firewire to usb adapter?

[Mooch]

So here's my dilemma. I was looking at getting the Profire 2626 because I want to start doing multitrack recording with my laptop, however I only have a few USB ports and no firewire ports. It's my understanding that you NEED firewire if you plan on recording more than two tracks at once.

I considered getting a firewire to USB adapter so I can hook up the 2626 but since the adapter would be connected to my computer through a USB port, I don't think it'll work.

Surely someone out there has had this problem before and managed to solve it without having to go out and buy a whole computer.

Any thoughts?

 

[Rhys Llewellyn]

I used to have a Tascam US-428 which could record 4 audio tracks simulatneously over USB 2.0.

The odd thing is, on paper, USB 2.0 has a faster data transfer rate than FireWire 400, but FireWire is still more efficient.

I didn't even know FireWire to USB cables exist, and it wouldn't achieve anything that you want anyway.

Doesn't your laptop have some form of PCMCIA card port?

Or, as mentioned, I got by recording 4 tracks on USB 2.0 so perhaps don't rule it out. I'm pretty sure that USB can still easily handle 8 tracks or more at once, but it's worth researching.

 

[Audiosprite]

nothing good can come of this

 

[AdamWathan]

Just get a good reliable USB interface. Currently the best performing USB interfaces that allow 8+ tracks to be recorded simultaneously are the RME Fireface UC and Fireface UFX as well as the M-Audio Fast Track Ultra 8R. All of those units have exceptional USB drivers that perform as well or better than any Firewire interface and with much less headache since USB is a much more standardized port than Firewire.

 

[Jind]

USB 2.0 can support much larger track counts than most think - my old Edirol M16DX mixer/interface could record 16 channels simultaneously over a USB 2.0 connection, just make sure you buy something with solid drivers that get updated with some regularity.

 

[Mooch]

Rhys - no it doesn't have a PCI slot. My old one did which was great until it went south on me.

Adam - I checked out the M-Audio Fast Track Ultra 8R and that looks to be the way to go. Thanks man!

Everywhere I read, USB seemed to be able to only record 2 tracks at the same time as it couldn't handle too much back & forth data. Guess they're wrong.

Thanks everyone for the tips.

 

[aortizjr]

Even if something like that did exists I don’t think it would work very well. Usb uses frames for transfer vs streams like firewire. So for realtime usb would require some crazy buffering or other trickery. Hence why there is little support for audio and video.

Also the conversion would have crazy overhead and interfaces are so picky with chipsets and such. Yeah much better off with something designed for the right bus.