Firewire or USB?

[John T]

Always interested in peoples set ups and why/what they use......

Who uses what, Firewire or USB? In their home studio....

[WinterMute]

Haven’t used FireWire for a while, as I don’t have a FireWire equipped computer anymore, my interface is a Clarett 8preX Thunderbolt 2 and I have a Tb2 audio drive, and UAD expander. All the other drives and peripherals are USB3 now, apart from the S3 which uses the Eucon protocol over Ethernet.

I drive my summing mixer from a Ferrofish A16 which uses the ADAT optical interface in the 8preX, it’s very latent though so I don’t use it when tracking.

The plan is to replace the 8preX and A16 with a Red8pre, still using TB2 so I can track through the summing mixer.

[dannybuoy]

Firewire is pretty much obsolete I thought. No new systems come with it on board any more.

[bartelby]

I've got a desk with a multi channel Firewire out and an iMac with a Firewire socket. So I use that. 

The iMac just over 8 years old and is head into obsolescence, so will be replaced once Apple update the range.

I guess I'll try and buy a TB to FW adapter then. 

 

[John T]

As drummer/producer up until my final retirement from drums late last year i used my Allen and Heath ZED R16 via Firewire to multitrack 16 tracks of drums into my iMac and Logic X, always had brilliant results and surprisingly with that many mic's never any latency issues. Now concentrating more on bass iv'e slimmed down substantially in pretty much every way apart from the imac and have been using a much smaller Mackie 820i, still hooked up with firewire and a Thunderbolt adapter. I still get good results but i could probably go the USB route now as i no longer need to multitrack...... 

[ambient]

USB using either an Apogee or my MixPre-3.

[paul_5]

Using USB for 'demo' stuff - single input Alesis interface and Firewire for multitrack stuff (MOTU 828). I'm running a late 2011 MacBook pro, so still  got onboard FW, might as well use it.

[BigRedX]

If you no longer need to input or output multiple channels via your interface then it really doesn't matter what connection protocol you use.

However for maximum versatility I would always go for a "smart" connection like Thunderbolt or FireWire over a "dumb" one like USB.

USB3 has overcome most of the problems that the previous versions encountered simply because the bandwidth has been increased to a point where unless you need to pump lots of timing critical data through it, it no longer matters. However if you do use USB it is still a good idea to use the port that shares as few other devices as possible on the same bus. Remember that on a lot of computers it is not always obvious what else is on the same bus (built-in WiFi and bluetooth, keyboard, trackpad, webcam etc.) as each external USB port.

[ahpook]

I use Firewire - my desk/interface is about 8 years old and when I bought it not many units allowed all 8 inputs to feed into the PC as separate inputs.

It's starting to show it's age now, so a change may be in the pipeline, not sure what I'll go for when that happens.

[adamg67]

Thunderbolt for me, the latency is great and I'll never get near the bandwidth limit. I think as @BigRedX said, that's sort of the real successor to Firewire if you want something that's solid and (probably, depends on your hardware) not affected by all the other stuff we plug in.

[Sibob]

FireWire is dead. Everything is either USB or Thunderbolt, and even then it’s moving to USB-C (which has ability to carry USB & Thunderbolt 3 protocols)

Si

Edited November 29, 2018 by Sibob

[dannybuoy]

If anyone wants a free FireWire Mackie Onyx Satellite, let me know. The dock died but the main unit still works and has 2 ins and 2 outs. Probably doesn't work on Windows 10 though!

[Skol303]

On 27/11/2018 at 16:29, John T said:

As drummer/producer up until my final retirement from drums late last year i used my Allen and Heath ZED R16 via Firewire to multitrack 16 tracks of drums into my iMac and Logic X, always had brilliant results and surprisingly with that many mic's never any latency issues. 

Great mixers! I have one myself and would probably buy another straight away if/when it ever goes kaput (they're now discontinued but can be snapped up cheaply second-hand). Very nice EQs and rock solid in terms of interfacing with my Mac and handling latency. I run mine through an Apple Firewire>Thunderbolt adaptor with no problems at all.

[Sibob]

I should point out that Firewire will work over Thunderbolt with the appropriate connector (although not vice-versa), when I say 'Firewire is dead' I simply mean no-one is developing it anymore, including Apple.

Si

[adamg67]

4 hours ago, Sibob said:

I should point out that Firewire will work over Thunderbolt with the appropriate connector (although not vice-versa), when I say 'Firewire is dead' I simply mean no-one is developing it anymore, including Apple.

Si

With newer machines with Thunderbolt 3 you need 2 adapters to use Firewire, FW -> TB2 and TB2 -> TB3. There aren't a huge number of Thunderbolt interfaces yet though, and they are usually the high end ones.

[Sibob]

16 minutes ago, adamg67 said:

With newer machines with Thunderbolt 3 you need 2 adapters to use Firewire, FW -> TB2 and TB2 -> TB3. There aren't a huge number of Thunderbolt interfaces yet though, and they are usually the high end ones.

Quite, Thunderbolt 2 = one adapter,  Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) = two adapters.

I would argue that there’s a fair number of Thunderbolt options, but as you say, it tends to be middle to high end interfaces, purely because it’s usually more experienced producers, working on more processor hungry sessions, that require that latency headroom. For the vast majority of us, USB 2.0 is more than sufficient for recording.

Si

[adamg67]

On 30/11/2018 at 21:34, Sibob said:

I would argue that there’s a fair number of Thunderbolt options, but as you say, it tends to be middle to high end interfaces, purely because it’s usually more experienced producers, working on more processor hungry sessions, that require that latency headroom. For the vast majority of us, USB 2.0 is more than sufficient for recording.

I haven’t looked for a while so that’ll be right, also more options if you go for a Mac (which I didn’t, but I seem to have got away with it so far).

The USB-C thing does my head in slightly, it’s the same connector but not all the hardware with it does both protocols? Not sure how that makes sense. If you get a laptop with USB-C only, you can plug a Thunderbolt 3 device in, but it won’t work. 

[John T]

So it seems more people are still using FW than i'd imagined.....I guess the old adage 'If it ain't broke don't fix it' applies.

[John T]

On 30/11/2018 at 13:48, Skol303 said:

Great mixers! I have one myself and would probably buy another straight away if/when it ever goes kaput (they're now discontinued but can be snapped up cheaply second-hand). Very nice EQs and rock solid in terms of interfacing with my Mac and handling latency. I run mine through an Apple Firewire>Thunderbolt adaptor with no problems at all.

Yeah, the ZED R16 is a Cracking desk, brilliant pre's and EQ. Used mine daily without any problems. 

[WHUFC BASS]

I used to use Firewire years ago but USB technology has come so far that the speeds nowadays are a hell of a lot faster than what they were.

[CameronJ]

On 01/12/2018 at 23:27, adamg67 said:

The USB-C thing does my head in slightly, it’s the same connector but not all the hardware with it does both protocols? Not sure how that makes sense. If you get a laptop with USB-C only, you can plug a Thunderbolt 3 device in, but it won’t work. 

Yep. USB-C and Thunderbolt cables are different too, meaning if you don’t use exactly the right cable, your device may not receive power or data. It makes me wonder why make the connectors the same if they aren’t cross-compatible?!