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gamba
Member
I'm thinking about getting a m audio fast track USB interface but I don't know if a FireWire interface is better and also more reliable. Can someone please give me some input. Thanks
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GassyEmu
New member
with firewire you are going to have a lot less latency because firewire is faster than USB. if you dont care about latency then I would say a USB interface is definitely ok. m audio has a lot of software support too
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gamba
Member
Latency was one of my concerns. Thanks for the advice.
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dementedchord
Psychotic State alumni ch
on the one hand fw is a SmidgE faster... but it really may not last long... as i read it even apple doesnt put it on anything b ut the top models... so support is waneing... pity actually and there was supossed to be a 1600 speed in the future but where was it??? that said usb does have some issues... but maybe the usb3 spec will aleviate the issue...
guitaristic
prophet of Dave
What's the max number of tracks you think you'll be recording at one time?
dastrick
huh???
I think USB would be safe as long as your CPU is good enough. I personally prefer firewire because it doesn't rely on your computer's processor.
And I don't think that firewire is going anywhere. Firewire targets a pretty specialized market and Apple probably just doesn't want to spend the extra money to put it on there lower end models.
And I don't think that firewire is going anywhere. Firewire targets a pretty specialized market and Apple probably just doesn't want to spend the extra money to put it on there lower end models.
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gamba
Member
Don't really know what the max tracks would be because I would be using a Roland td20 expanded through midi plus all I would need is 2 instrument inputs and would be doing one track at a time also need a midi controller because I would use virtual instruments in logic express. I would think that 50 tracks max would be enough but like everyone else I tend to get carried away. The CPU would be a refurbished iMac 21.5 3.06 ghz with 4 gig ram and don't know right know if I would have to make it 8 gig ram. So that's how it is. I really do appreciate you guys responding because this can become a little overwhelming doing all this research. Thanks again
guitaristic
prophet of Dave
Well, if you're only recording one track at a time, feel free to buy a firewire, but I think that's a little bit of overkill. USB will handle that great 
dastrick
huh???
I am more than confident that USB 2.0 will be good for your needs. As far as USB and your interface is concerned, it doesn't matter how many track you play back. You could play back 1000 as long as your computer can handle it. And 4 gigs of RAM is good for what you want to do, of course more is always better. 
John Willett
Circle Sound Services
If buying now I think I would go for USB over Firewire (USB3 if you can get it).
Firewire seems to be dying and even many new Macs don't have Firewire on the latest models.
Firewire seems to be dying and even many new Macs don't have Firewire on the latest models.
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