ArtVandelay
Joined: 23/05/12
Posts: 9
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USB for audio
#991430 - 05/06/12 07:37 PM
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My mate is planning on buying a USB audio interface. He's got his sights set on a MOTU
828 or 896 hybrid. I'm sceptical. Does usb work for audio, particularly at high sample
rates? I understood that firewire was superior to usb for audio.
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Pete Kaine
Scan Computers
Joined: 10/07/03
Posts: 3154
Loc: Manchester
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Re: USB for audio
[Re: ArtVandelay]
#991494 - 06/06/12 09:26 AM
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Same as any other interface it comes down to the quality of the controllers and drivers.
Firewire does tend to be a tiny bit faster on average and have slightly better RTL times
but then we're talking about MOTU kit here and they know how to get the best out of their
hardware. Looking at the RTL figures it looks like it'll work well enough that
you'll be able to use all the features in realtime playing at a buffer of 64 or 128 with
no problems and really I don't think the is much else you can ask from an interface!
-------------------- ScanProAudio & 3XS Audio Systems
ScanProAudio Blog
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tim_obrien
Joined: 04/07/06
Posts: 116
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Re: USB for audio
[Re: ArtVandelay]
#991552 - 06/06/12 04:20 PM
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Quote ArtVandelay:
I understood
that firewire was superior to usb for audio.
Firewire has a higher DATA CAPACITY. Think of ports as water
pipes.
USB2 maxes out at 16 simultaneous channels, firewire400 well over 100
and firewire800 twice that.
(they approved the specs for fw1600 and fw3200 but
seriously who needs more than fw800 provides...)
BTW: Thunderbolt has 12times the
capacity of firewire.
As long as you're below 17 simultaneous channels, usb2 is
fine.
Now if you want to also hook up some hard drives and convolution boxes,
all that extra capacity in firewire suddenly becomes very very useful....
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Bob Moose
Joined: 17/01/08
Posts: 885
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Re: USB for audio
[Re: tim_obrien]
#991698 - 06/06/12 07:57 PM
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Quote tim_obrien:
USB2 maxes out
at 16 simultaneous channels, firewire400 well over 100
Not sure where you found these figures. The RME interfaces that use
USB2 have more than 16 channels, and I guess they work perfectly.
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Martin Walker
Watcher Of The Skies
Joined: 28/02/01
Posts: 16381
Loc: Cornwall, UK
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Re: USB for audio
[Re: Bob Moose]
#991711 - 06/06/12 11:37 PM
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Indeed – I'm not sure where you got hold of that idea Tim, but USB2 should certainly be
more capable than you suggest  Martin
-------------------- YewTreeMagic
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Pete Kaine
Scan Computers
Joined: 10/07/03
Posts: 3154
Loc: Manchester
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Re: USB for audio
[Re: Martin Walker]
#991738 - 07/06/12 08:32 AM
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Just did the maths and I got a theoretical channel count in excess of 400 @ 24bit 96Khz
which you should be able to fire over USB 2 although admittedly I'd be amazed if anything
got more than 2/3'ds of that. However even allowing for shoddy controllers and drivers
through you should really be able to get clear of a 100 channels out of any interface and
I'd strongly suggest that USB2 isn't the bottleneck here. The more important
figure would be the RTL score as it doesn't really matter how many channels you have if
none of them respond to you in reasonable time.
-------------------- ScanProAudio & 3XS Audio Systems
ScanProAudio Blog
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ArtVandelay
Joined: 23/05/12
Posts: 9
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Re: USB for audio
[Re: ArtVandelay]
#992670 - 13/06/12 02:45 PM
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So does usb not have the same kind of chipset compatability issues as firewire then?
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Pete Kaine
Scan Computers
Joined: 10/07/03
Posts: 3154
Loc: Manchester
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Re: USB for audio
[Re: ArtVandelay]
#992685 - 13/06/12 04:13 PM
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Nope, USB 2 is fine with everything. USB 3 can be patchy but it's getting better as the
tech matures.
-------------------- ScanProAudio & 3XS Audio Systems
ScanProAudio Blog
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Hairy Ears
member
Joined: 06/09/03
Posts: 495
Loc: UK
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Re: USB for audio
[Re: ArtVandelay]
#992866 - 14/06/12 04:58 PM
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Back in the early days of USB2 there were compatibility problems with VIA chipsets, but I
haven't heard of such problems in years. Certainly I haven't experienced
problems with modern gear.
-------------------- * Soundcloud *
* Bandcamp *
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Hugh Robjohns
SOS Technical Editor
Joined: 25/07/03
Posts: 18369
Loc: Worcestershire
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Re: USB for audio
[Re: tim_obrien]
#992872 - 14/06/12 05:33 PM
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Quote tim_obrien:
USB2 maxes out
at 16 simultaneous channels...
Really?! Bloody Hell, I'd better get on to SADiE quick cos somehow my LRX
interface is passing 48 channels back and forth over USB2 quite happily at the moment and
mirroring the data to two USB2 drives at the same time...
I think your
figures are somewhat out of kilter! 
hugh
--------------------
Technical Editor, Sound On Sound
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