Is a PCI card much better than an USB one

Yeri · Post by **Yeri** » Tue Dec 09, 2008 8:14 pm

Hi all!.. I am new at this forum and in computer audio as well.. I'll post a message later to the welcome thread giving more details about me.
My situation is that I am interested in creating music with midi instruments, and therefore I need to buy a midi interface for my computer.
I have the opportunity to buy a used m-audio audiophile (USB) at a good price, but I was wondering if there is considerable difference in performance between USB and PCI based cards. Another point is that I am not sure that USB 2.0 is working in my Ubuntu Studio installation.. so there is the possibility of having to connect the USB card to the slow USB ports.
It is worth buying a new PCI one instead of the USB.. what would you do?

Thanks much,

Gerard.

studio32 · Post by **studio32** » Tue Dec 09, 2008 8:52 pm

Welcome

yes, pci is considered to be better on linux by most of the linux people...

maudio audiophile 24/96 pci, maudio delta 44 or 66, RME... ?

ntnunk · Post by **ntnunk** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 1:51 am

Hi, and welcome!

I mostly agree with studio32: by and large, PCI is much better than USB, esp. USB1. Having said that, let me ask a question. You said you are interested in making music with MIDI instruments and need to buy a MIDI interface for your computer. Are you only using the interface for MIDI? If all you need is MIDI and won't be using the device to record audio, USB1 is probably fine. MIDI doesn't transfer very much data at all. I used a serial MIDI interface for quite a few years and never had any problems and serial is orders of magnitude slower than even USB1 (serial=115kbps, USB1 ~ 11Mbps). If you are going to try to record any actual audio data the USB1 will likely start causing you problems pretty quickly. It works on my system, I've recently used a MIDI 1.1 audio interface to successfully monitor and record audio, but it's pretty easy to push it to the limit and start getting Xruns.

Claudio · Post by **Claudio** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 3:34 am

As mentioned, MIDI shouldn't be a problem over USB. MIDI itself actually runs at 31.25 kbps. I can still use my old Mac Quadra 650 running at 33 MHz with an old sequencer program and a serial MIDI interface and not have any issues with multiple MIDI devices. If you're using something like Jokosher or LMMS which has its own software synths that can be controlled over MIDI, then you'll have to contend with how quickly the software synth components can respond to the MIDI signals.

Yeri · Post by **Yeri** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 8:32 am

actually I intend to focus on midi and I am not planning to record any audio in the near future.. so the USB card will fit.

Thanks all .. you have been of great help.. Sincerely

Yeri

Claudio · Post by **Claudio** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 3:25 pm

Yeri wrote:actually I intend to focus on midi and I am not planning to record any audio in the near future.. so the USB card will fit.

Thanks all .. you have been of great help.. Sincerely

Yeri

One thing to be aware of is that some USB-MIDI interfaces require that the firmware for it be pushed down from the computer to the MIDI interface each time it's plugged into the USB port. An example of a device that does this is my M-AUDIO MIDISport 2x2 MIDI interface. It loads fine from my Mac after I've installed the software that M-AUDIO provides for it. However, when I plug it into my GNU/Linux system, it is detected properly but it can't do anything with it because it would need to push that firmware down to the MIDI interface. There is a project out there that provides an open source firmware for the interface, but it didn't work for me. You could probably give it a try to see if it works for you. AFAIK, it's already in the Ubuntu repositories so you can grab it from there.

The current workaround for me (since the midisport-firmware package didn't work on my system) was to boot the Mac to Mac OS X so the firmware would load, then reboot into Ubuntu 8.10 (I have the PPC port installed on my Mac in a dual-boot setup).

studio32 · Post by **studio32** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 4:40 pm

Claudio wrote: One thing to be aware of is that some USB-MIDI interfaces require that the firmware for it be pushed down from the computer to the MIDI interface each time it's plugged into the USB port. An example of a device that does this is my M-AUDIO MIDISport 2x2 MIDI interface. It loads fine from my Mac after I've installed the software that M-AUDIO provides for it. However, when I plug it into my GNU/Linux system, it is detected properly but it can't do anything with it because it would need to push that firmware down to the MIDI interface. There is a project out there that provides an open source firmware for the interface, but it didn't work for me. You could probably give it a try to see if it works for you. AFAIK, it's already in the Ubuntu repositories so you can grab it from there.

The current workaround for me (since the midisport-firmware package didn't work on my system) was to boot the Mac to Mac OS X so the firmware would load, then reboot into Ubuntu 8.10 (I have the PPC port installed on my Mac in a dual-boot setup).

Could you add this to our wiki?

ntnunk · Post by **ntnunk** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 10:07 pm

I've got a M-Audio UNO USB interface:
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Uno.html
It works flawlessly under Linux. May not be the most high-tech or powerful interface but I use it to interface my Korg Triton workstation with Rosegarden and Hydrogen. Never had a problem with it and it was fairly inexpensive. zzSounds has them for $39.

Claudio · Post by **Claudio** » Thu Dec 11, 2008 5:41 am

studio32 wrote:
Claudio wrote: One thing to be aware of is that some USB-MIDI interfaces require that the firmware for it be pushed down from the computer to the MIDI interface each time it's plugged into the USB port. An example of a device that does this is my M-AUDIO MIDISport 2x2 MIDI interface. It loads fine from my Mac after I've installed the software that M-AUDIO provides for it. However, when I plug it into my GNU/Linux system, it is detected properly but it can't do anything with it because it would need to push that firmware down to the MIDI interface. There is a project out there that provides an open source firmware for the interface, but it didn't work for me. You could probably give it a try to see if it works for you. AFAIK, it's already in the Ubuntu repositories so you can grab it from there.

The current workaround for me (since the midisport-firmware package didn't work on my system) was to boot the Mac to Mac OS X so the firmware would load, then reboot into Ubuntu 8.10 (I have the PPC port installed on my Mac in a dual-boot setup).
Could you add this to our wiki?

I will do so in the morning as I just saw your request right now (it's past my bedtime for me

).

Yeri · Post by **Yeri** » Thu Dec 11, 2008 7:50 am

One thing to be aware of is that some USB-MIDI interfaces require that the firmware for it be pushed down from the computer to the MIDI interface each time it's plugged into the USB port. An example of a device that does this is my M-AUDIO MIDISport 2x2 MIDI interface. It loads fine from my Mac after I've installed the software that M-AUDIO provides for it. However, when I plug it into my GNU/Linux system, it is detected properly but it can't do anything with it because it would need to push that firmware down to the MIDI interface. There is a project out there that provides an open source firmware for the interface, but it didn't work for me. You could probably give it a try to see if it works for you. AFAIK, it's already in the Ubuntu repositories so you can grab it from there.

Thanks for the info.. I didn't know about it. In the firmware loaders site that you mention, it is commented that M-Audio Audiophile USB card would work without need of firmware upload with the latest versions of alsa, but "there may be still some problems"

I've got a M-Audio UNO USB interface:
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Uno.html
It works flawlessly under Linux. May not be the most high-tech or powerful interface but I use it to interface my Korg Triton workstation with Rosegarden and Hydrogen. Never had a problem with it and it was fairly inexpensive. zzSounds has them for $39.

Yes.. actually it is probably the best choice if I am interested only in the midi

Maybe I will try the M-Audio Audiophile USB.. or maybe I will get one of these simple USB-midi interfaces mentioned by ntunk (probably the best choice for me)

Anyway I will post the results.. Thanks!

Post by **raboof** » Thu Dec 11, 2008 4:03 pm

Claudio wrote:One thing to be aware of is that some USB-MIDI interfaces require that the firmware for it be pushed down from the computer to the MIDI interface each time it's plugged into the USB port. An example of a device that does this is my M-AUDIO MIDISport 2x2 MIDI interface. It loads fine from my Mac after I've installed the software that M-AUDIO provides for it. However, when I plug it into my GNU/Linux system, it is detected properly but it can't do anything with it because it would need to push that firmware down to the MIDI interface.

I also have a MidiSport 2x2, but this one works fine out-of-the-box. It's the `M-Audio anniversary edition'.

studio32 · Post by **studio32** » Thu Dec 11, 2008 5:30 pm

[offtopic] Raboof, do you know how to get the maudio fast track pro to work on OpenSuse?
http://www.homerecording.be/forum/t9550.htm [/offtopic]

Claudio · Post by **Claudio** » Thu Dec 11, 2008 7:47 pm

raboof wrote:
Claudio wrote:One thing to be aware of is that some USB-MIDI interfaces require that the firmware for it be pushed down from the computer to the MIDI interface each time it's plugged into the USB port. An example of a device that does this is my M-AUDIO MIDISport 2x2 MIDI interface. It loads fine from my Mac after I've installed the software that M-AUDIO provides for it. However, when I plug it into my GNU/Linux system, it is detected properly but it can't do anything with it because it would need to push that firmware down to the MIDI interface.
I also have a MidiSport 2x2, but this one works fine out-of-the-box. It's the `M-Audio anniversary edition'.

This is good to know. I may have to look into purchasing that so that I can have a USB-MIDI interface for my GNU/Linux PC.

MattKingUSA · Post by **MattKingUSA** » Mon Dec 15, 2008 11:28 pm

Just a note PCMCIA is another option that, more for audio recording and not midi, is a good option for laptops because it goes directly to the system bus and is just as dependable as pci.

Capoeira · Post by **Capoeira** » Sat Jun 27, 2009 2:15 am

anybody here has a M-Audio Duo "card" and can help me out with configuring jack for it. i have some problems for example running vst. often i have a kind of distorsion (without x-runs) wich i dont have with my onboard-soundcard.

GENERALLY: what are the things to do to work with USB-interfaces without problems?

LinuxMusicians

Is a PCI card much better than an USB one

Is a PCI card much better than an USB one

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