Firewire, USB vs PCI

  • Thread starter Thread starter Toki987
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Toki987

Toki987

Rock Steady
Would a USB or Firewire device be as reliably fast for recording, as a PCI card interface?

I`ve heard a couple of stories from the layman ranks that have me hesitant towards pursuing one of these types. I`m sure there's some users of these devices here that can make a testament.
Thanks,
KB
 
PCI has the highest bandwidth, Firewire high enough and from what I've heard (or better: not heard) very reliable. USB has a limited bandwidth for a ditto amount of simultaneous tracks and won't work right away in some cases (like Service Pack 1 is required to make it work properly with Windows XP).
 
I appareciate that. And its what I thought as well. I do wonder why Tascam bothered with USB , unless for just jumping on the "new thing" bandwagon unless to grab into that niche of sales.
 
usb2 has a high bandwith (higher than ieee1394 firewire) but it works with large packages. + the drivers available for both mac and pc are wrack :/
The latency of most usb interfaces is higher than 25ms and the worst thing: the latency isn't constant.

Pci has the best bandwith, but has cons concerning the s/n ratio because all the electric signals in your pc/mac affects your audio signal a liggle bit. This only concerns to on board converters. So you better use an external converter box with optocoupler connection to your mac/pc.

Firewire devices are mainly external converter boxes with standalone capabilities like onboard compressor, field mixer, headphone out, ...
They have perfect stable timing and most of them also have really good sounding analog electronic and converters.
The motu 828 for example are really good sounding boxes ;)
 
These are very good answers and I sincerely appreciate them.
I`m asking this because I am not very informed in this area, I`m a penny pincher :), and Im ready to upgrade so it is for helping decide which route I want to go in an upgrade from where I am now. I have no commercial interests with my gear, jus for fun and being able to host other players as needed or available for tunes.
For my needs; a 4 to 6 analog I/O with midi support, and compatability with external HD units.
I use an Athlon 1.3 with 512 mg, 40 gig audio HD, WinXP pro, and Sonar XL, m30 mixer.
I am limited at a ceiling of $650, and dont want to have to deal with high noise floor, lack of clarity, latency, software compatability issues, integration issues with external devices. I`m sure some have encountered all this before in purchases and I want to avoid them.
 
Thank you. the 1010 is a viable contender. I know of two folks using it right now. What I dont know are any downsides with it, one has only had it a couple of weeks and hasn`t done much with it yet. I believe it can be picked up at under $500 if I`m not mistaken. I have one pre already but I`ll most likely have two outboard.
 
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