RME fireface800 on a laptop

[dijf]

i would like to exchange my M-audio410 for a fireface800. Off course! but i've never read anything on the use of it on a laptop. Is there anybody out there who uses an ASUS laptop and a fireface800?
There are several questions which i like to be answered. Which PCI card do i need (that doesn't render problems) and will 512Mb of RAM do?
ANy help will do.
Thanx

[Slaytex]

I use my FF800 with a 2.8 Ghz 800 Mhz FSB Toshiba 17" laptop with a Lacie FW800 PCMCIA card and it kicks ass. It's never given me a hicup and was a breeze to update the firmware. I've tracked 24 tracks at once with it and it didn't show a bit of a problem. I use it with a FW 800 external HD that is also plugged into my Lacie FW card.

[Slaytex]

About the ram, yes 512 should be fine. I just went to 1 gig and haven't really seen much a benefit until mixdown or virtual instruments which I never use anyway. The Lacie card works great with the FF800 and was worth the $70 I paid for it. It gave me 2 FW800 & 1 FW400 port.

[Sirocco]

just make sure you dont use a mother boards onboard firewire port.

this can cause bigtime problems! it did for me and the guys at rme let me know its a frequent source of problems.

a dedicated one is a good idea

[Roger Starr]

Dijf (the one from Belgium?),

Should work fine. I would pick 1Gb RAM, just more room for plugs etc... What Asus do you have?

Note, on the Sound on Sound forum are some guys who have a PC laptop with the Fireface 800 by the way, with very good results (as far as I know)...

Regards,

Roger

[newrob1]

Hey Slaytex,

I just bought 2 Fireface 800's and I am using them on a P4 3.8Ghz, 2 GB ram machine. I have been using them with Vegas and Cubase and If I record more than 16 tracks on the ADAT in's I get clicks and pops. I was using a pcmcia fw400 card with a homerun to each FF800. Did the fw800 card make a lot of difference or did you ever try to use yours with fw400 at all?

[dubrichie]

i run a ff800 with a maxtor fw hd, both over fw400 pcmcia card.

my dell laptop is a few years old and it never worked properly with protools le / digi002 which i had for a almost a year of headaches before getting rid of it for my current sx3/ff800.

ive had a couple of instances of weird behaviour, but i attribute wholly them to my "idiosyncratic" laptop.

have recorded 18 ins at 44.1/24 for 8 hours or so without a hitch.

i think rme do recommend using fw800 if daisy-chaining more than 1 fireface.

look it up on their site / rtfm.

however, check up on how much pci bandwidth you'll need for this, and the hard drive, and check how much your laptop has to offer.

[newrob1]

Actually the manual says not to daisy chain the units but to homerun with equal length to each unit. I have tried to record 16 tracks through the adat in's into Vegas and Cubase and get clicks and pops. RME refered me to something called Kristal which is a very basic multitrack program. Guess what, no clicks and pops. So why do I get problems with Vegas and Cubase? It appears that my settings are correct but no go. I got rid of my 002 rig because I had to tweak my PC so much to get it to run I didn't feel comfortable. Any advice is appreciated.


Thanks to all.

[hammerfall]

I have an ASUS z71v notebook and it rocks with the Fireface, using the built-in FW400 port. On the tower machine, I had planned on buying a (highly recommended) LaCie FW PCI card, but the Fireface works perfectly plugged into the FW port of an Audigy2. Go figure.

[dijf]

indeed, dijf from Belgium.

don't know exactly what kind of ASUS i have. I got it from a farmer who found a whole bunch of them laptops ( they probably fell of a truck...). But i know my M-audio 410 has a serious hiccup problem when connected to my onboard fireware chip.

greetz
www.dijf.be

[Slaytex]

Originally Posted by newrob1

Hey Slaytex,

I just bought 2 Fireface 800's and I am using them on a P4 3.8Ghz, 2 GB ram machine. I have been using them with Vegas and Cubase and If I record more than 16 tracks on the ADAT in's I get clicks and pops. I was using a pcmcia fw400 card with a homerun to each FF800. Did the fw800 card make a lot of difference or did you ever try to use yours with fw400 at all?

You need to run FW800 with multiple FF800's. I use it cause I run 1 FF800 and a FW800 external HD.

[Slaytex]

Originally Posted by newrob1

Actually the manual says not to daisy chain the units but to homerun with equal length to each unit. I have tried to record 16 tracks through the adat in's into Vegas and Cubase and get clicks and pops. RME refered me to something called Kristal which is a very basic multitrack program. Guess what, no clicks and pops. So why do I get problems with Vegas and Cubase? It appears that my settings are correct but no go. I got rid of my 002 rig because I had to tweak my PC so much to get it to run I didn't feel comfortable. Any advice is appreciated.


Thanks to all.

Usually with clicks and pops across ADAT it is a clocking issue. Do you have everything setup correctly with 1 master and the rest slaving to it? Please let us know exactley how you have evrything hooked up and the same with the software. Also make sure your software is setup to external sync or to your ADAT I/O. Check you RME control panel system tray icon as well.

[newrob1]

Both FF 800's set to Auto Sync w/adat1 as the clock. I tried setting the second to clock from the first one's Word Clock but still had the same problem. I have been able to get Cubase SX to work fine with one unit using both ADAT in's but Vegas still had clicks and pops, and am getting the LaCie FW800 pcmcia card today to try both units.

[Slaytex]

Originally Posted by newrob1

Both FF 800's set to Auto Sync w/adat1 as the clock. I tried setting the second to clock from the first one's Word Clock but still had the same problem. I have been able to get Cubase SX to work fine with one unit using both ADAT in's but Vegas still had clicks and pops, and am getting the LaCie FW800 pcmcia card today to try both units.

Good choice on the Lacie FW800 card, I love mine, hell I didn't even need to install anything, true plug n' play.