IDM Mailing Archive

On Jun 14, 2004, at 8:11 PM, MJed5150@aol.com wrote:

quoted 10 lines I've been hearing different stances on the speed/quality of Firewire

> I've been hearing different stances on the speed/quality of Firewire > vs. USB > 2.0. I've got an M-Audio Quattro USB Audio Interface, and it > produces pops > and noise when I've got too much going on in a track (and it's not my > CPU, I'm > running dual 1.8). It really shouldn't be doing that, and I couldn't > play a > live show having this major problem. Any ideas or viewpoints? > Thanks ...

I don't know how well we'd be able to diagnose and fix your specific problem, but here's how the USB 2.0/FW thing boils down. USB 2.0 can burst faster (up to 480mbit/sec), while FW's bandwidth (400mbit/sec) is a constant throughput bandwidth. So for streaming data (audio, video, etc.), FW is a definite "winner." If you were bursting files across it (say, for web server work), USB 2.0 would perform better in most cases. However, there's the other downside, in that USB as a protocol requires more system resources than FW. Other than the basic specs and clarification, though, I don't know what else to say. I have a MOTU 828 on my G5 and I've run it with 14 channels, and it claims to go up to even more, and I've never encountered so much as a pop or crackle on anything. Check to make sure you have the latest drivers from M-Audio, make sure the program you're using isn't set on a disk that's getting a lot of use at the time, and make sure you have the latest version of whatever apps you're using. Also, removing other things from the USB bus may help. If you have any USB 1.1 things on the bus, it'll default the entire bus down to 1.1 speeds (paltry). --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org