NotebookForums.com › Forums › General Notebook Discussions › Notebook Audio & Video  › Firewire, USB, or PCMCIA??
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Firewire, USB, or PCMCIA??

post #1 of 6
6/25/05 at 3:11pm
Thread Starter 
Now that I've (almost) got my laptop, I'm trying to figure out what I wanna do in terms of recording gear setup. So I'm just wondering what everyone's opinions are in reguards to which ports to use for audio and external hdd's. Should it be:

-USB audio, Firewire hdd
-Firewire audio, USB hdd
-PCMCIA audio, Firewire hdd, or
-PCMCIA audio, USB hdd

right now the audio system i'm most interested in is the E-MU 1616 PCMCIA thingy, but that still leaves the question of the hdd.

and i've assumed that trying to do a USB/USB or a Firewire/Firewire setup wouldn't work, but i could be mistaken ...

ok, one final question. If i just wanna do midi stuff, do i even need an external audio thing? I just have the stock sound card in my laptop, so I wasn't sure if i could use a USB midi controller and something like reason and have it work fine without an external audio card of some type.

yeah, i'm a computer audio n00b
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 6
6/26/05 at 6:35am
Heh a USB/Midi interface is just that, an interface

In as far as audio goes, I prefer Firewire when I can but unfortunatly it doesnt always share the same bus well, as you guessed. Typically it is a good idea if you would be doing multitrack recording to have your HD and Interface on seperate busses, either seperate Firewire buses, USB buses, or any combination of the two.

And yes a USB Midi controller depending on the controller can work fine for what you seem to be needing.

Seablade
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 6
7/9/05 at 3:21am
.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 6
7/31/05 at 4:31am
Thread Starter 
ok, this thread's almost a month old, but i have another question

i've been looking around on the internet, and everyone says i should get an external sound card if i wanna do some sequencing. so if i were to get the E-mu 1616 for my laptop, would that still do the same thing as, say, a USB soundcard in terms of awesome-izing software synths and the like?
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 6
7/31/05 at 1:39pm
Awesomeizing software synths? You are going to have to explain that one... Unless you are talking about the onboard DSP I think is on there which is a little different and I BELIEVE(Not having used an E-Mu before this is my best guess) that it only works with effects specificly written to use it.

The E-Mu IS an external sound card, so there shouldnt be any difference between it and the USB except quality of componets, however taking a look at the picture I noticed its Midi port is an old Game/Midi port and those cables are a bit harder to find if you use outboard Midi hardware it will be a pain more than anything. What you may want to do is find an interface with actual Midi Ports on it(As in the DIN connector found on hardware that outputs and inputs Midi) just to make things easier on you in the long run.

Seablade
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 6
8/1/05 at 6:54pm
I like
PCMCIA audio, USB hdd
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Notebook Audio & Video
NotebookForums.com › Forums › General Notebook Discussions › Notebook Audio & Video  › Firewire, USB, or PCMCIA??