Mobile audio interface advice

[raboof]

My audio machine is a laptop with an on-board Intel 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Audio Controller.

For my simple MIDI-in-audio-out work so far, this has actually worked out fine.

For some recording / live audio processing, though, I'm wondering whether it's time for an upgrade. It seems to make sense to have balanced I/O and move away from the built-for-cheap on-board.

I don't have a FireWire port, so I suppose my choices are PCMCIA/CardBus and USB. PCMCIA/CardBus seem superior technology-wise, on the other hand USB seems more ubiquitous these days, so that might be a wiser investment. Can I expect good latencies from USB? As my target uses are live effect processing as well as recording, this is an important factor.

Depending on how much difference this is going to make, my price range is modest: say I'm willing to spend about EUR 50-150, are there reasonable upgrades available? Any recommendations?

[kaimerra]

I also have a laptop with Intel onboard sound, which works fine for some stuff like you said. I have two USB audio interfaces, a Edirol UA-4fx and M-Audio Ozone, which I use to record mono or stereo guitar/keys/vocals. I have never had a problem with latency, even when monitoring the mix after passing through Ardour and effects or rakkarack. I am able to run both USB devices in Jack at 128 frames and 3 periods/buffer, which gives me about 8ms of latency. That is not really noticable in my opinion.
A couple things about USB audio to be aware of, correct me if I am off here crew:
Only USB 1.0 is supported by Linux, because USB 2.0 is not standarized.
USB 1.0 only supports stereo audio in both directions.
ALSA has a page on their website of supported devices which is a good reference.

As per recommendations, the Edirol UA-4fx is okay. At this point it works except for 48 and 96 sample rates, because it adds some noise to it that the windows driver removes and has yet to be reverse engineered to work in linux(and Roland/Edirol hasn't helped out at all :/). But its 44.1 I/O, MIDI and Effects work good for its cheap price tag.

The Ozone i really like because it is a touch sensitive MIDI keyboard/controller with an audio I/O built in. All that connects through USB so you can play the MIDI into a software synth and send it out the Ozone to your amp/PA/headphones. I use it for live performance as it reduces clutter by not having more wires/stuff on stage. This one is a bit more expensive I think, between $200-300 US. I'm not sure the conversion rate to EUR.

This is a nice site as it is a customized frontend to zZounds.com to only show Linux compatible hardware based on the ALSA list. Personally I like buying from Sweetwater.com as they have better support and easy returns if something doesn't work like you thought.
http://www.linuxstudiopro.com/

Happy hunting dude!

[john.seekins]

As to the USB 2.0 is not supported...
Type 'lsusb' into a terminal in any modern distro (2.6 kernel) and you'll see something like:

Code: Select all

Bus 002 Device 002: ID 046d:c018 Logitech, Inc. Optical Wheel Mouse
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

A little googling found an article from 2004 discussing improvements to the USB 2.0 support in the 2.4 and 2.6 kernel branches.

So Linux does have USB 2.0 support. A quick aside, Linux was, IIRC, the first OS (kernel) to have USB 3.0 support after the spec came out (in the 2.6.30 kernel).

ALSA does have a page listing supported hardware and such, but there are extra bits you can dig up online that'll help you get some hardware that ALSA doesn't completely support working.

[Yeri]

I use an m-audio audiophile usb in my desktop.
The type of use I do is midi sequencing/recording (rosegarden), sound synthesis (zynaddsubfx), sound sampling (hydrogen) and a bit of sound recording (Ardour). Basically I play/sequence live performances on my e-drum often along with an accompainment audio or midi track. Optionally I record/mix everything with ardour at a latter step.
I get a latency of 4ms without practically any xrun.. so, from my experience an usb card does the job (although I'm not sure that what I do is exactly an intensive use).
With regards to Linux compatibility there are probably other usb cards better than mine at Linux Studio Pro (e.g. Edirol UA25 USB Stereo Audio Interface).

Hope that helps,

Gerard.

[raboof]

able to run both USB devices in Jack at 128 frames and 3 periods/buffer, which gives me about 8ms of latency. That is not really noticable in my opinion

That's really good indeed

Only USB 1.0 is supported by Linux, because USB 2.0 is not standarized

I'm pretty sure Linux supports USB2 (and perhaps even 3).

ALSA has a page on their website of supported devices which is a good reference.

I found it a terrible reference :/. Both the M-Audio Ozone and the Edirol UA-4fx you tried aren't mentioned at all afaics, and some of the M-Audio devices which require some extra work to get the firmware working didn't mention this (I just added that last bit of information).

Seems the Ozone is being phased out in favour of the KeyRig, but I think I'd prefer a device without keys (I already have a KeyStation 49e for the occasions I need keys, which is currently rare anyway).

This one is a bit more expensive I think, between $200-300 US. I'm not sure the conversion rate to EUR

That translates to 140-210 eur, so about in the same ballpark.

Thanks a lot for the insights!