Actually, I am wanting to go Win 8 in the near future.. with my Sonar X2 x64. But I'm holding off right now since E-Mu doesnt have proper drivers yet for Win8. In fact, they never released true "Win7 x64" drivers either. I have an 1820m which I like alot.. and it sounds great. I've been using it with Win7 64 and Sonar X2 and before with no trouble... but the jump to Win 8 has me worried... so I began to consider "upgrading" my audio interface... I guess I'm wondering what audio interfaces you all would recommend. I was thinking of either a USB 2 (or 3.0.. my PC can do that).. or a Firewire (are there still issues with some chipsets for audio?). My current EMu is installed with a PCI card inside the PC.. so I figured for "future" proofing USB or FW might be the way to go. It's only me recording.. so maybe 4 inputs and 4 output would be more than enough.. but I like to have more in case I want to get silly with routing options. Price range.. around $500 and at least upto 96Mhz (or higher =) Thanks all.

I would definitely consider going W8 as soon as you can. It seems to be much better for audio: http://blog.cakewalk.com/...oduction-applications/

On the interface side, I really can't help you because I don't even own one. Though I am looking to buy a Babyface. In my search for interfaces I came across Focusrite Forte which seems to match your budget and spec rather well (just a suggestion though).

Thanks for the info... checking it out now.  

The DAW builders on here recommend holding off for a while on Win 8 and not jumping in right now.  There are no fully Win 8 drivers available for many recording devices and another reason to hold off. 

I have my "test" system upgraded to Win 8 as I do PC support and some of my clients have or are upgrading to Win 8.  If it wasn't for that I wouldn't have Win 8.  I've had the various beta releases and I'm not impressed.

I have not seen anything that worked on Win 7 not work on Win 8. I am a DAW builder.

Thanks guys... My current interface hasn't had any "full fledged" drivers released for Win7.. only beta drivers. It's been solid.. no complaints.. BUT with Win8 here now.. and the lack of faith in drivers for Win8.. I'm looking for a new interface with Win8 support AND support for my PC (i.e. firewire chipset.. OR USB). That being said, how are the Roland US DAW interfaces? And is USB 2 (or USB 3.0 I have both) UPTO the task. I remember years ago Firewire was the way to go and USB wasn't ready for prime DAW work... New ball game now? Thanks

Scott and Jim Rosebury are the two DAW builders I was referring to.  I didn't know there were other commercial DAW builders on the forum.  One of their suggestions is to hold off on Win 8 for a while to see how it pans out or if there are stability problems. 

My Roland Octa-Capture has Win 8 drivers. 

I had a Firewire interface device, a Focusrite Saffire Pro 40, but as it was Firewire I couldn't use it with my laptop (for on-site) recordings.  When it died I replaced it with a USB device, which works with any PC I have and  I have lower latency with my USB interface units than I did with Firewire.

Really?? Wow, so the new USB 2.0 interfaces are getting good latency then? The less headache factor of a USB vs FW might be worth while getting the USB interface then eh? Hmm....