Pro Tools USB Streaming Question

[acmost]

I got a question here…hope it makes sense. Referring to Pro Tools just because but obviously it could be any DAW. I'm coming from HD so I stopped thinking about this stuff awhile ago.

We're talking everything strictly ITB…evrything's being routed eventually to a Stereo Master which is outputing into two channels of an Aurora. What's happening during playback?

Let's say it's a 100 channel Mix Session. 100 total of Audio & Auxes. That's all in PT software in the box. The only thing 'streaming' down USB to the Aurora is a Stereo Mix…correct? The USB connection has no affect upon how many channels of audio, VIs, RTAS…etc etc etc are going on in the PT session. A stereo pair of audio is the only thing USB is 'seeing'...well & the Aurora Clock. Is that correct? What else is happening? Everything else is done by the CPU even before the USB out. So…the amount of ITB channels I use has no bearing on the USB out…that's all crunched by PT/CPU before it leaves the Computer. Right?

Now I/O & latency is a totally different story…right?
A PCIe card whether it's RME, PT Native, LYnx AES16e, etc...what would be 'tighter' about that for just a stereo mix out....not talking about recording.
I totally get that USB can be iffy...and especially if you have other stuff going on the USB bus. I'm more interested about does USB have any bearing on the actual ITB Mix Session. Hope it made sense.

Thanks!

[jasonthurley]

USB 3.0 is faster than firewire 800:
FireWire 800 = 800 Mbit/s
USB 3.0 = 5 Gbit/s

[acmost]

Good to know but I wasn't asking about that...

still good to know though!

[albee1952]

Originally Posted by acmost

I got a question here…hope it makes sense. Referring to Pro Tools just because but obviously it could be any DAW. I'm coming from HD so I stopped thinking about this stuff awhile ago.

We're talking everything strictly ITB…evrything's being routed eventually to a Stereo Master which is outputing into two channels of an Aurora. What's happening during playback?

Let's say it's a 100 channel Mix Session. 100 total of Audio & Auxes. That's all in PT software in the box. The only thing 'streaming' down USB to the Aurora is a Stereo Mix…correct? The USB connection has no affect upon how many channels of audio, VIs, RTAS…etc etc etc are going on in the PT session. A stereo pair of audio is the only thing USB is 'seeing'...well & the Aurora Clock. Is that correct? What else is happening? Everything else is done by the CPU even before the USB out. So…the amount of ITB channels I use has no bearing on the USB out…that's all crunched by PT/CPU before it leaves the Computer. Right?

Now I/O & latency is a totally different story…right?
A PCIe card whether it's RME, PT Native, LYnx AES16e, etc...what would be 'tighter' about that for just a stereo mix out....not talking about recording.
I totally get that USB can be iffy...and especially if you have other stuff going on the USB bus. I'm more interested about does USB have any bearing on the actual ITB Mix Session. Hope it made sense.

Thanks!

First part-I believe you to be exactly right. The second part is a bit unclear as to what you are saying/asking. Can you re-phrase the question? I/O and Latency are 2 different subjects and I can't follow your train of thought here. In any case, the method of audio streaming(USB, PCIe, FW, etc) has no bearing on mixing ITB. Latency during playback is a non-issue during mixing, UNLESS you have hardware inserts. Since you describe strictly ITB mixing, then its a non-issue, even if you have plugins on the master that total several thousand samples(or even several seconds). Also, you tossed the word "tighter" but its unclear what you mean Tighter timing or tighter sound(as in tighter low end)??

[acmost]

Originally Posted by albee1952

First part-I believe you to be exactly right. The second part is a bit unclear as to what you are saying/asking. Can you re-phrase the question? I/O and Latency are 2 different subjects and I can't follow your train of thought here. In any case, the method of audio streaming(USB, PCIe, FW, etc) has no bearing on mixing ITB. Latency during playback is a non-issue during mixing, UNLESS you have hardware inserts. Since you describe strictly ITB mixing, then its a non-issue, even if you have plugins on the master that total several thousand samples(or even several seconds). Also, you tossed the word "tighter" but its unclear what you mean Tighter timing or tighter sound(as in tighter low end)??

Thanks for the reply..."tighter" i just meant with my 002 & same Mac I was always losing the Firewire Connection. I'm sure the USB has a mind of it's own at times also. PCIe is a little more solid I would believe. Lynx says the clock's the same with the Aurora whether I'm using LT-HD or LT-USB.

When I said latency, obviously I meant recording...

Anyway...thanks for the reply