CapnSpanky
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RE: New Creative DSP Chip - Will it affect E-mu?
2005/06/07 10:58:29
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Has anyone ever tried syncing one of the EMU interfaces to an external source? If so, how did it work out?
TIA
Tim Wells ------- Cap'n Spanky From the Planet Screwball
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Jim Wright
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RE: New Creative DSP Chip - Will it affect E-mu?
2005/06/07 11:28:36
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tsf -- FYI, Page Computers just got the 1820M back in stock (thanks to johndale for the original heads-up on this source). The price is now $402.08 (up from the original $384 and change johndale reported) but it's still an excellent deal (assuming you're willing to deal with the "fussiness" of the 1820M drivers and related system configuration issues, of course). The link is EMU 1820M DIGITAL AUDIO SYSTEM I changed my mind about the 1212M (I do that sometimes  ) and decided to go for the 1820M after all. Since I was planning to get the sync card for the 1212M ($80 + shipping additional) -- the extra I/O, for about $160 additional, was too good to pass up (apologies to my spouse, if she reads this....). (1212M@$165 + sync card @80 == $245; $402-$245 = $157 extra for 2 mic pres, 6x6 additional analog I/O, 1 more MIDI I/O, Phono preamp, headphone output, and an AudioDock for connections, rather than the back of my PC....). Next week looks like the start of put-the-pieces-together-reload-all-my-software-and-tweak-til-it-all-works time -- there's a reason I only do this every couple of years or so..... (aside from letting my bank balance recover a bit... wait I minute, I've got two daughters --- never mind). - Jim
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johndale
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RE: New Creative DSP Chip - Will it affect E-mu?
2005/06/07 13:22:48
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Jim, I'm looking for the best audio card money can buy. So, get ready to hold on to your chair. I post over on the Sonar forum about my desire. Some newbee suggests an 1820m to me. Well you can imagine my reaction. I felt like you could use a light hearted laugh this morning. But really, I have looked into Creameware,RME and Lynx. All very nice. But what else is out there? I been turning rocks over, nothing. I want to stay PCI, thats for sure. Thats just my preference and you know argueing with me is like argueing with a tree. I don't need MIDI (I have my MOTU), I have quality pres (Just picked up another Grace 101 for $350 used (in box maybe 10 hours on it). But I want the ultimate soundcard. I have my JL Cooper so I don't need a mixer of any sort. I use UAD-1s, so DSP is not a factor. What do you think Jim Wright or Jim Rosenberry? Also the M-Audio is working well for me stability and latentcy wise. But the converters are not as good (not quite, a little flat) as the 1820m. Not a night and day difference. but the EMUs got a a better high end sheen to them (Cymbal bells, etc). So what y'all think?.....................................JDW
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LixiSoft
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RE: New Creative DSP Chip - Will it affect E-mu?
2005/06/07 17:23:17
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Has anyone ever tried syncing one of the EMU interfaces to an external source? If so, how did it work out? I do it all the time through the ADAT port. I use an RME Hammerfall as my main PC card and as the master clock. I set up the 1820M as a slave and lightpipe the RME ADAT IO into the 1820M (both of them in the same computer). I also have a second computer running GIGAStudio and softsynths that I lightpipe into the RME ADAT 2nd I/O from a Frontier Design PCI card (also set up as a slave, getting the master clock from the RME over ADAT). I have been doing this for many months now without any problems at all.
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LixiSoft
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RE: New Creative DSP Chip - Will it affect E-mu?
2005/06/07 17:28:27
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But the converters are not as good (not quite, a little flat) as the 1820m. Not a night and day difference. but the EMUs got a a better high end sheen to them (Cymbal bells, etc). So what y'all think?.....................................JDW I think RME writes the best drivers and updates them almost on a monthly basis. Get an RME card with only Digital I/O, they make 2 or 3 and then match them up to your AD/DA of choice. You will not be locked into one vendor.
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Jim Wright
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RE: New Creative DSP Chip - Will it affect E-mu?
2005/06/07 18:08:20
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johndale -- If I wanted to get the best audio interface out there right now, I'd take a hard look at the RME Fireface. I haven't used one, but reviews and comments are pretty uniformly glowing. Firewire also appeals to me (if not to you), partly for ease of use with both desktop and laptop systems, but also because I suspect that WinXP (as currently patched) gives special priority to Firewire audio transfers, as compared with general PCI bus traffic. In other words -- since Firewire (I think) gets special treatment at the OS and kernel level, it may well be easier to make glitch-free drivers for Firewire devices than for PCI cards. (That's just a guess on my part). In a lower price range, I've been impressed with the Tascam 1804 (also Firewire), a 2-space rackmount with 4 mic pres (with inserts), 8x8 analog I/O, ADAT, 2x4 MIDI, and more. In between the Tascam and the RME (both price and, probably, sound-wise) is the new MOTU Traveler, which looks very nice and quite compact. In previous years, I would never have bought MOTU interfaces for PCs (for Macs, yes, but PC drivers & support was, shall we say, pretty lacking). More recently, I've heard enough good things that I'd give MOTU a look. I haven't looked at the Lynx or Creamware products. I've also heard good things about the Edirol UA-1000. It's USB 2.0 -- which I generally avoid -- but Cakewalk has used them in many demo situations, and user reports have been pretty positive. But, you want PCI. Take a look at http://www.rme-audio.com/english/hdsp/index.htm The Hammerfall DSP system includes both PCI and laptop cards; you can get lightpipe-only PCI cards and external I/O boxes of various kinds (for example, an HDSP PCI interface and one or more Digiface and/or Multiface boxes). You can also get PCI cards with onboard converters from them (HDSP 9632, with optional analog expander cards each offering 4 inputs or 4 outputs. RME drivers are highly regarded. - Jim
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tsf
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RE: New Creative DSP Chip - Will it affect E-mu?
2005/06/07 20:14:02
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"Just to throw more gas on the fire..." - thanks Jim. If (and I don't want to but the fire has been stoked with all the replies) I had $600 to $700 to spend instead of $400, would any of you who already own or would consider buying an EMU 1820M have reason to go for the Tascam 1804 or the Edirol UA-1000 or the PreSonus Firepod or something very similar intead? If so, on what basis (what would be the primary factors)? I did see a few other threads where some weren't ecstatic about the Firepod (though there were good things to say, too) but I haven't read anything yet specifically about the Tascam or Edirol. Anyways, I'm just wondering. I think the EMU will win out because of price, but just in case. I should have quit reading this thread a day ago and just made my purchase... tsf
post edited by tsf - 2005/06/07 20:17:08
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Jim Wright
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RE: New Creative DSP Chip - Will it affect E-mu?
2005/06/07 21:42:19
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Some reviews -- Edirol UA-1000: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/nov03/articles/edirolua1000.htm Tascam 18xx series: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/nov03/articles/tascamfw1884.htm The 1804 mic pres are reportedly very similar to the 1884. Drivers are reported to be fairly good at this point. The Edirol and Tascam both have 4 mic pres (all with inserts, IIRC). The 1804 has only two analog outputs, while the 1820M and Edirol have eight. The 1804 has 2 MIDI Ins, 4 separate MIDI Outs (64 channels), if that matters to you. The Edirol has some restrictions in signal routing (everything is routed in pairs) and supports a maximum of 10 audio channels (5 stereo pairs) simultaneously. That was a showstopper for me; I want full analog and full ADAT I/O, simultaneously. On the plus side, Martin Walker and others have reported very positive experience with the UA-1000 drivers (and Roland/Edirol has a long history of working closely with Microsoft, which I'm sure has helped their driver develoment). The Firepod lacks ADAT, I believe. It does have 8 mic pres, if you need that many. What would I do with $600? I might well go for the Tascam: I'd like a laptop-capable audio interface, it's got 4 mic pres, and I'd like having the extra MIDI I/O. And I don't really need more than 2 analog outputs - although, for re-amping using an external box (if I got a Podxt, or a ToneLab), it would be handy to have more than 2. The 1616M looks like a nice option too, for laptop/desktop use with a PCI-CardBus adapter. Pouring gas on the file ... and cranking up the wind tunnel..... - Jim
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urock
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RE: New Creative DSP Chip - Will it affect E-mu?
2005/06/07 23:14:44
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ORIGINAL: tsf
"Just to throw more gas on the fire..." - thanks Jim. If (and I don't want to but the fire has been stoked with all the replies) I had $600 to $700 to spend instead of $400, would any of you who already own or would consider buying an EMU 1820M have reason to go for the Tascam 1804 or the Edirol UA-1000 or the PreSonus Firepod or something very similar intead? If so, on what basis (what would be the primary factors)?
I did see a few other threads where some weren't ecstatic about the Firepod (though there were good things to say, too) but I haven't read anything yet specifically about the Tascam or Edirol.
Anyways, I'm just wondering. I think the EMU will win out because of price, but just in case. I should have quit reading this thread a day ago and just made my purchase...
tsf
Re the Firepod. I purchased a Firebox (which I believe is the same converters and pres as the Firepod) when the 1820m was causing me headaches. Imo, the converters on the 1820m sounded much better. The converters on the Delta 1010 also sounded much better. I did some research online and my results made sense based on the specs of the converter chips in each of the three units. I returned the unit. FWIW, I thought the Firepod's preamps sounded slightly better than the 1820m's pres - plus they have proper gain control. Best, urock
post edited by urock - 2005/06/07 23:17:32
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johndale
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RE: New Creative DSP Chip - Will it affect E-mu?
2005/06/08 00:53:50
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I'm going to stick with PCI. I had a US-428 for a couple years and was not impressed with Tascam's support. Jim you ought to look at those Lynx Studio Cards. The specs, reviews and user comments on this forum are all impressive. I have not heard one bad word anywhere about the cards or the company. I'm pretty sure I'm going with the LynxTwo C. Those Hammerfalls seem nice also, I'm doing further research on them...............................JDW
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tsf
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RE: New Creative DSP Chip - Will it affect E-mu?
2005/06/08 10:02:49
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urock,
This is probably a silly question but I'm not too knoweldgeable in this area...since you said the converters sounded better on the 1820M but the preamps sounded better on the Firepod, how does that end up working out in the overall picture? That is, with respect to the end result?
Jim - when saying the Edirol has only 5 stereo pairs simultaneously, does that mean that even with ADAT channels, it works the same? If you were going to another unit via ADAT trying to use 8 channels from the other unit (ex - ADA8000), would you not be able to use all of them in stereo mode in this case?
tsf
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Jim Wright
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RE: New Creative DSP Chip - Will it affect E-mu?
2005/06/08 10:17:01
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Jim - when saying the Edirol has only 5 stereo pairs simultaneously, does that mean that even with ADAT channels, it works the same? If you were going to another unit via ADAT trying to use 8 channels from the other unit (ex - ADA8000), would you not be able to use all of them in stereo mode in this case? There are 5 pairs of input channels and 5 pairs of output channels. Each pair (input or output) can be assigned more-or-less independently (but check the manual; it's been a while since I looked at the UA-1000). Say you want to use the UA-1000 for recording 8 analog signals, and also want to use a 2nd ADAT-equipped device for recording additional signals. With the 5-pair limitation, you can record 8 channels (4 stereo pairs) using the UA-1000 analog inputs, and another 2 channels (1 stereo pair) from the 2nd ADAT device. You can (I believe) select any pair of channels from the 2nd ADAT device you like -- but only 1 pair. If you assign 3 input pairs to the UA-1000 analog inputs, you can record 4 channels from the 2nd ADAT device (2 input pairs). But there's always that 5-pair limit. This is a major difference from the MOTU Traveller and 828 MkII, the Tascam 1804, the RME Fireface, the Emu 1820M and 1616M...... all of which can record using all (or nearly all) inputs simultaneously, both ADAT inputs and analog inputs. Depending on the product, you may or may not be able to record S/PDIF input and ADAT input in parallel (usually you can record S/PDIF coax and ADAT simultaneously, but not S/PDIF optical and ADAT simultaneously -- because S/PDIF optical and ADAT use the same Toslink optical connector!). - Jim
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johndale
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RE: New Creative DSP Chip - Will it affect E-mu?
2005/06/08 11:06:37
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Emu 1820M and 1616M...... all of which can record using all (or nearly all) inputs simultaneously, both ADAT inputs and analog inputs. That was another pitfall I had problems with. Run to many at one time (5+ average) and it's reboot time. The dock looks like a cop car with all the lights stuck on with no output (They could never explain that one either, I told them I rebooted and they said "Yea,Do That"). I dunno..................................JDW
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Jim Wright
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RE: New Creative DSP Chip - Will it affect E-mu?
2005/06/08 12:00:51
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johndale, I feel your pain.
That said, many people have reported success with recording many channels simultaneously using the 1820M. We'll see how I make out. (The geek side of me says "Aha! A challenge!". The musical side of me says "..... Just make music already ?!..." Talking to myself again...)
RME has clearly got a much better track record for bulletproof drivers. M-Audio's record is somewhat better (at least these days) -- I remember several years when that was decidedly not true. (My own Delta 66 is generally well-behaved, although it locked up recently: a simple reboot didn't do the trick; I had to power-down, wait half an hour (for power supplies to fully discharge, I suppose....), and only then power-up, in order to reanimate the Delta). I've also heard very good things about the Frontier Design products, although they've largely turned towards contract engineering for Tascam, rather than continuing to develop their own product line. (If I got a Tascam 18xx product, I'd go straight to Frontier Designs for tech support-- the Tascam tech support has a poor rep, as you noted, but I believe the FD people are willing to help through the FD website; their name is on the 18xx products, after all.
Lynx indeed has a good rep, but they're also pretty pricey. If I was doing audio work as a business, I'd go first-class (budget permitting), likely with RME: it rarely pays to skimp on tools, and never if your rep with clients is on the line. But this is a hobby for me, at this point (and I'd like to keep it that way: my 'muse', such as it is, prefers not to be market-driven, but listen to my own quirky drummer....). I'm betting I can get the EMU products to behave for me (and if not, you'll hear me on the boards, and sending WTF-grams to some people I know at the Emu/Creative Tech Center--and if I have to help beta-test new drivers, I'm game).
My basic advice to people considering the Emu cards is "Know what you're getting into, assess your needs and technical capabilities, and decide if you're willing to have a dedicated-DAW setup". IMHO, people who want to do bit-torrent streaming in the background (file sharing over the net) while tracking audio -- are just plain nuts. Maybe it works with RME cards, but I'd never try it, or expect it to work. Too much PCI bus traffic (and even with off-PCI-bus SATA support, it's asking a lot). I'm prepared to set up a "clean-room" music XP boot configuration, if I need to, with network drivers disabled and minimal background services running. I've also picked a motherboard/chipset with SATA/IDE support that is separate from the PCI bus, to free up the PCI bus for audio (and Firewire) use. Of course, the proof will be in what happens when the software hits the silicon .....
- Jim
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Jim Roseberry
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RE: New Creative DSP Chip - Will it affect E-mu?
2005/06/08 12:21:18
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ORIGINAL: johndale
What do you think Jim Wright or Jim Rosenberry?
Hi John, PCI: -I'd seriously look at any of the RME audio cards. They're all rock-solid... -The Lynx cards are working well too. I've got a client (works for Koch Entertainment) who uses the AES16 and loves it. -Echo Layla 3G Echo cards aren't flashy, but their drivers/converters are pretty solid Firewire: -RME Fireface -Tascam 1884 (made by Frontier) Audio Interfaces are in a 'transitional' state. PCI *is* going to be superceeded, but we're really not 100% there yet. Existing PCI cards have been around for a while (ie Delta 1010), so they're not going to have the absolute latest A/D D/A converters/etc. Companys aren't going to spend lots of $$$ developing new PCI hardware at this point. So it's a rough time to be looking for the 'ultimate' PCI card with integrated high-quality converters. The Delta 1010's drivers are pretty solid at this point, but the converters aren't the absolute latest. Also, some multi UAD1 users have had glitch problems. MOTU has some great features, but their drivers can be a tad finicky on some systems. If you truly want the best Audio Interface that money can buy, I'd get a digital card (Lynx AES16 or RME HDSP/Digiface) and combine it with the best outboard A/D D/A converters you can afford. Obviously this isn't an inexpensive solution... but you'd end up with the robust (lean) drivers and quality converters that you're looking for. Otherwise, I'd take a small hit converter quality wise, and opt for a well established existing card. FWIW, I run a Dakota on my Giga machine, a Hammerfall DSP/Digiface on my second audio machine, and the Emu 1820m on my main audio machine. This setup provides great signal routing (via lightpipe)... and quality converters. The 1820m works well for me because I simply use it for I/O and signal routing.
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Jim Wright
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RE: New Creative DSP Chip - Will it affect E-mu?
2005/06/08 12:51:00
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johndale (and others) --
Jim Roseberry has much more experience (hands-on or via clients) with current sound cards than I do. I'd go with his recommendations.
The point about audio interfaces being "transitional" , and PCI getting phased out, is spot-on.
That's a major reason I'd be tempted to go Firewire at this point -- and if I was spending more than $402-and-change on the audio interface, I probably would.
My 1.5 bits (not enough hands-on experience to really offer 2 bits...)
- Jim
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urock
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RE: New Creative DSP Chip - Will it affect E-mu?
2005/06/08 13:06:32
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ORIGINAL: tsf
urock,
This is probably a silly question but I'm not too knoweldgeable in this area...since you said the converters sounded better on the 1820M but the preamps sounded better on the Firepod, how does that end up working out in the overall picture? That is, with respect to the end result?
tsf
Hey tsf, The quick answer is that, IMO, the converters sounded sooo much better on 1820m that it clearly trumps the slightly better preamps on Firebox, that is IF you want to deal with E-mu. Of course, it depends on what you want to do, what equip you have and are planning to get, how sensitive your ears are (the longer I do this, the better my ears get, and the more they demand that I keep buying better--usually more expensive--equipment!) I am in the process of upgrading my stand alone preamps to more higher end units so the converters were more important to me. Btw, it looks like the release of the new E-mu drivers is imminent (crosses fingers) so hopefully you'll be able to read reports about their success (or lack thereof) before you buy. Best, urock
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johndale
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RE: New Creative DSP Chip - Will it affect E-mu?
2005/06/08 13:31:49
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Jim and Jim. I'm looking and thinking. I'm gonna hunt down the best price I can on some Appogee converters (I've heard a lot of good) and see how much outlay I'm looking at. The RME HDSP/Digiface or Lynx seems the way to go with some high end converters. But I wish to be able to grow also, so expandability is an issue.
What about PCI Express? What impact will that have on the ballgame? I'm die hard Intel (Compatability issues) and I'm waiting on the current Extreane chip to come down in price AND for them to straighten out the issues with PCI Express. Do y'all think that is going to happem?
Urock, I just picked up my second Grace 101 this week for $350, 2 hours on it. Cat needed money. I keep my ears open. I'm highly impressed with Grace preamps. Best I've ever heard or worked with. If someone want's to drop some money on a nice pre, I'd suggest Grace Design in a heartbeat. But I'm still hunting for a deal on a Great River. I hear they are really the cats meow for electric guitar.
.....................................................................................JDW
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CapnSpanky
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RE: New Creative DSP Chip - Will it affect E-mu?
2005/06/08 14:20:56
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ORIGINAL: LixiSoft
Has anyone ever tried syncing one of the EMU interfaces to an external source? If so, how did it work out?
I do it all the time through the ADAT port. I use an RME Hammerfall as my main PC card and as the master clock. I set up the 1820M as a slave and lightpipe the RME ADAT IO into the 1820M (both of them in the same computer). I also have a second computer running GIGAStudio and softsynths that I lightpipe into the RME ADAT 2nd I/O from a Frontier Design PCI card (also set up as a slave, getting the master clock from the RME over ADAT). I have been doing this for many months now without any problems at all.
Very cool, Lixi. Does this configuration allow you to use the converters on the 1820M? Thanks...
Tim Wells ------- Cap'n Spanky From the Planet Screwball
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tsf
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RE: New Creative DSP Chip - Will it affect E-mu?
2005/06/08 15:20:39
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If PCI is going away "sooner" rather than later, what do you think about PCMCIA/Cardbus usage...will it last longer? I take it Firewire and USB aren't going anywhere anytime soon.
tsf
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Jim Roseberry
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RE: New Creative DSP Chip - Will it affect E-mu?
2005/06/08 16:07:49
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ORIGINAL: tsf
If PCI is going away "sooner" rather than later, what do you think about PCMCIA/Cardbus usage...will it last longer? I take it Firewire and USB aren't going anywhere anytime soon.
tsf
You won't see PCI slots disappear in the near future. But... there won't be much/any new PCI card development.
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j boy
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RE: New Creative DSP Chip - Will it affect E-mu?
2005/06/08 17:43:57
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Don't forget in comparing the 1616M to RME Fireface, MOTU 828, etc. that while they are technically "portable", they aren't nearly as compact as the 1616M and it's kind of a drag hauling something rack-space-sized from pillar to post. Of course, if you don't need portable it's a different game entirely, and then you can use PCI-based solutions like those offered by Lynx and RME Hammerfall. The Edirol FA-101 and UA-101 are pretty portable, too, come to think of it...but those E-mu specs.
The allure of the 1616 is in its potential combination of power with portability.
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urock
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RE: New Creative DSP Chip - Will it affect E-mu?
2005/06/08 21:46:46
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ORIGINAL: johndale
Urock, I just picked up my second Grace 101 this week for $350, 2 hours on it. Cat needed money. I keep my ears open. I'm highly impressed with Grace preamps. Best I've ever heard or worked with. If someone want's to drop some money on a nice pre, I'd suggest Grace Design in a heartbeat. But I'm still hunting for a deal on a Great River. I hear they are really the cats meow for electric guitar.
.....................................................................................JDW
Hey John, Thanks for the tip on the Grace 101. I've pretty much decided that that is next pre i buy. My best pre right now is a Brent Averill Neve 1272 so the "clean" of the Grace should be a good compliment. $350 - what an excellent deal! I definately need to find me one of those "motivated sellers". Best, urock
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johndale
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RE: New Creative DSP Chip - Will it affect E-mu?
2005/06/08 22:02:44
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Today I just recieved a DBX 386 from UPS. Ebayed this one $207.55 including shipping. Pres are so much fun. I myself have got to like the original signal. The other stuff is just the toppings, know what I mean. See there is not a pro studio for 100 miles in any direction from where I live. That is why I'm so particular about everything working. I want to have the best equipment paid for and coperating before I do this. I just hope to make enough to pay the rent and utilities untill I get established. That was why the EMU pissed me off so bad. I was counting on that working w/ an additional 8 anologs via the adat and when it did not. It through a hell of a monkee wrench into my plans. Like 1-3 month delay in doing this. And it's important to jump because it makes good biz sense to be first.
But yea, pres are just fun. The Grace you are just gonna love for bass and acoustics (guitar,fiddle,banjo etc). I want a Green River like I was saying for electric guitar. How is the Brent Averill Neve for electric. Not like I ever see any deals on those. Sometimes I just pay the price.................JDW
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LixiSoft
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RE: New Creative DSP Chip - Will it affect E-mu?
2005/06/08 22:05:53
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Very cool, Lixi. Does this configuration allow you to use the converters on the 1820M? Thats all I use the 1820M for, AD/DA through the ADAT to/from the RME Hammerfall. The 1820M is only used as a DIGITAL MIXER and AD/DA converters for my whole DAW system. Three computers all go into/out from the 1820M for AD/DA I/O. The 1820M sounds so good I have no problem giving up an IRQ for it !! The RME Hammerfall is my MAIN I/O to all my DAW software...the 1820M are used as external AD/DA converters/Digital Mixer ONLY...but they are in the same DAW...they just take up one IRQ and 2 PCI slots.
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johndale
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RE: New Creative DSP Chip - Will it affect E-mu?
2005/06/08 22:32:02
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Lixi, what other external converters have you experimented with..................JDW
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urock
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RE: New Creative DSP Chip - Will it affect E-mu?
2005/06/08 22:58:42
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ORIGINAL: johndale
How is the Brent Averill Neve for electric.
I've used it primarily for rock vocals, but I have also used it to record distorted elec guitar using an SM57 right off the amp grill. I think it sounds excellent. One of my guitarist friends thinks it sometimes sounds a little classic rock - that, of course, can be good or bad depending on your perspective. Best, urock
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Jim Wright
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RE: New Creative DSP Chip - Will it affect E-mu?
2005/06/08 23:17:50
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tsf -- CardBus may last a bit longer than PCI, mainly because people are more willing to accept a cable-connected addon device for a desktop system than for a laptop system. I can imagine slotless desktop systems (some already exist) -- and the SFF systems (like Shuttle, Soltek) typically have 1 PCI slot at most (along with an AGP or PCIx slot).
With laptops -- people would much rather use tiny add-on devices, which suggests CardBus may have some legs. On the other hand -- USB flash drives are all over the place, largely replacing the CardBus/PCMCIA hard drives (of course, there are all the digital camera memory cards, memory sticks, etc. --- but many people use a CardBus adapter to connect these devices to their laptops).
In general, Firewire and USB are much more attractive to system makers, as expansion options, than either PCI or CardBus. CardBus/PCI is expensive (all those signals to buffer) and allows add-ons to interfere with the system (and each other) more easily, because they can "reach out and touch" the guts of the system pretty directly. USB and Firewire are much more isolated from the guts of the system -- a crashed Firewire or USB device shouldn't hang a properly-designed system, plus the system can provide special, higher (or lower) priority handling for various kinds of explicitly identified Firewire/USB traffic. With PCI bus transactions, it's hard for the system to tell if a given burst of activity is critical audio traffic or a video card trying to pump up its benchmark results. With Firewire (or USB), it's easier for the system to identify, prioritize and handle various transactions (assuming the overhead of managing these transactions doesn't clog the CPU .... much more likely with USB than with Firewire, given the design of these two transport protocols).
Johndale - you asked about PCI Express. In a year, there may be some nifty audio cards using it. Or not -- Firewire is becoming more and more attractive for audio interfacing, and Firewire bandwidth is increasing pretty steadily (unlike USB 2.0). Firewire 800 is generally available; prototypes at 1.6 and 3.2GHz are working fine in the lab.
For now, PCI Express seems to be causing all kinds of grief for audio, and offers no discernable benefit whatsoever for a DAW (if you want a gaming machine, that's a different story, but IMHO high-powered game-oriented video cards are ludicrous for a DAW). I'd avoid PCI Express until all the dust had cleared and the benefits for a DAW were obvious. You can always swap out your AGP motherboard for a PCI-x motherboard in a year (using the same CPU and memory), if there's good reason -- motherboards are relatively cheap (although reinstalling Windows and apps is no small deal).
How do you want to pontificate today .....
- Jim
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johndale
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RE: New Creative DSP Chip - Will it affect E-mu?
2005/06/08 23:56:47
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For now, PCI Express seems to be causing all kinds of grief for audio Yea Jim thats what I'm doing. I keep hoping for some good news on that front. But I keep hearing the same thing. It's greif and I have had enough of that. I'm going to wait on my upgrade as long as I can. My 3.2 Prescott does well and the 4 gig of ram gives me plenty for samples..................JDW
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tsf
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RE: New Creative DSP Chip - Will it affect E-mu?
2005/06/09 11:56:42
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LixiSoft -
"Thats all I use the 1820M for, AD/DA through the ADAT to/from the RME Hammerfall" Does that mean that you're using the ADAT for syncing as well? Or do you use the Word-clock sync? If only using ADAT to sync, have you tried doing the sync in other ways to compare, and if so have you noticed a difference in performance? I'm just curious because if I go with the 1616M, that's all I would get (ADAT sync) if I ever wanted to add on (like with the ADA8000). Thanks. tsf
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