Firewire adaptors?

songsmith · Post by **songsmith** » Sunday Jul 26, 2009

I'm planning on a new laptop in the very near future, and would like to use this one as a recorder, however, it doesn't have a Firewire interface. Has anyone used a Firewire adaptor? I'd rather not use a Firewire/USB, and have seen Firewire/PCMCIA Express cards on Ebay that don't even need drivers. Do they work?
I have a Sony Vaio PCG-K23 running XP, approx. 4 1/2 yrs old. I know I'll need a Firewire recording interface, and only need 8 simultaneous inputs at the very most. I plan on using Audacity or Cubase LE, or something very basic and easy as a platform.
Thanks in advance!--->JMS

KeithReynolds · Post by **KeithReynolds** » Sunday Jul 26, 2009

hey dude.
For BEST results, make sure the firewire card has a Texas Instruments chipset.
Hubs and that kind of thing never work for firewire recording. Very unreliable.
Why are you ruling out usb for the interface?

ALSO, give Reaper a try before you settle for something like audacity or Cubase Le. Reaper 3 is absolutely amazing. Free for 30 days, then they request you buy the license for $60. Stable, efficient, reliable and GREAT sounding. 64 bit audio engine. Comes with awesome plugins.
www.reaper.fm you will never look back.

songsmith · Post by **songsmith** » Monday Jul 27, 2009

FourthDimensionAudio wrote:hey dude.

Why are you ruling out usb for the interface?
.

Because I want to record at least 4, and hopefully 8 simultaneous tracks at once. I'm under the impression that USB handles 2 inputs well. I have a 2-channel USB interface, but I'd like to record acoustic music live.--->JMS

KeithReynolds · Post by **KeithReynolds** » Monday Jul 27, 2009

usb interfaces have made a leap foreward! there are some cool interfaces that do 8+ tracks at once.

the m audio fast track ultra pro!
http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/pr ... sku=482555

the tascam us-1641
http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/pr ... sku=245002

which BloodyFingers from rockpage has. he can tell you all about it. 14 tracks @ once!

The Line 6 UX8
http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/pr ... sku=241405

All of these units can do 8 tracks at once no problem. Usb 1 could not do 8 channels. those I listed are USB2 interfaces. Usb2 has no problem doing 8 tracks at once.

Just think about, unless you really wanna go firewire. in which make sure you get a firewire card that has a TI chipset. Some others can work, but TI is the most reliable. When youre doing recording, you want the most reliable!

songsmith · Post by **songsmith** » Monday Jul 27, 2009

Thanks for the information! I'll definitely stick with USB if I can, especially on this old laptop. It does, indeed have one USB2 port, and two of the older standard USB's. Cool!--->JMS

Killjingle · Post by **Killjingle** » Monday Jul 27, 2009

everything he said is absolutley right to my knowledge. The one argument that a lot of gearheads have is the actual speed of USB2 vs Firewire.

I say if u have USB2.0 use it.

tornandfrayed · Post by **tornandfrayed** » Tuesday Jul 28, 2009

Here is a cool page with all the actual ratings...

http://lyberty.com/tech/terms/usb.html

I believe that Firewire is preferred in music because it excels at moving larger files quicker. I have seen differences in moving files of 1 gig or more.

I would really say that the USB 2 standard should work for 8 tracks of audio.

The specs on this page:

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model- ... mdl=PCGK23

Say that you have a firewire port on there. Could be an option though. I would say if you have a 60 gig drive in there that you have to put a bigger drive in and max the RAM out on the machine.

Based on crucial's page you can put 1024 of RAM into the machine and that should also speed it up.

http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts. ... x%20Models

I would also stick with Keith on the Reaper thing. This program requires very little CPU and seems to run well..

Good Luck!

songsmith · Post by **songsmith** » Tuesday Jul 28, 2009

I didn't even realize it would max out at 1024 on the RAM... I can get a new laptop with 4 Gigs of RAM for $500, so I think I'll just do that, probably. A nearly 5-year-old laptop is pretty archaic. I paid $1500 for it, it was pretty smokin' back then.

Other than USB2, is there anything I should look for on a laptop for recording? I don't really game or use it for office purposes, just internet and music.---->JMS

hicksjd9 · Post by **hicksjd9** » Tuesday Jul 28, 2009

There are some differences in the way USB and Firewire access memory and cpu time. Firewire has better continuous access to processes and this means less lag time and less overall resource usage. I'm not saying usb 2.0 isn't the way to go, but I would go somewhere that has a good return policy.

Like 4th dimension said, TI chipsets are the ONLY way to go with firewire. Don't bother with anything else.

JackANSI · Post by **JackANSI** » Wednesday Jul 29, 2009

USB2 : Master-Slave, computer is in charge of everything. (tad slower, why USB hubs tend to not make a huge difference when only one device is talking)

Firewire400 : Peer-to-Peer, the devices including the computer work out the best available method and stick to it (tad faster, why firewire hubs make things slower)

USB2 : 480Mbps max, maximum sustained throughput actually around 300Mbps. Most of that gap being made up of delays in the master-slave protocol. Half-duplex arrangement, if you have equal data going both ways max bandwidth is reduced greatly, more like 140-180Mpbs max and latency increases drastically.

Firewire400 : 400Mbps max, maximum sustained throughput actually around 380Mbps. Full-duplex arrangement, can handle sustained bi-directional data with minimal latency.

USB2 relatives: I2C, RS485, CAN

Firewire400 relatives: ethernet, RS232, SAS

If given a choice, I pick firewire over USB, it is the "smarter" of the two interfaces.

BloodyFingers · Post by **BloodyFingers** » Saturday Aug 01, 2009

Older computers cannot handle usb audio like i use. I have the Tascam 1641 interface. Maxing out your ram is not always a good thing either, if your running xp 32 bit only 3.24 gigs is all xp will see. If your running xp 64 bit then up to 8 gigs it will see. I'm running xp 32 bit with my Tascam on a intel mother board with 4 gigs of raM. My usb is 2.0 and i can record 14 tracks at one time because its talking 1 way. If i am over dubing I have played back as many as 6 tracks and recording 8 more. I have no problems at all. WORD OF ADVICE FIND OUT WHAT YOUR MAINBOARD CHIPS ARE BECAUSE IF YOU HAVE nVIDIA CHIPSET ON YOUR MOTHERBOARD THE TASCAM WILL NOT WORK RIGHT AS ARE MANY OF THE OTHER INTERFAECES.

The laptop you talked about will not work well with one like mine. And yes firewire does have its atvanatages. But buck for buck you can beat the Tascam interface if your on a buget. $400.00 is not that bad. I would recomend at least a duelcore processor. Mines a duelcore 2.8 intel. It does kick some ass. Secondly for best results you should be running a second harddrive to send the audio to that your recording so that is all that hard drive has to do. (WRITE AUDIO) Your cpu usage will go way up if your going to run windows and your daw and write audio to it all at one time.

I hope I helped you out here. Gary

songsmith · Post by **songsmith** » Sunday Aug 02, 2009

BloodyFingers wrote: WORD OF ADVICE FIND OUT WHAT YOUR MAINBOARD CHIPS ARE BECAUSE IF YOU HAVE nVIDIA CHIPSET ON YOUR MOTHERBOARD THE TASCAM WILL NOT WORK RIGHT AS ARE MANY OF THE OTHER INTERFAECES.

I hope I helped you out here. Gary

Thanks, Gary. I bought a Gateway Dualcore 2 Ghz, 4 Gigs of RAM, and I'll check for the nVidia chipset... the darn thing has all the features I wanted (except Firewire) for $500, and for everything else I've tried so far, it works well. I do really HATE Vista, though. It's like a non-Windows program, nothing is familiar. I don't know anything about Windows Mail, either... I think I'm going with Firefox as the browser, and look for a better mail client... any suggestions? (I still have the old laptop up and running, that's what I'm on now)--->JMS

BloodyFingers · Post by **BloodyFingers** » Sunday Aug 02, 2009

I do really HATE Vista, though. It's like a non-Windows program, nothing is familiar. I don't know anything about Windows Mail, either... I think I'm going with Firefox as the browser, and look for a better mail client... any suggestions? (I still have the old laptop up and running, that's what I'm on now)--->JMS

You could always dowm grade to xp. If you need help doing it i will help you. Vista sucks. Even better i have a program that will edit xp and remove the stuff you don't need........let me know, Gary

BloodyFingers · Post by **BloodyFingers** » Monday Aug 03, 2009

Before doing a downgrade you must goto your computer manufacture's web site and see if can get all the drivers for your motherboard. Includes your video driver, audio driver, chipset driver, and most important your usb driver. With out these your laptop will not work right and your usb will not work at all. If it does it will be only 1.0 not 2.0.........If these drivers are not avalble to you then contact them and tell them what you are doing and what you need.....

This is why I always biuld from the ground up. Buying and biulding your own system give you all these drivers that prebiults don't.....

mjb · Post by **mjb** » Monday Aug 03, 2009

johnny,
you gearing up to record the trucks show?

songsmith · Post by **songsmith** » Monday Aug 03, 2009

Now that you mention it, I might borrow a Zoom H2 for that. Good idea!--->JMS

BloodyFingers · Post by **BloodyFingers** » Tuesday Aug 04, 2009

You should let me do it >>>??

songsmith · Post by **songsmith** » Tuesday Aug 04, 2009

mjb was talking about the Derek Trucks Band show at whatever they're calling Johnstown Folkfest now. We've been looking forward to it for months. A Zoom H2 is a handheld stereo field recorder, they're excellent and fairly cheap. I've tried a bunch of them, and researched them pretty well, and they pretty much whip field recorders that cost several times more. They're not the sturdiest, but record quality is surprisingly good. They have a new one, The H4, that will do a pseudo-surround mix, or record in a bunch of different mic patterns. MC records rehearsals with one, so we can hear mistakes and recall arrangements. Pretty sweet!--->JMS

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Firewire adaptors?

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