Re: AW: Low Lantecy Soundcard for Laptop Gig

[Jeffrey Larson <jeff@zonemobius.com>]

 >      Original USB - 12 Mbps
 >      USB 2.0  - 480 Mbps
 >      FireWire 400   - 393.216 Mbps
 >      FireWire 800 - 786.432 Mbps
 >      PCMCIA (PC Card) / CardBus, Type I or Type II (32 bit PCMCIA) -  
132Mbps

We've probably beaten this horse enough already, but just to make sure,
you can't predict what the latency of these devices will be by looking
at their maximum bandwidth.  A FireWire 800 interface will not  
necessarily
give you lower latency than a USB 2.0 interface.  Depending on other  
factors,
it may be slightly better but it certainly won't be twice as fast.

The only reason you might need FireWire 800 rather than 400 is if you
are doing massive multitracking.  A solo performer looping a single
stereo 44.1 Kbps signal will never get anywhere near the bandwidth
limit of USB 1.0 let alone Firewire 400.

That isn't to say that all USB 1.0 interfaces work as well as an RME
400.  There are other important considerations like how well the OS
handles USB and firewire devices and especially how well the device
drivers are written.

USB 1.0 devices have a spotty history.  They are generally best
avoided though I have an M-Audio Black Box that works just fine at 5ms
latency.  It's a crap shoot, though certain brands do tend to work
more consistently than others.

Jeff