Audio Interfaces for Classical Music, Firewire 400/800?

In the near future I will be getting a new MacBook or MacBook Pro, and I am looking to record classical music (brass, solo and ensemble, chamber groups, etc). Is getting the Firewire 800 port necessary or recommended for hooking up to a good audio interface? I am a bit confused as to how the bus power works and whether it has to be a 400/800 port.
I am looking at a MOTU Traveler and a Fireface 800. Any other suggestions?

I have read and experienced lots of driver issues with the MOTU stuff lately as well as many of others.
I currently own both a M-Audio Firewire 410 and 1814 both are fantasic interfaces. Both are firewire 400 and bus powered.
I personally don't see a need for a interface at 800...I have had no problems with my interfaces at 400

Similar Messages

Is there a way to connect the new MacBook Air to an audio interface that only has FireWire 400 input?

I recently acquired the new MacBook Air for my performance rig and have discovered that there is no way to connect it to either of my audio interfaces [both have FireWire 400 ports only. Is there an adaptor for this? I can't seem to find one.

Later on this month, both Belkin and Sonnet have indicated that they will have means to adapt the Thunderbolt port to the Firewire 800 interface.
Sonnet's solution will be an simple adapter, while Belkins will be a more full featured dock, with a few ports, including USB 3.0
There is no indication what the price of either will be, but both of them should provide a relatively easy means to then adapt to Firewire 400, as such cable adapters are already readily available at a nominal price.
Apple has the Sonnet adapter mentioned on their website, so it may be likely that the Apple online store will be carrying them when they become available.
As far as an adapter from USB 2.0 to Firewire, there have been only a scant few adapters available in the past, and all that I have seen were propretary in nature, only usable for the particular device they were fashioned for. I have not seen any that were usable in a general sense. Look at the reviews of any such products you might find in this regard. You will find no satisfied users.

Problem running a FW 400 audio interface at same time as FW 800 drives

I recently installed snow leopard (10.6.2) on a macbook pro 2.4 core duo. I have a couple firewire 800 drives connected. I ran into problems when I hooked up my audio interface to the firewire 400 port. I have the same problem with 2 different audio interfaces - Presonus Firebox and M-Audio Firewire Solo. Basically they refuse to work unless i unplug the firewire 800 drives. I found this information on M-Audio's website:
"Computers that have both a FireWire 400 and a FireWire 800 port may be sharing the same FireWire bus internally. When using both, the 400 and the 800 port at the same time, you may experience problems like audio drop outs or loss of connection to the M-Audio FireWire interface. There's a variety of possible reasons for this including but not limited to bandwidth limitations, clocking issues (400/800) and bus master problems with the devices connected to both ports. M-Audio recommends using the M-Audio FireWire audio interface on the computers original FireWire port while adding a separate FireWire interface card (with a Texas Instruments chipset) to the system (PCI, PCIe, ExpressCard, or PCMCIA). Connect any third party FireWire 800 devices to the added FireWire interface card. If your computer does not have expansion slots for a separate FireWire interface card there are 2 possible alternatives: If your external hard drive has FW400 connectivity, you can daisy chain the hard drive to the 2nd FireWire port* (if available) on your M-Audio Device. If your external hard drive has USB 2.0 connectivity, you can connect the hard drive to a USB 2.0 port on the computer"
This is exactly my problem. The audio interfaces work fine when hooked up to FW 400 port as long as no FW 800 devices are connected. It appears that my only solution is to buy a secondary FW interface card. However, I would like to know if there is a fix on the Apple side of this.
(note: I did not have this issue on my G5 running OS 10.4x, which is what I was on before I switched to this new laptop setup - the laptop is a 2007)
Anyone else have this issue, or know about a fix for it from Apple?

Thanks for that info, but that is not the problem. Obviously the first thing I did was check the FW cables and connections and shut down my computer and rebooted. And like I said, the FW 800 drives work fine when no FW 400 device is connected, and the FW 400 audio interface works fine when no FW 800 devices are connected.
The problem is that when the FW 800 drives are connected AND the FW 400 audio interface is also connected on the same bus (as this is a laptop there is only one bus with both 400 and 800 ports). The drives still seem to work fine, but the audio interface does not work. It's connection lights flash and will not hold a connection or process sound (there is either no sound, or clicks and dropouts). The flashing lights indicated a failed clock sync. M-Audio is aware of this issue as is apparent from my quote on the original post, but the only work around seems to add a secondary FW bus via an adapter card.
This problems seems to be a MAC issue with FW 400 and 800 and the internal clock sync.

Audio interface for iMac????

I just opened the box to my brand new iMac, and to my horror, there is only a Firewire 800 port, and none for 400! I use an M Audio Firewire 410 Audio interface (which I previously used with my now dead Power Mac), and since it connects via firewire 400, I can't use it with my new iMac
So, is there an affordable Fire 800 audio interface? BUT if I do get an audio interface for 800, then I won't be able simultaneously hook up my Glyph drive via the 800 port. In which case, are there any good audio interfaces that connect via USB?

Not sure, but I do think its possible, because last year, when apple introduced some line of Imac, lots of people were having trouble with some specifics soundcard(like RME) cause of the apple choice to use a new type of FW800 port from another companie than Texas instrument. One way some users found to fix the problem was to simply daisy chain the soundcard on the firewire port of an external hardrive. So it should work, but keep in mind that you are gona use some part of the bandwith on your firewire cable to feed your soundcard, and that anyway a FW800 cable cant be as fast as a SATA wire or so. Mean that you may not have as much power as you want with your new HD. If you bought that drive to boost your samplers capacity, it will work only if you install some plugins on your new hardrive and some plugs on your native HD. That way you use both speed at the same time...

Recommended Audio Interface for MacBook Pro w/ Leopard

There is more to getting a
four pin firewire audio
interface to work than
buying one. Tech forums are
full of driver related issues.
Is there a tried and true
FW audio interface for the
MBP w/Leopard that anyone
is using now? Thanks.

not quite understand.....I m using MAudio firewire 400.....is working quite fine.
And lot of people is using it. With leopard I do not know, any way it should work fine as well.
Good luck

FireWire 400&800 (IMAC Core2) NOT WORKING after Upgrading to SNOW LEOPARD!

My FireWire 400&800 (iMAC Core2) are *NOT WORKING* after Upgrading to SNOW LEOPARD!
Any Solutions?
Thanks!
--Frank Strallents
www.SHOCKPROOFX.com

I'll try your suggestions....Thanks!
Recently, I try to Re-install Snow Leopard, unfortunately, still unsuccessful.
The Mybook Icon only appears if it is connected via USB.
After using Firewire and getting used to the speed...USB 2.0 is like a Corvette racing a Veyron...lol
I am not upset on these issues, it is normal for new OS to have these problems...unfortunately, even OSX is not invincible.
I'm sure Apple/Steve is on every Programers A*s for a solution.
I still think APPLE'S OSX will still be the future of Operating system!
For now, still waiting for the patch and hopefully soon.
Suggestions are still Welcome for a Solutions:-)
Frank
SHOCKPROOFX.COM

External Harddrive ethernet vs Firewire 400/800

What would be better to invest in a ethernet harddrive or a firewire 400/800
I do need an external harddrive for video editing, mainly 1080i Hi-Def video as I have a Sony HVR A1 and am shooting hi-def.
Thanks
Justin
Durban South Africa

Firewire 800. Ethernet hard drives are very unlikely to provide an uninterrupted flow of video.
For what it's worth, your camera records HDV which has the same data rate as DV.
x

WARNING! Firewire 400/800 usage precaution of all Mac mini

I just found one vital notice about using FireWire 400/800 (IEEE 1394a/b) in any Mac mini. Please be careful and read this notice before you buy any External FireWire 400/800 Hard drive enclosure/paddock.
I believe in FireWire. FireWire is faster and more stable than USB 2.0/3.0. I love FireWire, but industry these days are terrible poor making its peripheral devices, related chips, etc.
Beware there are many FireWire devices such as 3.5 inches Hard drive Dock and enclosure they claimed to be used with FireWire 400 or even FireWire 800 with options like USB, eSATA. THESE ARE POOR PCB design and POOR chips inside and even POOR Power Supply, DO NOT BUY or USE THESE so-called FireWire HDD Dock or enclosure, it will hurt your Hard-drive definitely, it will make a lot of BAD-Axle (or bad sector) on your HDD. It's nothing wrong with Mac Mini FireWire Chips, it caused by Third-Parties' poor design and tactless attitude, there are lots of brands out there with the same POOR design and inconsiderate issues there.
The best way to protect your HDD is put them in a dock-able slot with Active 500W above Powered PC, link with FireWire, no Bad-Sector will occur.
These are real test and real experience from I myself.
I have tested lots of brands of 3.5 inches HDDs and docks and enclosures, I just save lots of time for you, if you love your data and your HDD, DO NOT USE THESE DOCK or Enclosure.

The big problem with those Docks or enclosures has a common poor cause, it's the Power Supply, if your 3.5 inches HDD is plugged in a Good 500W powered PC (Such as the brand Enermax Power Supply), the bad-sector will never happen. But it will happen when you use those Docks or Enclosures even with External Power supply. Because those external power current and voltage are not power enough, they didn't test it fully before putting them in market. They thought it was OK if they can boot up the disk, but they are dead wrong. You can boot a HDD doesn't mean the current and the voltage is power enough, it should have supplied with full power to those Standard 3.5 inches HDD, Seagate, Hitachi, Toshiba, they have rules about how many voltage and current a HDD should be supplied in operating, but those lousy industries didn't consider these rules, they thought just making their products as long as they can boot it up(power up), but the current and voltage is near the minimum level, a normal current and voltage is needed without margin, it should be at least full 5V or 12V, actually, 5V with 0.5A~1A current and 12V with fully 2A current to safely using a single HDD. But they didn't apply those rules.
You get the picture. When the current and voltage is not power enough, the HDD will sound alarm and make a big noise, then the surface gets hurt badly and it WILL NEVER be RECOVERED by any means of software or hardware.
When a HDD has a bad sector, it is a very bad for the future usage, because one bad sector could possibly cause another new bad sector and there is NO WAY to prevent this fate and its course, it is the way HDD works, a bad sector is a sign of short-life warning.
A fully 5.5V with 1A and 12V with 2A current is the most important thing when you decide to use your HDD in an external way by plug the lousy external power supply. NOT to mention those without external power supply, most of them are 2.5 inches USB-powered external HDD.
Who's to blame? blame to those lousy third-party industries who care nothing but their short term profit strategy. They just don't care about you. As long as a HDD could boot in the first place, they though it will work well. Lame and irresponsible.
DO NOT take chances to use a lousy External Dock or enclosure. You will regret anyway.
Put your 3.5 inches HDD into standard PC slot and cable with GOOD powered supply, at least 500 Watt above and the Power Supply must be Active model (expensive but worth).

Audio Interface for monitoring, mixing 5.1 St Surround in FCP and Sd Tr Pro

I'm a fairly newbie with FCP and Sound Track Pro, and I am doing mostly long form, live event HDV recordings and editing. I'm about to start doing 5.1 Stereo Surround shooting and burning to Blu Ray. What do you recommend for an audio interface for my G4 PowerBook running Leopard w/2GB ram, to monitor/mix my 5.1 audio tracks in Sound Track Pro (since I can't monitor 5.1 in FCP?) I will likely be recording the tracks on the new Sound Devices 788T and inporting them into FCP and/or STP via firewire, but I need to monitor my mix before I burn to Blu Ray discs using Toast 10 and my LaCie BR burner.
Also has anyone found a way to use Bose 5.1 monitor speaker system? It would work fine for the BR player, but what about using with the Mac G4 PowerBook - do I need a digital audio - audio interface?

You'll need an audio-interface with at least 6 outputs. They should be connected to a surround processor or AV-Receiver with multichannel inputs. In line with your budget you could use M-Audio, Focusrite or Apogee products for that, they work with STP & Protools.
When monitoring, you cannot use the Bose system, because S/Pdif is for encoded audio only.

Using M-Audio Fast Track C400 Audio Interface for FaceTime but only input 1 audio is coming through?...

I'm trying to use my M-Audio interface for FaceTime/U Stream for music purposes. I'm a professional recording artist and I'd like to do some "live stream" concerts for fans from home. I have my keyboard in input 1 and my microphone in input 2. Both signals come through just fine when I'm using Garageband or Logic, but for some reason when I select the interface as the "microphone" option when streaming, only audio from input one is heard from my viewers. I've also switched the keyboard and mic to rule out the mic being the problem, but then the mic audio comes through and not the keyboard...I'm wondering if I'm missing some minute setting somewhere?...I don't understand why it's only for video chat applications that it's only receives one channel of audio...Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

Are you using Logic 8 or 9?
What are you trying to hear Logic's output through?
If you're expecting audio output through built-in audio, and you're using Logic 9, make sure your Fast Track is set as the input device, and built-in audio is set for the output device (both in Logic's audio preferences)
However, if you're using Logic 8 or 7, you need to create an aggregate device if you're using built-in output.
Details here:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8813763&#8813763
OR
use the FastTrack's audio outputs to drive your monitoring, NOT your built-in audio.

Wanted: Multi-Channel Audio Interface for iMac & GB (USB)

I am looking for an affordable multi-channel audio interface for my iMac for use with Garageband. My goal is to playback old songs from my old computer (Atari ST) through my Yamaha gear and record the audio into GB so I can mix it. (READ: Not interested in transferring MIDI.)
My goal is to get at least 4 and ideally 6 channel/track recording in GB. I’m not sure if the multi-channel units I see, such as the Alesis MultiMix 4 or the Behringer Xenyx Q802USB send all channels to the Mac or if they mix it down to two channels first.
I’d prefer to mix all the channels in GB rather than pre-mix it. Also, I’d prefer to have 1/4” jacks; XLR would be a nice bonus. USB; since Firewire is going away and Thunderbolt is too new.
Any suggestions? I’m trying to keep this under $100. (Also, I know I can use multiple low-budget devices and aggregate them in Audio/Midi, but I do NOT want to go that route.)
Thanks.

As you imply, keeping it below $100 makes it tough.
Generally only the two channel interfaces are close to $100.
Check out Hang Times FAQ:
http://www.bulletsandbones.com/GB/Interfaces.html

Laptop audio interface for Studio work?

I'm looking for a solid (works when you plug it in) 2 channel audio interface for my laptop. (G4, 1.67GHZ, 1gb ram, 7200rpm internal HD, LP 7.01, Tiger)
All I need it for, is to use as an output to play sounds via keyboard from Logic, for a live studio session.(Ivory piano, EVB3, synths, drum programming and etc.)
My laptop wil be used like a sound module so it would be nice to have this interface to have midi ports as well.
It doesn't have to be the best convertors in the world just want them to be clean and as good as you would find in a stock Yamaha or Roland keyboard ($2k -range).
Oh yeah - which is better?: Firewire or USB 2.0

Ooo, that is awesome, except it costs twice as much as the studio monitors! The other solutions I was looking at are in the $150 (Presonus Audiobox USB) to $190 (E-MU 0404 USB) range. I was hoping for something under $100, ideally with balanced audio. Probably too much to ask for!
But I have a question for you... do you get a lag in sync when you go through the FireWire mixer? On a different forum I was reading that if you want sync for video it's better to find an external converter that connects to the optical digital out (TOSLINK, S/PDIF) than one that connects via FireWire or USB as that means a new digital clock master. I would like not to have to worry about adjusting to get sync, but if it's less than a frame I'm not worried about it.

How do I stop iTunes from re-altering my sorting info for classical music?

Hi there. Hope someone can help. This is really irritating me now.
I have a lot of classical music in my iTunes library. Since very early on I have taken the decision to alter the Artist name in the sort field to the name of the composer rather than the performer as the listing of artists in classical music is so inconsistent (sometimes it's the orchestra, or the orchestra & conductor, or just the conductor, or the soloists, or it changes from track to track). I have kept the performer's details in the Comments box.
This has been absolutely fine until the last year or so, when I have noticed that music that I have downloaded from the iTunes store automatically reverts to the original sorting information even though I've changed it. So, for instance, I will have changed "Alfred Brendel" to "Mozart" as the Artist for a Mozart piano sonata. And even though I have changed the Artist, the Album Artist, the Sort Artist and the Sort Album Artist ALL to Mozart and synced that successfully to my iPhone, the next time that I launch iTunes or turn on my iPhone it will all mysteriously have reverted to the original sorting information. And I don't want that for classical music - fine for rock, pop etc., but classical music has a different set of priorities. I'm guessing this has something to do with iCloud, but how do I stop it happening? It is really tedious to keep altering these things. And some bizarre anomalies have appeared, such as some early Baroque music (Monteverdi) being labelled by iTunes as Electronic in the genre box!! Which it clearly isn't! But the same thing happens - I change the genre, but it changes back! Surely once I sort something it should stay sorted!
I'm sure there's a fantastically obvious explanation for this, and I apologise for missing it. But I don't know what to do . I have iTunes 11.3.1 and am running OS 10.9.4 (Mavericks).
Many thanks.

Yes, others are seeing this. Something in purchased media (I am pretty sure this has only happened with purchased media) is periodically checking back with the iTunes Store and resetting the tags in the iTunes library file but not in the actual media files (metadata are stored in both). I haven't seen a truly systematic diagnosis of the issue (I use an old iTunes and have no iTunes account so I can't test anything myself). There are temporary workarounds but tags will still revert after a time.
2014 discussion about edited tags for Store purchases reverting to originals - https://discussions.apple.com/message/26077896#26077896 - edited tags are still present in the media file but revert to the originals in the iTunes library file. Workaround is to refresh tags so media file tags are re-read and used in library file.
https://discussions.apple.com/message/26193185#26193185
https://discussions.apple.com/message/26335620#26335620 - user ended up rebuilding iTunes library from scratch
Send feedback to Apple about this so they know it is an issue they need to investigate:
http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunesapp.html
Don't expect an immediate solution but maybe the next time they update the software it may be resolved.

DVD DL fail to burn AND Firewire 400/800 problems

I have had several months of intermittent DVD burn fails. Most recently today burning from the finder and it is now reporting "The disc can’t be burned because because communication between the computer and the disc drive failed (error code 0x80020022)."
That error is new, previously it was always
Sense Key - Hardware Error
Sense Code - 0x03
The first time this cropped up was on 10.5.x and when I reported it to apple they had me take it to get the drive replaced since it was still covered by applecare.
After the DVD replacement and while still in the shop it burned a few DVD DLs ok. A few weeks later the same 0x03 errors. (it always burns CDs just fine)
After another phone conversation with applecare, they now suggest that the logic board needs to be replaced. (This was after I mentioned I frequently have problems with Firewire 400 or 800 external drives showing up...sometimes they work sometimes they don't. The same drives always show up when connected via USB)
I was walked through resetting the PRAM, which cleared up the Firewire 400/800 temporarily, but it did not help the DVD burn problem.
So on the eve before the appointment, this crazy MBP (2,2, 2.33 ghz) burns a DVD DL after blowing compressed air thru the DVD slot. But the second DVD DL fails to burn with the ""The disc can’t be burned because because communication between the computer and the disc drive failed (error code 0x80020022)."
I was hoping that the upgrade to 10.6.x would solve both issues, but not so much.
Anyone else with the DVD DL problem experiencing FW problems?

The problems with some external FW burners under SL are fairly common, Robert. With some earlier drives (like my Pioneer 109 in an external box) often one can't even "see" the drive at all (though the bridge in the external box will show up under System Profiler) through FW, though it works fine under USB. With some later ones things like PRAM resets, or simply disconnecting and reconnecting the drive, will get them working. See http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=10070281 or some discussion of these issues and possible "workarounds".
As far as the general disc burning issue goes, other things that are worth considering include problems with a "fullish" hard drive with fragmented free space, and the actual media being used. What brands of DVD have you tried?
DL discs, generally seem much more finicky about dust and dirt than single layer when it comes to burning (and , of course, need much more free HD space) . Will it burn a single layer DVD or a CD without problems?
Cheers
Rod

Migrating from mac pro to mac mini firewire 400 - 800 cant find computer

hi there
am trying to use migration assistant to move from old mac pro to new mac mini using firewire 400 - 800 cable but one computer cant see the other - any ideas anyone? have lots of large files so don't want to use wifi
cheers
Maria

Did t d this?
Make sure both computers are connected via FireWire or ThunderBolt before starting. If you connect the cables after Migration Assistant is already running, the source computer may not be properly detected.
Restart the source (original) Mac while pressing and holding the "T" key.
You can use ethernet too:
Make sure that the source Mac and target Macs are connected to the same network, either wirelessly or via Ethernet. (You can directly connect the two Macs via an Ethernet cable if both are Ethernet capable. To make MacBook Air Ethernet capable, connect using the Apple USB Ethernet Adapter.)
from:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4889

Audio Interfaces for Classical Music, Firewire 400/800?

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