I've been using this extremely versatile audio/midi interface for 15 years.  It has always performed well and I truly enjoy the 8 in/8 out analog and 8 in/ 8 out digital interface.  It uses a PCI interface card and frankly, finding motherboards with PCI slots is becoming difficult.  It's other limitation, at least for me, is the lack of "modern" preamps.  I don't do a lot of condenser mic recording, but when I do, I have to use an analog mixer for phantom power and pre's.  I wonder if it's finally time to move to a new interface.  I use an M-Audio Firewire interface for mobile recording.  It's great but limited to 2 ins and 2 outs.
 
So, what is the consensus?  Stick with the Echo, use the M-audio and swap cables every once in a while, or go with something new that has similar in/outs to the Layla?  I'm constrained by price (aren't we all...) so used gear is also an option.
 
Thanks all!
Dan

I had an Echo MIA (also a PCI card connection) and it worked great until I got a 64-bit computer.  I liked Echo Audio, they were very responsive and made quality hardware.
When I decided to replace it my main concerns were (1) low price and (2) long-term compatibility.  I decided that a USB interface was the most likely to be hardware-independent and most compatible over the long-term.  I know many favor firewire, but USB is more common and still upgrading standards (w/ USB 3, currently).
I went with a Roland Quad-Capture and have been happy with it so far.

If it's still working on your system (which is pretty modern) there's no real reason to get rid of it. I have one and I keep it for my old system and/or if I want some extra channels. The ADAT/Optical in would allow you to connect an external pre amp unit (like a Focusrite Octopre) or another interface provided the extra unit has an optical out. Also the Layla has an optical out on to of the optical in so if you got a more modern interface that has an optical in (I'm not sure if the Fast Track has optical in) then you could use the Layla as the expansion unit and get some extra channels. Going either way ADAT/Optical connectors give you and extra 4 channels at 96khz or 8 extra channels at 48khz if the master unit has that many channels set aside for ADAT connections on top of it's regular inputs/outputs. For example my Focusrite 18i6 has 8 analogue inputs and an ADAT/optical in (no output though unfortunately). In theory if I connected the Layla up to the 18i6 I would all of a sudden have a 48khz 16 channel or 96khz 12 channel studio which is nice if I ever want to record a full band with a fully mic'd drum kit.
 
That doesn't take into account the extra spdif connector either.
 
What I don't understand is the Phantom Power issue. Mine has phantom power on the multi ins which is pretty standard for an interface. Does your not have this? The only interfaces I see with PP on all channels are rather costly. If that is what you are looking for though you can get a really nice Focusrite unit for under a grand which can be expanded to even more channels with an Octo pre.
 
Two other reasons I'm going to hang on to my Layla is the 18i6 only has two analogue outs for the monitors where as the Layla has 8. So if I want to run multiple outs to a board or something I can. The other reason is the resale value isn't very high. I paid over $500 for mine about 8 years ago and the most I see them selling for now is about $200. Usually less. Not nearly enough money to warrant losing all that extra functionality.
 
There are still MOBOs on the market with PCI but you have to make sure that the legacy PCI slot is Native not Bridged support otherwise the data is being handled by the PCIe chipset which can choke things up... which is why I ended up buying a new interface.
 
Cheers.

idk if you know but Echo Audio made a PCI-X replacement card for a while. they don't make them any more (i called recently and confirmed this) but you might find 1 on ebay??
 
also there's always stand alone phantom power units http://www.amazon.com/ART-PHANTOMIIPRO-Phantom-II-Pro/dp/B003S7LTI4 

bruckner2
idk if you know but Echo Audio made a PCI-X replacement card for a while. they don't make them any more (i called recently and confirmed this) but you might find 1 on ebay??
 
also there's always stand alone phantom power units http://www.amazon.com/ART-PHANTOMIIPRO-Phantom-II-Pro/dp/B003S7LTI4 

I had been wondering about that. Thanks. Maybe they could pressured into releasing a PCIe card. The breakout box is fine. It's just the card connections that are getting outdated.

yeah it sucks that PCI is getting phased out. The 24/96's are solid work-horses. There is hope! if the Layla is still going strong, Asus and Gigabyte still have 2011 X79 MB's with 1 pci slot. Go ahead and get a mid/pro level preamp first man!! all you need is just one good signal chain. outboard control will always be better than software control.

aleef
yeah it sucks that PCI is getting phased out. The 24/96's are solid work-horses. There is hope! if the Layla is still going strong, Asus and Gigabyte still have 2011 X79 MB's with 1 pci slot. Go ahead and get a mid/pro level preamp first man!! all you need is just one good signal chain. outboard control will always be better than software control.

I bought a high end ASUS MOBO because it had a PCI slot. Unfortunately I was not aware of the bridge issue when I did. Still a very nice board and I can hook up pretty much anything imaginable but that one little thing reduced the stability of my Layla. Ticks me off because I really did try to do my homework when choosing the board.
 
It still works after some system tweaks but if I push it too hard it craps out. :-/

Rodan: I would stick with firewire as we  well know it runs very solid ! Interfaces start here...
 
http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/FCA1616.aspx
 
about 280.00 and they go up for better box's

Thank you everyone for your replies.  You've given me a lot to think about.  I'm leaning to leaving the Layla in place and if/when I need to record microphones, I'll switch over to the M-Audio in ASIO settings in Sonar.  Now, I need to figure out if my MB uses bridged PCI or not.  And the eBay search for the PCI-X interface card is about to begin!
 
Again Thanks,
Dan

Firewire is slowly being phased out and without the correct chipset can cause problems. I have some supposedly good FW connections on my MOBO but would probably drop the extra $20-30 to get a TI FW PCIe card anyway if I happened to introduce a FW device to my studio.
 
As far as switching back and forth between the Layla and a new interface that hasn't seemed to cause any problems for me (I didn't do much of that though). I just made sure the correct drivers were selected in Sonar (in ASIO mode of course) and I think I'd disable the device not in use in Windows Control Panel as well IIRC but I don't think that was necessary.  I have however uninstalled the Layla on my new system because I needed it to snag some tracks off my old rig which required some listening and export to waves and I doubt the crummy soundblaster or whatever is installed on that relic would have handled it very well.