Firewire port adapter.

[drumminman]

Shopping for a new laptop but discovered the newer ones do not have firewire port. My interface is firewire and I have been told you can get an adaptor that would plug into a 3.0 USB port. Is that a fact? Any recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[ecc83]

Those further up the PC knowledge foodchain will know better than I but.

USB and Firewire use different streaming protocols so I would think any adaptor is unlikely. Then, FW interface have always been fussy about the chipset type in the FW "card". Texas Instrument chips are almost universally ok. But if you introduce a further stage of data shunting I could foresee all sorts of problems.

This is competition red in tooth and claw, fuck the end user!

You are probably going to need a new interface, USB to go with a new laptop.

Dave.

 

[RFR]

I know of firewire to thunderbolt adaptors but no usb adaptors. Also, I think firewire is running a lot more voltage than usb can handle.

But again, lets wait for those that actually know chime in.

 

[drumminman]

Thanks people for your replies. Guess I will shop for another laptop (slightly newer) that HAS a fire wire port. Current laptop is an old Toshiba running Vista but still able to capture 16 tracks into Cubase.

 

[ecc83]

Thanks people for your replies. Guess I will shop for another laptop (slightly newer) that HAS a fire wire port. Current laptop is an old Toshiba running Vista but still able to capture 16 tracks into Cubase.

Well, how about fitting an SSD to the Toshy and installing W7? I think you will be a bit late for a free W10 DLD* but you COULD, today download the ISO version and burn it to a disc. I know nothing about laptop CPUs but maybe it can be upgraded? Have you maxed out the ram? Does the laptop have Express slots? If so you could fit a 2 port USB3.0 (3.1?) card and have a really zippy backup drive.

I think you will struggle to find a new laptop with FW but possibly a good refurb? Check with Pete at Scan.

*Sorry but we shall all have to succumb eventually! The best we can do is at least not have to PAY for the fekking thing!

Dave.

 

[joey2000]

Thanks people for your replies. Guess I will shop for another laptop (slightly newer) that HAS a fire wire port. Current laptop is an old Toshiba running Vista but still able to capture 16 tracks into Cubase.

Then why not just by a new interface? Much cheaper

 

[Bobbsy]

I had the same problem a few years back with my most recent laptop upgrade. Even then very few laptops (and none with the spec I wanted) had FW ports.

My solution was to find a laptop with an Expresscard slot and the purchase of an Expresscard Fire Wire adaptor. A bit of shopping found me such an adaptor running the TI chipset that most fussy FW interfaces prefer and it was a lot cheaper than a new interface with the number of inputs I wanted.

Of course Expresscard slots are also getting difficult to find but I suspect you might do better on that than a built in FW interface.

(Edited to add that my interface (an M Audio Profire Lightbridge) is self powered so the issue ecc83 mentioned doesn't come into it.)

 

[ecc83]

I had the same problem a few years back with my most recent laptop upgrade. Even then very few laptops (and none with the spec I wanted) had FW ports.

My solution was to find a laptop with an Expresscard slot and the purchase of an Expresscard Fire Wire adaptor. A bit of shopping found me such an adaptor running the TI chipset that most fussy FW interfaces prefer and it was a lot cheaper than a new interface with the number of inputs I wanted.

Of course Expresscard slots are also getting difficult to find but I suspect you might do better on that than a built in FW interface.

(Edited to add that my interface (an M Audio Profire Lightbridge) is self powered so the issue ecc83 mentioned doesn't come into it.)

What issue was that Bobbs? Then, even if you find a decent laptop and can fit a TI card there is NO guarantee that it will play well with FW audio! I well remember the wailing and gnashing of teeth over fussywire problems, especially with laptops, of a about 5 years ago. Get it and give it a thorough thrashing ASAP and make sure you have a returns agreement in place!

Dave.

 

[Bobbsy]

What issue was that Bobbs? Then, even if you find a decent laptop and can fit a TI card there is NO guarantee that it will play well with FW audio! I well remember the wailing and gnashing of teeth over fussywire problems, especially with laptops, of a about 5 years ago. Get it and give it a thorough thrashing ASAP and make sure you have a returns agreement in place!

Dave.

Sorry, it was RFR not you who mentioned that FW provided a different voltage than USB.

My set up is a bit different than many...I use a digital mixer with 32 channels of ADAT out and the Lightbridge converts this to Fire Wire for the computer input. I agree that FW can be very fussy but once I got everything set up it's worked well for ten years or so.

However, I have a new plan for the future. I think I may replace the ADAT cards in the mixer with the Audinate Dante ones and install the Audinate Virtual Sound Card on whatever computer(s) I end up with. This lets the audio travel from mixer to computer via a simple Ethernet cable (and opens the door to replacing my huge 30 metre multicore cable with a single ethernet for live work too. All I have to do to act on this is win the lottery though...

 

[ecc83]

Heh! Cool. Yes, FW systems seemed very stable IF they worked but I remember a lot of peeps had grief and the multi-AI daisy chaining was very suss!

WTF have they done with USB 3.0/3.1 for audio? FA it seems .

Dave.

 

[Bobbsy]

Yeah. I keep waiting...and waiting....and waiting some more...for multichannel USB3 interfaces.

Ah well, at least I have a 3 terabyte 7200 rpm USB3 external drive I use for archiving...files copy in a flash!

 

[ecc83]

Yeah. I keep waiting...and waiting....and waiting some more...for multichannel USB3 interfaces.

Ah well, at least I have a 3 terabyte 7200 rpm USB3 external drive I use for archiving...files copy in a flash!

Yeah! I have a 1TB USB 3.0 drive, bloody good. Makes you wonder what a 1TB SSD 3.1 drive would be like???

Dave.

 

[mdainsd]

Yeah! I have a 1TB USB 3.0 drive, bloody good. Makes you wonder what a 1TB SSD 3.1 drive would be like???

Dave.

I'd have to say: Awesome! My trusty MacBook Pro gave up the ghost recently. Apple won't service it and its the graphics that died. I had already made the switch to a tablet for mobile, just no good for recording. So I decided to look into a high performance desktop for the studio. I discovered a cottage industry that takes Mac Pro towers and hot rod them. So I got a 2012 converted to the latest 12 core 3,48Mhz processors. 3 3Tb 7200 data drives and a 1Tb SSd drive. Add 128Gb of ram and there isn't anything I have found that this thing can't just chew up and spit out. The guy who did the work has said we can go further by putting in a dual 1Tb PCI(e) SSD card. I don't think I need that (yet). I have played with the biggest projects I have (56 track with heavy dynamics on just about everything) and the performance monitor shows about 20-22% cpu usage. The telling thing though is from pushing the power button to surfing the web is less than 20 seconds.

 

[jimmys69]

I myself have went to SSD for OS. Will never look back! Not sure how good SSD's are for recording audio tho. I have heard they are not really good for that. Not to mention I have never had an issue with 7200rpm HDD's keeping up with audio. And they are cheap again!

Just bought a Seagate 3TB for $69. Backup, backup, backup....

 

[ecc83]

I myself have went to SSD for OS. Will never look back! Not sure how good SSD's are for recording audio tho. I have heard they are not really good for that. Not to mention I have never had an issue with 7200rpm HDD's keeping up with audio. And they are cheap again!

Just bought a Seagate 3TB for $69. Backup, backup, backup....

Love to know where you got the idea that SSDs were poor for audio Jim? It is just data after all and AFAIK an SSD is just a bloody big stick and don't we all dump audio to those from time to time?

Leave us NOT start unsubstantiated myths!

Dave.

 

[RFR]

I am running on two different computers, ssd hardrives plus a usb 1terabyte backup ssd.
They're great.

 

[gecko zzed]

Love to know where you got the idea that SSDs were poor for audio Jim? It is just data after all and AFAIK an SSD is just a bloody big stick and don't we all dump audio to those from time to time?

Leave us NOT start unsubstantiated myths!

Dave.

I've been using an SSD for a while now. I like your description: "an SSD is just a bloody big stick".

 

[Steenamaroo]

Not sure how good SSD's are for recording audio tho.

Love to know where you got the idea that SSDs were poor for audio Jim?

Dave.

Fair enough, Dave.

If someone isn't seeing the limits of a 7200 drive, and their drive isn't particularly fragmented, the improvement from an SSD may not be noticeable.
There's no particular drawback or reason that an SSD would not be 'good' or suitable for audio, though.

It's like a gtx980 is much more powerful than a gtx680...but you can watch 1080p youtube all day with either.

 

[Bobbsy]

My suspicion on this is simply that the original SSDs were a relatively small capacity for a relatively large amount of money. Since any amount of serious recording needed a lot of disk space it made sense to put the OS (and software) on the SSD and user a much larger capacity HDD for music data.

I can see that easily being transmuted to "SSDs aren't good for audio" simply because the old ones weren't big enough.

 

[jimmys69]

My suspicion on this is simply that the original SSDs were a relatively small capacity for a relatively large amount of money. Since any amount of serious recording needed a lot of disk space it made sense to put the OS (and software) on the SSD and user a much larger capacity HDD for music data.

I can see that easily being transmuted to "SSDs aren't good for audio" simply because the old ones weren't big enough.

That was exactly my point actually. I have now 3 1TB HDD audio drives. One for recording. One for backups. And another to backup the backup drive. They are now getting full. I just purchased a 3TB HDD to take up the slack and open up the space in the main recording drive as some of the projects are now finished and do not need the space.

Was there not some discussion early in SSD tech that rewrite was not a strong point for them? And not to defrag them because of that?

I am not a fan of 'not spending money for useful gains, but I have also not had any issue with HDD's for audio-except for the great simultaneous failure of two at the exact same time a couple years back. That would be why I have multiples for backup now.

BTW, I broke my hand so have a big cast on my right hand that makes typing and mo[use to fix my typos really friggen annoying. Forgive me for the typos. Between this and my business emails I am over fixing them at thpis poin]t. Ugh. I am done fixing them and kinda crippled right now...

Cheers