Controlling N-track with control surface
Hi,
I’m wondering if anyone has experience with using the Tascam FireOne http://www.tascam.com/products/fireone.html with n-track?
I’m looking at ditching my desktop setup & setting up n-track on a laptop for recording. The Tascam runs Firewire & has the right configurations of inputs/outputs to match my requirements.
The FireOne also has nice buttons & control surfaces but there’s no mention of N-track in the manual. It also has a Midi Out port so I’m guessing that the SW driver also handles Midi messaging over the Firewire interface. I assume that Windows sees the controls as MIDI messages. I scanned the n-track manual & it can be controlled with Midi faders. So it ‘should’ all work…
It’s a leap of faith to buy all of the gear & plug it together without trying first. So I’d appreciate any feedback from people how have tried the Tascam!
-Andy
Laptops and digital audio recording can be a crap shot for sure. Particularly firewire. Firewire is an “intellegent” interface, which means it trys to control things whereas USB is “passive” and the software is more in control (someone will correct me, but this is the best I can understand it) What that comes down to is if your laptop does not have the right chips in the Firewire or cardslot, the audio interface May not work correctly. If you can check your laptop and see if it has TI chips you are ahead of the game - that does not mean other will not work or that the TI chips will. If you can arrange it, take the laptop to the dealer selling the audio interface and try it out, or get an iron clad agreement, in writing, that you have the right to return it if it does not work. I had a bad experience with a reputable dealer because I had loaded the software that came with the interface (how else do you try it out?) and had to go to corperate level to overcome the store policy of no return for open software (copyright law? not really, but that is another tirade) Finally got my money back, so I can’t complain about anything but the hours and hours I spent trying to get it to work and the laptop I now own that will not work with a firewire interface. I do have a Tascam 122 that works fine with USB
Bax
FireWire IEEE 1394B is 400 Mbps versus USB2.0 (“Hi-Speed”) but… errr… wait. Why should I type it…
Quote:
Comparison to USB
Although high-speed USB 2.0 nominally runs at a higher signaling rate (480 Mbit/s) than FireWire 400, typical USB PC-hosts rarely exceed sustained transfers of 280 Mbit/s, with 240 Mbit/s being more typical. This is likely due to USB’s reliance on the host-processor to manage low-level USB protocol, whereas FireWire delegates the same tasks to the interface hardware. For example, the FireWire host interface supports memory-mapped devices, which allows high-level protocols to run without loading the host CPU with interrupts and buffer-copy operations.[17]
FireWire 800 is substantially faster than Hi-Speed USB.
Like Bax said though, look for a TI Firewire chipset. Even then I would browse forums and stuff to see if the interface I was interested in works in the laptop I was interested in. I have a Compaq laptop for example that WILL NOT work with a Presonus FireBox firewire interface for love nor money. The Presonus works with every other laptop I have tried it in. This is also using the Presonus suggested PCMCIA card Firewire adapter. I wrestled with Presonus tech support for three weeks trying to find the problem. Finally I just said "Forget it. I have another laptop I’ll use that it DOES work with…"
D
Just curious, have you tried any new drivers from Presonus to see if they work better? I also had a problem with a Presonus 24X24 and Presonus finally issued a new driver After I had given up and returned it. I’d be tempted to say the problem is with Presous, except for reading other forums. There is a Pinned page on the Autominds forum about laptops and audio that might be good reading.
Bax
Yup. Tried the newest drivers. It’s this laptop I’m sure. It’s a bottom of the line cheapo. I mostly bought it for business travel because it’s small and light. I works great with my Tascam US-122L via USB 2.0.
D