Ableton Forum

Heads up for owners of RME PCMCIA interfaces, they've finally announced the express card equivalent. I bought a Fireface400 after updating to a Macbook Pro. Since going to OSX/Live 6/firewire I've been gatting the odd dropout/glitch, so I'm very keen to hook up the old Multiface to the MBP and see if it helps.




http://www.rme-audio.de/en_index.php

Right on! Now I can drop the 7ms latency of my MBP+Ultralite and get back to my Multiface (though I doubt I'll sell the Ultralite, because the mic pres are pretty handy sometimes).

I'm hoping this means 1 ms or less of in+out latency.

oh thanks for posting this
great news

awesome...I've held off on updating my latop because the multiface is the only interface that'll give me solid 0.7ms latency, and my old lappie has the pcmcia card.

yes this are great news!

now I hope it is a similar prise like for the adapter.

http://www.duel-systems.com/products/adapters.aspx


bd

^ wishful thinking...

It'll be around $400 for a year or so, then drop down to about $250-300

nebulae wrote:^ wishful thinking...

It'll be around $400 for a year or so, then drop down to about $250-300

Just curious to know how for sure this $ figure is--I'm looking at buying a new laptop, and in weighing the options, the major difference between the two toshibas I'm looking at is the presence of a PCMCIA slot for my old school Multiface on the more expensive of the two. The $400 would make it worth my while to be the better computer now rather than buy the adapter at $400.

thanks for the info, this is definitely good news RME has come out with this, as I'm a little worried with the proprietary cord on the pcmcia on my old unit--cool they switched to normal firewire cables!

When Creative was asked why they don't come up with an PCIe card instead of PCI they answered that PCIe has more bandwidth but worse latencies, so working out a high performence low latency audiocard would be harder for PCIe.

Does anyone know the hardware specifics of the PCIe and if this is true?

I see only Windows VISTA is mentioned in that statement at RME. Does this mean it will not run on XP and not on OSX?

Its all good. From the RME forum:

http://www.rme-audio.de/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1215

------------------------------
The new HDSPe ExpressCard/34 connects existing RME Interfaces with modern PCIe slotted Notebooks.

AES/ New York – October 6th, 2007 (ictw) – At AES RME present their new ExpressCard solution for modern PCIe Notebooks. The HDSPe ExpressCard is specified as an ExpressCard/34 and provides the same features as the successful PCMCIA version. The card comes with drivers for Windows XP (multi-client operation of MME, GSIF and ASIO 2.0) and brand new drivers for Windows Vista and Vista 64. Apple users are perfectly served with Power PC and MAC Universal (Intel) drivers providing Core Audio and Core MIDI support.

The new HDSPe ExpressCard features RME´s own high-speed serial audio data bus, as used in the Multiface, Multiface II, Digiface and RPM DJ Interfaces. These systems are owned and used by ten thousands of audio professionals around the planet. For users looking for a no-compromise high-speed audio recording solution combined with ultimate compatibility, these devices are state of the art. With the HDSPe ExpressCard the further use of the existing range of RME´s I/O boxes with next generation mobile computers and in Windows VISTA environments is secured.

The HDSPe ExpressCard will be available in December 2007 for an expected rrp. of USD 349,-.

Ok, super!! thanks for pointing that out.

Timur wrote:When Creative was asked why they don't come up with an PCIe card instead of PCI they answered that PCIe has more bandwidth but worse latencies, so working out a high performence low latency audiocard would be harder for PCIe.

Does anyone know the hardware specifics of the PCIe and if this is true?

I don't know the hardware specifics but I've read posts on the RME forum by some of their people and they do not agree with Creative's assessment of the technology. RME indicates that equal or faster latency is achieved with their PCIe technology. Could be marketing hype, but I doubt it, I'm inclined to believe them.

Anyone wants to buy my pcmcia cardbus?

I don't think it's for the fireface 400

delag wrote:I don't think it's for the fireface 400

Nope. The Fireface is firewire. This is talking about the PCMCIA (laptop card slot) range of interfaces.