Firewire Or Pci? Options

[dissident]

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!

[rickenbacker]

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.

[krisg]

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...

[mook noodler]

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.

[urbanmatador]

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...

[krisg]

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?

[dissident]

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?

[krisg]

How many I/Os do you need?

[rickenbacker]

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.

[dissident]

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.