firewire audio interface, madtheory, lookin at you in particular...

[Raulie]

firewire audio interface, madtheory, lookin at you in particular...

the E-mu I bought didn't work out because I have a PCI express slot and not a PCMCIA slot so I had to sell it on, big disappointment!

can someone recommend a good firewire audio interface for me?... (not M-audio)

what I have right now is a edirol UA-25 USB, and it suits me fine, actually the specs are perfect for what I want... but anything that reduces latency further is good by me, and worth spending the money on...

at the moment i'm working comfortably off 9.33ms O/P and 10.5ms I/P latency... (with a minimum of 4.33ms O/P and 7.54ms I/P latency for the soundcard itself)... I'm wondering if a firewire interface can reduce this by much...

informed replies only...

cheers

 

[madtheory]

I suggest you check out one of the MOTU boxes. Highly regarded, very solid drivers on the Mac. I'm using an M Audio Firewire 1814, it's excellent. I think you should look into their stuff again. The standard of their drivers is vastly improved over the Win 2000/ OS9 versions. You could bring your machine to my studio and check it out for an hour if you like.

Are you using a laptop?

 

[ripple]

u cud also check out Focusrite's range: http://www.focusrite.com/productdetails.asp?id=38&iRange=5
or Echo Audio's: http://www.echoaudio.com/Products/FireWire/

 

[Raulie]

I suggest you check out one of the MOTU boxes. Highly regarded, very solid drivers on the Mac. I'm using an M Audio Firewire 1814, it's excellent. I think you should look into their stuff again. The standard of their drivers is vastly improved over the Win 2000/ OS9 versions. You could bring your machine to my studio and check it out for an hour if you like.

Are you using a laptop?

i'm using a dell inspiron 630m... and it would be difficult for me to get to your studio, as I now live in montreal...

i'm actually thinking of the firewire version of the edirol I already have... I'm that happy with it... any thoughts?

 

[madtheory]

Ah, Montreal, right! I haven't used the Edirol. I suggest you post a q in the Sound on Sound forums, you'll find someone with first hand experience.

BTW, PCMCIA is not what you meant I'd say... it's just PCI, and PCI express is the new one.

 

[Raulie]

Ah, Montreal, right! I haven't used the Edirol. I suggest you post a q in the Sound on Sound forums, you'll find someone with first hand experience.

BTW, PCMCIA is not what you meant I'd say... it's just PCI, and PCI express is the new one.

no, the E-mu I bought is PCMCIA, which is the standard for most laptops and is different to PCI, which is the standard for most desktops (pain in the arse if you ask me)... I thought for some reason that my PCI express slot was the same thing, only better, and would be backwards compatible... wrong.. it's much faster, but a completely different port.. a lot of newer graphics cards are PCI express, but sadly any PCI express audio cards are extremely high end, and would cost a lot more than I can afford right now...

as for the edirol, the USB version is fantastic, the main plus is that I can get extremely good volume on the mics for live sets with very little feedback - the old m-audio quattro/audio buddy combo I had was lethal for feedback... so I'm assuming the edirol firewire (FA 66) will be pretty much like the UA 25 only with less latency... every millisecond counts!!!

 

[madtheory]

Yes every millisecond counts.

What Emu card did you buy exactly? I just checked their site- they only sell PCI cards, not PCMCIA?? The PCI express issue is a PITA alright.

BTW, feedback has nothing to do with the soundcard. It's down to how you position the mics in relation to the speakers, and the gain setting on the mic pre amp.

 

[ubernerd]

I use the MBox 2 (USB2) on a Dell Inspiron and tis the biz so tis.
Had wanted the Emu but read alot about driver incompatabilities with Centrino laptops.

Any particular reason you would not use the MBox ?

 

[JAZZZ]

http://www.audioamigo.com/cport.html

Heres what I use.Have gotten some decent results so far.Bought it about two years ago,dont know if you can still buy it but would totally recommend it.

 

[Raulie]

Yes every millisecond counts.

What Emu card did you buy exactly? I just checked their site- they only sell PCI cards, not PCMCIA?? The PCI express issue is a PITA alright.

BTW, feedback has nothing to do with the soundcard. It's down to how you position the mics in relation to the speakers, and the gain setting on the mic pre amp.

I bought the emu 1616m, and can guarantee that it's PCMCIA and not PCI...

as for the feedback, you would think that, but the sound I got out of the edirol was so much tighter (with regards feedback) than previously... considering nothing else was different (except for using an external preamp)... surely the hardware counts for something??

Any particular reason you would not use the MBox ?

1. it's USB
2. I don't use pro tools so for what you get, it's not very good value for money...