firewire vs. usb 2.0 for interface

  • Thread starter Thread starter rolandfernandez
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rolandfernandez

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Hi, im new to recording and i was wondering which was better for the price. i've noticed that it cost about 200 more dollars to buy an interface with 16 inputs running firewire than it would a usb 2.0 with 16 inputs. should i spend the extra bit of cash and run firewire? or just stick with usb 2.0? thanks in advance for the help
~Roland
 
I'm not sure you're necessarily right there. Which interfaces specifically are you comparing ? If you could give us a few names and also describe what you're trying to achieve we can help more. Firewire and USB 2.0 are both great for recording, as long as you're running a machine that's powerful enough, and have the right drivers.
 
There is no 'better' --- its just a data pipe.
If 16 is all you need, either works.

Where firewire does excel is that you can gang devices on the chain with that bigger pipe.

For example, I run a Glyph firewire drive daisy-chained to my Motu828mkII.
You can add drives, convolution/fx processors, etc. and have MUCH more data pipe to use.
(fw400 can stream over 100 simultaneous channels, fw800 twice that)
And usb is tighter due to its master/slave format- EVERY bit has to go through the cpu.
When the firewire interface streams to a drive on the chain, the data goes straight to the drive.

It's just a bigger pipe....
 
i'm running a 2011 macbook pro, i was looking at the Mackie Onyx Blackbird Premium 16x16 FireWire Recording Interface which is about 500 dollars, and the TASCAM US-1800 USB 2.0 Audio/Midi Interface which is about 300 dollars. but essentially my question is firewire or usb?
 
rolandfernandez said:
i'm running a 2011 macbook pro, i was looking at the Mackie Onyx Blackbird Premium 16x16 FireWire Recording Interface which is about 500 dollars, and the TASCAM US-1800 USB 2.0 Audio/Midi Interface which is about 300 dollars. but essentially my question is firewire or usb?
Click to expand...

Those are totally different. 16x16 > 8x4

Read this

USB/Firewire Computer Interface:
https://homerecording.com/bbs/gener...ltitrack-computer-interface-recording-323561/

And firewire/usb is not the issue and it doesn't matter for what your doing, what matters is the two numbers on each side of the X
 
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