Billy Bongo Posted June 1, 2022 Share Posted June 1, 2022 Hi All, Sniffing around a secondhand audio interface. The interface is Firewire. My Macbook Pro has Thunderbolt ports into Logic Pro. I'm not a techie so does anybody know if Firewire fits into Thunderbolt without an adaptor? Doesn't look as if it does. If not, is there an adaptor, cable etc.? Any foreseeable problems? Advice appreciated! Billy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamIAm Posted June 1, 2022 Share Posted June 1, 2022 You need one of these https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/product/MD464ZM/A/thunderbolt-to-firewire-adapter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted June 1, 2022 Share Posted June 1, 2022 Firewire plugs do not fit into Thunderbolt sockets. You will need an adaptor. However which adaptor you need will depend on what sort of FW socket the interface has (FW400 - most likely - or FW800) and what sort of Thunderbolt sockets the Mac has - standard Thunderbolt or Thunderbolt using USB-C. However, and more importantly Firewire as a protocol was depreciated by Apple 10 years ago and many FW audio interfaces are no longer supported. Personally I wouldn't buy a FW one unless it was by RME. To get some proper advice we will need to know: 1. What audio interface are you looking at? 2. What is the exact model of MacBook Pro? 3. What version of Mac OS X are you running? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamIAm Posted June 1, 2022 Share Posted June 1, 2022 37 minutes ago, BigRedX said: Firewire plugs do not fit into Thunderbolt sockets. You will need an adaptor. However which adaptor you need will depend on what sort of FW socket the interface has (FW400 - most likely - or FW800) and what sort of Thunderbolt sockets the Mac has - standard Thunderbolt or Thunderbolt using USB-C. However, and more importantly Firewire as a protocol was depreciated by Apple 10 years ago and many FW audio interfaces are no longer supported. Personally I wouldn't buy a FW one unless it was by RME. To get some proper advice we will need to know: 1. What audio interface are you looking at? 2. What is the exact model of MacBook Pro? 3. What version of Mac OS X are you running? this is true Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartelby Posted June 1, 2022 Share Posted June 1, 2022 (edited) What BRX says. I have a Behringer desk with Firewire and USB2 multi channel outputs. Using a FW400 - FW800 adapter it used to work fine with my old iMac. When I got a new iMac I needed a FW - TB adaptor. The desk doesn't work over FW, but still does using USB. Whilst FW was much better as it used dedicated controller chips at either end, so didn't suck processor cycles like USB. I've found there to be no real issue using the USB2 interface, even when capturing 10-12 channels of audio. Unless you can afford a Thunderbolt interface (bearing in mind that TB3 uses a USB-C style connector, so you may need an adaptor for older TB interfaces), you may as well just look at USB2/3 ones. Edited June 1, 2022 by bartelby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beedster Posted June 1, 2022 Share Posted June 1, 2022 50 minutes ago, BigRedX said: Firewire plugs do not fit into Thunderbolt sockets. You will need an adaptor. However which adaptor you need will depend on what sort of FW socket the interface has (FW400 - most likely - or FW800) and what sort of Thunderbolt sockets the Mac has - standard Thunderbolt or Thunderbolt using USB-C. However, and more importantly Firewire as a protocol was depreciated by Apple 10 years ago and many FW audio interfaces are no longer supported. Personally I wouldn't buy a FW one unless it was by RME. Yep, it's why I had to sell all my Firewire gear 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamIAm Posted June 1, 2022 Share Posted June 1, 2022 1 hour ago, Billy Bongo said: Hi All, Sniffing around a secondhand audio interface. The interface is Firewire. My Macbook Pro has Thunderbolt ports into Logic Pro. I'm not a techie so does anybody know if Firewire fits into Thunderbolt without an adaptor? Doesn't look as if it does. If not, is there an adaptor, cable etc.? Any foreseeable problems? Advice appreciated! Billy Actually, apologies to self-promote @Billy Bongo... but I've a rather nice Focusrite Scarlett USB-2 Audio interface listed for sale in the marketplace ... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy Bongo Posted June 1, 2022 Author Share Posted June 1, 2022 3 hours ago, Beedster said: Yep, it's why I had to sell all my Firewire gear Cheers for that Beedster! I would have liked a Thunderbolt interface (mine are minis on the Macbook) but the price is prohibitive even secondhand, so I was trying to get speed without paying. They kill you for that in Sheffield. My Macbook is still on Yosemite OS, so some modern interfaces won't work with it, but I love Yosemite. Latency is my bugbear having had numerous i/o's that claimed zero latency but always had it. Ah well... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted June 1, 2022 Share Posted June 1, 2022 The best method for avoiding recording latency is to monitor in hardware rather than software. Might actually be a more cost-effective route for you. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy Bongo Posted June 1, 2022 Author Share Posted June 1, 2022 3 hours ago, Smanth said: Actually, apologies to self-promote @Billy Bongo... but I've a rather nice Focusrite Scarlett USB-2 Audio interface listed for sale in the marketplace ... No apologies necessary. Thanks, Smanth, it's a good piece of kit but I had one of these a few years ago and had much trouble with it, so I have an aversion to Focusrite even though they make some great products and are used by people I respect (and that's not many). Probably go for Audion, M-Audio etc., if I can't source a Thunderbolt input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy Bongo Posted June 1, 2022 Author Share Posted June 1, 2022 6 minutes ago, BigRedX said: The best method for avoiding recording latency is to monitor in hardware rather than software. Might actually be a more cost-effective route for you. That's a good point. Cheers BRX. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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