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Apple ditches FW400... let's talk about USB Audio Cards
Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 10:34 am
by Pasha
I'd like to hear from all of you what is the general experience with USB Audio cards.
This is not a FW vs USB Audio debate but simply a usage experience sharing on this (less known for me) Audio interfaces.
Some models for us to discuss :
Tascam US-122L
UA-25 Edirol
M-Audio Fast Track Ultra
MOTU 828 USB 2.0
Presonus AudioBox
Picked at random in almost every price category...
Are those really
THAT bad?
Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 10:47 am
by Crash
How good these perform mainly depends on how good their drivers have been implemented and how much spare time your CPU has to transfer the data for the USB port. USB2 is very well capable of delivering high performance audio with lots of channels and lowest latencies, but implementing that in drivers seems to be tricky.
That being said I'd like to mention that my USB Kore 1 interface delivers the best MME Midi performance on my system, better than both PCI interfaces and also better than the FW Fireface 400 (comes second). Theoretically the PCI solutions should deliver the best performance, but obviously it's all a matter of drivers.
Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 10:55 am
by Pasha
Crash wrote:How good these perform mainly depends on how good their drivers have been implemented and how much spare time your CPU has to transfer the data for the USB port. USB2 is very well capable of delivering high performance audio with lots of channels and lowest latencies, but implementing that in drivers seems to be tricky.
That being said I'd like to mention that my USB Kore 1 interface delivers the best MME Midi performance on my system, better than both PCI interfaces and also better than the FW Fireface 400 (comes second). Theoretically the PCI solutions should deliver the best performance, but obviously it's all a matter of drivers.
What about OS X?
Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 11:03 am
by forge
well, I haven't used any of those interfaces, but in the beginning the problem was to do with USB2 being better at 'bursts' while FW being better for streaming, on my old laptop I actually noticed this with my external HD which had FW and USB2 - sometimes USB2 was unreliable, so I often ended up using FW
but now on my my more recent laptop I am using a USB2 external HD enclosure daily dealing with audio and video and I haven't had a single problem with it, so I'd say if it is streaming the data from HD all right it would probably be the same with audio
Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 11:46 am
by oblique strategies
For the MacBook you're going to have to go USB.
But with the MacBook Pro you can still use a firewire 400 interfaced with a firewire 800 port: just get the appropriate cable or adapter.
Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 11:59 am
by Crash
Pasha wrote:What about OS X?
I cannot speak for OS X, but just like with Windows it depends mainly on the OS and driver implementation of USB2's isochronous mode transfer and your CPU being able to deliver the data in time.
Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 12:22 pm
by robin
http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=99063
I'm leaning toward trying a NI AudioKontrol 1. I need to see one in person first though, maybe even try it myself before buying.
Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 12:59 pm
by Pasha
oblique strategies wrote:For the MacBook you're going to have to go USB.
But with the MacBook Pro you can still use a firewire 400 interfaced with a firewire 800 port: just get the appropriate cable or adapter.
I know but I'll never buy a MacBook Pro. It's simply not worth the money for me
It's too much for my needs. I already have a Macbook C2D (Nov 2006) and a bunch
of friends asking me to sell it so... just curiosity...
Have you got any suggestion for USB Interfaces?
Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 1:09 pm
by SimonPHC
If you do consider a macbook pro, you might consider this.
Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 1:12 pm
by robin
Pasha wrote:
Have you got any suggestion for USB Interfaces?
There's also this, ESI U46 SE.
Note, I'm looking at this too. I've not tried anything yet.
Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 1:28 pm
by kaffein
Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 3:04 pm
by snowtires
like someone said in another thread, if you buy a consumer-level laptop, expect to get a consumer-level audio interface (i.e. usb). it wasn't 100% clear before, but apple has now made the distinction between the macbook and macbook PRO pretty clear. you want the better interface, get the better computer.
Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 3:17 pm
by noisetonepause
snowtires wrote:like someone said in another thread, if you buy a consumer-level laptop, expect to get a consumer-level audio interface (i.e. usb). it wasn't 100% clear before, but apple has now made the distinction between the macbook and macbook PRO pretty clear. you want the better interface, get the better computer.
Like I said in another thread, I still don't see why Apple's labelling of the McBook Pro as 'pro' means anything else than that they are about one million times worse at naming their products than they were five years ago.
The plain McBook has a smaller screen and integrated graphics for less weight, smaller footprint and longer battery life. The McBook Pro is more of a 'desktop replacement' with a bigger screen, expansion slot and better graphics and beefier processor.
The Firewire port was never out of place on the McBook or the iBook before it. It wasn't some 'pro level' feature that had mistakenly made its way to a 'not pro' machine.
Gigabit ethernet, on the other hand... who needs that? I mean, most consumers are only using their networks to connect to the internet, and hardly anyone has a connection faster than the early 90's 10 mbps, much less fast ethernet. Also, most routers and switches sold to consumers are fast ethernet. Why do we have gigabit ethernet on these consumer machines?
The reason: They're not fucking consumer computers. They're mid-to-high end laptops. They should have kept the damned Firewire port and you know it.
Re: Apple ditches FW400... let's talk about USB Audio Cards
Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 4:42 pm
by john doe by choice
Pasha wrote:
This is not a FW vs USB Audio debate but simply a usage experience sharing on this (less known for me) Audio interfaces.
Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 5:46 pm
by jah4life
they suck. all of them.
