Firewire audio devices
Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2020 8:39 pm
I have been using Linux exclusively for all my work and audio production and live performances for many years now and it was a rocky road at the beginning. Struggling with firewire and the right controllers to get things stable as well as rt-priorities was a challenge but after some time things started to work very well..
Right now I have a lot of audio devices and some of the best ones are firewire based and works perfect in desktop computers as long as i use a supported Ti chip based controller. Many of my laptops also works well using Apple TB to Firewire adapters and it is nice to be able to daisy chain multiple devices to get lots of I/O
For special occasions I have a flight rack with 3 daisy chained 8in+8out devices giving me 24in and 24 out. I also have a FF800 and several adat expansions and a 16ch firewire mixer...
Last two years I have also been using a couple of Motu Ultralite AVBs and i really like the idea of AVB or AES67 or any open protocol to expand the possibilities.
One of the great things with using Linux is the ability to run and use stuff that other platform/vendors abandon for various reasons.. Usually to push customers to abandon their perfectly usable interface and purchase a new one (stating that apple/microsoft doesn't support the product anymore)
I have advocated the perfect freedom to use Linux and run whatever hardware as long as it is supported and you can still connect it to the computer since there is no reason to remove support for the device in the kernel for marketing reasons or other strategic odd reasons.
A year ago I installed a new Laptop for live gigs and practicing in my home studio and after some discussions on IRC I went for Ubuntu Studio 19.10 since it was revived and had gotten a new "Ubuntu Studio Controls" that did assist in setting up the audio/midi devices in a similar way like Kx-studio Cadense
Things went pretty smooth and I thought this could be a new baseline for all my audio boxes.
Later when Ubuntu Studio 20.04 was appearing as Alpha or Beta, they announced that Firewire support was being dropped and the user was suggested to upgrade their audio interface to a modern USB interface implying that Firewire is too old for anyone to even consider... That doesn't make sense too me really when many of the old rather expensive Audio devices I have are much better than most of the USB based stuff that is not super expensive and Firewire is a lot more stable with heavy load since the Firewire bus is designed to allocate and prioritize the bandwith from the beginning. Chaining devices from different vendors also usually works so it is really a great work horse when set up correctly.
I hope this trend to ditch Firewire is isolated to Ubuntu Studio and not a general trend in other distributions
/Anders
Right now I have a lot of audio devices and some of the best ones are firewire based and works perfect in desktop computers as long as i use a supported Ti chip based controller. Many of my laptops also works well using Apple TB to Firewire adapters and it is nice to be able to daisy chain multiple devices to get lots of I/O
For special occasions I have a flight rack with 3 daisy chained 8in+8out devices giving me 24in and 24 out. I also have a FF800 and several adat expansions and a 16ch firewire mixer...
Last two years I have also been using a couple of Motu Ultralite AVBs and i really like the idea of AVB or AES67 or any open protocol to expand the possibilities.
One of the great things with using Linux is the ability to run and use stuff that other platform/vendors abandon for various reasons.. Usually to push customers to abandon their perfectly usable interface and purchase a new one (stating that apple/microsoft doesn't support the product anymore)
I have advocated the perfect freedom to use Linux and run whatever hardware as long as it is supported and you can still connect it to the computer since there is no reason to remove support for the device in the kernel for marketing reasons or other strategic odd reasons.
A year ago I installed a new Laptop for live gigs and practicing in my home studio and after some discussions on IRC I went for Ubuntu Studio 19.10 since it was revived and had gotten a new "Ubuntu Studio Controls" that did assist in setting up the audio/midi devices in a similar way like Kx-studio Cadense
Things went pretty smooth and I thought this could be a new baseline for all my audio boxes.
Later when Ubuntu Studio 20.04 was appearing as Alpha or Beta, they announced that Firewire support was being dropped and the user was suggested to upgrade their audio interface to a modern USB interface implying that Firewire is too old for anyone to even consider... That doesn't make sense too me really when many of the old rather expensive Audio devices I have are much better than most of the USB based stuff that is not super expensive and Firewire is a lot more stable with heavy load since the Firewire bus is designed to allocate and prioritize the bandwith from the beginning. Chaining devices from different vendors also usually works so it is really a great work horse when set up correctly.
I hope this trend to ditch Firewire is isolated to Ubuntu Studio and not a general trend in other distributions
/Anders