Newbie with a really stupid question

D

devilsgirth

New member
What does it mean when an audio interface is bus powered? Are interfaces with bus pwoering better than audio interfaces without it?
 
Bus Powered interfaces gets the power to run them through either the USB or Firewire cable that connects them to the computer rather than from an external power plug.

I wouldn't say "better", but certainly very useful for portable/location recording. i've had some experience with audio interfaces that have more noise when running off of bus power rather than a plug but even then it's not been a huge problem as i was recording pretty loud sources.
 
DG,
If you are talking about an interface like the M-Audio Mobile Pre or FastTrack Pro, they are USB (bus) powered. The USB port supplies the power. However, the FT-Pro can also be powered by an external AC transformer (wall wart). Other interfaces can be FireWire powered.
The advantage of USB/firewire-powered interfaces is the portability as you can power it from your PC/ laptop. The downside that I have found is USB-power may starve a condenser mic, if the USB port is under load. I have not had experience with FireWire-powered devices.

Hope this helps.

LoL- what 'Justsomeguy' said. He types faster than I do.
 
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DaleVO said:
LoL- what 'Justsomeguy' said. He types faster then I do.
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sorry man :) i thought as i was typing "it'll be sods law that some is typing exactly the same thing as me at the same time". however, i think between us we've covered all the bases :)
 
No need to apologize... I am just glad that I was thinking like a great mind! You know what the say....

He got an answer from two sides of the Earth. Texas and the U.K..
 
lol, one of the dangers of being british is our in built need to apologise :) I have a friend who speaks fluent french and lived in france for about 3 years and he said for the first year or so everyone he met knew he was english straight away, not because of his accent or language skills but because, and i quote, "he apologised too much"
 
lol, i have a colleague who visited paris last year who can speak reasonable french and yet he said every time he tried to speak french to parisians at shops or market stalls they just looked at him funny and shrugged. when he tired to continue they just shrugged harder and either looked away and ignored him or just moved on to the next customer. however, he said outside of paris everything was fine

Paris seems to be a world unto itself :D
 
Ok thanks guys, I figured thats what it was. It would be nice to get a really portable interface, but if its bus powered I dont want that to take away from the quality of my recording. Can bus powered interfaces get their power from an outlet as well? (or is it just specific ones like the maudio one that someone mentioned)
 
a majority of audio interfaces that offer bus powered operation can also be run off of a mains plug, although some don't come with said plug (although most do). if in doubt, have a read of the manufactures specs :)
 
Using wall power for a bus-powered interface isn't likely to buy you anything. Either a bus-powered interface provides full 48VDC phantom power voltage or it doesn't, and it is likely to do so whether you're powering it from a wall wart or your computer.
 
dgatwood said:
Using wall power for a bus-powered interface isn't likely to buy you anything. Either a bus-powered interface provides full 48VDC phantom power voltage or it doesn't, and it is likely to do so whether you're powering it from a wall wart or your computer.
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I agree, although the Maudio Fast Track Ultra springs to mind where you only get phantom power on channels 1 and 2 when it's bus powered but if you want it on all four preamps it has to be plugged in via the mains. Also, things like the Motu 4pre (hybrid) only has full bus power if it's on firewire; on usb it's a similar thing where to get phantom power on all the channels it needs to be plugged into the mains
 
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