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

[Mark Shakarjian <mssl72@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Here's another "yes" to RME products. I've been using 9652's,  
Multifaces and the DIGI96/8 PAD. At the main studio I was working at  
we had 9652's in all the Giga Studio units as well as all the Mac's  
running Logic and Nuendo. All the film scores, TV shows, ballet's,  
concerto's...everything went through these and sounded wonderful.

Mark


On Sep 23, 2005, at 7:23 AM, Richard L. Hess wrote:

> At 10:04 AM 9/23/2005, andy kolovos wrote:
>
> > Folks,
> >
> > A friend visited me last week and, being the total losers that we  
> > are, the topic of our conversation eventually ranged to A/D  
> > conversion and digital file input to a PC.  We were talking around  
> > the benefits of using a quality outboard A/D unit that feeds a  
> > digital audio signal into a quality PCI card versus using an  
> > quality outboard A/D that feeds the digtial signal in via USB or  
> > FireWire.
> >
> > Thing is, no one I've asked has been able to give me a clear  
> > explanation of the benefits and drawbacks either way.
> >
> > I can imagine at least one--outboard DAC-to-PCI can input an AES  
> > signal--and can guess at a couple others, but I'm curious to get  
> > people's opinions, especially since most people in the field and  
> > the best practices out there always instruct in the use of a DAC- 
> > to-PCI setup.  Specifically, is the DAC-to-PCI approach just a  
> > hold over from a time when that was the only way to go?  What are  
> > the benefits over quality USB/FireWire input devices?
> >
> > andy
>
> 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
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