6-pin to 4-pin firewire or firewire to usb for an audio interface?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dan_Gaffey
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Dan_Gaffey

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I'm interested in buying a Saffire PRO 14 Audio Interface from my friend but my laptop doesn't have a 6-pin firewire port, but it does have a 4-pin port. I know that you can't bus-power through a 4-pin but I can just use the external power supply, but would this work and give decent results/latency? Or could I use a 6-pin to USB cable to power it it this way or would that not work well if at all? They're only holding it for me until the 23rd so a quick reply would be appreciated :)
 
I don't think a USB to FireWire cable would work very well, but it would work just fine with a 6-pin to 4-pin cable as long as you used the external power supply.
 
Extra pins only carry DC power, no data so it has NO effect on latency.
A 6-to-4 pin cable works fine... been using one for years on my Motu828mkII to my laptop.
 
What he said: use the 6-pin to 4-pin cable.

Aside: is there really such a thing as a Firewire to USB "cable"? They're two different protocols, it would seem you'd need some sort of processor in between, rather than a straight cable, to make it work. If so, it would likely add some latency.
 
sjjohnston said:
They're two different protocols, it would seem you'd need some sort of processor in between, rather than a straight cable, to make it work. If so, it would likely add some latency.
Click to expand...

Exactly. It's probably best to stick with FireWire for this.
 
Okay guys cheers :), I might use this in the future instead of using my limited USBs. And I saw a few USB tp FireWire adaptors on eBay but I wasn't sure whether they would work
 
No, they do not work for soundcards/interfaces.

Those are made to move files from cameras; they will NOT work with audio interfaces.
(Burst hard drive file copys when we need continuous low-latency streaming.)
 
You have two options:
  • Use the 4-pin FireWire socket and power the unit externally.
  • Buy a PCMCIA or PCMCIAe adaptor with a 6-pin FireWire socket and use this via the card slot.

I did the latter for my old laptop that did not have a 6-pin FireWire socket.
 
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