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No firewire on 2012 MBP | How will we record?

J

justr0llin

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 28, 2010
4
0
As some of you may know (and others soon will), Apple axed firewire from the new MacBook Pro models.

My question is: What do you think will happen to the future of recording after this?

Firewire has been a popular choice for audio interfaces for a long time, but now with the absence of it from new MBP's, what will users be left to use?

Will there be new audio interfaces to support USB 3.0/ Thunderbolt? Or will recording enthusiasts be forced to find an alternative?
 
I got a MacBook Air in February and it doesn't have firewire either, so my M-Audio firewire interface was no longer useful. I got an Alesis iO2 Express USB interface, which has more features (such as MIDI) and it works great in Logic 9. It only cost $90, which was less that I thought I would have to spend for a new interface.
 
justr0llin said:
As some of you may know (and others soon will), Apple axed firewire from the new MacBook Pro models.

My question is: What do you think will happen to the future of recording after this?

Firewire has been a popular choice for audio interfaces for a long time, but now with the absence of it from new MBP's, what will users be left to use?

Will there be new audio interfaces to support USB 3.0/ Thunderbolt? Or will recording enthusiasts be forced to find an alternative?
Click to expand...

huh? my new mbp has fw 800
 
infowarfare said:
But that's not what the OP was talking about, he was talking about the MBP model that do NOT have Firewire, so why are you being such an bu**hole about it? Just curious...
Click to expand...

I'm not. The OP was asking why FW was dropped from the new mbps. It hasn't:confused: The majority of the new mbps have FW still

Where did he specify the retina only? He asked why it was axed from the new mbps. I replied I just got a new mbp and it has it.
 
dukebound85 said:
I'm not. The OP was asking why FW was dropped from the new mbps. It hasn't:confused: The majority of the new mbps have FW still

Where did he specify the retina only? He asked why it was axed from the new mbps. I replied I just got a new mbp and it has it.
Click to expand...

You ARE. Everyone else knew what he was talking about except you, and now you are arguing about it. Grow up!
 
infowarfare said:
You ARE. Everyone else knew what he was talking about except you, and now you are arguing about it. Grow up!
Click to expand...

Whatever you say. To my defense, I genuinely thought the op was referring to all new models, not just one when I made my initial post.

Why you are being so sensitive is beyond me but thank you so much for being mature.
 
Solution: Don't buy the Retina model, get the normal 15" that's what I plan on doing, then clinging onto it for as long as possible until FW, RJ-45, and optical discs are completely dead (not just dying) so I can still use all the stuff I still have
 
I'm hoping some mid-/high-end interfaces will support Thunderbolt in a year.

RME UFX with Thunderbolt. Yes, yes! YES!!!
 
Three options:

1. Get a new 2012 "thick" MacBook Pro, or any other current Apple computer with Firewire

2. Get the Thunderbolt to Firewire 800 Adapter.

3. Move on from Firewire and find a different solution.
 
I would love to see thunderbolt interfaces, they just don't exist yet, but they would have even lower latency than FW and more bandwidth for more stuff... *drools dreaming about the mount of channels of uncompressed DXD Audio you could pump across TB*
 
PAPO said:
I would love to see thunderbolt interfaces, they just don't exist yet, but they would have even lower latency than FW and more bandwidth for more stuff... *drools dreaming about the mount of channels of uncompressed DXD Audio you could pump across TB*
Click to expand...

Well, here's one you can "see" now (watch video below). The apollo thunderbolt card is suppose to be available summer/2012, so invest ~$2000 (and up) in the Universal Audio Apollo audio interface now and then spend a little more money for the add-on plug-in Thunderbolt interface when it's out.

 
localoid said:
Well, here's one you can "see" now (watch video below). The apollo thunderbolt card is suppose to be available summer/2012, so invest ~$2000 (and up) in the Universal Audio Apollo audio interface now and then spend a little more money for the add-on plug-in Thunderbolt interface when it's out.
Click to expand...

if I was working professionally at the moment I would be all over that thing :p especially when it doubles as a FW hub :D
 
I'm waiting for whichever of the following get a T-bolt interface first: Apogee Ensemble, RME UFX or Aurora Lynx.
 
Hasn't there been a couple of breakout boxes already announced? T/B out to a couple of everything (USB/VGA/FW/Ethernet, et al)...seems like a couple have been on the 'Front' page of MR over the past 60 days.

I think we'll see a significant uptick in T/B peripherals now that the one year Intel/Apple moratorium is over...and Windows PCs will now support the same. With Ivy Bridge (and it's built in T/B support) & Windows 8...it seems inevitable the industry will begin the invention process.

Not to say F/W is on it's way out...but the pure speed increase of BOTH USB 3.0 and T/B, I'm not so sure we need the legacy connection much longer. Using already purchased gear is obviously the primary concern of most of us (Almost all my HDD scratch and backup storage is F/W 800)...BUT, those peripherals will age along with our computers. Inexpensive solutions aren't out yet, but they're coming. I'm surprised (I just picked up an 11" 2012 Air) just how ubiquitous USB 3 has become...on all of the little portable hard drives from Seagate, Western Digital, etc...seems like they all have USB 3 now. Being that USB 3 is over 5 times faster than F/W 800...it's a welcome addition for me. However, the mechanical HDD is the bottleneck...now it's (as far as storage is concerned) a hurry up and wait for those SSD prices to continue their free fall:)

If you did buy an Air or rMBP for audio/video production, Apple (as mentioned previously) should have T/B to F/W and GB Ethernet available shortly. I'm excited to see what the forthcoming iteration of the Cinema Display has in the way of connections!

J
 
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