Where Are The Firewire Audio/midi Interfaces?, Inexplicable absence of what should be Options

[Levon River]

Firewire has been around for over ten years. Does anyone have any insight into why there are so precious few audio/midi interfaces utilizing this technology?

The field is glutted with USB interfaces, which only carry about 1/40 the bandwidth and information transfer capability of Firewire.

Of the few Firewire interfaces on the market, the cheapest I can find (MOTU's 828) starts at over $800.00--and that doesn't include MIDI, while being complete overkill on the audio side for my needs. Five years ago I expected to SOON see Firewire interfaces for audio and MIDI that would be affordable and accessible. Now there are quite a few under $500.00 using USB, but NONE in t hat price bracket using Firewire.

I think the market is ripe for a Firewire interface with, e.g., four audio inputs and two MIDI ins and outs priced for the masses. Why, oh, why was it not there years ago?

[Levon River]

chrisk4' wrote that a reviewer wrote: "'If somebody were to produce a firewire audio interface for under $400 they would clean up.'"

Whoever said it got it right. Maybe the lack of firewire in PCs *has* been the anchor dragging the bottom in the firewire arena, but then why have so many video device manufacturers jumped in to firewire? It just doesn't all add up to me.

LEVON PREDICTS: After Jaguar is released, there will be a sudden surge of audio and MIDI products, software and hardware, including more firewire audio and/or devices. I think Apple had a half-assed implementation of the Core Audio and MIDI Services in 10.x pre-10.2, that the audio/MIDI developers were in the loop on what was coming, and that most of them held everything back to wait for Apple to get its act together fully, as well as to take advantage of whatever Apple has done inside the box in 10.2

One of the things that makes me believe that is that eMagic was showing Logic for OS X at summer NAMM 2001, and firmly ANNOUNCED that it would be RELEASED in September 2001! That was almost a year ago! Something put the skids on that release *hard*, and now Apple has bought eMagic out.

Having gone out on a limb, I'll start sawing it off now...