What is the problem with USB sound cards?

[downtheway]

I've heard many people complain about USB sound cards compared to internal type of sound cards, so what's so bad about USB sound cards compared to the internal cards? A good example people complain a lot about is the Tascam here:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Tascam-US122-USB-AudioMIDI-Interface?sku=240868 Is this Tascam sound card just a cheap piece of junk? Thanks for any info.

[MusicianAdvice]

You can read about sound cards here:
http://musicianadvice.info/

[GolDfingeRNoFXRaNc|D]

i think the main problem is that u cant record more that 2 tracks simultaneously, thats why search for something with Firewire or PCI which can handle many tracks for ex. if u want to record your Band and every player want his own track (to edit/cut/mix/fx) with USB u cant do that. thats why are so cheap as well

[Seafroggys]

USB has high latency, as in it can't transfer that much data over a specific time period as other means (Firewire and internal PCI)

So, yeah, its not as good

[downtheway]

Thanks for the help guys.

[pitchfork]

Bandwith sucks on usb, thats the only reason I wouldn't use a usb soundcard.

[Knifeboy]

USB has high latency, as in it can't transfer that much data over a specific time period as other means (Firewire and internal PCI)

So, yeah, its not as good

USB 2 theoreticly have more bandwidth/higher transfer rate than firewire

[Moseph]

USB 2 theoreticly have more bandwidth/higher transfer rate than firewire

Well, if you're going to be specific, the nominal transfer rates are as follows (slowest to fastest):

USB 1.0/1.1 (12 Mbps)
Firewire 400 (400 Mbps)
USB 2.0 (412 Mbps)
Firewire 800 (800 Mbps)
Firewire 1600 (1.6 Gbps)

[Knifeboy]

Yes, I completely missed the fact that there was faster versions of firewire, oops

But USB 2 still have enough bandwidth to not cause any real latency.... A shame it's designed badly compared to firewire

[Seafroggys]

I wonder what the Firepod uses, seeing as that's what I'm picking up once I get a new job.

[Moseph]

I wonder what the Firepod uses, seeing as that's what I'm picking up once I get a new job.

Firewire 400 (IEEE 1394).

Every audio device I'm aware of uses Firewire 400 rather than a faster method. Firewire 400 seems to be fine for chaining together 3 Fireods for 24 channels of audio, so there's probably not much need for a higher transfer model until the converters catch up to the transfer methods.

[Seafroggys]

well if it can handle 3 firepods at once without latency issues, then I'm happy. I only need one for now, most I'll ever need is two.

[Moseph]

well if it can handle 3 firepods at once without latency issues, then I'm happy. I only need one for now, most I'll ever need is two.

Keep in mind that Presonus is testing this on massively powerful computers. The computer itself processing everything seemed to be the major bottleneck. Also, according to their reports, they were doing this at 44.1 kHz and 16-bits, which means less data needing transmission for each channel.

However, if you save a bit of money and purchase the FireStudio, rather than the Firepod, you can take advantage of the ADAT Lightpipe connection later, which will get you 16 channels of audio total using the one firewire connection.

This is a safer way to expand (chaining Firewire is tricky, adding channels to one Firewire is less tricky). It also could end up being more cost effective, as Preamps with ADAT out can be had for less than a cost of a Firepod (typically).

[Seafroggys]

FireStudio? Never heard of it, I'll check it out :thumb:

[downtheway]

From what I've heard about usb 2.0 is nothing that uses usb ever operates at the full speed of usb 2.0. Usually it's far far less than 480mbps or whatever usb 2.0 is now. Not sure about firewire but it's probably not too different.

[ClaireEast]

My first USB was an Edirol UA25. We still use it to capture analog off the Guitars and Basses, as well as the MIDI off the Drum Module. I ran into a few problems with it, but it wasn't anything that couldn't be fixed by reading the manual and tweaking a few things on the PC. I think our Studio computer has a couple of FireWire ports but we never use it.

I think the great thing about technology though is that while each option lacks something , it offers another. You can pick up the slack of one thing by compensating with another. I guess like most things, the technology you use is as subject to your own personal tastes and comfort levels as your instruments.

Just do your homework and read the manual. lol.

Good Luck

-Claire