Upgrading laptop for Dj setup... HELP!

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-- Upgrading laptop for Dj setup... HELP!

Posted by miamitranceman on Apr-11-2016 02:37:

Upgrading laptop for Dj setup... HELP!

Well I bit the bullet and upgraded to a new i7 Dell to make the move over to Traktor Scratch Pro 2, but I think I have a problem and I'm not sure it's curable.

I have an Ecler Evo 5 mixer which has a built in Traktor native sound card (good) but the only connection to it is FireWire (bad). My new laptop, like basically all new laptops these days, don't come with FireWire ports or an express card/pcmcia adaptor to add a FireWire port onto.

I've only got usb 3.0 but usb and FireWire are completely different formats.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do here as to the FireWire issue to be able to integrate it into my new laptop? Some sort of external converter box if one exists?

Thanks for suggestions! I really don't wanna drop the Ecler... I love it.

Posted by DJ RANN on Apr-14-2016 15:57:

Hey man, congrats on the the upgrade!

USB 3 has higher bandwidth that FW800 and in fact USB is the same as FW800....

but here's the bad news:

FW and USB are completely different protocols, bioth in terms of being peer to peer (FW) and master / slave (USB). They also have completely different power specs (USB = 5v, FW 8v+).

In other words there's no adapter or cable that will let you convert a USB port to accept a FW device.

The good news: You can get a USB hub that has firewire ports in it.

http://www.usbgear.com/USBG-1394-USB.html

I have no idea how well it will work but it should at least give you the connectivity.

Posted by miamitranceman on Apr-15-2016 12:34:

quote:
Originally posted by DJ RANN
Hey man, congrats on the the upgrade!

USB 3 has higher bandwidth that FW800 and in fact USB is the same as FW800....

but here's the bad news:

FW and USB are completely different protocols, bioth in terms of being peer to peer (FW) and master / slave (USB). They also have completely different power specs (USB = 5v, FW 8v+).

In other words there's no adapter or cable that will let you convert a USB port to accept a FW device.

The good news: You can get a USB hub that has firewire ports in it.

http://www.usbgear.com/USBG-1394-USB.html

I have no idea how well it will work but it should at least give you the connectivity.

Thanks Rann! I'm wondering though does that hub you linked to actually do the required data conversion between usb and FireWire or is it just a plastic box with both connections on it?

Posted by miamitranceman on Apr-15-2016 12:38:

Just did a little research.... Looks like I'd still need a FireWire port on my new laptop. It doesn't covert the signals in any way.

Argh.

Posted by DJ RANN on Apr-15-2016 21:42:

Yeah, it's sadly a shitty situation.

You basically have to get a FW port on the laptop or at least a PCMCIA/express port to use anything FW.

EDIT: Actually, there may be a work around: you could get a USB to express card, then get a express card to USB adaptor. Will look like robofrankstein's cock, but it may work!

Posted by miamitranceman on Apr-21-2016 05:13:

Update.

Tried USB to expresscard and expresscard to FireWire and no luck. Did not recognize the mixer.

The good news is I busted out my 2007 core 2 duo MacBook Pro with built in FireWire 400 and 800 and it more than handles TSP2. Everything's good so far. Now I've gotta learn the new software!

Posted by discobiscuit on Apr-22-2016 16:25:

Mac