Your Recommended FireWire Adaptor Cards

[Martin Walker]

boofy - I thought your queries on the Sapphire were better put in a separate thread to keep this one on track. Here's the new thread I set up for you:

http://www.soundonsound.com/forum/showf ... ber=751082

Martin

[studer58]

Hi everyone, and apologies for (somewhat) sidetracking this thread with my question...I moved it here because it seemed a little more relevant in this section than in the general PC sub-forum ? I'd love to contribute my findings here, but first I need to determine which type of card I should get, as my new (but old !) laptop has both ! Like Drongoloid I have an Audiofire 8 which is prone to random FW dropouts when using Reaper, and by dropouts I mean complete loss of FW connectivity, requiring a complete interface reboot and re-starting Reaper (an infuriating exercise when recording a one-off orchestral concert with no chance of 're-runs' !!) Hence my question below. As soon as I've obtained a card I'll report back here with findings.

I'll be getting an older IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad T43 soon, for mobile recording duties using an Echo Audiofire 8 interface. The Thinkpad doesn't have onboard Firewire at all, but DOES have both a Cardbus type 2 (PCMCIA) slot and an ExpressCard slot. Which type of (TI chipset, of course) Firewire adapter card should I get for use with the Audiofire...the Cardbus or the Express version ? Is it true that there are data bandwidth/speed limitations with Cardbus that aren't there with Express Card, as this might become significant if I'm recording at say 24/96 over 6 to 8 inputs at once ?
Thanks for your advice,
Ray

[joakes]

1) Firewire Audio Device : PreSonus FS 26x26

2) Adapter : LaCie Firewire 400

3) Card Format : PCI 3x400

4) Chipset : TI TSB43AB23 1394A-2000

5) Rating : 5 (solved problems for me that I had with the on-board A&T Lucent adapter.

Cheers,
Jerry

[GlennKay]

I can pass on the name of one that did not work for me, the StarTech 2-Port PCI-Express card. The firewire chip is the JMicron JM381.

Apparently some more-or-less current PC motherboards comes with JMicron SATA controllers that are problematic in terms of hard drive throughput.

On my DAW, the StarTech Firewire card resulted in pops and crackles when connected to a Liquid Mix, and there was no Firewire connection at all with a Saffire (Pro 26 i/o).

For some reason, here in Toronto, it's like looking for hen's teeth trying to locate Belkin, Siig, Lacie PCIe Firewire400 cards. I've tried literally a dozen computer and music stores with no luck so far, same with some of the web retailers.

Regards
Glenn

[GlennKay]

Greetings Part 2:

I replaced the StarTech firewire card from my previous post with a Siig NN-E20012-S2 (Firewire 400, 2 ports, PCIe). It works perfectly with my Saffire Pro 26 i/o.

The firewire chip on this card is Texas Instruments. One thing i noticed, unlike with the Start Tech product, this card has a a plug into which to connect a lead from the power supply -- makes total sense for a device needing a powered firewire bus.

Regards
Glenn

[vegas71]

As with OneWorld i bought just a cheapo firewire card and it works fine (i suppose i got lucky, i'm not too sure of the make, although i seem to remember i bought it from PC World, and the only one they appear to sell is made by Dynamode?)

1. FireWire Audio Device: : Edirol FA-66

2. Adaptor Make & Model: possibly Dynamode?

3. Card Format & Ports: PCI, 3

4. Adaptor Controller: VIA OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller

5. Rating: Good

As this works absolutely perfectly with my Edirol FA-66, if i was to buy a new pc, could i just take this out of my current pc and put it in my new one, and have it continue to work well, or is there other factors to consider?
David

[Marc 'Kundalini']

Hi guys

I'm planning a Windows 7 PC DAW to incorporate my new MOTU Ultralite Mk3. I'll probably go with the Intel I7 860 or 920.

Any suggestions on a good combination of motherboard & PCI-FW card?

[basic channel]

1. FireWire Audio Device: Powercore Firewire

2. Adaptor Make & Model: ST Labs 2:1, from Maplins:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=221528#Faq

3. Card Format & Ports: PCI Express, 2x 400 External, 1x 400 internal

4. Adaptor Controller: Texas Instruments

5. Rating: Excellent (so far - all crashes experienced with onboard Agere chip (Asus P5KE) have disappeared)

[Martin Walker]

Hi guys

I'm planning a Windows 7 PC DAW to incorporate my new MOTU Ultralite Mk3. I'll probably go with the Intel I7 860 or 920.

Any suggestions on a good combination of motherboard & PCI-FW card?

Hi Marc,

And welcome to the SOS Forums!

As you'll notice if you read the existing contents of this thread, it's the combination of Firewire card and audio interface that's important, rather than FW card and motherboard.

Martin

[mjfe2]

hi, just wanted to hijack this thread to ask about my mackie onyx 400f which i use with a blekin firewire pci port attached to an old pentium 4 beast (512mb RAM).

the latency in cubase reads 11 ms input and 20 ms output latency -- is this a generally acceptable length?

cheers!

[kenwyn]

Hi Guys

So I want to buy one of these cards and I am finding it hard to find a place to buy. I went to this site

http://www.stuff-uk.net/c-1384-firewire-cards.aspx

They start at 6 then go to 94 pounds. The maplin one quoted above is out of stock at the moment. Anyone have a link for any others already reviewed above.

Thanks

[kenwyn]

P.S.

Would rather pay 6 pounds if poss

[kenwyn]

Thought I would post this link with the recommendations for the Focusrite range,

http://www.focusrite.com/answerbase/en/var/attachments/Focusrite_IEEE_1394_compatibility.pdf

[Basari Studios]

Interface: TC Impakt Twin
FW Controller: SIIG; http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/629062-REG/SIIG_NN_E38012_S3_FireWire_800_PCI_Express_x1.html
Chipset:TI XIO2213
Rating: EXCELENT!!!

Never had anything better in my life or any better configuration.
Working on 128 BS, no clicks, no dropouts, freezes or anything at all.

[GooGoo]

If I get a TI chipset card do I need drivers for Windows 7 64 bit or does Windows 7 sort all that out itself?? Thanks.

[tommygear]

1. FireWire Audio Device: TASCAM FW1884 (V183)

2. Adaptor Make & Model: Belkin Firewire 3 Port PCI Card (F5U503 Rev.S-3)

3. Card Format & Ports: PCI, 3 External Ports

4. Adaptor Controller: TI Chipset(1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller)

5. Rating: Very Good

[Dee]

Hi guys,

My head is spinning due to trying to get a compatible PCI firewire card and audio unit. I have a windows 7 64 bit system and I am looking for something that will be relatively hassle free with regards to drivers......

[sami12]

I have an M-Audio FS410 bus powered and it connects to the PC by way of a cheapo USB/Firewire PCI card. DOn't know what the chipset is but the properties say VIA OHCI. My motherboard is an Intel - quite an old P4 board, but it keeps going!
<a href="http://www.downloadvlcplayer.net">vlc player download</a>

[Karmakoza]

1. FireWire Audio Device: MOTU Traveler

2. Adaptor Make & Model: LaCie FireWire 400 PCI Card

3. Card Format & Ports: PCI, 3x 400 external

4. Adaptor Controller: Texas instruments Chipset

5. Rating:
Excellent (achieves low latency with no clicks or pops)

I also have a Focusrite Liquid Mix 32 connected to my PC mobo's f/w port. This is also a Texas instruments Chipset. In my case, I used to get severe dropouts, crackles, Liquid Mix problems & system crashes. After a lot of frustration and experimentation I figured it out that the 2 firewire devices, although separate devices, were sharing the same bus! Looking at the schematic of my mobo in the manual, I was able to put the Lacie card in another PCI slot. Problem solved. I can now use both without problems.

BTW: I have a Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4 mobo with intel i5 CPU running W7 32bit and Cubase 5

[Dee]

Hi,

I am hoping I can get pointed in the right direction for a new soundcard. I think firewire will be best for me and have a budget of around £300 - preferably less considering my outlay over the past few months - put it this way, divorce proceedings could get underway soon

I have a i7 running windows 7 64bit with 12gb ram - I currently am using a 0404 but bought a node nt2a and would like to go hook up.

My requirements would be this:

Connect the nt2a directly to soundcard via xlr

connect keyboard via 1/4 jack stereo

midi in and out

that's it......if there were a few extra connections then I'll not complain but that is my basic setup.

Any recommendations?

My motherboard is a Asus P6X58D-E intel X58 (socket 1366) - the spec says it has two firewire ports but I have no idea if these have the TI chipset.........basically, I don't really know what I'm talking about!! Therefore any advice, hints and/or tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks