Hey Everyone,

I have only ever used a firewire interface, but it is now time for an upgrade.
I am trying to decide between a Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 (Firewire) and a Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 (USB).

I'll be using it on a PC with the new i7 Haswell chip and 32GB of RAM, if that helps.

Just wondering if anyone else has made the switch to a USB interface from firewire. If so, are you happy you did?

Thanks in advance.

Firewire throughput is far superior to USB 2.
Thunderbolt is keeping firewire alive with PC's but that's some debate on how long (in laptops at least) firewire can survive.
 
Having said that I love my saffire Pro 40, and one of these days I will also buy a scarlett-18i20. You can hook them both up together for double the channels... that means you can adopt Firewire AND USB 2 standard.
 
If you can wait another 6 to 12 months there will be USB 3 interfaces. Hold out for that if I were you.
 
BTW I already email focusrite about USB 3 interfaces, they said that they don't do them.... but that the situation "may change".... So yes of course they will do them :)

Hey CakeAlexS, thanks for the reply and the tip about the upcoming USB 3's.
However, is there REALLY a noticeable difference between FW and USB when recording only one or two tracks at a time?

Thanks

I agree with Alex.
 
Besides that, if you have a firewire port, what else are you going to put on it?
 
Whereas, the USB ports usually get shared a lot. 
 

If you are only running one or two tracks at a time surely you need to buy an interface with fewer channels?
Anyways - Well these is probably lots of case studies all over the internet USB vs FIREWIRE, but the advantage of firewire over USB 2 is it is faster, and it is dedicated, you don't have a zillion USB devices plugged into it that will slow it down or interfere with your latency.
 
USB3 on the other hand....
And then again thunderbolt may still prove itself.
In a years time things are going to be quite different. Honestly if your interface is still even just about acceptable keep it until cyber Monday next year then invest I suggest.
 
 

I certainly see your point and you make a great case. I just hope I can get by for another 6 to 12 months.
However, if I can't, at least you have managed to sway me back to the realm of firewire.

Which brings up my next question...I read that the firewire Focusrite units have a Texas Instruments firewire card and therefore work best with other Texas Instruments firewire cards. So...that is what I have installed on my DAW PC. Any truth to this??

I always thought a firewire card was a firewire card...but I have been reading where a lot of people say they had to replace their cards due to incompatibility. Who knew?

Does anyone have any knowledge of such a thing??

According to the manual your motherboard has a VIA VT6308 controller supporting 2 x IEEE 1394a (firewire) ports
 
http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1366/P6T_Deluxe_V2/E4398_P6T_Deluxe.pdf
 
 
As to whether you can get adequate performance out of a USB 2 interface: many people do and there are not a lot of circumstances in audio recording or editing when you would see a failure to get adequate throughput from USB 2 that would not occur with Firewire. Remember that throughput going out of your computer usually only has to manage stereo (two tracks) or at most five tracks. Going in depends on how many input channels you are putting through independently and how much data (sampling frequency and bit depth). If you are recording a humongous number of independent inputs simultaneously at a high resolution you are more likely to hit a transfer bottleneck. A reasonable number of channels should not overload USB2. One reason for the paucity of USB 3 audio interfaces on the market is that few users have a need for more than USB2. A Ferrari is undoubtedly capable of faster speed then a Hyundai, but if you are driving to work at 55 mph, you will not get there any faster.

slartabartfast
According to the manual your motherboard has a VIA VT6308 controller supporting 2 x IEEE 1394a (firewire) ports http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1366/P6T_Deluxe_V2/E4398_P6T_Deluxe.pdf

Yes...that's true as of right now. I forgot to mention that I will be installing a new ASUS motherboard to go with the new Haswell chip. The new MB has no firewire inputs at all, so I will be installing a Texas Instruments PCIE firewire card.

http://global.focusrite.com/answerbase/is-my-firewire-device-compatible-with-my-firewire-adapter
 

WOW...Thank you so much for that link Alex. Here is a direct quote right from that article...
"We would recommend using either a Texas Instruments or a VIA FireWire chipset to avoid any such issues."

Looks like I'll be good to go either way. Thank you very much for your time and input everyone. I truly appreciate it.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! I hope Santa brings you lots of fun toys for your studio.