need new computer but have "old " hardware

[<font]Unfortunately, M-Audio still has not released any 64 bit o/s drivers for the older Midisports.  The 8x8 has been discontinued now for a long time, and there are no drivers at all for it in either Vista or W7.

To get 8x8 (or 9x9) Midi ports within a W7 64 bit o/s, I think there are currently only two options.  1) I think MOTU still makes an 8x8 midi interface; 2) get three Cakewalk UM-3G's for 9x9 operation (about $90 each).  They are designed in such a way that you can run all three of them off of one USB port.  They are connected to each other via a daisy chain, and have dip switches that allow each unit's three Midi channels to be recognized separately.

Overall, there just are not as many choices as there used to be, as many who used to use a lot of hardware synths have moved on, and link computers using VE Pro, or similar type solutions.

I have used both a Motu 5x5 Ultralite, and a Cakewalk UM-3G myself.  Each has their weaknesses.  The Motu will sometimes completely lose sync through the USB port (fixed by unplugging, and replugging the Motu into its USB connection), and the UM-3G is a bit odd in how it displays Midi activity - it always shows the sync timing signal being active.

Between the two, my preferance so far lies with the UM-3G, as the losing sync with the Motu is the bigger issue, and the Midi timing of the UM-3G seems to be fine.

What a few folks do with the new systems is create a partition and install XP on it where life is as it was. Then you can have the best of both worlds.
A new computer with a 500Gig OS drive and a second drive for audio would be ideal. Only item not sure about is if older PCI cards will install in the newer PCIe slots. Some one here will know.

Thanks to all for your advice. I have been coming here for years, and it's always refreshing that most of the users will offer real advice and solutions, not just "you'll have to start over , just live with it." Guitar hacker, I have one question. Aren't ther some memory constraints with the XP OS and if so, what are they?

I am installing 4GB of memory... If I ever need more, I will have to do W7 and partition it.... but again, if  XP won't go beyond 4g.....

So the plan is..... keep the machine clean..... dedicated to DAW usage and OFF the net.

Whatever new hardware you buy, make sure it has Windows XP drivers, if that is what you want.  Not all new hardware has XP drivers. 

PCIe cards WILL NOT work in an older PCI slot and PCI cards WILL NOT work in a PCIe.  And that brings up another point, PCI is fading away and PCIe is becoming the standard.

The 4GB memory "wall" can be both hardware and software.   Older Motherboards have maximum memory limitations.  Then there is the 32 bit Operating System addressing limitation of less than 4 GB.  On a 32 bit OS you will have about 3.2 to 3.5GB out of 4GB of RAM useable (it will vary depending on the hardware and Video).

I am also facing same problem from a long time and tried many thing but still cant figure out the solution. Still searching hope I will make it soon.

     Hello... A performance upgrade for you right now would be to get a P35 X38 P45 or X48 series motherboard socket 775... can use DDR2 800 memory, 2-4 gig is very cheap now... also you can use 1333 Dual/Quad core Intel processors, very cheap now... they have the newer SATA and older IDE hard drive connectors... PCI and PCI-X slots... face it your IDE hard drive will eventually die, SATA drives are very fast and cheap now... and PCI-X video card performance is needed for the nice eye candy larger LCD monitors, also very cheap now...
    I've got two SATA hardrives... one has my original XP and Cakewalk 32 files loaded on it.. the other Win7 64 and Cakewalk 64.. I can boot up either operating system by pressing F12 during the computer startup BIOS screen... I have all my older files and programs intact... in other words what I did is bought a new hard drive when I bought Win 7... I can access files and programs from my XP drive in WIN7... and I can access files and programs from the Win7 drive in XP.
    Moving on to Win 7 or a newer computer Hardware, need not be a total erasure or inconvenience, in the access of your old programs and files... your IDE drive can still be connected and you will not lose much time with a performance upgrade... I consider a Dual or Quad core INTEL 3.0 gig processor, SATA drive, PCI-X video card,  and 4 gig RAM a giant leap over any P4, AGP/PCI video card, and 1 gig RAM.
    Also your Cakewalk 6 included a 64 bit version... and multi core CPU support... this hardware upgrade allows you the best of both worlds with XP and WIN7 64 performance.