Members techristian Posted September 16, 2016 Members Share Posted September 16, 2016 USB > FIREWIRE ADAPTERS. There have been THOUSANDS of these sold to unsuspecting customers at Ebay and Amazon. In fact, I was a bigger fool. They were so cheap that I bought 2 from 2 different stores. There are no software interpreters available to make these work. http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=161871826185 Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted September 16, 2016 CMS Author Share Posted September 16, 2016 I tried to warn people about those years ago. They serve a useful purpose, that of charging a USB device from a Firewire port. Some people have reported that they have done file transfers through one of those adapters, but I find that a little hard to believe unless there's a real protocol converter in the lump, and since Firewire is licensed, that's going to cost more than a buck. For sure, you can't successfully connect a Firewire audio interface to a computer's USB port and have it be recognized by the operating system or application. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 1001gear Posted September 16, 2016 Members Share Posted September 16, 2016 The consensus on Googuh is get a card/hub/drive that supports both protocols. Then in as one and out as the other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted September 16, 2016 Members Share Posted September 16, 2016 There are several Nigerian princes who are not only using those adapters successfully, but are also using them to convert to Thunderbolt, AVB, and even older SCSI drives (which perform with far greater efficiency). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted September 16, 2016 CMS Author Share Posted September 16, 2016 The consensus on Googuh is get a card/hub/drive that supports both protocols. Then in as one and out as the other. Does the concensus have a specific recommendation? The only thing I have that has both Firewire and USB ports is a computer or three - and I had to add the Firewire card myself. I do have a drive case that has both a USB and Firewire port but it never occurred to me to use it as a "hub" like that. I'll bet it won't work. And I'm right, at least for the Firewire/USB drive case that I have. With the USB port connected to the computer and the Firewire port connected to interface, in this case a Mackie 1200F, the computer sees the drive. The Firewire interface doesn't even see that it's connected to anything so of course the computer doesn't see it. With the Firewire port on the drive connected to the computer, the computer sees the drive. I didn't look at what the USB port on the drive appears to be when the drive is connected to the computer via Firewire because, well, who cares? My computers have plenty of USB ports. I suspect that the Googlers have a theory but it's never been tested by any of them. Because probabably none of them needs it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members techristian Posted September 16, 2016 Author Members Share Posted September 16, 2016 Some people have reported that they have done file transfers through one of those adapters, but I find that a little hard to believe unless there's a real protocol converter in the lump, and since Firewire is licensed, that's going to cost more than a buck. Are you saying that I would pay a licensing fee if I designed a real adapter using a PIC CHIP or Arduino ? The other thing that is puzzling is that my mixer is looking for a Firewire port not USB. So I if I trick it into thinking that my USB port is a Firewire port, I must also trick Windows into thinking that my USB port is also a Firewire port. The Cubase drivers/ plugins are looking for Firewire and not USB. The only reason that I even considered this was because there is also a USB version of my Helix mixer with a USB driver. Anyway, I may make up a pinout chart and compare. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted September 16, 2016 CMS Author Share Posted September 16, 2016 Are you saying that I would pay a licensing fee if I designed a real adapter using a PIC CHIP or Arduino ? The people who make hardware that uses Firewire have to pay for a license. I don't think there's a lock that checks for a license before data will pass, it's an industry-honor thing. You could make one in your shop and use it yourself without a license, probably, particularly if there's only one of them. I expect that there's a blanket license fee for a product, no matter how many of them they sell, but I really don't know for sure. The other thing that is puzzling is that my mixer is looking for a Firewire port not USB. So I if I trick it into thinking that my USB port is a Firewire port, I must also trick Windows into thinking that my USB port is also a Firewire port. The Cubase drivers/ plugins are looking for Firewire and not USB. I hadn't gotten to thinking that far along, but probably what you'd have to do is is write or modify the driver (you probably have an ASIO driver for your mixer now) so that the USB port, rather than the Firewire port, will tell the operating system that there's a mixer out there. With the right code running between the Firewire port on the mixer and the USB port on the computer, you could make it a class-compliant USB device so it would be recognized by the operating system directly, but that sounds like you gotta know a lotta stuff, or at least find some pre-written code to start with. Maybe you'd do better digging up an older computer that you can put a Firewire card in. Up until about 4 years ago you could still find laptops with a CardBus slot, and SIIG makes a Firewire adapter card in that format. I have one and it works fine with Reaper and my Mackie Firewire mixers. And if you get a full size chassis, there are PCI and PCI-e Firewire cards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 1001gear Posted September 17, 2016 Members Share Posted September 17, 2016 Does the concensus have a specific recommendation? The only thing I have that has both Firewire and USB ports is a computer or three - and I had to add the Firewire card myself. I do have a drive case that has both a USB and Firewire port but it never occurred to me to use it as a "hub" like that. I'll bet it won't work. And I'm right, at least for the Firewire/USB drive case that I have. With the USB port connected to the computer and the Firewire port connected to interface, in this case a Mackie 1200F, the computer sees the drive. The Firewire interface doesn't even see that it's connected to anything so of course the computer doesn't see it. With the Firewire port on the drive connected to the computer, the computer sees the drive. I didn't look at what the USB port on the drive appears to be when the drive is connected to the computer via Firewire because, well, who cares? My computers have plenty of USB ports. I suspect that the Googlers have a theory but it's never been tested by any of them. Because probabably none of them needs it. For your scientific scrutiny: https://www.techwalla.com/articles/how-to-convert-firewire-connections-to-usb You may not get real time transfer but sounds reasonable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted September 17, 2016 CMS Author Share Posted September 17, 2016 That reminds me that I have a CardBus card that has both a Firewire and USB port. Either one will connect a device to the computer, but it one connect one device to the other device. It's certainly possible to write a computer program that takes data into the computer through one port, then turn it around and send it out the other port. There would be some delay, of course. From the article: "If you need to transfer large files, using an external hard drive with FireWire and USB ports is a good option. Connect a FireWire device to a hard drive using the FireWire port, then connect your computer to the hard drive using the USB port." What may not be completely clear about this method is that the hard drive has to act as the intermediary - transfer a file from the Firewire device to the drive through the drive's Firewire port, then transfer the file from the drive to the computer through the USB port. But it's definitely not a real time transfer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 1001gear Posted September 17, 2016 Members Share Posted September 17, 2016 This is all news to me - packets vs streams. I do wonder why Firewire is being phased out though. Seems like a natural for audio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted September 17, 2016 CMS Author Share Posted September 17, 2016 This is all news to me - packets vs streams. I do wonder why Firewire is being phased out though. Seems like a natural for audio. Firewire on computers was phased out because firewire on outboard hardware was phased out. or Firewire on outboard hardware was phased out because Firewire on computers was phased out. Take your pick. I think it was the result of two things. First, that computers got fast enough, without raising the cost, to handle the throughput requirements via USB that formerly needed the transfer speed that Firewire offered, And second, USB was everywhere and didn't add additonal cost to the computer as Firewire did. It indeed give us the capability to connect multi-channel audio hardware and run it at 2x or 4x sample rates, but this is such a small part of the computer business that once they no longer needed Firewire to connect external disk drives, cameras, and such, the computer manufacturers dropped it. Nowadays, it seems that the Ethernet port is becoming a more common place for connecting audio hardware to a computer. Since computers commonly have Ethernet ports, it makes sense, at least until they all go fully wireless. But we have quite a mismash, still. There's plenty of USB 2.1 audio I/O gear, we're starting to see some for USB 3, and Dante and AVB are starting to show up on I/O boxes that are at musician-friendly prices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted September 17, 2016 Moderators Share Posted September 17, 2016 I think I know those guys.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members techristian Posted September 19, 2016 Author Members Share Posted September 19, 2016 I contacted 2 of the sellers on Ebay, asking if they had any software drivers for these things. Both of them said that software drivers were not necessary ! OF COURSE THEY AREN'T NECESSARY, BECAUSE I WON'T WORK EITHER WAY ! Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.