Re: [ARSCLIST] USB/Firewire v PCI card was : [ARSCLIST] Reducing soundcard/circuit noise

[Angie Dickinson <angie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I, along with Richard, highly recommend the RME products.  Not only for the
quality but for support as well.  I'm used to to the minute support with
SAWStudio and get pretty close to that with RME as well.

I don't use their FireWire box but do know several people that do for 
studio and
location recording.  Not one has had problems with them.  You do have to be
aware (and this goes for any FW 800 device) that when used with Windows XP
service pack 2, the FW driver from SP1 must be reinstalled. Microsoft reduced
the 800 back to 400 for some stupid reason.

It should be noted that earlier RME products such as the Hammerfall 
Digi9636 or
Digi9652 and your choice of AD/DA boxes is still a wonderful 
combination.  I've
used a 9652 with a MOTU 2408 for years. Both can easily be found on ebay.  I
have a couple of MOTU 2408's for sale myself if anyone is interested.  I may
have another 9652 around somewhere also.  (My husband who used to record major
concerts her in the Denver area used Hammerfalls in his remote recording
trucks.  He has since sold the trucks.)


My point is that you can't go wrong with any of the RME products, past or
present.

Angie Dickinson Mickle
Avocado Productions
www.avocadoproductions.com

Quoting "Richard L. Hess" <ArcLists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:

> Hi, Andy,
>
> I think your analysis is correct. Let's briefly follow what RME in
> Germany has done. I use that as an example because I have the first product:
>
> http://www.rme-audio.com/english/hdsp/multifa.htm
>
> The RME Multiface has 8 analog I/O and an ADAT I/O (8 more channels
> at up to 48 ks/s, 4 at 96 ks/s) plus SPDIF I/O and an analog monitor
> out for 18 channels in and 20 channels out or 38 channels. It uses a
> dedicated PCI card that connects to the outboard unit via a FireWire
> cable, but is not using FireWire protocol. I have two of these (with
> two PCI cards installed) You can have up to three for 24 tracks.
> There is also a PCMCIA card interface available, turning a laptop
> into an 8-channel recorder. THis product is about 3-4 years old.
>
> http://www.rme-audio.com/english/firewire/ff800.htm
>
> This is a year-old (more or less) product that has a total of 56
> channels and connects to the host PC via a FireWire 800 interface. It
> has 10 analog inputs (including four with mic pres) and 10 analog
> outputs. It also has two ADAT inputs/outputs and an SPDIF I/O. You
> can probably use three of them with FW800 connections (it can also
> connect to FW 400 with loss of throughput) although they suggest
> disabling the ADAT ports when you do that. The manual is available on
> the above page and page 90 of the manual describes bus loading.
>
> Oh, both do MIDI as well.
>
> So, with RME (who I consider to be an excellent but not esoteric
> supplier of PC interfaces--Steinberg also rebadges the Multiface--I
> have one of each flavour) we can see a progression from a dedicated
> PCI card to a FW 800 interface. As both sound cards and PCs
> stabilize, I think using standard interfaces makes sense. The
> dedicated PCI cards are more expensive than a standard PCI card, by the way.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Richard
>
>
> Richard L. Hess                           email: richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Vignettes
> Media                           web:   http://www.richardhess.com/tape/
> Aurora, Ontario, Canada             (905) 713 6733     1-877-TAPE-FIX
> Detailed contact information: http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm