Firewire/USB conversion

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blatant

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Hi guys, I'm new here and have been dipping my feet into recording recently. I have a firewire interface which works well on my main recording rig, and I can't flaw it.

I also have a laptop which only has USB2 and eSATA ports (no firewire and no PCMCIA expandability)

I would like the added flexibility of on the road recording, so my question is, is there a method to convert from firewire to either eSATA or USB2? I understand that I may lose bandwidth but for the road, I'd only need 1-2 mics maximum.

eSATA has more bandwidth than USB2 so that would be more ideal I think (allow for a higher sample rate/frequency etc) but USB2 seems more likely to be supported.
I can provide further info regarding hardware/setup if needed.

thanks in advance

PS: I have searched and googled, but have only found people trying to plug eSATA drives into their mac's firewire ports..
 
How do you have all of this set up? I.E. what is your main recording rig/interface? couldn't you just use the interface by itself for recording on the go?
 
I've got a focusrite saffire pro 24 DSP
Usually it sits in my studio plugged in, but I've been asked to take it on the road and record for a friend's band
EDIT: not 6 months ago I bought this laptop and said to myself "I won't ever need firewire on it"
 
blatant said:
Hi guys, I'm new here and have been dipping my feet into recording recently. I have a firewire interface which works well on my main recording rig, and I can't flaw it.

I also have a laptop which only has USB2 and eSATA ports (no firewire and no PCMCIA expandability)

I would like the added flexibility of on the road recording, so my question is, is there a method to convert from firewire to either eSATA or USB2? I understand that I may lose bandwidth but for the road, I'd only need 1-2 mics maximum.

eSATA has more bandwidth than USB2 so that would be more ideal I think (allow for a higher sample rate/frequency etc) but USB2 seems more likely to be supported.
I can provide further info regarding hardware/setup if needed.

thanks in advance

PS: I have searched and googled, but have only found people trying to plug eSATA drives into their mac's firewire ports..
Click to expand...

Does the PC have a PCMCIA or PCMCIAe slot?

If so, you can get cards with firewire and/or USB sockets and go in this way.

That's what I did on my old PC that didn't have firewire (and you can have the larger powered firewire connectors instead of the small unpowered ones).

3CmIG0a3eJXNEv-1HCpYxHvS8_6WpIGUDsPI8L_XviaD0zFFR3KlBLI_cx1BVipouVdkVqRcmr9ZzdKbjlHE000ivs3qq7QHfqpITRMh4kZJIn5U7KZHOzittugqFmPFxRPU8GQUfU1G-KKgouqIfMfJLXXWNDwNHJtJ2A_9
 
My first thought too....but a re-read of the OP shows:

I also have a laptop which only has USB2 and eSATA ports (no firewire and no PCMCIA expandability)
Click to expand...

Bob
 
Oops - missed that.

I think he's stuffed.

I have been searching as well - there is just nothing out there.

It's either change the sound card or change the computer.

The new RME USB unit is great, so I think I would go for that.
 
USB 2.0 can easily record 16+ discreet tracks - you don't need firewire to record multiple tracks. I would get a little portable USB 2.0 mixer for on the road - many don't even need a computer like the Zoom R16 series. The Alesis Multimix 8 USB 2.0 is under $300 -
 
It's not a matter of USB not handling the inputs (I could easily replace it for a scarlet 18i6 or even a saffire 6 USB) or get a secondary "mini" USB recording device, but I am familiar with the pro 24 dsp and its software/behaviour and was trying to get arround buying multiple devices or having to sell the current one.

Maybe I will sell up and get an USB one, I always thought firewire was better though.
 
blatant said:
It's not a matter of USB not handling the inputs (I could easily replace it for a scarlet 18i6 or even a saffire 6 USB) or get a secondary "mini" USB recording device, but I am familiar with the pro 24 dsp and its software/behaviour and was trying to get arround buying multiple devices or having to sell the current one.

Maybe I will sell up and get an USB one, I always thought firewire was better though.
Click to expand...

I think technically Firewire has more throughput, however I don't think many people doing home recording would ever get to that point. USB 2.0 will max out at some point although I am not sure what it is - most gear stops at 16 although I have read specs on 28 channel USB 2.0 interfaces.

At any rate - unless you are exceeding 16 channels it is academic - firewire and usb 2 will produce the same results. For 16 channels or less there is no difference. Sucks to have to trade out gear you like though.

Looks like nobody makes a firewire to usb adapter...
 
arcadeko said:
Looks like nobody makes a firewire to usb adapter...
Click to expand...

Thinking about this in the shower (yeah, I'm that boring) I guess this makes sense. Firewire uses isochronous (i.e. guaranteed bandwidth) data transfer; USB in all it's forms is asynchronous (i.e. shared bandwidth). In my shower reasoning, this means that as soon as the Firewire is converted to USB it can no longer meet the IEEE1394 spec for guaranteed bandwidth.

Still a pain though. Fewer and fewer laptops have Firewire these days so if/when I replace mine I'll either have to limit my choice or face the same problem as the OP.

Bob
 
Bobbsy said:
Still a pain though. Fewer and fewer laptops have Firewire these days so if/when I replace mine I'll either have to limit my choice or face the same problem as the OP.
Click to expand...

I ditched my PC laptop last month and replaced it with a MacBook Pro - it has both Firewire 800 and also the new Thunderbolt port which is, I think, 10 or 20 times faster than Firewire 800. :eek: :cool:

I will run Windows under Boot Camp for my editing software as that is Windows only.

So far, much better than any PC. :cool:
 
Yeah. I've always stuck to PCs, mainly because I've been using Audition since it was Cool Edit 96--and it was a PC-only piece of software.

However, since the latest version is dual platform, I guess Macs are back on the table if I want!

Still, barring accidents I'm probably a year or so off a hardware change so I've got time to look at the situation.

...none of which helps the poor OP!

Bob
 
I started with a laptop and decided real quick that a dedicated desktop would be much better. Obviously I can't record remotely, but I don't really do that anyway. Not that firewire is really an issue - I had one firewire unit a while back but I needed more channels and got a USB board. But adding firewire to a desktop is much easier than a laptop.

And a desktop is about 1/3 the price for the same specs...
 
I think a secondary interface is going to be the cheaper option as firewire laptops arent the cheap end of the market.
 
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