USB audio/MIDI interfaces - Problems?

[ITGITC]

I'm using a Presonus Firebox. Firewire interface. No problems.

 

However, my friend... a guitarist, wants to purchase a USB interface.

 

Firewire is preferred by many/most. But for those who use a USB interface, does it work OK? Are there limitations?

 

What are your thoughts on something like THIS?

 

Thanks,

 

Tom

 

[BillWelcome Home Studios]

The major players like Tascam, MAudio, et al each have a low budget entry level product. Many run on USB, and though some might prefer firewire, for these users there will be little if any difference. You would be safe with any of these products. What guitar players tend to do is to look at things like the Pod interface, which in my opinion is too limiting, when the same money brings something like the Tascam US 124, or whatever.... which are more full-featured and more useful in the long run.

 

As these products are constantly changing, before one buys, one should visit the support websites and check and see who is whinning and why. Discount those who fail to RTFM, and those who want a $100 device to have the features of a $10,000 device, then see what the others are complaining about. If the complaints look serious or if there is no response from the company, don't buy the product. (If more people did this, no one would ever buy Cubase, as the users are always crying there last I checked] and the company seems to ignore them with alacrity.....)

 

I needed a little interface for running SMAART from a laptop, and I picked the Tascam US-122. When I got it, I checked the other features and included software, and I thought that it was a great little box for the $150 that it cost me. So I looked at some of the similar boxes from other vendors and they are all more or less the same in terms of features and included capabilities. Just stay with the major players.

[JeffLearman]

I agree with Bill.

 

Assuming you're talking Windows, since my Mac experience is too limited to generalize:

 

First, there used to be a huge issue with USB on a number of mobo chipsets. Before say 2003, it was a crapshoot whether a given mobo would even support USB audio. The designers weren't thinking about it. Around that time, they all seem to have wised up, and it's no longer an issue.

 

Second, when running lots of tracks, Firewire has advantages over USB for sustained throughput and low latency. I don't know the technical reasons; this was based on results people posted in audio forums (mostly in the 2003-2005 era). I believe that this didn't come into effect much until 8 tracks at 24/96 or thereabouts. Even then, mileage varied from person to person, but the general trend was fewer problems at higher rates with Firewire.

 

Third, I've heard reports that it's best not to put audio and HD on the same type of interface, in either case, if you're using the HD for your audio.

 

But the bottom line is that for a 2-channel device, it *usually* shouldn't make any difference. Of course, every computer is different. (My brother, who does this as part of his job, says that he can set up Windows from the same install disk on two "identical" computers fresh out of the box, using the exact same procedures, and get different results.)

[BillWelcome Home Studios]

quote=learjeff]

First, there used to be a huge issue with USB ... Before say 2003...

 

Third, I've heard reports that it's best not to put audio and HD on the same type of interface,...

 

As you say, this is older info, and keeping up is a bitch. USB 1 and 1.1 has been bypassed by USB 2, which has much better specs and pretty much none of what you talk about will apply to any modern computer. (Of course, I have a mixture of USB 1.1 and 2.0 computers... sigh...)

 

In terms of track count, that will vary but we've been able to get over 40 at 24 bit 48k since the old 400 meg P series processor computers. Most people are probably running over 2 gig processors now. Raw track count is more a function of hard drive speed than processing or available memory; but when we start to add real time processing, THAT takes computer power.

 

As to hanging a hard drive off of the same bus as the interface, I believe that RME has okayed hard drives coming directly out of the back of the Fireface800, which is about a 20 channel device. But given my choice, I use the internal hard drive... something that apparently is an issue for the Mac laptops, but is not a problem for PCs. I've changed all my laptop hard drives to 7200RPM drives since my old Sony 500 meg model.

[ITGITC]

Thank you Gentlemen...

 

I've passed your advice along.

 

Tom