scottmcleod Posted September 28, 2007 Share Posted September 28, 2007 I'm looking at purchasing an external firewire interface for use with our Mackie TT24 console and 8x8 Symnet Distribution to get a lot MORE control over how sound effects work in the Theatre. My options: M-Audio Firewire 410 (4x10) - 300$USDEdirol FA101 (or UA101) (10x10) - 380$USDAlesis IO26 - 400$USDM-Audio 1814 (18x14) - 450$USDMoTU Ultralite (8x8) - 500$USDEcho AudioFire8 (8x8) - 500$USDPreSonus FP1010 (10x10) - 500$USDEcho AudioFire12 (12x12) - 580$USDMoTU 828mkII (8x8) - 700$USDPreSonus FireStudio (12x10?) - 700$USDMoTU Traveller (10x10?) - 750$USD I can't decide! Obviously SFX is recommending the Echo series... but none of the above are in their list of "DO NOT USE UNDER ANY CONDITIONS UNLESSS YOU ENJOY RIPPING YOUR HAIR OUT" interfaces. Most of these are even on the "well supported" list. Thoughts? Does anyone else use a different set-up for "theatre cues" for sound shows? Stratford Festival uses an Echo Layla3 PCI (12x12) unit and the "pro" version of SFX.We'll be purchasing the "standard" version so 4 stereo outputs max (8 mono), so anything over 8x8 is icing...Help?-Scott McLeod ;) TD, Powell Hall This is what I'm afraid of: http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews...eWire+1814/10/1(especially bad reviews) http://www.zzounds.com/productreview--MDOFW1814(only a few bad reviews) Reliability is important, and I'll pay a bit more for it, but I hear a lot of interfaces in general have stability issues... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cedd Posted September 28, 2007 Share Posted September 28, 2007 I'm afraid I don't have any answers to the query, but rather than making another thread about my own question, the two seem very closely related so I thought I'd stick my own in here, and subject to the answer I will be looking at one of the above units also. Mods if it's an issue I'm happy to have it moved.I spent about a year thinking my laptop didn't have firewire fitted, then found what I thought was purely a camera socket on the front. It's labelled 1394 and I believe it's a 4-wire firewire socket.Question is, is it exactly the same as any other firewire (6 wire) socket and will the above interfaces work through it as they would with a 6 wire? Clearly I would need a different lead if they did, do these come bundled with the interfaces to allow a choice or is it a one-off purchase that I need? Many thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy_s Posted September 28, 2007 Share Posted September 28, 2007 We have Mackie TT24s and use SFX for playback using a Motu 828 mark II card. This generally works very well, but I don't know much about the other options to offer a comparison, I'm afraid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted September 28, 2007 Share Posted September 28, 2007 SFX is different to just about every other playback product out there, in that it has a layer of software others do not, allowing you to pan audio between arbitrary outputs, whereas everyone else you can only output audio to one stereo pair and pan it betwixt. This extra clever stuff is a real source of compatibility problems, which is why (in my opinion, of course) SFX is so fussy and fragile about audio cards. For this reason, and this reason only, I generally recommend people who have bought into the SFX way to follow Stage Researche's recommendations on audio output devices. Thats not to say that other devices wont work, just if it does break you get to keep all the pieces... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljstevens Posted September 28, 2007 Share Posted September 28, 2007 Are you using a desktop pc? if so im currently touring a PC with a internal Lynx adat card which outputs straight onto our 01v96. These are very reliable cards and sound great, and a complete bargin at about £190! Looking at the spec for the TT it has adat inputs which could be utilised. Lynx adat card Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david.elsbury Posted September 28, 2007 Share Posted September 28, 2007 Yes the small (4pin) 1394 socket is a firewire socket, the only difference between it and the larger one is that the larger one supplies power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottmcleod Posted September 29, 2007 Author Share Posted September 29, 2007 I'm afraid I don't have any answers to the query, but rather than making another thread about my own question, the two seem very closely related so I thought I'd stick my own in here, and subject to the answer I will be looking at one of the above units also. Mods if it's an issue I'm happy to have it moved.I spent about a year thinking my laptop didn't have firewire fitted, then found what I thought was purely a camera socket on the front. It's labelled 1394 and I believe it's a 4-wire firewire socket.Question is, is it exactly the same as any other firewire (6 wire) socket and will the above interfaces work through it as they would with a 6 wire? Clearly I would need a different lead if they did, do these come bundled with the interfaces to allow a choice or is it a one-off purchase that I need? Many thanks You need a 4-pin to 6-pin firewire cable. Also, note that you'll have to use the included (or not included) power brick that goes with whatever interface you're getting. Welcome to my thread. Bring people here and help get my question answered, because I want to order my unit soon. (and I'd rather it wasn't a MoTU (price, being the issue), but if that's where the quality is, I guess that's the solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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