Firewire Interface and Monitor Mix

We'll, I've read all I can, and settled on a M-Audio Fast Track Pro for my interface. I went with the USB, but the residual latency and weak pre-amps have me looking to return it and get something different. I will mainly be using it to record guitar, bass, drums, and vocals over some loops. Here are my needs:
-One XLR and one 1/4" input. (Two 1/4" inputs would be nice, for taking stereo feed from a mixer when recording drums).
-1/4 L/R outputs to feed powered monitors
-Headphone out (of course)
-Nice, powerful preamp. The Fast Track Pro has to be cranked to record vocals from a Beta 57a.
...and here's the big one.
-An ability to adjust the monitor mix between input and playback. I'm not sure how people get a good monitor mix when using an interface without this capability. I like this feature on the Fast Track Pro, but it comes with some latency. I imagine some of this can be attributed to it's USB design.
Any suggestions would be great. I know this has been beaten to death. Thank you.
Mike
MacBook Pro 2.33 Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Latency is rarely caused by use of usb. It is almost always computer side, hard drive being probably the big cause. Especially with laptop hard drives.
Also just because your 57 needs to be at 10 on the FT Pro and say 8 on another device doesn't mean the sound will be any different. But I have heard that the Fastracks don't have as much gain as other interfaces.
If your mixing playback plus dry input you shouldn't have any latency but if you are mixing playback and wet input then you could get latency.

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What interface and monitors are you using?

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hey there NIKKO,
i use a MOTU 828 MKII w/ a MOTU MIDI Timepiece AV & Alesis M1 MK2 Active monitors. it's not all about the hardware/software.... check out Auralex & Auralex University. a great site w/ info on room accoustics & how they can afffect your recordings & mixes. see this link -http://www.auralex.com/
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Firewire Interface and Microphone Choices?

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MBaltrusitis wrote:
Was looking to drop no more than 500 dollars on a firewire interface and less than 175 in a microphone to do some decent quality recording onto my MB (primarily trumpet, ukulele and acoustic guitar). For the interface I've been looking at the:
Apogee Duet
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Apogee-Duet-Firewire-Interface?sku=234444
And for the mic, the:
MXL 992
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/MXL-MXL-992-LargeDiaphragm-Condenser-Micr ophone?sku=273162
Any feedback on these two products or have any other recommendations? Thanks for the help.
If you don't need a lot of inputs and outputs, but are looking for decent sound quality, the Apogee Duet seems like a good deal.
I'm not familiar with the mic.

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?

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Apple TV audio through interface and monitor speakers?

Hi all,
See following pic of my setup...
My question is as follows....
When Macbook is linked to tv via airplay, which is my normal setup as I produce music and use both screens, the sound output is set through Saffire audio interface and comes out the monitor speakers and all is good with the world, however, I want to be able to sit back and watch the apps on Apple TV as is shown on the big screen there ie. Netflix/NBA TV, but still using my computer soundcard and hence through the monitor speakers instead of it switching back to the TV sound.
IS THIS POSSIBLE???
Thanks in advance for any help.

Thanks for the response vazandrew. I've looked further into what you said and the solution is as follows;
http://www.amazon.co.uk/eSynic%C2%AE-Digital-Optical-Coaxial-Converter/dp/B009ZR 7IB8/ref=pd_sxp_grid_i_0_2
Ditial optical out to toslink audio converter, then out the converter to RCA/Jack etc.
Hope this helps anyone else with same question.

Can You Daisy Chain Firewire 400 and 800 Mixed?

I would like to purchase an External Drive. I'm looking at a FW800. What I'm wondering is, Can I daisy chain devices mixed in.
I Want to run a FW800 Bilingual cable from my Powerbook to the External Enclosure. From the Ext. Enclosure, I'd like to have take my second FW800 port and take a cable that converts Firewire 800 to Firewire 400 and plug in another item. Is this possible?
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Russ,
Yes, it is possible. I have a drive that works on FW800, FW400, or USB2. Connected to the second FW800 port on that, I have an adaptor cable, a FW400 cable to a FW400 drive, and another FW400 drive connected to that . All 3 drives are on the desktop of my PowerBook. When I read your post, I had the only first drive connected to the iBook with USB2.
The only problem I've run into was trying to copy a 200G drive on FW800 to a 250G drive on the FW400 port on the PowerBook. Working overnight, it managed to copy ONE Gigabyte! I hooked them up as they are now, and copied the whole shebang in about 45 minutes
I picked up an empty drive case, 800/400/USB2 combo from OWC and a 250G Maxtor drive at CompUSA for about $100 less than I could get a 250 FW800 drive anyplace. http://www.macsales.com

Advice on audio interface and monitors for I-Mac

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I'm quite impressed by Apogee Duet. 2-channel & no MIDI (still does provide some control function with its single knob) which sounds like it suits what you're looking for. Very simple & elegant design, the sound quality is supreme considering its cost.
Near field monitor of my choice is KRK V8's. Nice natural sounding set of monitors. In comparison to competitors at the price range, these sets 'breathe' & provide a bit more air in sound production without exaggerating any particular freq.
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Good luck!

How can I use Pro Tools with Fire Wire interface and Fire Wire external HD

If Mac Book Pro has only one Fire Wire jack and I want to use Pro Tools with an M Audio 1814 Firewire interface and an external Fire Wire HD how do I get around the fact that the Mac Book Pro has only one fire wire jack?
Pro Tools says that they DO NOT recommend using USB 2 Hard Drives as recording drives.
If I plug my External HD into the back of the 1814 it is way too slow to use, plus, I don't know why, Pro Tools is telling me that my External HD is "not a valid audio volume". It is a MAC OS Extended (Journaled) external Firewire HD (G-TECH G-DRIVE)
Stuck...
Message was edited by: Mezcla

You could consider getting a firewire hub or get an expresscard 34 adapter with a firewire port.
I personally use a Belkin Expresscard adapter that gives me an extra firewire port as well as two extra USB 2.0 ports.
Good luck.

Surround /mixing and monitoring audio interface

Dear forum,
I am searching for an audio interface to use with MBP or G5 for mixing and monitoring of four to 6 outputs channels into PMC active speakers. I am using a Lavry DA 11 DAC for stereo monitoring. I do not require an interface with inputs for recording music as all my recording is done away from my macs, it just the outputs i need to monitor audio I have loaded to computer via CF card. All the interfaces I see have loads of inputs I don't require. Is there an interface available without inputs?
Or I am looking at the wrong sort of device?
regards
David

dr mishadog wrote:
Dear forum,
I am searching for an audio interface to use with MBP or G5 for mixing and monitoring of four to 6 outputs channels into PMC active speakers. I am using a Lavry DA 11 DAC for stereo monitoring. I do not require an interface with inputs for recording music as all my recording is done away from my macs, it just the outputs i need to monitor audio I have loaded to computer via CF card. All the interfaces I see have loads of inputs I don't require. Is there an interface available without inputs?
Or I am looking at the wrong sort of device?
regards
David
You need an interface that has 8 outputs. Most of these include 8 or more inputs as well. The inputs will not be a problem when mixing, you can ignore them.
I have yet to see an interface that is only outputs.
Cheers

Does 2 firewire audio and video interface can work together on FCP ?

hello,
My audio interface is a TC Electronic Konnekt 24D
my video interface is a Canopus ADVC 110
my hard drives are plugged in firewire too
and I use Final Cut Pro 5.0.4
So, the konnekt is recognized by FCP only when the Canopus is not plugged. And even then, the audio sometimes drop out and sometimes causes the app to crash, so that I have to trash the preferences
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Does 2 firewire audio and video interface can work together ?
If so, maybe I only have a driver problem from TC Electronic.
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thanks
eMac G4 1,25 Ghz Mac OS X (10.3.9)
eMac G4 1,25 Ghz 1 Go RAM DDR Mac OS X (10.3.9)

The 1082 does show up as a possible input when I open
the VO tool.
Ok. So an audio interface can be plugged to FCP without crashing the app. Because of the Konnekt driver problem, I wasn't shure of this.
I use my Aja box for export & external monitoring.
All my audio sources run back into the Tascam and I
use the analog mixer in the 1082 to monitor different
sources.
When I view external video, the audio follows it to
keep sync.
that's exactly what I want with other I/O interfaces. I'd like to monitor video with the canopus ADVC 110, and monitor audio with the Konnekt 24D (or another interface if this one is not compatible)
I also imput dailies with a deck or a camera (DV or HDV) but that's not the point here.
I want to imput audio with the Konnekt 24D because of its audio quality. Not audio sync to video dailies. But voice over, in sync with FCP video playback (for me, tha ADVC 110)

Mixing Firewire 800 and 400 on an iMac?

I have 2 external FW 400 drives on my late 2011 iMac. I use an 800 to 400 adapter. I've been thinking of getting a new external drive from OWC. The have both 400 and 800. The 800 case has 2 800 connectors and one 400. Does it make sense to mix? Will they all run at the slowest in the chain?
I was thinking of connecting the 800 directly to the iMac using the built-in 800 connection. Then chaining from there using the 400 connection to the other existing 400 external drives. Will I actually get 800 speed on the first drive?
Thanks

I have a mixed group of external drives, and just bought a new OWC Mercury quad interface drive.
The user manual that came with it says:
Note: If you are using FireWire 800 and add a FireWire 400 device to the chain, all devices will be reduced to FireWire 400 performance
I tested this myself, which confirmed it. I set up the following chain, with the first 2 drives connected by FW800, and with a FW400 drive either connected or not connected at the end:
HD ----800-----DRIVE1------800------DRIVE2-------400-------DRIVE3
I booted from my HD and timed the copying of a large file from DRIVE1 to DRIVE2. Although the FW400 drive was at the end of the chain and was never involved in the copying, just having it attached immediately reduced the speed of the file copy from Drive1 to Drive2. The actual speed reduction in practice was about 40%, not 50%.

Firewire chain for external audio interface and hard drive

I use Logic Studio 8 on a Macbook Pro with a Presonus Firebox, an external Lacie Firewire hard drive for audio recording, and another Lacie Firewire drive for backups.
Is there a recommended chain order when chaining my Firewire devices together? I read somewhere on a ProTools forum that they recommend putting their Firewire audio interface Mbox2Pro at the end of the chain.
So right now I have Macbook Pro -> Backup Drive -> Audio Drive -> Presonus Firebox. I once had it in a different order with the audio drive first, but I found it was reading more slowly from/to the audio drive when it was in that order. I have no idea technologically why this would be the case.

I just found and joined this great forum. Following up on Ray's comments about his MacBook set-up, I have a similar MacBook 2ghz, 4mb ram, 9400 chipset, and am exploring getting into Logic Pro 8 and was wondering if my MacBook was underpowered, and whether I needed to step up right away to a MacBook Pro because of my lack of PCI slots for recording audio to an external eSATA drive.
I was encouraged to hear that the USB 2.0 connection for Ray's external WD 7200 hard drive has worked and improved things and his audio isn't getting choked and he is not getting the clicks and other problems.
I'm wondering if Ray or anyone else has any other tips on using a MacBook for Logic and for optimizing one's setup. And Ray, did you notice a point at which the clicks started? .. in terms of number of tracks? Or were they present from the outset? I'm wondering how many tracks you are running now on your system.
I might mention that I don't have an audio interface yet but was impressed with what I've read about the Apogee Duet. Any comments on interfaces and the Duet?
By the way, I'm just recording one instrument/one track at a time and perhaps occasionally two instruments at a time. And right now, my main purpose for getting into Logic is for editing and mixdown of pre-existing tracks that have already been created on a standalone hard-disc based DAW. If all goes well and if I like the whole Logic experience I'd expect to get a more powerful MacBook Pro or even a Mac Pro or whatever higher end iMac exists in the future.
To summarize, all I'm intending to do initially with the MacBook is:
1) transfer individual digital tracks from a standalone hard disc-based DAW into Logic for mixdown and mastering.
2) Record a few extra new tracks one at a time - probably not using any instrument plug-ins but relying on external synth/sampler/guitar sound sources ..in each song (maybe 3-4 tracks at most), and
3) apply standard effects like reverb and EQ and panning to the mix down and master songs, each song containing a of approx 25-40 tracks.
My basic question is, can a MacBook 2Ghz with firewire 400, 4gb memory and USB2.0 to external hard drive handle this or is it underpowered? Thanks.
Derek

Audio interface for 24" iMac - conflict between firewire 400 and 800?

So, what I have now:
2.8ghz iMac, latest model, newest firmware, running OS 10.4.11, connected to an M-Audio Ozonic Firewire 400 interface, and I was hoping to run said interface while ALSO connecting a firewire 800 hard drive for samples, or for recording to.
Alas, as soon as I turn on the firewire 800 drive, a model sold by Other World Computing and containing an Oxford chipset, all audio stops on the Ozonic keyboard and is replaced by clicks and pops. The only way I've found to get the audio back is with a complete restart of the system, with the firewire 800 drive OFF.
For those of you who aren't familiar with the M-Audio device, it's a small keyboard and firewire audio interface in one unit. Perhaps not the highest quality, but my Powerbook G4 1.67 with firewire 800 CAN run both the Ozonic and the firewire 800 drive at the same time. With no interruption in sound playback.
I did some research and discovered that in the iMac I bought, the two firewire channels, 400 and 800, appear to be on the same PCI E bus, and perhaps will NEVER work together.
Is that right? I thought the whole point of firewire was how it's able to negotiate such communications and work seamlessly with other firewire devices. I know, I know, I'm living in dreamland, it's just sad that a much older Apple product (my PPC notebook), can do something a brand new model cannot. Sigh.
Any advice? Any chance 10.5 fixes this?
If not, should my next audio interface be USB 2.0? Any thoughts from the Audio pros out there (besides 'you bought the wrong machine) would be great.

Sorry I can't help with your specific query as I have never used that Audio hardware.
I am a video man myself and went for the 24" 2.8Ghz iMac as i believe the Firewire 400 and 800 Buses are seperate. I know on older iMacs and even the MacPro the FW800 and 400 buses were on the same bus and when connecting a firewire video camera to the FW400 bus, the 800 would lower it's speed to 400 to accomodate or in some cases would lose the connection all together.
I currently have a FW800 Hard drive connected to the FW800 port and a video deck in the FW400 port and they both run at full speed 800/400 respectively.
This leads me to believe Apple have fixed the Firewire sharing problem.
I know it's no help but just though I would share my experience with the Firewire on the new iMac.

USB/Firewire Interface for MIDI and audio (Garage Band)

I want to connect a Roland Handsonic (electronic drum) and Shure microphone to a Mac Pro for recording in Garage Band. What is the best USB/firewire interface for MIDI and audio?
Mac Pro desktop Mac OS X (10.4.8)

If you click one of the links you can read all about it in depth.
three guitarists
That's not what you asked for B-)>
Once you want more than 2 audio inputs, the prices start jumping up dramatically.
would this be the best interface to use?
If you really want "Best" then it's a simple answer:
http://www.bulletsandbones.com/GB/FirePod.html

Firewire for interface and hard drive

I have a firewire Lacie external hard drive and m-audio 410 firewire interface, does using firewire for both affect the overall performance in logic express, or firewire and usb is better?

Hi John,
I use usb and firewire just because my audio interface doesn't have firewire.
Also, has been using booth firewire ports on my PowerBook, with the Lacie on one and a camera on the other importing video, and had no problems.
So, I think you're ok, you have a G5, Firewire's faster, you really shoudn't have reasons to worry. Give it a go!
regards,
Jorge

Firewire Interface and Monitor Mix

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