Go for dedicated Firewire PCI !

Taken off M-Audio's Website


Q. Why is a dedicated FireWire card with a Texas Instruments (TI) chipset important on a PC?

A.
FireWire was developed by a partnership of Apple, Texas Instruments, and several other companies. FireWire is a great method for transferring streaming data like audio and video, which require a lot of bandwidth and CANNOT have the signal interrupted without serious degradation to the signal. Because this format was developed by Apple, the architecture is optimized for Apple systems. Some PC manufacturers don’t do as well as others integrating this technology.

PC’s base their architecture on a system of interrupts, and typically use synchronous data transfer. FireWire uses asynchronous data transfer, or a specialized version of asynchronous data transfer called isochronous data transfer. Synchronous transfer will guarantee that data packages will be delivered, but will not guarantee that they will be delivered at a certain time. Asynchronous transfer guarantees that packages will be delivered at a certain time, but if there is interference or delay, the packages may be dropped and will not be re-sent. This means that no data will be lost when using synchronous mode, but it could happen that packages are delivered late because they are re-sent if they are lost for some reason. For audio, it's useless if packages arrive late. Late audio is delayed audio and pauses in the audio. The guarantee that audio is delivered on-time is what s important to digital audio; and that's why FireWire audio devices use the asynchronous transfer. Any lost packages will appear as audio drop outs. So, as you can see it is important that FireWire data is not interrupted. However, PC architecture (ACPI) is built on the concept of interrupts. While the interrupts of Windows systems may be problematic, firewire audio can operate efficiently if the data is managed correctly.

This is where the FireWire controller chipset is VERY important. Because timing is so important, there are many controls which manage the FireWire bus to ensure the high transfer rate. The FireWire controller must initialize and release FireWire devices connected to the computer, communicate with all FireWire devices connected to the bus, assist those devices in dedicating a single clock for the timing of the entire FireWire bus, manage the electrical power distributed to the devices, construct a hierarchy of device priority in the system, and manage the data being transferred. There are several FireWire chipset developers that build chips that are significantly cheaper than Texas Instruments, and for this reason, PC manufacturers are starting to use these less expensive chipsets. Unfortunately, many of these other chipsets are not as reliable as those manufactured by Texas Instruments. M-Audio cannot simply say only use Texas Instruments chipsets, because some of these other controllers actually work very well, and M-Audio does not want to endorse any particular manufacturer. Some firewire chipset manufacturers are improving the quality of their controllers, but when problems are encountered, the chipset is the first place to look. When a chipset is in question, M-Audio does recommend using the controller chipsets which have a history of being the most reliable.

Even if your motherboard has an on-board FireWire controller with a Texas Instruments chipset, you may encounter problems because all onboard devices, including the FireWire controller, are run through the Southbridge of the processor. This means that there is a lot of traffic that the FireWire signal must compete with for access to the processor (all USB, onboard audio, onboard video, serial ports, network controllers, etc...). Data coming from all of these devices creates a bottleneck and greatly increases the chance of the FireWire signal being interrupted. The interrupted data is dropped to maintain the delivery time of the rest of the data. When too much data is dropped, the audio signal may be appear as distorted, completely dropped, or the computer may even drop the connection with the FireWire audio device. To avoid this on a PC, we always advise installing a dedicated FireWire card. This is because the PCI bus runs to the Northbridge of the processor. The Northbridge provides more reliable access to the processor because it only manages the data from the PCI, AGP, and memory.

Art of Mixing Seminar by SSL

Dear Friends, Media Industry and SSL Enthusiast

Solid State Logic - The Art of Mixing Seminar

Damien Egan direct from Solid State Logic, Oxford•England a.ka. Phattbelly will present SSL’s Duende and Pro-Convert. These products are a must have for serious engineers/producers. Learn tips and tricks in perfecting your mixes using SSL's pristine audio tools. Phattbelly's previous success includes his work on UK's No.1 hit album "If You Come Back" by Blue signed to Innocent Records. He also co-wrote tracks for two others albums: ”The Artful Dodger" and "All About The Stragglers”, Which sold over 500,000 copies as well as the UK Top 20 hit "Luv U Anyway" by Denada. He also co-produced five tracks for kool & The Gang's "The Hits Reloaded" album.

Your are cordially invited to SSL- The Art of Mixing Seminar

Date: 23rd May, Saturday

Time: 2.30pm to 5pm

Location: Singapore Management University Administration Building

81 Victorial Street – opp Carlton HotelLevel 4, Seminar Room(pls park in SMU Admin Bldg, Nearest MRT: City Hall)

Presenters: Mr Damien Egan

RSVP, Jerome – 81112020, or E: jerome@steinbergasia.com.sg

We look forward to seeing you at the seminar.

Not often do we get such a free seminar. Thanks Steinberg Asia!

Bricasti Design's M7

M10 remote

Bricasti Design

Thanks Brian for loaning the M7 from Bricasti Design for testing.

It's a great reverb unit. Tons of very useful patches, which can be recalled at an instance. Hence it's versatility in enhancing every application.

I guess the only drawback is the lack of reverbs with more pronouced delays. Wasn't able to to set one that works during RP's Student Life Activity Fiesta '09. But it worked wonders for Dikir Barat and band performances.

Orientation Programme '09 @ RP

TRCC's 1st outdoor show for 2009. Fairly simple setup but not with a few hiccups. Since I was tied down with another show, I wasn't able to be on-site to supervise tentage setup.

Thankfully solutions weren't too far away.

I thought it's a great idea to be able to think out of the norm in favour for convenience and ease. Apparantly, looks and appearance matters over everything for some

Lighting boys

Some monkeys at work

The Ninja exposed!

Avolite Diamond 4

Digidesign Venue Profile

Jerey loves his subs!

Dragonforce Live in Singapore '09

Bhelliom secured the opening slot for 'Guitar Hero' idols.

Pre-production talks went on to show the organiser wasn't very prepared for such touring bands. Many details weren't confirmed and everyone had to make do with what comes. Very frustrating at this age of Hi-tech communication tools. Eventually, the opening act suffered.

Here's the result from 15mins setup and 20min soundcheck.

Yamaha's O2R96 was my weapon

That's my lovely bass! :)

Dragonforce

Yamaha's SB168-ES Ethernet Networking System

Dear Yamaha Pro Audio Users,



Yamaha has recently released its Stage Box SB168-ES and we are launching our product on April 17, 2009, 1:30 in the afternoon at our YDACC. On this event we are going to conduct a seminar regarding "Networking Audio" together with our new product "SB168-ES and IMX644" We will also show you how this device is being interconnected via Ethersound Networking.



With this, we are inviting you to attend our products launch and to register, pls click at this link provided http://www.yamaha.com.sg/Event_Reg_PA.html so we could count you in. The deadline for sending in your email registration form is on April 09, 2009 at 2PM. We are going to confirm further on your attendance on this event!

Thank you!

For assistance, just in case you are unable to click on the link above. Please copy and paste this on your URL Address on your current web page ( http://www.yamaha.com.sg/Event_Reg_PA.html ) or call us for more details.

Lou Garcia

Email: louriz_garcia@gmx.yamaha.com

Gordon Lee
Email: gordon_lee@gmx.yamaha.com



Lawrence Tan
Email: lawrence_tan@gmx.yamaha.com



We hope to see you on our SB168-ES launching event! Best Regards, PA/CA Department Yamaha Music (Asia) Pte Ltd Tel: +65 6740-9821 Fax: 65-67472668

Cubase 5 Launch @ SMU

Steinberg Cubase 5

Dear Friends, Media Industry and Cubase Communities

25 Years and Still Getting Better – Cubase 5 Launch

In the past 25 years, Steinberg has been creating software with the aim of supporting musicians, composers and producers in realizing their artistic dreams. Cubase 5 represents the apex of this development, incorporating not only all the engineering know-how but also the many years of working with our customers that have been key to Cubase becoming the worlds most popular music production software.

Your are cordially invited to Cubase 5 launch, the first Asian Official Launch

Date: 25th Apr, Saturday 2009
Time: 2.30pm to 5pm
Location: Singapore Management University Administration Building
81 Victorial Street – opp Carlton Hotel
Level 4, Seminar Room
(pls park in SMU Admin Bldg, Nearest MRT: City Hall)

Presenters: Mr Evan Roberts and Mr Raymond John Rodrigues

RSVP, Eugene – 9487 2302, or E: eugene@steinbergasia.com.sg

We look forward to seeing you at the launch.

Best Regards
Eugene Guo
Steinberg Media Technologies Asia