Firewire/USB Hub

bassmasta94 · #1 05-10-2010, 12:48 PM

Hey guys, my macbook does not have a firewire port, and i was really looking forward to getting the presonous firestudio project audio interface. Obviously this is firewire, so it wont plug in my computer. I have heard about people using things called Firewire/USB hubs, but never for recording music. Do you think having the interface plugged into one of these hubs to do recording would alter the sound in any way?

atheos · #2 05-10-2010, 01:26 PM

Well, first of all we have these things called mixers... You can have as many mics as needed and the whole bunch is downmixed in a mixing console and recorded in stereo. But yes, usually everything is recorded one instrument/track at a time nowdays. Guitars, vocals, keyboards and bass are pretty much always mono/stereo so those are not a problem at all. Drums can be a bit tricky with only two mics. There are good techniques for that (e.g. Bonham technique) but one thing is always the same: the less mics, the more the drummer needs talent because fixing time and/or balance errors on a track with a whole kit sounds terrible and unnatural. Bad playing sounds bad but bad editing of bad playing sounds probably even worse.

And sure you CAN record a whole band using only a single pair of mics but you'll lose some clarity, quality (greatly depending on band's playing skills and musical genre - e.g. modern death metal probably won't sound like it should) and most importantly, balance and tone control in post-production. If you're recording pop/rock/metal you don't want to lose that because the magic happens in post-production. For blues/jazz/classical/accapella/etc. it just might work. You won't know until you've tried.

And not just the NUMBER of mics but WHAT mics and where to PLACE them... Ah, that's a whole another story.

EDIT: You know, changing the ENTIRE QUESTION is not a thing to do on a forum, mm'kay? ADD another question or post another thread.

For those wondering what's going on, the OP initially asked how professional records are made using an audio interface with only two mic/inst inputs.

EDIT2: And to answer your current question, no. You can't convert Firewire into USB, at least not without major bandwidth and latency issues. Don't do it.

Hellbastard · #3 05-10-2010, 02:24 PM

When I read the OP question and the answer atheos gave I was like "why is he explaining all of these?" Then I read the edit and everything made sense.
Anyway, AFAIK there'sno such thing as a USB/Firewire hub. Maybe you should look into a USB audio interface, e.g:

M-audio fast track 8R
8 mic pre's, 8 analog outputs, 2 headphone outputs, 2
D.I channels.
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_u...ckUltra8R.html

Tascam US1641
8 mic pre's, 6 line inputs, 4 analog outputs, 2 D.I channels
http://www.tascam.com/products/us-16...5,1056,14.html

**gre107** · #4 05-10-2010, 02:28 PM

The MacBook with the M-Audio USB will be fine. Firewire is on it's way out now and is becoming obsolete. It's not necessary anymore with the new architectures that come standard.

bruiser1964 · #5 05-10-2010, 02:35 PM

Usb is nowhere near as fast as Firewire and has limitations - if you want to record via Mac / Pc get an interface that uses Firewire or do it the old fashioned way... there are loads of cheap stand alone mixer/recorders out there.

Hellbastard · #6 05-10-2010, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gre107

The MacBook with the M-Audio USB will be fine. Firewire is on it's way out now and is becoming obsolete. It's not necessary anymore with the new architectures that come standard.

Quite the opposite, many products and recording gear come with firewire because it is a more stable platform than USB.
If firewire was obsolete Digidesign, Presonus, Motu and many other manufacturers of quality audio recording gear wouldn't use it.

bruiser1964 · #7 05-10-2010, 03:03 PM

I've got a Project mix i/o / protools / Pc combo and it is the muts n*ts - firewire has the bandwidth and stablity and has loads of software support.

Charling · #8 05-10-2010, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gre107

The MacBook with the M-Audio USB will be fine. Firewire is on it's way out now and is becoming obsolete. It's not necessary anymore with the new architectures that come standard.

Firewire's not really on the way out yet, all the BIG interfaces apart from pro tools HD systems use it almost exclusively. The likes of Apogee, Metric Halo, Lynx, Prism, RME are still releasing products based on firewire.

But I think its being phased out of the consumer market a bit, I think designers have taken the view that if you are running a £5000 Metric Halo soundcard you're not going to be using an entry level desktop or laptop which is missing the firewire ports!

However, USB 3 may change all this of course, and it'll be nice to see what more it offers both consumer and proffesional gear.

For recording that doesnt demand large input and output counts and high sample rates USB 2 is fine, and the little M-Audio you mention will probably do the job very well!

bassmasta94 · #9 05-10-2010, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hellbastard

Anyway, AFAIK there'sno such thing as a USB/Firewire hub. Maybe you should look into a USB audio interface, e.g:
[/url]

There is totally such thing as a Firewire/USB hub im not that much of a recording noob.

http://www.thenerds.net/IOGEAR.IOGEA...0%5E~%5EIOGEAR

And many more...

And also, many of the posts have deviated from my question, and morphed into whether or not firewire is obsolete or not. My question was, will it alter, or effect the sound in any way, and will it effect the delay of the playback or anything like that.
Thank you.

Charling · #10 05-10-2010, 06:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassmasta94

There is totally such thing as a Firewire/USB hub im not that much of a recording noob.

http://www.thenerds.net/IOGEAR.IOGEA...0%5E~%5EIOGEAR

And many more...

And also, many of the posts have deviated from my question, and morphed into whether or not firewire is obsolete or not. My question was, will it alter, or effect the sound in any way, and will it effect the delay of the playback or anything like that.
Thank you.

Well, it almost certainly won't alter the sound in any way unless its very badly designed. It shouldn't effect record latency, or playback latency, and it SHOULDN'T alter monitoring latency (which is the biggie, the program should adjust for the others automatically). However, I guess there a chance it could add a ms or two when you are
monitoring what you are playing, but Jim Roseberry is your man on that sort of thing!

bassmasta94 · #11 05-10-2010, 06:29 PM

Thank you charling for answering my question

Hellbastard · #12 05-10-2010, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassmasta94

There is totally such thing as a Firewire/USB hub im not that much of a recording noob.

http://www.thenerds.net/IOGEAR.IOGEA...0%5E~%5EIOGEAR

And many more...

And also, many of the posts have deviated from my question, and morphed into whether or not firewire is obsolete or not. My question was, will it alter, or effect the sound in any way, and will it effect the delay of the playback or anything like that.
Thank you.

What I meant was that AFAIK there's not a device that converts USB connections to firewire.

That device doesn't work as a USB to firewire converter; it either works as a USB 2.0 hub connecting via USB cable or as a firewire hub connecting via firewire 6 pin

check the user manual http://www.iogear.com/support/manual/GUH420.PDF

So you should consider USB 2.0 interfaces or if you need to have the Presonus Firestudio Project (which I own and love) you'll need to upgrade your macbook to a macbook pro.

bassmasta94 · #13 05-10-2010, 07:33 PM

well, ive figured out now that instead of wasting more money on a hub i would just get the M-Audio Fasttrack Ultra 8R. Ive read good things about it. And it can recording many tracks simultaneously... exactly what i wanted