Firepod XLR

[RideTheCrash]

I'm helping a buddy of mine get started on doing some home recordings. He is interested in the Firepod. I know almost nothing about them, and was confused by the inputs, because they didn't look like XLR inputs. I found a close pic:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/closeup/Firepod--img_micpre.jpg

Is that a XLR input with a hole in the middle of the pins? Is there a certain reason? So I assume he can plug mics directly into the Firepod and run it via Firewire into his computer? Is that all correct? I did a search, but didn't find anything specific to what I was looking for.

Thanks.

 

[RAK]

I'm helping a buddy of mine get started on doing some home recordings. He is interested in the Firepod. I know almost nothing about them, and was confused by the inputs, because they didn't look like XLR inputs. I found a close pic:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/closeup/Firepod--img_micpre.jpg

Is that a XLR input with a hole in the middle of the pins? Is there a certain reason? So I assume he can plug mics directly into the Firepod and run it via Firewire into his computer? Is that all correct? I did a search, but didn't find anything specific to what I was looking for.

Thanks.

That is a combo XLR-1/4" jack. So you can plug in either an XLR cable or a 1/4" cable. Not at the same time of course. Neutrik is the big name who makes them. They're sometimes known as Neutrik connectors, but that's like the Band-Aid or Kleenex thing. They make lots of other fun connectors too.


http://www.neutrik.com/content/products/level03.aspx?id=204_96740313&catId=CatMSDE_audio

 

[RideTheCrash]

That's an awesome idea.

Yeah I know who Neutrik is, but I never heard of these connectors before. That's a pretty good idea.

And last but not least -- a firewire cable would carry the 8 inputs separately?

 

[RAK]

That's an awesome idea.

Yeah I know who Neutrik is, but I never heard of these connectors before. That's a pretty good idea.

And last but not least -- a firewire cable would carry the 8 inputs separately?

It will do more than that. Not sure what the max bandwidth of Firewire is, but you can do more than 8 for sure. For example, my 828mkII has 20 inputs that can run simultaneously and individually.

USB 2.0 can also run a high number of I/O, but so far the only USB 2.0 box like this I've seen is the MOTU 828mkII (I have the FW version though, but they're suppose to be the same, functionally)

 

[dgatwood]

It will do more than that. Not sure what the max bandwidth of Firewire is, but you can do more than 8 for sure. For example, my 828mkII has 20 inputs that can run simultaneously and individually.

USB 2.0 can also run a high number of I/O, but so far the only USB 2.0 box like this I've seen is the MOTU 828mkII (I have the FW version though, but they're suppose to be the same, functionally)

USB 2.0 stuff is non-spec-compliant by nature. The USB audio spec just went to 2.0 about three weeks ago, so anything shipping prior to that... not cool.

As for FW, the maximum bandwidth is either 400Mbps or 800 Mbps, depending on whether you're talking about FW400 or FW800. So in terms of 192kHz/24-bit audio... either 86 or 173 channels.

 

[RAK]

USB 2.0 stuff is non-spec-compliant by nature. The USB audio spec just went to 2.0 about three weeks ago, so anything shipping prior to that... not cool.

As for FW, the maximum bandwidth is either 400Mbps or 800 Mbps, depending on whether you're talking about FW400 or FW800. So in terms of 192kHz/24-bit audio... either 86 or 173 channels.

Well all I know is the USB 2.0 version of the Motu 828mkII must have worked somehow. It's been out for a while.

 

[dgatwood]

Well all I know is the USB 2.0 version of the Motu 828mkII must have worked somehow. It's been out for a while.

You can make anything work if you write your own drivers, but USB devices that aren't class-compliant are a long-term support burden, both for users and manufacturers. You'll always be dependent on the manufacturer to keep the drivers cobbled together every time an OS release breaks things. At some point, they're going to get tired of supporting old gear, and you'll be SOL.

That's why you should only buy USB devices that are class-compliant devices. That way, no matter what, it will be supportable for the long term.

Oh, yeah... and class-compliant devices will also work in other operating systems like Linux. The same usually can't be said of devices that don't follow the class spec (unless somebody decided it was worth spending the time to write a custom driver for it).

 

[RAK]

You'll always be dependent on the manufacturer to keep the drivers cobbled together every time an OS release breaks things. At some point, they're going to get tired of supporting old gear, and you'll be SOL.

I think MOTU is pretty good about supporting stuff. I mean, they're not Digidesign.