The following question is indicative of the type of questions we get a lot about technology.
“I am a B/W G3 user. I want to upgrade my digital audio I/O in the near future, however I feel the winds of change in the air and wonder if the day of a PCI-based card system has passed. It makes sense to me for companies like MOTU to offer a 2408-like solution sans PCI card. Then you could even use the nifty cube or a top-end iMac for Digital Audio. My question: Is there a FireWire digital I/O solution on the horizon?”
Yes, lots of neat stuff like this is on the horizon. Heck we’ve been hearing the winds of what is now going to turn out to be OSX for roughly five years now. It’s STILL on the horizon. As we’ve reported here before, we expect to begin to see FireWire audio interfaces next year. It will probably be another year before they proliferate and become common (not to mention reliable). So if you have a year or two to wait for it (and the software support of it) then feel free to sit tight with your current system. But these don’t spell the end of PCI-based systems. There are a number of things that are accomplished on those PCI cards that have to be properly emulated in software (and perhaps other peripheral hardware) to be considered (the specifics of this depends on the system in question). The one thing you can count on with technology based products is that there is always something cheaper and better on the horizon. So waiting for stuff to come out is in many ways pointless, because all you’ve done is delay the inevitable, which is owning a system you can use to make music, and one that is soon to be surpassed by the next version or the next big thing.
Further, take a look over the past 10 years of computing and music. Every time the great new thing comes out it’s always months before: A) It completely works right; and B) All the other hardware and software supports it. It doesn’t matter whether you are talking about the introduction of PCI-based computers, USB ports, or even a new OS. It always takes time for everyone to catch up. This is why we refer to it as the ‘bleeding’ edge of technology. In my book, now is the perfect time to buy a 2408 type system because it has reached a level of refinement and support where it can be fully utilized in a demanding environment with a bare minimum of headaches.