VX Pocket) or with a breakout box (The RME Multiface/Digiface)

For guitar, you will need something with preamps which some boxes have and some don't. I think just about every current PCMCIA interface will do 24bit recording.

The consensus seems to be that the RME is the most viable, stable system for both Mac and PC laptops. (hey-i'm-not-just-saying-it-just-cos-i've-got-one. I read around and asked around, _then_ got one

I can't rate it highly enough.)

hope this helps

timdrussell · Post by **timdrussell** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 10:22 pm

i use the Echo Indigo IO. it's PCMCIA. i'd previously tried one of m-audio's usb devices - the sonica theater usb. downside of that (and demonstrating what's been said about usb limitations) was that it could only input at 48KHz. the Echo Indigo IO does input and output at 24/96.

what i don't like about the EIIO is that it's a little loose fitting. it kind of wiggles a little bit in the slot in a way that's discomforting to me. i've never had it wiggle out or lose contact with the slot, so it's not a really big deal. the jacks a little flimsy too. i've heard others say this. (maybe they're supposed to have that wiggle room; i don't know.) maybe the RME PCMCIA cards are sturdier and better overall quality; i don't know a darn thing about them. the EIIO set me back $170US, around three times what you'll pay for a USB alternative, but to me it's worth it.

incidentally, doing my own research on PCMCIA recently, i came across this funny: it stands for Personal Computer Memory Card something or other. but a joke has it that it might as well stand for People Can't Memorize Computer Industry Acronyms.

TimD