Audio interface
Moderators: Acoustica Greg, Acoustica Eric, Acoustica Dan, rsaintjohn
Audio interface
Heyall, I have a question for the audio junkies. Just upgraded to Pro Studio 7 64 bit and was thinking about upgrading my Steinberg UR22 audio interface to a firewire device. The UR22 is 24 bit / 192kHz and so are all of the firewire devices I have looked at. Is there something else that makes firewire faster and more stable and do I really need the upgrade?
Re: Audio interface
Here's what I know:*
The original advantage with firewire was data transfer speed. When comparing Firewire 800 and USB 2.0, Firewire is almost twice as fast as USB (~800MB/s versus ~400MB/s on faster connections). However, USB 3.0 supports 5GB/s data transfer speed, so if you've got a USB 3.0 device, you've got an advantage.
However, Firewire has an advantage in two places: data chaining distance (with enough fiddling, you can get firewire to go 72 meters from device to device, while USB can go a max of 30 meters, with the help of USB hubs), and self-powering (Firewire can deliver up to 30 volts to a connected device, while USB is designed to go up to 5v). The last few numbers were found for comparisons of Firewire 800 and USB 2.0. I don't know what improvements USB 3.0 brought to these two respective areas.
One final thing that Firewire offers that USB doesn't: peer-to-peer connections. USB is designed so that there is a "master" in control of the "slave" (a computer and a MIDI controller, respectively). Firewire allows two devices to communicate with each other, without needing a computer (a high-end DSLR camera and a high-end laser-tracking trigger system).
So, in all honesty, it depends on what your needs are.
*courtesy of Google
The original advantage with firewire was data transfer speed. When comparing Firewire 800 and USB 2.0, Firewire is almost twice as fast as USB (~800MB/s versus ~400MB/s on faster connections). However, USB 3.0 supports 5GB/s data transfer speed, so if you've got a USB 3.0 device, you've got an advantage.
However, Firewire has an advantage in two places: data chaining distance (with enough fiddling, you can get firewire to go 72 meters from device to device, while USB can go a max of 30 meters, with the help of USB hubs), and self-powering (Firewire can deliver up to 30 volts to a connected device, while USB is designed to go up to 5v). The last few numbers were found for comparisons of Firewire 800 and USB 2.0. I don't know what improvements USB 3.0 brought to these two respective areas.
One final thing that Firewire offers that USB doesn't: peer-to-peer connections. USB is designed so that there is a "master" in control of the "slave" (a computer and a MIDI controller, respectively). Firewire allows two devices to communicate with each other, without needing a computer (a high-end DSLR camera and a high-end laser-tracking trigger system).
So, in all honesty, it depends on what your needs are.
*courtesy of Google
Re: Audio interface
It's recommended that projects and mix downs are set at 24bit/44.1khZ as some vst's may have trouble handling higher rates, therefore I'd say your UR22 would be fine 