[PlanetCCRMA] Requesting help choosing audio card

[Mark Knecht]

On 4/15/05, Frode Petersen <fropeter@online.no> wrote:
> Mark Knecht wrote:
> -snip-
> > As for 1394 vs. USB the 1394 support right now is quite new and
> > therefore may have bugs, etc. USB is more mature, probably less buggy,
> > and maybe suited just as well for some sort of 6-in, 6-out solution
> > you might be looking for. 1394 devices also tend to cost a bit more
> > (or a lot more) since they do not sell in as large volume as USB
> > devices.
> 
> I got the impression that USB might be too slow for audio , but I may be
>   mistaken... Are there situations that would require the speed of
> firewire? Initially input would be with mouse or (computer-)keyboard,
> but later, hopefully, a decent keyboard-synth. (This is very amateurish
> stuff, at least for now...)
> 

USB is pleantly fast enough for audio, or at least a few channels of
it. I think the technical problems with USB lay more in how it does
the work technically, but not that it won't work. There are pleantly
of folks around using although I'm not.

USB 2.0 & Firewire are similar in real world bandwidth. Again Firewire
support is new and the number of devices supported is very small. See
the FreeBob site for more info. There are a few 2-port 1394 devices
they are support, plus one or two larger ones. Prices run from
$150=$1K USD.

> > You also probably have a cardbus slot on that laptop so don't
> > completely discount it. Unfortunately the one cardbus solution I know
> > of for Linux (RME HDSP) is a bit pricey but very well supported. It's
> > more I/O's than you are probably looking for and might be overkill,
> > but if you've got the money it could be a great solution if you're in
> > this for the long haul. More resale value also.
>  >
> > Those are just some thoughts. Not to take any of it too seriously.
> 
> Absolutely most helpful!
> 
> > cheers,
> > Mark
> 
> Thanks!
> Frode
> 
You're welcome!

Have a good day,
Mark