Going to Firewire

ChuckU

ChuckU

New member
Right now I'm using two Delta 1010's and they work beautifully together. I routinely track 10-12 tracks simultaneously at 44k, 24bit onto an internal IDE drive thru a 2.4ghz with Sonar 2. I've done 16 with no probs. This has been my setup for a couple of years, but recently a power supply went on my PC and ended a session. I realize that PC problems are part of the territory, so I have since tried to purchase PCI cards for the Deltas separately. If I had another crash during a session I could have a backup PC standing by, needing only to switch the Delta parrallel cables. MAudio won't help me with this, nor will dealers. I've seen them on Ebay, but it's rare.

So, I'm thinking of going firewire. I thought about buying a Delta Firewire 1814 and a front end ADAT interface such as the Octopre or the Octane by Maudio. I know Behringer has one too. Cheap. This would give me 18 inputs and a one plug change out. Even easier if I record onto Firewire or USB2 drives.

Any thoughts on this? Is it a step back? Are there better options for PC? Any opinions on other gear I mentioned?

Thanks
 
What about a couple of Presonus Firepods?
The 1814 + the Octane would probably cost around the same money
 
Well, if you are using the 1010's already they have no pre's..so what are you using currently for pre-amps?

You might want to consider the Tascam FW-1884 which has 8 pre's built in, 8 more inputs through ADAT lightpipe, and I think at least a couple more inputs throught SPDIF. You would also get a very high quality motorized mixing console compared to your other solutions.

Jake
 
Can you stack the Firepods? You can't with the M-Audio 1804, So I'd use the ADAT option for the additional 8 inputs.

As for a front end, I use a Mackie 32/8 buss mixer. I looked at the Tascam 1804 since I have a mixer and a control surface. That's an option with an ADAT interface. The guy at Sweetwater recommended a MOTU 828 and an Alesis AI3. Motu scares me, being a PC guy.
 
straight from the m-audio 1814 manual: page 54, chapter 11 troubleshooting:

We recommend that you avoid connecting too many devices. The FireWire bus is a
dependable, high-speed, high-bandwidth protocol that is ideally suited for digital audio.
Nevertheless, it is important to remember that audio and multimedia streaming places
considerable demands on your processor and the FireWire bus. Although it is
theoretically possible to chain many multiple FireWire devices in series, doing so has the
potential to degrade your audio performance.
 
presonus dosent seem to answer that question but i would assume that its basically what m-audio says goes for all of the firewires....its possible, but with some sound degredation. presonus does say that if you had a firewire hard drive then you need to connect that to the firepod and not to your comp
 
I read on the RME site that you can track 27 channels at a time with one Fireface. And it's got the same pres as the Octopre, I think, and the ADs from the ADIs.
 
My $0.02

My current setup is an HP notebook, a Motu 828mkII, a PreSonus Digimax LT preamp (running over ADAT Lightpipe), and a Firewire/USB2.0 external enclosure for audio data. It's been ticking along with Sonar 3.0 for months with no problems at all.

You mentioned the desire to be able to switch computers easily, and that is a huge plus with the external interfaces. In my case, if the notebook ever tanks, I can switch the whole setup over to my old desktop in a matter of 10 minutes.

The M-Audio Octane pre is a decent preamp, but avoid that Behringer (the ADA8000 i think) at all costs. It completely and totally sucks, even for Behringer.

You said that since you are a PC guy, Motu scares you. I've been using my 828 on WinXP with no problems at all. We're doing the exact same thing up at my church. No issues whatsoever.

If you get a firewire audio interface and want an external drive, I would recommend running the drive on the USB bus. Sure, there's still some limitations in the PCI bus that they both run on, but it helps to keep them out of each other's way.
 
This is pretty much the input I was looking for. Thanks. I definitely need to take a harder look at the MOTU. (I was looking at the Behringer, I confess.)
 
Now if you're looking at the ADAT preamps like the Octane and (previously :D) the Behringer, then although I currently use one, I would recommend getting something other than the PreSonus Digimax LT. It's not horrible by any means, but there are better options out there for the money. I'm looking at replacing it pretty soon.

Also, there are other firewire options besides the Motu units. They're a little more expensive and they operate a little differently, but I've heard nothing but good things about the RME Fireface units. Aside from some isolated issues with RME including sub-par firewire cables, people seem to be very happy with them. RME's analog-to-digital converters will be higher quality than Motu's and I think they support higher sampling frequencies. The Fireface 800 also has 2 ADAT Lightpipe I/O's vs. the Motu 828's one, allowing for 8 additional channels of input. Might want to check them out. I'm actually looking at switching to a Fireface myself.
 
The Fireface looks great, but to get 16 simultaneous tracks I'd need an adat front end. This is 2 grand easy. Sweetwater's catalog hints that the Firepod can be stacked. If that's so, $1200 might do it.
 
Firepods are indeed stackable when using the newest drivers (1.12, if i'm not mistaken)
i have tried this and it worked with no hitches whatsoever. Did not notice signal loss/degradation.... it only slows down the computer a little... i had to re-adjust latency to 6ms, instead of the usual 4.5.
All in all, a very straightforward and intuitive installation.
i like.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top