Firewire to Thunderbolt 3 - possible and/or worth it?

Z

zenpicker

New member
I am upgrading to a new studio iMac from a very old one with a Firewire port which connects to my Focusrite Pro40 D/A interface. It looks like to maintain this signal chain I would need some spit-and-bailing-wire, multi-adapter rig like:

Mac Thunderbolt 3 port->Thunderbolt 3/Thunderbolt 2 adapter->Thunderbolt 2/Firewire adapter->Focusrite Firewire port.

Yuk!! Is there any other way? The Focusrite only does Firewire, SPDIF and optical. The new iMac only does USB-A and Thunderbolt 3. I'm almost tempted to just bite the bullet and upgrade the D/A unit to a Thunderbolt-compatible one, but that's more serious money.

Open to ANY suggestion! Thanks -
Edward
 
Thanks, yes, that’s pretty much the only way I can see. I forgot to even mention that the FireWire on the pre is only FireWire 400, which is not plug compatible with the 800 socket on the Apple adapter, so I need to add a FireWire 800->400 adapter to the end of the chain too. Sheesh.

I can do rig it, of course, but any concerns about signal quality? I guess the FireWire 400 would dictate the max transmission speed, which has always worked fine for my purposes. But any fears about signal corruption with all those multiple conversions?
 
zenpicker said:
Thanks, yes, that’s pretty much the only way I can see. I forgot to even mention that the FireWire on the pre is only FireWire 400, which is not plug compatible with the 800 socket on the Apple adapter, so I need to add a FireWire 800->400 adapter to the end of the chain too. Sheesh.

I can do rig it, of course, but any concerns about signal quality? I guess the FireWire 400 would dictate the max transmission speed, which has always worked fine for my purposes. But any fears about signal corruption with all those multiple conversions?
Click to expand...

Nah.
 
Great. Please return and let us know how it all works out... or not, if you take a different route :)
 
Sorry, one last question.
For $6 I can get a FireWire 400 to USB-A adapter. Now, the new iMac DOES have USB-A outs. What kind of speed / effectiveness would I lose by dumbing FireWire down to USB-A? I know there are USB-A audio interfaces...but the Focusrite is 8+ channels (I use 4 at a time max). Is this a crazy solution?
 
You can get firewire 400 to 800 cables easily enough.
You can also get USB-C docks with thunderbolt on them. Depending what else you need that might be a way to go.
They usually have HDMI, maybe gigabit ethernet, card readers...Have a shop around.

Firewire to USB-A is a no-go, as far as I know. Almost certainly going to get some cheap chinese crap that doesn't work.
 
Thanks. Sounds like I just need to put together the adapter daisy chain from hell and get on with making some music. ;))
 
zenpicker said:
Thanks. Sounds like I just need to put together the adapter daisy chain from hell and get on with making some music. ;))
Click to expand...

lol, nah..that's what I'm saying - You should be able to get a single dock that gives you a bunch of ports (if you need them...) including firewire.

I needed to buy a dock for my new mac too and just chose to just get one with HDMI, ethernet and USB and retire my Firewire interface,
but there were offerings with Firewire that I could have gone with.
 
I was faced with the same problem several months ago and just decided to get a new interface. It seemed like a waste to turn the benefit of Tbolt3/USB3(-C) into something technically not even supported in the latest OS X, at the expense of a few adapters (not just pennies if getting Apple branded ones). It was softened somewhat by the fact that I was taking the old Mini to another room to replace an even older MBP that was stuck at OS X Sierra, and could take the the old Saffire along, where it gives me a couple of headphone outs, and I do not need the SPDIF input anymore. So, I just bit the bullet and bought a USB-C/3.x interface.
 
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