• Registered: 2007-05-01
  • Posts: 11

Topic: Which gear to replace FF800 ?

Hi, I don't know where I can post this topic, so I post it here, sorryif it is the wrong place.

I've been using my FF800 for a long time, maybe 2003 or 2004. First on a PC then on Macs.

I have to run Cubase on a PC I'll build on this occasion.

But I have not found any PCIe 4.0 controller card to connect my firewire gear. I post a question about this on the Vintage Stuff

forum but If I have no answer I'll buy a new card. An RME of course, but which one?

I like very much Fireface UFX+ but is it compatible with Thunderbolt 3? If not, how many tracks can I get with a USB 3.1 port?

Otherwise, is there a PCIe 4.0 gear, with a rack with 8 Ins and Outs (or more) like the FF800?

Thanks in advance for your help, I'm sorry if the message is  not clear but I'm confused.

Regards,

Edmond

2 Reply by ramses (edited by ramses 2020-08-09 17:40:25)

  • ramses
  • DAW Mastermind
  • Offline
  • From: UTC+1
  • Registered: 2012-10-14
  • Posts: 13,184

Re: Which gear to replace FF800 ?

1st of all .. PCIe 4.0 is very new and there is currently no hardware out, that can make use of the higher PCIe 4.x bandwidth. PCIe 4.0 is irrelevant for recording. Even RMEs most performant MADI solution (HDSPe MADI FX with 3 MADI buses and 390 channels) is a simple PCIe card which requires only one PCIe Lane and will work even on PCIe 2.x. Maybe even PCIe 1.x (not 100% sure).

Next .. Windows 10 has no Firewire support anymore, you need to install the Firewire legacy driver separately.
How long this will be supported and works, nobody know. Technology-wise Firewire is simply a dead horse since a couple if years.

Nowadays everybody usually uses USB, PCIe or Thunderbolt based solutions.
And remember, RME drivers are so well written, the driver support even 68 i/o ports over USB2 (see MADIface Pro).

If you know the UFX+ then you should have seen yourself, that the 94 i/o ports (in and out) are supported for both connection types: USB3 and Thunderbolt. Even USB2 is supported for 30 channels operation without MADI.

The UFX+ is a phantastic interface, you can't do wrong with it.

Look what you get, whats possible:

Features: https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/ind … 8-RME-UFX/

DAW performance: https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/ind … cks-de-en/

My use cases: https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/ind … -DURec-DE/

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub14

3 Reply by ramses (edited by ramses 2020-08-09 19:39:03)

  • ramses
  • DAW Mastermind
  • Offline
  • From: UTC+1
  • Registered: 2012-10-14
  • Posts: 13,184

Re: Which gear to replace FF800 ?

Some information from this thread will also be of interest to you, why the UFX+ is an excellent choice:

https://forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.php?pid=157412

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub14
  • Registered: 2007-05-01
  • Posts: 11

Re: Which gear to replace FF800 ?

Thank you ramses, I do appreciate all the information you give.
You wrote 'UFX+ can be connected to a USB3 port or even USB2 and Thunderbolt. I assume it is Thunderbolt 2. So I have to get a Thunderbolt 3 => 2 adapter, right?
Edmond
p.s: your sound example ' Maybe Tomorrow.mp3 ' is too short ;-))  I would have preferred the whole song!!!

  • ramses
  • DAW Mastermind
  • Offline
  • From: UTC+1
  • Registered: 2012-10-14
  • Posts: 13,184

Re: Which gear to replace FF800 ?

AFAIR Thunderbolt 1+2 ports are the same. 3->2 should be fine.

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub14