Is it me, or do Firewire interfaces suck in windows?

register · Post by **register** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 10:08 am

Hey everyone,
I was wondering if any of you can help me shed some light on my current interface issues?
I run a Macbook Pro + use bootcamp, my interface is a motu traveller. I do a lot of work in windows, however, it's come to my attention that the Motu doesn't seem to be as robust in windows as in OSX, with the largest buffer size set on the traveller, I'm still likely to get audio dropouts. The motu connects with firewire and I have the latest drivers installed. However, in windows, if I use the NI guitar rig 'rig kontrol' pedal (USB) it is much more tolerant, dropouts very seldom occur.

Now... do you think this is a USB vs Firewire connectivity issue? or are motu just making crappy drivers?

I'd be grateful to hear what you think.
Thanks
Tom

blank · Post by **blank** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 11:26 am

I never had probs with my trveller on windows.

Tell us about your pc hardware maybe ( motherboard and fw card)

There is prolly some firewire card recommended by motu to avoid these kind of troubles.

datapopstar · Post by **datapopstar** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 11:46 am

register wrote: I run a Macbook Pro + use bootcamp
Tom

i think he did..

blank · Post by **blank** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 11:54 am

oops

Damn morning

sorry

3dot... · Post by **3dot...** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 12:08 pm

...I think there's only a problem with intel chipsets...
Get a NEC PCI/Cardbus with some FW on it... cost about 10$...make a world of difference!
to my knowledge fireface400 and TC Electronics line are the most stable... over FW.

datapopstar · Post by **datapopstar** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 12:23 pm

3dot... wrote:...I think there's only a problem with intel chipsets...
Get a NEC PCI/Cardbus with some FW on it... cost about 10$...make a world of difference!
to my knowledge fireface400 and TC Electronics line are the most stable... over FW.

its, by the way, the same with the 13"macbook.
i run a tascam dm-24 desk with firewire option, and the firewirebus runs hot...
sometimes the desk loose the connection and i have to restart DAW and desk to bring it back to work.
in this point im very disappointed with the macbook, because my older powerbook`s
firewireport was very stable, i never had any issue with.

rsagevik · Post by **rsagevik** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 12:29 pm

Never had any issues with firewire on winxp.
..but I think a patch of some sorts were released from MS to fix problems
after installation of SP2

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/885222

Rune

SubFunk · Post by **SubFunk** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 12:34 pm

i guess it is a windows software issue, i am on a MBP C2D and i know plenty of people around me all running MBs and MBPs C1 and C2D models all of them having no trouble with firewire under OSX, and that counts for the MBPs for FW400 and FW800. and lots of diffrent soundcards... fireboxes, konnekts, RMEs, Motus... you name it.

arachnaut · Post by **arachnaut** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 12:41 pm

I have Firewire 400 and 800 devices. I needed to apply
the patch that Rune just mentioned, otherwise I got very
poor Firewire response and hard disk timeouts.

If you plug Firewire 400 into a Firewire 800 port,
the whole device chain drops to Firewire 400 speed
so I got a second interface -

SIIG Firewire 800+Hi-Speed USB Combo interface.
Part # NN-8US212-S2

I had to play around with the PCI slots to get the proper
interrupt sharing, but in the end I got great Firewire
connectivity in WinXP.

register · Post by **register** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 1:55 pm

thanks guys, I've got an 2 x FW400 exprescard that I'll try - I'll give the microsoft fix a try too - it won't do any damage to anything else on the FW port will it?
I've been using the MBP's internal FW port, so maybe the carbuss will make a difference.

Otherwise I might have to revert to a USB interface - which would be a shame cause I love the traveller.
Ta very much
Tom

datapopstar · Post by **datapopstar** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 2:29 pm

register wrote: Otherwise I might have to revert to a USB interface
Tom

dont do this!!! i have very bad experience about this, because the macbooks trackpad is connected to the usb-bus.
in very cpu-heavy projects i get dropouts and stops everytime i touch the trackpad.
its nor funny....

ewistrand · Post by **ewistrand** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 3:37 pm

Running the MS patch will definitely help.

What chipset do the Macbooks use for FW? The only FW chipset that works really well with a Windows install for audio is a TI.

If the Macbook uses a VIA or Ricoh chipset for FW, you might want to look into using a cardbus FW solution.

ew

TITBAG · Post by **TITBAG** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 4:22 pm

fw is screwed on windows

stinky · Post by **stinky** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 4:31 pm

This may help

http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... t=firewire

davec1 · Post by **davec1** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 9:14 pm

I'm suffering from little blips and tiny sound drop outs with my m-audio fw410 on my win xp sp2 laptop even at ridiculously low sample rate settings and no cpu strain. I thought I'd give this patch a try, but when I try to edit my registry, I don't find the entries that MS says need to be changed.

my hkey_local_machine/system/enum/pci folder has no "1394_hc_hw_id" entry....

can anybody help me with all that?

the only other option I can think of is getting a firewire pcmcia card, but the laptop is specifically configured for audio use (music-pc.com, had performance settings configured for background tasks etc. ), so I'd be surprised if they'd built in one of the dodgy fw controllers...

Is it me, or do Firewire interfaces suck in windows?

Is it me, or do Firewire interfaces suck in windows?

Re: Is it me, or do Firewire interfaces suck in windows?