Topic: Fire Wire to USB converter

[kirk97132]

It seems that short of getting a card and installing it into my computer that a FW to USB type of converter does not exist.  Or maybe you guys know of something? 

[live2496]

Addonics makes some IO conversion products but I'm not aware of anything that would do firewire to USB. Specifically what devices are you trying to hook up?

[kirk97132]

I'm looking at mixers to do multitrack recording with and it seems that there are more choices with firewire than with USB.   Looking to go into a PC(not laptop) amd my PC does not have firewire hookup. 

[page]

Addonics makes some IO conversion products but I'm not aware of anything that would do firewire to USB. Specifically what devices are you trying to hook up?

a 722 to the one model/edition of Macbooks that doesn't have firewire cause Apple was on bad durgz when they designed it. 

fuckers

[phanophish]

Picking up a card will be a more reliable and less expensive option.....

[live2496]

I'm looking at mixers to do multitrack recording with and it seems that there are more choices with firewire than with USB.   Looking to go into a PC(not laptop) amd my PC does not have firewire hookup.

For one thing the firewire connection is peer-to-peer whereas USB is client/server. So I don't think both devices will be knowing how to talk to each other(?) That's a semi-guess.

Did you see the Mackie i-series mixers? Built-in firewire and the audio can be sent to a computer either pre eq or post eq. I think the audio can be routed to the computer for effects and then back to the mixer too.

[kirk97132]

I did see the mackie's and I also had seen some of the higher end Lexicon stuff that has DBX preamps in it.  to mention a few.  what I did notice was that you need to read ALL the fine print.  And now with the Tascam 8track getting ready to come out and a some other multitrack units at a good price point I wonder if this is becoming a moot conversation.  From what I've managed to read installing a firewire card seems to be the only solid option

[OFOTD]

Picking up a card will be a more reliable and less expensive option.....

Best advice on this one.  You can get a Firewire PCI card cheap nowadays too. 

Here's a PCI Firewire (1394a) card for $15     http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815265003

[live2496]

...what I did notice was that you need to read ALL the fine print.

after listening to a podcast only the 1640i has full 16 by 16 in/out to a computer. Others are limited to two tracks returning back to the mixer. But they all can function as a front-end for computer recording.

I guess you got the answer you needed with a PCI firewire card.

For anyone interested here is a link to a podcast posted on Gearslutz...
 http://www.gearslutz.com/board/podcasts-interviews/422953-jules-interview-woody-mackie-about-onyx-820i-1220i-1620i-1640i-consoles.html
 

[H₂O]

Get a firewire card.
 
Firewire support Isochronous traffic and USB does not.
 
Isochronous traffic means that devices can reserve bandwidth on the bus for periods of time and allows it to handle sound and video in realtime better.  A basic form of QoS.
 
Also firewire typically use dedicated controllers whereas USB uses the CPU for handling the interface.
 
These are some of the reasons there are more feature rich Firewire audio interfaced then USB.
 
I would doubt that a Firewire to USB 2.0 converter (if it exists) would work well with audio interfaces - probably lots of lost frames (missing audio, etc).
 
Update: My bad USB does support an Isochronous mode.

[page]

Get a firewire card.

any suggestions on an external one?

edit:
I wonder if the combination of the following would allow a connection (even at the half-speed of 200mbps). I don't need it to necessarily be firewire400 fast as all I'm doing is file transfer, but somewhere near it would be nice.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812186060
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812186058

edit2:
Nope, emailed tech support and they said it would work if the expresscard was USB, but not firewire, so it's literally just a passthrough (which makes sense in some ways), you would still have to accurately negotiate the handshake which may or (more likely) may not work.