I have a Powermac MDD 1GHz, and plan on using it for music, with basic recording and midi stuff. Now I'm looking at the new M-audio Firewire 410, which looks like a great audio interface for me, with audio and midi in/out. Well, my question is: are there any real advantages in having a firewire interface on a stationary machine as opposed to a PCI card. I mean is the firewire card only better for portable computers?
thanks!

Some people say the FireWire option is a good one with MDD PowerMacs as it avoids any noise interference, being external rather than internal. I have a FireWire interface and FireWire hard drive and I like the way this set-up works.

The FireWire Interface will let you hook it up to a portable computer. MOTU's PCI cads don't have the intererence problem at all. I am using the first and second generation 2408 on the MDD and they have worked very well for me...

I had the MOTU 828 Firewire interface and returned it because I didn't like it at all. You can only monitor one pair of inputs at a time through the hardware, and it did really goofy things like switching the monitor inputs back to "none" every time I pressed stop. I couldn't record more than a minute of audio without dropouts too. I might have had a bad unit though...

Anyway, I now have the MOTU 2408mk3 and could not be happier. It rocks. Tons of ins and outs and total control over all of them. I only use the analog section and it's still well worth the money. Lots of room for expansion too, should I ever need it.

By the way, I'm using it with DP4 and a FW800 dual 1.25 G4 Power Mac.

i've also got the 828, though i haven't had any of the problems that mook has had. it's true, hardware monitoring only allows for one pair of inputs at a time, but on the other hand, it's portable and costs less than 800 bucks...

With Mac Os X, the 828 should have a lower latency while monitoring through Digital Performer. What IS the latency of the other 6 inputs of that card while monitoring through DP?

Well, thanks for your replies. The problem is that the cards you're talking about are way too expensive to fit my economy. Can anyone recomend a pci alternative to m-audios firewire 410, with preamps and at a good price?

The firewire 410 seems to delayed. does anyone think it is worth waiting for, or should I buy a pci-card?

How many I/Os do you need?

As tempting as the 410 is, I don't have a lot of confidence in M-Audio's drivers. I don't know what the 410's drivers are like because the product isn't out yet, but there have been a lot of complaints about M-Audio gear over the past year or so. I wouldn't expect trouble-free performance from the 410 straight out of the box, put it that way.

The MOTU 828 is more expensive, but I think it's a much better product. There are always a few floating around on the second-hand market and they hold their value fairly well, so while it might be a stretch financially I think you'd be better served in the long run with something like an 828. If the 410 is going to cost around £350 and a second-hand 828 is maybe £450, there's no competition, IMHO.

What about the drivers for the ESI Waveterminal 192M PCI card? They're pretty new (the drivers) I think, do you know anything about them? the 192M is pretty cheap and with the extra midi card it has everything I need, the problem is I haven't found anything on user experience with os x.