Firewire 400 to Thunderbolt

[MikePMay]

Hey group,

 

I have a new Mac. With that, came the move from Firewire to Thunderbolt for audio interface connectivity. Prior to the upgrade, I was using the PreSonus Inspire 1394 as my audio interface which is a Firewire 400 connection. I have seen adapters that convert Firewire 800 to Thunderbolt, but not 400 to Thunderbolt.

 

First, is anyone aware of such a conversion? Second, if I am SOL, what are your thoughts on Firewire 800 vs. USB 2.0 (or 3.0) should the result be that I purchase a new interface?

 

Thanks in advance, for your reply

 

Mike

[mmm42]

I have seen adapters that convert Firewire 800 to Thunderbolt, but not 400 to Thunderbolt.

 

You should be able to get an FW400->FW800 adapter for a few dollars, which then connects to the FW800->TB interface.

[Blue Monkey]

http://www.adorama.com/SNTFAD824.html

[joebingo]

you can just get a firewire 400-800 cable, I'm using one right now in fact. Saves on having multiple connectors lying around.

[basgroot]

Not all cables work well. I bought a new Belkin F3N417BT06 firewire 9-6pin cable for this. Every 20 seconds, the audio drops for 1 second. Not usable. Is this phenomenon known by ya'all?

 

(Of course by now I ordered the Sonnet adaptor mentioned here and recommended by Focusrite, but I want to know if I'm barking at the right tree, I got recordings planned shortly).

 

SUSPECTED FW800-400 BAD CABLE BELOW!!! Do not buy.

http://content.hwigroup.net/images/products/xl/194576/belkin_f3n417bt06apr.jpg

[MilesFocusrite]

Hi guys,

 

 

With our current range of Saffire interfaces, we would recommend the following for connecting to Thunderbolt;

 

A firewire 400-800 cable (under 2 meters in length). I've found the following cable to work well with my Pro 40; http://www.amazon.co.uk/Neet%C2%AE-FireWire-Cable-IEEE-1394b/dp/B00316V6LW/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1403777624&sr=8-4&keywords=firewire+400-800

 

Then use the official Apple Firewire 800-Thunderbolt adaptor. For stability, we would not recommend any third-party Thunderbolt adaptors as we have seen some reports of unstability/unsatisfactory results with third-party adaptors.

 

 

Hope this helps!

 

Miles

[basgroot]

ok, turns out the cable is just fine, so the Belkin cable is a Good Cable, sorry for the confusion ya'all.

 

Turns out it was the mastering plugin on my DAW, it jumped into demo mode because it detected I moved to a new Mac (hence the cable suspicion), and this stupid demo mode silences every 20 sec but doesn't say so, until you actually open it, dammit. After knowing that it was solved quickly.

 

Not to lose time, I already mail-ordered some other cables and plugs while discovering this, I'll test them and post the test results here and with Focusrite.

[Sound]

Is there such a thing as a Firewire -> Thunderbolt adaptor? To clarify: my iMac's Firewire port to a Thunderbolt device.

 

My iMac's pretty old in Apple years, but it works fine apart from the majorly slowed hard drive since El Capitan. I'm not prepared to invest in a new iMac just yet so I wanted to connect an SSD. Sadly Firewire SSDs almost don't exist (only one model and in the US after exhaustive searching) and it seems the Firewire -> Thunderbolt adaptor is similarly elusive.

 

I've seen people on other forums ask my question and being told they do exist, but do they? I sure as hell can't find any!

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[triplets]

Is there such a thing as a Firewire -> Thunderbolt adaptor? To clarify: my iMac's Firewire port to a Thunderbolt device.

 

No there isn't.

 

Thunderbolt is part of the computer's motherboard and is not an add-on.

[Sound]

Thanks I was trying to delay the inevitable - it's time to get a shiny new iMac.