USB Audio Interfaces.

[arexjay]

So I'm gonna try and set everything straight.


A digital 8-track is good for ease of use, can export to computer, cost from $300 to $400.

USB Audio Interfaces are cheaper than digital 8-tracks, but are harder to use/get the hang of

And firewire is similar to USB.



What I still don't understand is the whole process for the Audio Interfaces. Do they keep tracks within themselves? Where does it record onto?


I'd like to stick with the USB or Firewire stuff because its cheaper, and I'm on a limited budget. And I wanna get a ZIM.

[herbman]

if you need just 2 channels, than i'd recommend a m-audio mobilepre usb.

it has 2 lines in xlr or 1/4", or can do a stereo mic in, has a headphone out, two levels, and (the best part) is USB POWERED. I've been using this to record every single practice and show with some overhead mics and it does the trick with my laptop. cost $149 and has been great so-far.

If you wanted to plug a guitar into one channel and a mic into the other, this does it for me.

[rooster]

Sorry Kestral, I have to say what you said about USB was pretty off the mark. WinXP SP2 will deliver firewire info at 400mbs and USB 2.0 will do 480mbs. This means USB is actually faster in this case.

If you run WinXP SP1, you will get firewire speeds of 800mbs and USB 2.0 at 480mbs, FWIW, but you will have to hunt the SP1 package down.

(FWIW, I run a Mackie Oynx with firewire interface and it works great, very little latency, on a P4, WinXP SP1 equipped. Looking back, having run into some XP issues and a bad firewire PCI card, I would probably reconsider the Edirol or similar USB 2.0 piece. Yeah, I would, but I do like the Mackie product and people.)

Anyway, like it or not, gay or not, USB ain't going away anytime soon in the PC world.

[Cruachan]

I use a MobilePre as well and it's great for the cost. I bought about a year back because although the Tascam US122 has more features it was also a whole lot more expensive. I either run my Cube 30's line out straight into the MobilePre or mic up either the Cube or Nano Head + cab.

[GCDEF]

Originally posted by arexjay And I'm under the impression that I can get WAV files from there to the computer to tweak them on Audacity. Is this correct?

Don't know about Audacity, but you can get wav files off the DP-01.

[GCDEF]

Originally posted by arexjay So I'm gonna try and set everything straight. A digital 8-track is good for ease of use, can export to computer, cost from $300 to $400. USB Audio Interfaces are cheaper than digital 8-tracks, but are harder to use/get the hang of And firewire is similar to USB. What I still don't understand is the whole process for the Audio Interfaces. Do they keep tracks within themselves? Where does it record onto? I'd like to stick with the USB or Firewire stuff because its cheaper, and I'm on a limited budget. And I wanna get a ZIM.

From what I understand, they're just a hardware interface to recording software. The work is still done by the computer. The DAW will give you mic preamps and mixing capability. Recording software communicates with it through its drivers and responds to its controls. For computer recording it's more a convenience than a necessity.

[Kholinar]

Originally posted by rooster Sorry Kestral, I have to say what you said about USB was pretty off the mark. WinXP SP2 will deliver firewire info at 400mbs and USB 2.0 will do 480mbs. This means USB is actually faster in this case. If you run WinXP SP1, you will get firewire speeds of 800mbs and USB 2.0 at 480mbs, FWIW, but you will have to hunt the SP1 package down. (FWIW, I run a Mackie Oynx with firewire interface and it works great, very little latency, on a P4, WinXP SP1 equipped. Looking back, having run into some XP issues and a bad firewire PCI card, I would probably reconsider the Edirol or similar USB 2.0 piece. Yeah, I would, but I do like the Mackie product and people.) Anyway, like it or not, gay or not, USB ain't going away anytime soon in the PC world.

Umm... actually, it sounds like you have a problem with your firewire driver. Another example of SP2's brilliance. The firewire port you're running (if you're actually getting those speeds in SP1) is a Firewire 800 or 1394b port, thus the higher rate. Somehow SP2 must be screwing up the driver. Standard firewire will never go past 400mbs.

That being said, firewire's just more reliable plus daisy-chaining is invaluable.

[Kestral]

Originally posted by rooster Sorry Kestral, I have to say what you said about USB was pretty off the mark. WinXP SP2 will deliver firewire info at 400mbs and USB 2.0 will do 480mbs. This means USB is actually faster in this case.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

First of all, I specifically mentioned USB, not USB 2.

Second of all, USB 2 does 480 BURST rate. Firewire does 400 SUSTAINED rate.

BURST means once in awhile it'll spike to 480 but most of the time the rate is not that far off from USB. Great marketing by Intel to rope the dopes in.

SUSTAINED means just that. Sustained. Firewire consistently does 400. Streaming audio requires SUSTAINED rates in order not to skip and jump.

So no, even USB 2 isn't good enough for digital audio, especially once you start getting into 24-bit and recording more than 2 tracks at a time.

[Mr. Twang]

I currently record using Cakewalk software. I use a line out from my Pod (quarter inch) into the line in on my sound card (eighth inch). So can I go straight out from my Pod and into my PC's Firewire input and still use my Cakewalk software? Would that be better than going from my Pod into my PC via its USB port?

[AMZ-FX]

even USB 2 isn't good enough for digital audio, especially once you start getting into 24-bit and recording more than 2 tracks at a time.

I have to disagree... I have a USB2 video capture device and I can capture video streams in near-DVD quality to my hard drive, so audio should be no problem.

I use an M-Audio Quattro which is USB and it does just fine.

regards, Jack

[arexjay]

Seems like everyone's pretty undecided on USB vs. Firewire.

So far I like the US-122, because it comes with it's own software. I like the M-Audio units better, but I'm not 100% sure they'll run in conjunction with Audacity.

[clayton explode]

I was deciding between the m-audio firewire solo and the presonus firebox and I'm going with the presonus.

I was going to buy the firebox for my trip to BC but I figure I'll grab one when I get back.