Traveler on PC laptop - firewire choice?

[davidsullivan317]

I have my Traveler running like a champ on my desktop computer in my "recording studio" in the basement. Need to do some mobile recording, so looking for a firewire card for the laptop. Thinking about this PCMCIA Firewire card:

http://www.firewiredirect.com/product/97/

The PC is a Dell Latitude D600 w/SP2. I know I'll need to patch the OS with the firewire patch. Anything I should know about before getting this card? I'm assuming I can use the external power on the Traveler (don't want to buy the card's power adapter; my Traveler came with one). Any other cards I should look at?

Thanks, David

[danasti]

I have my Traveler running like a champ on my desktop computer in my "recording studio" in the basement. Need to do some mobile recording, so looking for a firewire card for the laptop. Thinking about this PCMCIA Firewire card:

http://www.firewiredirect.com/product/97/

The PC is a Dell Latitude D600 w/SP2. I know I'll need to patch the OS with the firewire patch. Anything I should know about before getting this card? I'm assuming I can use the external power on the Traveler (don't want to buy the card's power adapter; my Traveler came with one). Any other cards I should look at?

Thanks, David

Are you running it on a PC? I've decided on the traveler over an emu 1616m with a pci to pcmcia converter for the desktop as I want to be able to move the interface from my mobile to desktop "studio"!

I'm glad I found this forum. If you are running it on a pc what are the specs of the machine? (Processor, mobo, firewire chipset.) I want to buy a dedicated pci firewire card. And that pcmcia card you linked to I will definetely purchase for my laptop. The laptop I have on order is:

http://www.sagernotebook.com/pages/note ... tType=9750

(sager manufactures alienware notebooks - but you can buy direct for much cheaper.) I configured a 4200 dual core / 2gig ram / 60 gig sata raid 1 mirrored / bluetooth / 8xdvd 4x dual layer writer / 17 inch 1900 - 1200 / xp pro 2 for $3500 - that's a bargain --- they have intel 64bit chips too... The standard firewire chipset is TI PCI1410APGE but only 4pin.

Have you had any problems with it outside of recording/playback software? (Such as games, dvds, internet audio) .. Basically how has it worked out as an overall audio card?

What do you think of the audio quality? Have you used the mic preamps? The mic pres were the deal maker for me because I took home an RME fireface which sounded great except two of my ribbons and one of my older dynamics were just too much for it. The motu has about 12-13db more gain.

Thanks, Good luck with the laptop,
Dan

[davidsullivan317]

Yes, I'm running it on a Dell Dimension 8250 (SP2, 2.5GH, 512meg RAM). I bought an IDE firewire card from the same sight above; they have a couple of options, but you want the 1384b with the TI chip. You'll want to make sure you have an extra 4-pin power cable in your PC if you want to use the firewire bus power (the same ones that power the disks drives). This is something I didn't think about, but was luckey in that I could just unplug a floppy drive I no longer needed. You'll also want to make sure you have the latest BIOS and drivers from the MOTU site. You'll also need to apply the SP2 firewire patch (see http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9044).

It••™s working great, but I have a lot of OS-level processes turned off so games don't usually run correctly. OS-level sounds (e.g. Windows media player, iTunes etc.) work fine. I wouldn't recommend dual purposing your machine, however. I moved from the M-Audio DA 2496 to the Traveler, and noticed a marked difference in performance and sound quality. I use the preamps for DI guitar and bass, and they work great. I had mixed results with microphone as I couldn't control the dynamic range without first running it though a compressor. Which, of course, means I don't need to use the MOTU preamp. But I'm new at this, so I can't give any "professional" insight.

I'd be nervous about 64 bit or dual CPU. Others might have more insight.

Let me know how the PCMCIA firewire card works in the laptop.

Regards, David

[davidsullivan317]

Quick update: I did go with the above firewire card, and everything is working, although I haven't put it through all the paces yet.

David

[danasti]

Quick update: I did go with the above firewire card, and everything is working, although I haven't put it through all the paces yet.

David

Thanks for the update - It's nic to know that some pc users are having luck with their Travelers!