USB or Firewire Audio Recording Interface?

[Hartmut Noack]

Hello

Gregory Boehnlein schrieb:

> 	Primarily, I track Guitar, Bass and Digital Piano as Mono tracks
> using Hydrogen as my Drum Sequencer. I do not need to record more than 2
> channels at once, but I'm sure at some point I may need an additional pair
> of inputs.

There are plenty of very usable USB-Solutions with 2 channels that work 
without any trouble with Linux so if you can get a second hand interface 
like that, go for it ;-)


> 	I'm looking to balance the performance latency and quality w/ a
> limited budget to try and get the most out of my setup.

Oh well the good old latency issue... Believe me: any interface that 
works stable around 10ms round trip is perfectly OK for serious 
recording. Usless to spend much money to go beyond that. Quality is much 
more important. 24bit/96KHz and really decent AD-converters are the most 
important features you should be after. The chain is allways as weak as 
its weakest segment so to look for a simple but decent piece of hardware 
seems a good idea for me...


> With that in mind, I
> would like to solicit opinions from people on reliable options (firewire /
> usb) that I can use.

Most USB-interfaces are reliable, firewire equipment can be but is not 
always. I got a Presonus Firebox with very very decent converters and 
extraordinary good mic-preamps. It has 4 channels plus 2 SPDIF so it 
could be the part you are looking for but be warned: the interface works 
for me only with my workstation and only with 64Studio. UbuntuStudio 
fails me on the box on my Laptop and even on the workstation it is by 
far not as easy going as my cheapo Behringer USB interface.


> I have about $300 to spend on an Interface.. should I consider USB? Or
> should I go firewire? What are the benefits and drawbacks to both
> technologies?

USB:
pro:reliable, cheaper, no setup hassle
con:not as good in performance

Firewire:
pro: more hi-class interfaces on the market, better performance
con: less stable/reliable, expensive


For 300 you can get a very good second-hand FW-interface from Edirol or 
Presonus. You can also get a new FW-interface with 2 channels or a 
USB-solution.

And as always: try before you buy!!! period.
Connect the piece, see, if it works, let it run at its limits, change 
desktops with the mouse wheel, start Open Office etc etc etc ;-)

good luck ;-)
HZN