Ableton Forum

Hi,

I know there are a few posts about these cards and soundcard in general, but i cant find anything to answer my specific questions, so i thought i'd start a new topic.

Anyway, i've been looking for a cheap(ish) portable soundcard and bought a fca202. It worked ok for a while, but after i moved flat and set everything up again, the unit will only give good sound with a latency of about 512 samples, i cant help but think that ive done something wrong, but cant put my finger on it.

Also, i recently decided to buy a xenyx mixer (not sure this was a good idea) and thought that the little usb soundcard that comes with it might be a good interim option, but it causes so much distortion to the sound that it is completely unusable in live, or any other audio app. When live opens, it reports that it cant use a soundcard with only 1 out, maybe this error is behind the problem.

Any advice would be massively appreciated, even if its just to say 'those cards suck, try ??? instead'

cheers

live 5.2.2, g4

I had to turn up the sample frequency up on mine to get it to play nice at lower latencies. 48000hz is about perfect for me, but if you have the CPU to spare turn it up the 96000hz and give it a go.

Kinda counter-intuitive, I know, but it's what I had to do...

Hello Hoodedclaw, We tried this sound module with 3 people on different
labtops in the studio and live on stage and the latency was one of the problems. Not only in Live but in SX3 we had the same problems.
Behringer has not come up with a solution and is not taking any problems
serious! We got a e-mail with a story about tunning your laptop etc. and the
fact that they tested this module for a long time with no problems. The problems we had where: Driver gone with startup Live or SX3, feedbacknoises when using Waves plugins, latency problems the module
only works on high latency (very slow!!!!) To slow for playing with Live and
effect-plugins and instruments. We bought a Echo I D.J. with no problems
so far. Greatings David

My experience with FCA202 so far has been positive.
When setup to 4ms 44khz or 48khz is fine, while 96Khz is 2ms but drains a little more CPU especially if all your material is not at the same sampling rate.
I got 192 samples latency with the 44Khz, 24bit setting (4ms Latency).
It might not work correctly if you use a FW port that its different from the one you used during install. On Windows download the latest drivers, on Mac uses Core Audio.

Hello Pasha, You are lucky, but we had 3 of those modules and are using
the combination of SX3 and Live. With the Behringer thing we had lots of
problems and now no problem at all. Two toshibas and a HP super audio
tuned. Now with the Echo I DJ no problem at all. We perform live and are
all 3 conected and you can't have that shit happening on stage. Maybe
when you sit at home with just one laptop it works. Greatings David

FMB wrote:Hello Pasha, You are lucky, but we had 3 of those modules and are using
the combination of SX3 and Live. With the Behringer thing we had lots of
problems and now no problem at all. Two toshibas and a HP super audio
tuned. Now with the Echo I DJ no problem at all. We perform live and are
all 3 conected and you can't have that shit happening on stage. Maybe
when you sit at home with just one laptop it works. Greatings David

Hi David
No lappy here. I only use Live or SX2 never rewired.
I use a desktop with FW. My chipsets is a VIA FW chip on a Lacie FW400 PCI.
I do agree with you. I use it only at home, so if sometimes I have to reinit ASIO it's not that big problem. Sure on stage I'd use something different.

What it's true in respect of Mac vs Pc debate (and I'm on a PC) is that the driver cocktail a Windows PC loads at start up is function of the hardware that lies there. Toshibas ( I have a Tecra M2 with no problem with FCA202) uses custom chipsets for USB and FW... Norton Ghost is not able to write to an external drive because of that.... so each Laptop, like someone's said about men is an island, a Mac is what its made of. Constant. Reliable. Not because of OS as many think but because runs on known hardware. Desktops are less custom these days, but laptops are really a mess. Hopefully Intel with Centrino Duo platform is standardizing a little more so we could see more reliable machines in the future and less problems with OEMs and their messy drivers.

Anyway, how FCA202 works with Macs?
Any experience?

thanks for all the replies guys, most appreciated.

I run the fca202 on a mac, and i find it completely unusable. the latency is far, far too high to use it seriously. I think the best thing is to hawk it off on ebay and buy something else. if anyone has a recommendation for a decent interface for a powerbook g4, im all ears. apparently the saffire is good, but apparently the fca202 is quite good, and its really not

the_hoodedclaw wrote:thanks for all the replies guys, most appreciated.

I run the fca202 on a mac, and i find it completely unusable. the latency is far, far too high to use it seriously. I think the best thing is to hawk it off on ebay and buy something else. if anyone has a recommendation for a decent interface for a powerbook g4, im all ears. apparently the saffire is good, but apparently the fca202 is quite good, and its really not

You mean more than 4ms I got on Windows? (FCA202 panel reports 4ms while Live reports 192 samples)