Firewire Question.

S

solaris1982

New member
My church used to record our services straight to a CDR deck, but it was really old and now is unreliable. They asked me (and my incredibly limited knowledge) if I could find a better solution.

They already have 2 soundboards, one for the house and one for recording. All we need to do is run a stereo out from the recording board into something to record. Would a Tascam Fire One be suitable?

If so, that brings us to another issue. The sound tech just built a cheap PC, and for what they need, I'm sure it will work. It's a core2duo system with a gig of RAM, but the problem is he didn't think to get a mobo with a firewire port. Would it be good to get the Fire One and a Firewire card, or just get a USB interface? I've seen discussions here about which bus is better, but again, we don't need top of the line stuff. Any opinions/help is appreciated.
 
solaris1982 said:
If so, that brings us to another issue. The sound tech just built a cheap PC, and for what they need, I'm sure it will work. It's a core2duo system with a gig of RAM, but the problem is he didn't think to get a mobo with a firewire port. Would it be good to get the Fire One and a Firewire card, or just get a USB interface?
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I certainly would go with the FireWire solution, as you're much less likely to have problems that way, IMHO. Be sure to buy a card with a TI FireWire chipset. I don't know much about the FireOne, though, so I can't give a recommendation either way on that particular unit.

As an added note, Sweetwater has the FireOne on sale for $99. While that probably means they're about to put out a new model, that's as cheap as any decent USB stuff I've seen.

I would warn you however, since you said you were using a C2D system, that the FireOne does not have 64-bit Windows drivers, so make sure you set the system up to run a 32-bit version of Windows Vista (or XP).
 
The Price is why I suggested the Fire One in the first place. The OS isn't a problem, as the computer will be running XP32.

All the cards I've looked at on Newegg have the VIA chipset. Granted, I've only closely looked at a few, but are there any suggestions on cards that have the TI chipset?
 
solaris1982 said:
The Price is why I suggested the Fire One in the first place. The OS isn't a problem, as the computer will be running XP32.

All the cards I've looked at on Newegg have the VIA chipset. Granted, I've only closely looked at a few, but are there any suggestions on cards that have the TI chipset?
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SIIG and Belkin(sometimes) are good bets
 
Why on Earth do they have a second board when theyre just recording a stereo out from it anyways? Some sales guy got the best of another church, me thinks.

If you're just recording a stereo split, use an aux or split the cr mix and just record that and elliminate the unnecessary second board. I'd highly recommend AGAINST a Tascam interface...and I'm a Tascam dealer. Hows that for honesty.
 
An easier and more economical solution would be to purchase a pci interface such as one of the M-Audio Delta series cards.
 
Hard2Hear said:
Why on Earth do they have a second board when theyre just recording a stereo out from it anyways? Some sales guy got the best of another church, me thinks.
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We actually did have to have 2 boards due to the nature of our sanctuary/performers/pastor. The mixes that we need to come through the house are loads different than what needs to be recorded. For instance (and it's just one instance), our pastor has a very powerful voice. He could probably get by preaching without a microphone, but we have him use one for just a bit more so people in the back can hear him more clearly. Recording his speaking, however, much more is needed because he doesn't have the natural resonance of his voice filling the sanctuary.
 
ocnor said:
An easier and more economical solution would be to purchase a pci interface such as one of the M-Audio Delta series cards.
Click to expand...

More economical, maybe. Not nearly as good sound quality, though, and the general consensus I've seen is that M-Audio's Vista drivers blow goats. That said, I have no experience with M-Audio gear on Windows, and their Mac drivers have blown goats ever since they were acquired by Digi (and precisely then, mind you---when they added support for Pro Tools M-Powered was when everything went catastrophically wrong for me), so I could be wrong. Either way, they don't have anything that's significantly cheaper than the device he's asking about ($99).
 
dgatwood said:
More economical, maybe. Not nearly as good sound quality, though, and the general consensus I've seen is that M-Audio's Vista drivers blow goats. That said, I have no experience with M-Audio gear on Windows, and their Mac drivers have blown goats ever since they were acquired by Digi (and precisely then, mind you---when they added support for Pro Tools M-Powered was when everything went catastrophically wrong for me), so I could be wrong. Either way, they don't have anything that's significantly cheaper than the device he's asking about ($99).
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I'm not sure why you think the sound quality isn't as good as some cheap-o firewire interface. Is anyone actually stupid enough to use Vista? The M-Audio XP drivers are rock solid. PCI cards are far more stable and have lower latency than any low end firewire or usb interface. As far as blowing goats goes, I have no experience in that area. :D
 
ocnor said:
I'm not sure why you think the sound quality isn't as good as some cheap-o firewire interface. Is anyone actually stupid enough to use Vista? The M-Audio XP drivers are rock solid. PCI cards are far more stable and have lower latency than any low end firewire or usb interface. As far as blowing goats goes, I have no experience in that area. :D
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Experience. I've used M-Audio gear and was less than impressed by the thirty-odd electrolytic caps that made the circuit board look more like a warehouse for an oil drilling company than an audio board. Maybe that was just the 1010LT.... :D

True about the lower latency, though since the goal is to just dump a bunch of live tracks to disk, even the quarter second of latency I've seen with a certain cheap USB interface would not be a concern at all, much less the dozen or so milliseconds typical of most FireWire interfaces. :)

As for whether anyone would use Vista... I'm going to have to say yes, though probably not by choice. :D
 
solaris1982 said:
We actually did have to have 2 boards due to the nature of our sanctuary/performers/pastor. The mixes that we need to come through the house are loads different than what needs to be recorded. For instance (and it's just one instance), our pastor has a very powerful voice. He could probably get by preaching without a microphone, but we have him use one for just a bit more so people in the back can hear him more clearly. Recording his speaking, however, much more is needed because he doesn't have the natural resonance of his voice filling the sanctuary.
Click to expand...


Are you using a compressor on it? That plus adding a room mic to capture and mix in ambience will get a much better recording. And usign an aux send will allow for a totally different mix on the same board. Ive been doing church music setups for 15 years now so just trying to give you some suggestions. I see alot of bad setups out there and alot of money wasted that could have been spent on things that really matter.
 
Oh, trust me, this setup is atrocious. The "sound tech" is pretty amateur, but I know jack about most of this. I know he thinks he's right and that's all that matters to him. I've learned that questioning him will only make him angry (kinda like kickin' a bees' nest). I've fixed several monstrosities that he calls computers (much more an area of expertise for me), and just let things be for the most part.

Perhaps if I mention to our church board that a pro is in order, I can look you (or someone more local) up for a real sound system.
 
don't get an interface and just go aux jacks out to an 1/8th inch microphone input... unless you want a bit better quality i guess..
 
Well, our sound guy decided to go with a Mackie Satellite. Nobody is happier than I am, because now if I want to do some recording, all I have to do is bring the detachable part to my house every week. Sure beats my MR-16HD recording and transfer to computer for mixing setup!

He's a big fan of Mackie (just about every piece of equipment, including both boards we have are mackie equipment), and he decided spending twice as much as what I recommended was OK with him, so problem solved.
 
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