Hi.
I am going to upgrade my laptop (see my other post: http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=2808207)  and I have to say goodbye to my RME Fireface 400 because there is no Firewire anymore. 
  
 I can not spend more money on the new Audio Interface than what I could get selling the FF400, so the RME UCX is out of the equation.  
     
 I know that the quality is inferior, but for $550, do you think that the MOTU Ultralite Mk3 Hybrid is a good option?
Any happy owners using Sonar X2 and the MOTU in USB mode?
     
Another (more expensive) consideration could be the Babyface, but I don’t like the bunch of cables and connectors on the back, I need RCA SPDIF (the Babyface is optical), and in the future I may need more inputs/outputs.
  
 edit:
 I forgot to mention that I am not a "Pro"; I am "too old for Rock´n´roll" and I just record guitars, vocals and VSTi´s for fun and friends. So I m not too concerned about ultra-fine quality, but rather concerned about performance (pops, craks, drops, compatibility issues...) and about the extinction of the FireWire.

A lot of guys are happy with their Roland interfaces.
Might be worth a look.

Tom

Hi DeeringAmps. Thank you for the suggestion.

I've already taken the plunge and ordered the Motu Ultrailite Mk3 Hybrid on ebay. I will inform about the results once I test it for a while

I had a good friend of mine suggest firewire being the top quality in interfaces about a year ago.
I had to stop and tell him they are being phased out and he couldn't believe me.
im glad at least you realize this.

I use the cakewalk v sudio its a control surface/soundcard it doesn't have midi cap. though, so for that I use a midisport uno usb to midi adapter.
for rca connections I use adapters, because often I mix down older projects for the work I do.

there are many good interfaces out there for under 300 even.
because of the competition in soundcards lately prices have dropped dramatically.

Which one is Ping,

Don't dump your Fireface just yet and before you make your laptop purchase, consider getting one with Thunderbolt. I recently bought an ASUS G55VW with thunderbolt (http://rog.asus.com/notebook/15-inch/g55vw) and a Focusrite Saffire 24 Pro DSP, which is firewire. With an Apple firewire to thunderbolt adapter (http://store.apple.com/us...ire-adaptor?fnode=51), I can use my Saffire via the thunderbolt and it works flawlessly. Plus, the G55 has four USB 3 ports. There is also its big brother the G75VX (http://rog.asus.com/notebook/17-inch/g75vx), not to be confused with the G75VW which is older and inferior, that also has four USB 3 ports.  The G75 also has two HDD/SSD bays with an optical drive still in place, not to mention the capacity for 32 Gigs of RAM (yeah, overkill). 

Well, I am happy with the smaller, very portable  G55 and the Saffire.  It's the coolest! 

Kind regards,


Living Room Rocker