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January 30th, 2012 15:00

Using a firewire recording interface on my M17x R3

My bandmate and I are attempting to start recording our own demos. He has purchased a Presonus interface that uses firewire. He has a firewire port on his computer so, we would be able to record using his, but to take his computer to and from our practice space is a bit of a hassle. Plus I have the recording software already loaded on my computer. Is there any way I could somehow hook up a firewire external box or card to my computer (M17x R3) as I don't have a slot to put one in.

Any help would be great! 

66 Posts

January 30th, 2012 16:00

I am using a Firewire Expresscard on my M18x laptop, but it looks like the M17xR3 does not have an expansion bus slot on it so you will have to go with a USB interface. You are out of luck with Firewire. My M18x does not have Firewire either, but I can use the following with the Expresscard slot that is built into my laptop.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16839150025

May I suggest you look into the MOTU UltraLite mk3 Hybrid. A bit pricey, but one of the best recording audio boxes you will ever use and it supports both Firewire and USB. They run about $550.00.

http://www.motu.com/products/motuaudio/ultralite-mk3

Or, if you don't need as much I/O you could go for the MOTU Audio Express 6x6 Hybrid. Runs about $400.00.

http://www.motu.com/products/motuaudio/audio-express

Both are professional level audio equipment.

Either way. You have to go with a USB interface on your laptop.

Hope that helps.

8 Wizard

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17K Posts

January 30th, 2012 16:00

Tech Specs for M17x-R3 ... say no Firewire, ExpressCard (slot), or dedicated docking station ... pretty lame if you ask me.

It does say you have USB-3 though ... what about a USB-3 to Firewire adapter. Should work since USB-3 is suppose to be faster than Firewire (I'm assuming the Presonus uses the older, original Firewire-400 spped standard ... does it?)

5 Posts

January 30th, 2012 16:00

@LiqMat: I appreciate your response and I figured I would more than likely have to do something like that. However, I'm still curious about anything I could possibly do. I would honestly love the smaller model of that to do recordings with! We would probably only need a 4-6 inputs as we'd just be tracking drums which we'd have about 4 mics, with a scratch guitar track on top of that.

@Tesla1856: I agree with you on the "pretty lame" comment. Why take that away since it was on R2s and earlier models? I actually looked for the converter/adapter, thinking that USB 3.0 is probably fast enough to be a comparable replacement. I was unable to find one that he said would work. However wouldn't you think one of the adapters at the bottom of the page for this link would work? www.monoprice.com/.../subdepartment.asp. Of course I'd have to buy some type of extension for either end, either way, but still...

I haven't seen it in person as he got it just yesterday and is currently away for school for the week, but I'll check it out when I see him next. He's in computer programming (third year-ish) so, I'm assuming he knows his stuff on what would/should work and what won't. But he may be overlooking something.He bought this Presonus off of eBay, used, and I'm assuming it uses FW-400, but again, I haven't seen it and don't know the exact specs on it.

8 Wizard

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17K Posts

January 30th, 2012 18:00

@Tesla1856: I agree with you on the "pretty lame" comment. Why take that away since it was on R2s and earlier models? I actually looked for the converter/adapter, thinking that USB 3.0 is probably fast enough to be a comparable replacement. I was unable to find one that he said would work. However wouldn't you think one of the adapters at the bottom of the page for this link would work? www.monoprice.com/.../subdepartment.asp. Of course I'd have to buy some type of extension for either end, either way, but still...

 

No, the MonoPrice adapters won't fit/work. From what I've been reading, the adapter circuitry and drivers would have to be fairly complex. There are people with (Firewire only) DV cameras with the same needs/problem.

I can't find one for sale either. I won't go into why, but lets just say everyone has moved on. If you had an ExpressCard slot (or dedicated docking station) it would be no problem.

I did find this one, but they don't make it any more. Also, it might not have been fast enough to do a lot of tracks at the same time:

http://www.usbfirewire.com/Parts/rr-527950.html

Sorry, looks like you will have to use a different (FireWire or ExpressCard-slot equipt) laptop or a desktop PC.

348 Posts

January 30th, 2012 20:00

I never noticed the M18x doesn't have Firewire, even the Inspiron 6400 I've been using since my Studio died has firewire and this is at least 5 years old now.

1 Message

January 1st, 2013 16:00

You could try with a Firewire to USB adapter or cable,its only few £/$ on ebay or amazon!

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