I use firewire for the meare fact that it is very simple to transport, faster than USB 1 (i dont know about 2), its been very reliable. PCI is beter in certian regards, but I really like the products that have been designed around a firewire connection.

FW is very mobile. It will work on both a desktop and a laptop, Mac and PC. A PCI card will not work in a new Mac (it's all PCI-E in there).

I just came back from a gig where I had mLAN stuff working in a live situation with my MacBook. Now that it's all home, I plug it into my Windows desktop and here we go again. Same interface, different computer.

Firewire is truly separated from the computers elecro magnetic noise. A PCI solution can only do that if there is a breake out box and the breake out box contains the DA-converter... Usualy THEY DONT!. I would go Firewire ower PCI anyday.

Ok. Now that youve got me on the firewire side, What would be the best interface that I can plug my VTB1 into for under 200 bucks?

How about the m audio firewire solo

Not much ;)

nah, you dont want the m.audio interfaces. they are cheap and the software is lame.

last i knew, the mackie onyx satellite was down to $199 -- originally $400!!

for $200 it's a steal... the onyx preamps are pretty fly, and it's firewire which is fly as well.

all in all, the satellite might be your flyest choice

otherwise presonus makes a few firewire interfaces, but i think they are more in the 300-400 range.

goodluck!

See the only thing im using it for is to plug in my tube mic-preamp and then go into computer, So as long as it gets that done im happy.

PCI is superior to Firewire in terms of Latency and reliability/stability. Firewire relies on packet-based transfers, and this adds latency (must cache data to get it into a packet). Thisd also uses a bit of CPU power.

PCI and now PCIe will always be the preferred I/O format for a serious desktop DAW. RME, MOTU, and now SSL and Apogee are players, too :eek: Good stuff

My RME HDSP PCI system runs reliably with 32 sample buffers (that is 0.75ms per buffer - and results in 2.25ms "round trip" latency at 44.1K, or 1.12ms at 96K - besting Apogee's Symphony :P ). That is NEVER going to happen with a Firewire interface...

:cool: