Lightbridge questions: latency, laptops and firewire cards.

[scoobydoo]

Seriously considering replacing my aging Digi 001 with a Lighbridge/M-powered setup. Got a few questions first:


I know they're picky about the type of firewire interface you use. If the one on my (future) laptop proved to be incompatible, will it run well off a PCMCIA firewire card and which ones have proven to work well?

Also, I assume it wouldn't like it if I used an external firewire hard drive on the same firewire port, so would it behave well with the drive on the built-in firewire port and the Lightbridge on a PCMCIA firewire card?


Seems most people think that the lack of hardware monitoring doesn't present much of a problem as it runs ducky at a 128 samples buffer setting and they can't hear the latency. I'm assuming at some point you might have to do an overdub while a lot of tracks and plug are being used. Has anybody run across a problem situation concerning this? Would I wind up having to dump a lot of plugs and make a lot of tracks inactive just to keep the latency under control while doing overdubs? I'd be using my home PC for pretty much all ovedubs and it's a dual core 3ghz Athlon 2X with 2 gigs ram, fast SATA HD's. I would expect the problem to show up more often if I was working on an older laptop of course (see below). Should I worry about this?

Do the external 8 channel pre's with A/D converters introduce any extra latency into the chain?


How well does it run on an older laptop? Say 1.5 ghz with 512 or 1 meg ram? As much as I'd like to be able to buy a Macbook Pro it's not going to happen but I need the capability to track 24-32 tracks live to HD . What can I expect from a slightly old laptop with an external Firewire HD at at least 7200rpm? Would this rig be stable enough that I could track a show I was playing without having to babysit it? Most likely at 24/48. I can do 48 tracks to my SATA drive on my PC at that resolution no problem.


And one more thing, how would I clock 2 or 3 external 8 channel mic pre's and the Lightbridge together? BNC cables in serial jumping from out to in all along the chain using the Lightbridge as a clock? I've never had to clock anymore then 2 things together.



Thanks folks. Looking forward to your answers.

[detroitkruk]

great questions...i hope someone answers with some hands on experience not just "do a search" or "i think" answers...

i'm really intrigued by this device...it looks like a serious contender to "bridge" between le and tdm to me...

detroitkruk

[scoobydoo]

Bump!

Anyone....important questions here!

[TechKnowledgy]

The built-in FW ports on PC's are usually problematic when it comes to audio interfaces. You'll definitely want to look into a FireWire expansion card with a Texas Instruments (TI) chipset to run the interface. The built-in port should be fine for a FireWire hard drive. Don't connect the HD to the expansion card (or same FW bus) because it'll conflict with the FW interface (pops, clicks, crackles, dropouts).

Other than the S/PDIF I/O, an 8ch A/D is the only way to get audio into the Lightbridge, so I don't think it's going to affect latency.

I don't have a Lightbridge and haven't used one, but 1.5GHz is below the minimum requirements so I wouldn't expect reliable performance. While I've read certain versions accidentally allowed for it, Pro Tools only supports up to 18 i/o.

Depending on your interfaces, there are numerous ways to sync everything. Make sure you have word clock properly setup/terminated because I think that's one of the most common problems when setting up the Lightbridge.

http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=support&tab=faqs&serie_ID=&x=0&y=0&ke ywords="sync+setup"

[detroitkruk]

still lookin' for someone who's bought and used this thing...love to hear the scoop.

detroitkruk

[SteveD@DAWPRO]

Scan my posts. Lot's of problems.

I'm switching from AMD Opteron DAW to an Intel Core 2 quad next week.

Fingers crossed the PFLB will behave after that and I can use my Apogee converters with PT.

[TNDoug]

I made the jump from Digi 001 to PFLB about 6 months ago. I can say that I am very pleased with the additional functionality of PT 7.4. However, I can say definitively that you WILL have problems working on a laptop with a PCMCIA card. I was terrified by the prospect of uninstalling PTLE 6.4 and the 001 and not being able to get the LB working on my studio rig so I tried to install the LB on my laptop first. It is an HP Pavilion ZV5000 P4 3.2GHz machine which handles PTLE 7 on an MBox 2 with no problems. It does not have an internal firewire port so I bought a Belkin PCMCIA card, based on the TI protocol, for it and could not get PTMP to launch. I found some compatibility doc that stated that PCMCIA cards were not compatible with the lightbridge (sorry no reference found). Finally, I ended up buying a new computer from a DUCer and hooked up the LB to it so I didn't have to tear down my studio set up while working out the bugs. I am please to report that with the LB and a Digimax LT Protools records 8 tracks at a time flawlessly with as much or less latency than the 001. Also, there are guys on the Gearslutz forum that have been able to utilize the entire 34 in 36 out with PTLE (7.1 I think) without being thwarted by PTLE built in limit of 18 I/O. I believe that this was "corrected" in subsequent software updates. So, in conclusion, I think you will be very happy with the LB, but don't think you will have a workable system if you go with a laptop and PCMCIA card. Upgrading hardware was a hard decision for me since the 001 was rock solid, but the new features of 7.x make it totally worth it.

Good Luck,
Doug

[Andi]

Hi there,

bumping this post, cause I'm also considering replacing the desktop / Digi 001 setup with a Lighbridge/M-powered + laptop, and I'm looking at several laptops right now.

I guess the compatibility issues are the same as with PTLE, so the 2 HP notebooks and the macbooks are the only core2duo laptops officially supported?

I see M-Audio lists a SIIG FireWire ExpressCard as a compatible adapter, so that should work, regardless of the built-in FW port.

Any more insight from lightbridge / laptop users about your setup is welcome.

- Andi

[wildplum]

I do not have time to give a full resposne right now (i am getting ready for a studio session in an hour, but given the "urgency" expressed in your last post I thought I would throw in a word of caution. THat word is "don't" - at least not until you've heard from someone who has successfully done this AND can duplicate their system in every detail. I am running PT-m on a HP nw9440 (a DIGI APPROVED LAPTOP) with a SIIG firewire cardbus thingy (ALSO DIGI APPROVED) and i have had a ton of problems. i have found work arounds for most of them (one critical one still eludes me: trying to mix lightpipe inputs with the SPDIF produces either no signal or one full of clicks- i did a search of DUC and found someone else who had the same problem), but it has been a PITA. everything has to be set up and done "just so" or no go. I run PT-HD in the studio, so i got the m-power laptop solution to handle remotes and went with digi approved gear to make sure it would work (this is my livelihood). i am seriously considering going to cubase for the remotes and live with the PITA of having to inport the cubase recorded tracks into my studio HD system for mixing. If i am having headahces with DIGI APPROVED gear, what can you expect with an non-approved laptop, let alone "an older" laptop?

i too would love to hear from someone who has made this thing work flawlessly, every time, 18 simultaneous inputs, 2 hours of continous recording. a real test- and one that this exteacher can give Digidesign only a D+ (but i was always a generous grader).

-paul

[Andi]

Thanks a lot!

It's a pity there's so many problems, as, on paper, the lightbridge looks like the affordable and reasonable solution to get more than 8 outboard pres into PT.

I'm considering to just go for it, get the lightbridge & the laptop at the same time, and try to get it working during the 14 day return period

- Andi