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Which is better? That depends on a lot of factors. Bandwidth Both FireWire (400 & 800) and USB (2.0 and beyond) have plenty of bandwidth available for multi-track audio recording, even at high sample rates and bit depth. Latency Latency has much to do with the drivers, the host computer, and the audio interface used. Now, I've seen someone else ...

Firewire became really popular in the mid-90's when Apple dropped traditional SCSI from their boxes and started pushing the Firewire format instead. Firewire has always been faster and have lower latency than USB, but obviously USB is a far more prevailant interface to be found on virtually every computer made in the last 15 years, but often you have to go ...

Another thing to consider in the Windows world (and maybe OSX as well, but I'm not familiar enough with that kernel), is latency due to Deferred Procedure Calls (DPCs). This can cause audio drop-outs and latency that is independent of the USB/FW choice. Several tools exist to measure and analyze DPC latency: The Syscon's DPC Latency Checker TC Electronics ...

Firewire is better for video, because firewire is a more sophisticated interface. Firewire provides for device to device communication, DMA transfers and other performance features that USB does not. Therefore Firewire does not rely on the host computer's CPU. USB does not provide DMA transfers. All data on the USB bus must be managed by the CPU loading it ...

For the best quality and/or High Definition you want to use the fastest computer input you have that your streaming app will accept. That would normally be Firewire. Most online streaming sites will accept both USB or Firewire. Take a look at http://www.youtube.com/user/TEDxTalks/search?query=tedxsanantonio+2011. These are TEDx Talks we shot using a SONY ...

Oh, it turns out you sometimes have to manually change the sync source to "Internal" as seen here: If the "Locked" indicator on the unit does not show, it won't work.

Yes, a faster transference decreases latency, but as far as I'm concerned it wouldn't be any less latency than USB 3.0 or firewire if you are not transferring a large number of tracks. Latency relies more on hardware and processing power than the transfer itself. In the case of computer audio, the latency depends more on the driver and the transfer protocol, ...

Check your laptop to see if it has a PC Card (PCMCIA) slot. If so, you can get a firewire card like this. Then you will be able to use firewire directly on your laptop.

USB passes each read/write packet through the CPU. Firewire bypasses each read/write packet, avoiding CPU usage. This has been the main issue with USB-1.0 and USB-2.0, and I'm unsure about USB-3.0. Intel USB-3.0 requires proprietary Intel drivers, and there are no generic USB-3.0 drivers for Windows platforms, except for Linux. Many audio related ...

There are companies making great USB interfaces now (RME). I'm going USB due to the computer upgrade issues - ie apple not putting firewire on certain lower cost computers. Very irritating. I have one of those new pcmcia express cards which has also been removed from all but the 17" Macbook Pro - so choose your connections for the long haul. You'll need ...

I suggest returning the Macbook Air and getting a Macbook with Firewire. USB interfaces will give you latency when monitoring the recording signal, unless you have one that allows for hardware monitoring. (Perhaps someone else can speak about this. My interface is supposed to have this, but I've never used the feature. I also don't know what will work with ...

I have heard that UA was demonstrating the new Apollo interface using a Macbook Air with Thunderbolt, and an external Thunderbolt audio drive. This would be an amazing setup if it works like they say, however you'd have to wait for the Apollo to be officially released. If not that route, I'd suggest the same as the above--take the Air back and get a laptop ...

As far as I'm aware, there have been long standing problems with Windows 7 and FireWire devices (a quick Google search will turn up a lot). This especially applied to external hard drives, but I suppose it could apply to all FireWire devices. Here is what I would do to give the best chance of it working: Get the latest drivers for the FireWire interface ...

Question 1: In that case the used hardware components and the hardware drivers have substantial more influence on the signal latency than the bus/connection. So the answer is: Theoretically Yes but, practically No. Because it is absolute negligible. Question 2: Yes it make some differences, but the reason is not the bandwidth (the nominal speed) but rather ...

Great list of highly recommended Audio interfaces (I've ben looking to replace my Focusrite SaffireLE - of which I learned was pretty much made to break down over time....i dislike that company now.) TC Impact Twin Edirol FA-66 NI Audio 6 (also a 10 version) Apoggee Duet 2 (1 is great too. The 2 I believe just came out). Presonus Firebox Those are the ...

I doubt that the quality of any on board sound card is clean enough for studio usage. I would say that a new interface is necessary. Try getting one with balanced inputs and outputs. That should pair well with you mixer. You may also want to get an interface with more channels. Lastly, go with firewire. For various reasons it's better than USB - yes even ...

In addition to all of the above answers; firewire also allows simultaneous independent track recording; as does USB 2.0 alesis and other audio hardware producers are now making some good devices for USB 2.0; USB 1.0 is the one you really want to avoid, unless you do not need track splitting and the higher bandwidth