OT: Audio Interface for Laptop in the field

Tinle wrote on 6/23/2006, 6:39 PM

I want to be able to record audio onto my laptop via an audio interface which provides both phantom power and XLR compatible connections. Two mics are enough.

My laptop is a current model HP Centrino Duo with four (4) pin firewire, 1 gig ram, 5400 rpm harddrive, and several USB 2 connections. It also has both a standard PCMCIA card slot vacant, and also a new style Express Card slot vacant.

I went looking today for PCMCIA or Express Card six (6) pin firewire adapter cards and found several. Unfortunately – the folks at Firewire-194.com emailed me to say: “No CardBus card or ExpressCard will supply FireWire power on it's own. You must have an external power supply connected to the card in order for it to supply the power on the extra to wires in the FireWire interface. (there is not enough amperage in the in either the PCMCIA CardBus bus or the ExpressCard bus to provide full FireWire power).”

So it seems that Firewire will not work without being tethered to a 120 AC power source-a real limitation for mobile recording outdoors. The folks at M-Audio confirmed that they have no alternate power options for the FW 410 for truly mobile recording.

Turning to USB based devices – I found the following:

M-Audio Mobile Pre 2 XLR’s 16 bit/48Hz phantom power $150
Tapco USB Link 2 XLR’s 24bit/96Hz phantom power $150
Tascam 122 2 XLR’s 24 bit/96Hz phantom power $180
M-Audio Fastrack Pro 2 XLR’s 24 bit/96Hz phantom power $180
Edirol UA-25 2 XLR’s 24 bit/96Hz phantom power $230

I would welcome suggestions.

Comments

MichaelS wrote on 6/23/2006, 6:52 PM
A bit pricey, but well worth the $$$...MOTU Traveler! Owned mine for about a year now and constantly finding new ways to use it. The power thing...well...that's a problem.
farss wrote on 6/23/2006, 7:29 PM
It's not that hard to comeup with your own battery solution and there's a few universal Li-Ion battery packs available as well.

I've bought quite a bit from http://www.batteryspace.com/ to solve many battery problems.

This thing here:
http://www.notebook-laptop-batteries.com/others/Universal-External-Battery/EDC001U.htm

would run the 410 for at least one hour, probably quite a bit more.
Steve Mann wrote on 6/24/2006, 12:24 AM
I use the Presonus Firepod (8-channels) and it uses a 12VC supply, so a pattery pack works in the field. They also make a 2CH version called the Firebox, but it's less than $100 difference, so I recomend the Firepod unless size is an issue.

Steve M.

StevenBell wrote on 6/24/2006, 7:22 PM
I could have sworn I did a stereo field recording of birds using two large diaphragm condensors and my MBox and my Dell. Once again, kind of pricy, but it is firewire, has two decent Focusrite mic pres.
Coursedesign wrote on 6/24/2006, 9:00 PM
The Mbox 2 that replaced their discontinued Mbox is still USB 1.1 only, no firewire, and no more Focusrite preamps, but hopefully it now works with Dell computers (there was an unfixed compatibility problem with the first version), and Mbox 2 has less distortion and more headroom than before (which was the #1 user complaint).

It still sounds muddier than the PreSonus Firepod, which seems overall to be the best product in the $500 range. Preamps that "are equal to Focusrite Green", real Firewire, 8 micpres + 2 line inputs, good reliability, good company support, ...

The PreSonus Firebox is similar but has only 2 mic/line inputs, for less than $300.
arenel wrote on 6/27/2006, 7:58 AM
I have been thinking about the Alesis Firewire Mixer into a laptop with Vegas or .... You would need a battery power supply for fieldwork, but you would get 4 mic inputs plus 2 stereo lines. You could move up to the 12 or 16 input and have more inputs. The Alesis 8 is only $284 at BSW with rebate.
BrianStanding wrote on 6/27/2006, 8:10 AM
Another option would be a Cardbus option like the Echo Indigo I/O and a portable mike pre-amp.
plasmavideo wrote on 6/27/2006, 8:18 AM
"M-Audio Mobile Pre 2 XLR’s 16 bit/48Hz phantom power $150"

I'm using one of these in our news reporter's audio v/o booth and have found it to be quite nice. Quiet preamps and no problems.