USB recording devices for powerbook G4?, USB recording devices for powerbook G4 Options

[Frizzy Lizzy]

hi. I have a powerbook G4 and am looking to record voice and guitar onto Pro Tools Free. I have been reading your posts about audiosport quattro and other devices. i was wondering if anyone could compare Emagic Emi 2/6 with M-Audio USB Duo? is the Duo even on the market anymore? I heard that there were problems... Also is it possible to get perfect time recording with USB? i know firewire is much better but is the sound quality really that noticable if the mics are good? also can someone explain the benefit of having a midi port? if you wanted to use sound effects or a keyboard couldnt you mic it in okay? and also does anyone with a laptop have a delta series m-audio device? ok thats it thanks if you can anwers any of these... love rachel

[DigitMus]

I haven't used the Audiosport, but the Edirol will do a decent job, if you make an extension set (with all USB extensions not needed for audio turned off) specifically for audio work. I have a pretty high-end home studio (I use mic pre-amps & converters that cost thousands of $$), so maybe I'm a little too critical of the USB audio devices. I have experienced pops & clicks at random times when using USB for audio - after a lot of troubleshooting, my best guess is that something was polling the USB buss, degrading the clock timing. These incidents were not consistant, happening maybe once out of 5 passes. I did find they happened less with an 'audio only' extension set, and were more likely to occur on longer pieces. It may be that the USB audio drivers at the time (this was over a year ago using OS 9.0.4) have been improved on in more recent OSs. I now use firewire (MOTU828) when I need to transfer digital audio into or out of my computers. It just does a better job for me. FWIW recent announcements from Apple & others suggest that USB audio on OS X will be (or perhaps allready is) rock solid.

Scott