alesis firewire i am a clueless newb

nashunbooking

New member
My new computer case has a firewire port, but the card I have I am unsure. Actually I don't know if the card has anything to do with it or not. By card I mean my motherboard. the motherboard I have is the: MSI K8N Neo 2 (socket 939).

what do I need if anything to run an alesis compatible firewire port through my computer? I want to be able to use the alesis multimix 16 firewire. I am a newb that really doesn't know the difference between the firewire version and the usb version. I have read it allows you to record more tracks at the same time on a computer. Can you still use the firewire version for a small PA system for live audio as well?
 
Needs to be a 6 wire firewire connection, not a 4 wire.. Even then not all firewire cards work, I went through 3 firewire cards and two laptops before finding a combo that worked. And even now there's a glitch or two in overall functionality.. Records well though..

You're gonna need a good bit of heft on processor at least a 1.2Ghz Pentium, (Celeron doesn't seem to be very stable).. The more RAM the better, at least 512mb, 1gb recommended.. You'll need TONS of drive space, once again the more the better, but at least 10gb free.. I'd recommend at least a 7200rpm drive, 5200rpm might cut it, then again it might not.

You can use the MultiMix units as a stand alone mixer, hooked to a PA, and even record at the same time. It's not a powered mixer, so you'll have to have an amp or powered speakers. In fact it has 2 sets of line outs.. 1/2 channel or 3/4 channel gives you the option of sending mixes out to two seperate locations. Example, L&R from a tape deck on inputs 9&10 sent out the 1/2 main mix to Room #1. L&R from another tape deck on inputs 11&12 switched out the 3/4 secondary mix to Room #2.

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Rob
 
6 fire wire?

so i will need to buy a fire wire card. is that a new motherboard or something different.

as far as RAM i will have 2gb by then, i have 512 now. i also have a 200GB hardrive with pretty much nothing on it.


is fire wire just for laptops? i have a regular OG keyboard. old style for an office.
 
Alesis has very little info on their site about it and refuses to recomend any particular FW card.. Guess every system is different enough that not every FW card will work equally... Everyone says Texas Instrument chipset FW cards are the way to go, but I couldn't get the TI card to even realize the MultiMix was on the end of the cable... Not sure what chipset I've got now, but it was the cheapest thing I could find on EBay.. Think I gave $7 for it new.. Beat the devil out of the $65 for the TI chipset at Circuit City (even if it would ahve worked).. Nice thing about Circuit City is you can get a couple of different ones if the one you have isn't working, see which one works best and take the others back...

Firewire isn't just laptops.. It's just what I'm using.. Wanted to be VERY portable... I can plug everything into a DC - AC converter in my truck and record parking lot, side porch or town square jam sessions... It's a Bluegrass thang.... Ya just can't duplicate the background sounds of crickets, cars on the street, kids playing or someone asking you to "pass the mashed taters" in a studio...

BTW... Another name for Firewire (which is actually something Mac came up with) is IEEE 1394... It's actually not much more than a fancy network card... In fact the usual subsystem under the 1394 card in system devices is "1394 Network Card"..

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Rob
 
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