Fasttrack Pro or Firewire 410?

Dave Andrews · **Voice Talent** Joined: 10 Jan 2007 Posts: 23

Does anyone have an opinion on which is the best way to go between the Fast Track Pro or the Firewire 410? They're made by the same people. Is the Firewire 410 overkill for VO work? Will it work in a laptop with a firewire connection? It says it needs a "7 pin" firewire connection, which I'm unfamiliar with.

Thanks!

George Karnes · **Voice Talent** Joined: 26 Dec 2006 Posts: 905

I don't know about the first part of your question, but the 7 pin is the small Fire Waire connector you often see on video cameras.

Russ McLamb · **Voice Talent** Joined: 25 Jul 2003 Posts: 62

Dave,

I use the Presonus Firebox and it's firewire. The bigger plug into my main computer let's it run without beind plugged into a power outlet. It gets its power from the Firewire connection on the computer. Of course on a laptop the smaller plug is required which means it's needs to get it's power from an outlet.

Russ

Thomas C. Gass · **Voice Talent** Joined: 11 May 2006 Posts: 179

Dave
I use both units here - the 410 in the studio and the Fasttrack Pro with my laptop "on the road". THe 410 might be overkill just for VO work, but since I'm composing and producing music as well in my studio, it's a nice thing to have when you need a couple of tracks going to individual outputs.

The 410 will definitely work with a laptop - M-Audio suggests using the power adaptor if the 410 is connected by a 7-pin IEEE cable.

I personally went for the Fasttrack for the laptop because of these reasons:

- smaller gear (well at least a little bit)
- USB powered, so you don't need the power adaptor (= recording "in the woods")
- I hate these 7-pin mini plugs, 'cause I always have to wear my glasses for pluggin'em in Wink

Cheers,

Thomas

Dave Andrews · **Voice Talent** Joined: 10 Jan 2007 Posts: 23

Thanks for the good info. Unfortunately, I'm impatient and I had already purchased the 410. It arrived today.

I chose it mainly because it looks like a better product. From what I can see in photos, the Fasttrack Pro looks "plasticy", cheaper and of a lower quality. I don't have a lot of money to spend, so when I do spend it, I want something that gives me confidence that I'll have it for years. I got that feeling from the 410.

I also would have liked the fact that the Fasttrack Pro doesn't need an electrical source, but balanced with that I had read that USB devices just can't handle the same throughput as Firewire and I might get latency issues.

Maybe if I'm making decent money someday, I'll get the Fasttrack Pro as well, so I'll have a more portable solution, but for now, for me, it's the 410.

Now I just have to get it working properly with Adobe Audition 1.5, but that's for another thread.

Thanks again!
Dave