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can i run two firewire interfaces at the same time? both have dual firewire connections.

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Boswell Sun, 04/17/2016 - 12:31

If the two interfaces are of the same type and the manufacturer has written the driver so that the two interfaces appear as a single larger one, then yes.

Alternatively, if you were using a Macintosh and you had device aggregation turned on, then you can talk to more than one individual interface, even if of different types. I know Logic was able to control aggregated devices, but I don't know whether any other Mac-compatible DAW has this capability.

Edit: I've just seen my Scottish friend has replied, and yes, I had forgotten about Asioforall. It didn't work for me on the one occasion I tried to use it.

audiokid Sun, 04/17/2016 - 15:11

Kurt Foster, post: 437974, member: 7836 wrote: can i run two firewire interfaces at the same time? both have dual firewire connections.

When I first got into hybrid I believe I used two FF800 (FW400) through two FW connections on Windows XP, same box. . It worked fine but it suffered more latency than I wanted to accept so I moved to PCIe interfacing.
RME Drivers are excellent.

audiokid Sun, 04/17/2016 - 21:21

If I'm understanding your set-up, and taking into consideration that I have no experience with....

In My DAW setup I can track with one interface and DA out using another. I simply select these AD/ DA I/O on the Aux, Bus, master lanes. I'm not sure it can be done simultaneously in your setup but it does sound possible.

DonnyThompson Mon, 04/18/2016 - 05:26

Boswell, post: 437990, member: 29034 wrote: However, the concensus was that it needs to be running on Windows 8.1 or higher

From what I understand, and as Bos mentioned, the OS does matter; Windows 8.1 (and above) are considered to be more "user friendly" with audio apps than earlier Windows versions are. But, like Bos, I've never tried it.
And who knows? You may be able to use W7, too.

Although... your DAW software will also be a determining factor in this as well; I know that the newer version of Samp claims to be able to support and use multiple i/o's, but I've never tried it myself, as I only have one interface anyway. There may be other DAW platforms that allow one interface for input and another for output... I would think that it's likely that newer versions of Avid does ( but I can't say for sure, I haven't been an Avid user for quite sometime now).

I suppose the thing to do would be to install drivers for both, and then see if it works.
Are you still using MixBus as your main platform, Kurt? If so, you may want to shoot them an email and ask them about it, and be specific about the two devices you want to use, to make sure that MB will support the drivers for those interfaces... from what I remember, they were always pretty good about customer support.

edit: I went ahead and posted the question on the MixBus forum. I don't know if you are still using MixBus, nor do I know if anyone will respond, but I figured it was worth a shot. Besides, I'd kinda like to know for myself, anyway. ;)

http://mixbus.harrisonconsoles.com/forum/thread-2546.html

DonnyThompson Mon, 04/18/2016 - 15:26

If you're still using MixBus, it wouldn't matter anyway. According to Ben Harrison at the MixBus Forum, it doesn't currently support multiple interfaces.

"Hi Donny,

Mixbus does not currently support multiple devices on Windows.
Some devices (Presonus I think) can be chained together using their Control-Panel software, and appear to Windows as if they were a single device.
On Mac, you can create an Aggregate device which sample-rate converts one of the devices to match the other, at the potential cost of some latency and quality.
Windows/ASIO does not provide that ability.

Best,
-Ben"