karma1959
Sorry .. one additional point of clarity - you mentioned earlier you use this PC for both DAW and Home office functions.

 
Hey Karma. If I stated that, it was by error.  I apologize...That's not true.
My DAW PC is STRICTLY that....DAW ONLY.  I only have 3 programs installed on it.  Sonar, Amplitube 3 and BFD2.  No Office, Outlook...nothing.
I don't even have it hooked up to the internet.  I only connect it when I need to update drivers or download a new plugin, etc.
Too much research, time, money and effort spent on that machine to clutter it with anything else.  You know how it is. :)

guigz2000
My thoughts about that:
 
Firewire is obsolete....Yes it does works well, but no laptop has it anymore.

 
Wrong, no more than say USB3 and USB2. Firewire and thunderbolt are related :)


Saffire Pro 40 (Firewire) will run on Thunderbolt for example, further discussions about thunderbolt here:
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Is-Thunderbolt-Ever-Going-to-Take-Off-for-Windows-Machines-m2942119.aspx
 

Mojo3432
Does anyone have a preference between Windows 7 or 8 for their DAW?

Nope either will do.

CakeAlexS

guigz2000
My thoughts about that:
 
Firewire is obsolete....Yes it does works well, but no laptop has it anymore.

 
Wrong, no more than say USB3 and USB2. Firewire and thunderbolt are related :)


Saffire Pro 40 (Firewire) will run on Thunderbolt for example, further discussions about thunderbolt here:
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Is-Thunderbolt-Ever-Going-to-Take-Off-for-Windows-Machines-m2942119.aspx
 

Are you serious?
 
TBolt and firewire aren't in any way related...You're just talking about an adapter and as Firewire won't evolve anymore (no firewire1600), I even doubt this kind of adapter will still be available in a not so distant future. Today, no "new"  laptop provides firewire and TBolt is just marginal.
 
On the other end,there's USB. USB 3 is just backward compatible with USB2 and USB1. Next USB iteration (USB 3.1) will still be backward compatible with a 10Gb bandwidth. So you can fairly think USB will be there for at least 10 years and that you'll be able to plug your soundcard on any computer you may buy in the next 5 years. It's already not the case for firewire.

Yes of course I'm serious ;) And don't call me Shirley.
 
Apple adopted firewire and now apple is adopting thunderbolt.... see why? Thunderbolt is firewires natural successor, and it is backwards compatible with adapter.


>  I even doubt this kind of adapter will still be available in a not so distant future.


Assuming thunderbolt takes off of course it will. That is the whole idea. And guess what... Apple are selling them (I don't see Apple going bust any time soon) and all new apple PC's have thunderbolt:
http://store.apple.com/uk/product/MD464ZM/A/thunderbolt-to-firewire-adapter?afid=p219%7CGOUK&cid=AOS-UK-KWG-PLA-PLA_UK_BTB
 
So I think we can safely say that firewire won't be dead in just the same way USB 2 won't be dead either ;)
USB 3 is a great solution too.
 
The real question is really will thunderbolt and USB 3 survive, and rather debate it here I gave you a link in my previous post.

My opinion is we shall see a similar situation with thunderbolt and USB 3 as we will currently have with firewire and USB 2. There will not be one ring to rule them all. Remember desktops sales are going down and tablet sales are going up... there are other factors nowadays.
 
But that is just my own opinion, the reality is you don't know what will happen nor will I... there's no use it pretending otherwise... we shall see in a year shall we?
 
Right now it's simple fact firewire is the superior interface when it comes to latency, even though USB is far more popular and can work nicely as well (I'm not saying USB is unusable, far from it). Next year sure, all may change.
 
Cheers

Alex

I'm sorry but Firewire and Thunderbolt are not in any way technically related. To equate their relation to the one between USB 2 and 3 is a gross misrepresentation.
 
I think offering and showing multiple options is a good idea when someone asks for advice. But to pretend Thunderbolt is simply the new Firewire is incorrect and it may lead to wrong decisions to assume so.

CakeAlexSHaving said that I love my saffire Pro 40, and one of these days I will also buy a scarlett-18i20. You can hook them both up together for double the channels... that means you can adopt Firewire AND USB 2 standard.
 
If you can wait another 6 to 12 months there will be USB 3 interfaces. Hold out for that if I were you.
 

Echo everything above. The other important consideration is if you use USB external hard drives. Unless you have two separate internal USB interfaces your Audio Interface will compete for bandwidth. If you are using a desktop machine for connecting with your audio interface, then you will be able to get Firewire interfaces for a long time (certainly at least 5 years). I have a Pro 40 as well (had it >4 years), and it has been flawless compared to every audio interface I used previously, from ADAT converters to M-Audio and DigiDesign products...all were finicky until the FR. My desktop has onboard Firewire, but if I were to build a new one (probably in the next year or two to get around RAM limitations), it would have an internal FW card and I would use my Pro 40. I still have an external ADAT (just use it as A/D converters) so I can do 16 channels with my FW setup. I rarely go beyond the 8 channels as I either work alone or record my trio 'in studio'. I would also re-emphasize to wait for USB3 which will be throughput competitive with FW and have a different memory channel from the USB2 noise. 

Nobody is pretending anything...
 
Gawd why are people so stuck in schematics. Let me be clear. For 25 quid you can plug in an interface which will go to your FireWire box. It then works just was well as a generic one not just some bs pretend adapter. This is backed by apple, and this is part of apples master plan. Apple are selling adapters because they know their existing user base is popular with FireWire. On the basis of that FireWire is not dead, in exactly the same way as USB 2 is not dead.... Assuming USB 3 will still be around or thunderbolt will still be around.... And that is the big IF... I don't think there's too much chance of a dead standard here, all we are talking about is adoption. And we know thunderbolt is used by apple and Intel machines do a lot of USB 3.
 
Any other analysis is just noise and irrelevant, only Mr Spock gives a damn. Nobody gives a sh*t about how it works, they just want it to work and work well.
 
In a years time we will know more. I believe both will be around in a year much like FireWire and USB 2 is now. Others may disagree and that's fine by me.
 
(Lord this reminds me of arguments people had with BBC vs Spectrum vs Commadore when we were 14).

Mojo3432

mixmkr
and Win7pro won't be top dawg either...? 

Haha...while you've brought it up..... Does anyone have a preference between Windows 7 or 8 for their DAW?
I've been VERY pleased with the stability of Windows 7 so far, but didn't know if I should upgrade my OS while I'm doing everything else.

I'm using Windows 8.1 and I find it extremely stable.  The big flack over Windows 8 was some people didn't like the UI changes, but performance wise Windows 8 in general runs faster than Win 7.  They got rid of most of the Aero stuff on the desktop which looks pretty, but really just ate up CPU, for something unnecessary.
 
I think the changes in 8.1 really make it more of a smooth transition from Windows 7.  There's a lot more fluidity, and to be honest I spend most of my time in the desktop.
 
Specifically for DAW use, I love the 10point touch that is in Windows 8, and Sonar X2b/X3 really take advantage of the touch features.  More than a control surface, I just find it much easier to navigate in the project when I'm editing.  I can just drag the track view around and pinch zoom, just like you would on a tablet.
 
Having said all that, if Windows 7 is working for you, there's no real need to upgrade unless you want to.  But if you're worried that Windows 8 won't be stable, there's no worry about that.

CakeAlexS
Nobody is pretending anything...
 
Gawd why are people so stuck in schematics. Let me be clear. For 25 quid you can plug in an interface which will go to your FireWire box. It then works just was well as a generic one not just some bs pretend adapter. This is backed by apple, and this is part of apples master plan. Apple are selling adapters because they know their existing user base is popular with FireWire. On the basis of that FireWire is not dead, in exactly the same way as USB 2 is not dead.... Assuming USB 3 will still be around or thunderbolt will still be around.... And that is the big IF... I don't think there's too much chance of a dead standard here, all we are talking about is adoption. And we know thunderbolt is used by apple and Intel machines do a lot of USB 3.
 
Any other analysis is just noise and irrelevant, only Mr Spock gives a damn. Nobody gives a sh*t about how it works, they just want it to work and work well.
 
In a years time we will know more. I believe both will be around in a year much like FireWire and USB 2 is now. Others may disagree and that's fine by me.
 
(Lord this reminds me of arguments people had with BBC vs Spectrum vs Commadore when we were 14).

I do disagree, the technical basis is very important. As you yourself have pointed out, Firewire can be quite finicky about chipsets. While this is currently a nice solution from Apple, that company does not have the best track record for providing backwards compatibility. If next year's Thunderbolt devices decide to not support the Firewire connection anymore, Apple will just shrug and say "move on". Yes, next year we will know more about USB3 performance, currently only RME has a USB3 card out.
But in the mean time, it looks pretty sure that USB will be around for a long time on all computers.