I have a Tascam FW-1884 that I have used for many years.  I love it and it works great with Sonar X1 and Windows 7. 

I've known for several years that there is a firmware update available (v 183) from Tascam.  I've downloaded the file to install it, but haven't done so for a couple of reasons.  First, I don't know what the update does. Second, I know there is always some risk with firmware updates. 

So my questions for experienced FW-1884 users are:
1) What does the firmware update fix or improve?  As far as I know, my 1884 works great. (The undo button is getting ornery, but that speaks more to my lack of musical skill than the button's quality).

2) If the firmware update does not succeed and the 1884 becomes unusable, what is the chance I can get it repaired at an authorized repair station?  Tascam discontinued this product quite a while back.  I'd like to be confident that I can get it fixed if I screw it up.

Thanks for the help.

It's fine. Been on 183 for YEARS. 

Great user site for reference:

http://deeringamps.com/fw1884/index.htm

I think I'd leave well enough alone if its working well.

Just me...

Thanks for the input, guys. I'll think it over.

Thanks also, Tom, for maintaining your FW-1884 resource page. It's been very helpful to me on several occasions.

I'm using v183, Windows 7 64, Sonar X1 64 ... This has been running great for nearly 2 years.  There have been a few isolated crashes during that time, mostly I attribute that to certain combinations of VSTs running together with Sonar X1, and there is a conflict somewhere in the chain.  But when I restart the PC, all is well again.  One combination that crashes sometimes is running V-Vocal with some other VST synths ... Toontrack Superior Drummer, or East / West perhaps.
 
Mostly this has been really solid, especially once I got a firewire card instead of using the on board firewire.  That used to always be a problem with my 1884, but no more.
 
By the way, does anyone know how the 1884 DA converters stack up against newer soundcards?  I've never seen a good article on how to assess your DA converters, except for vague statements about "it's how much you spend".
 
Thanks

yoursong
By the way, does anyone know how the 1884 DA converters stack up against newer soundcards?  I've never seen a good article on how to assess your DA converters, except for vague statements about "it's how much you spend". 
 
Thanks

After I got my RME Fireface UFX I noticed a considerable sense of clarity in what I heard on playback. However, I never was scientific enough to compare a FW-1884 and an RME export as I believe I read that an ITB export was not based on the sound card DA conversion (IIRC). The converters come into play when recording and monitoring. 

By the way, does anyone know how the 1884 DA converters stack up against newer soundcards?  I've never seen a good article on how to assess your DA converters, except for vague statements about "it's how much you spend".

I still use my Fw 1884 as a control surface and it works great for me, I assigned buttons via hot keys on the fw for thing's like snap to , snap by, measure, whole note ,1/16 1/4,1/2 ect. and it works awesome..  I did however pick up the roland Quad capture and I use that as my sound card, I will say for me the fw did sound better in clarity than the quad capture , but the quad capture most definitely preformed better, the drivers are night and day..Allthough volume output was a huge noticeable difference with the fw and so was the headphone output. The Fw sounded way louder. But performance wise the quad capture was my end result, a headphone amp and a little more volume to my monitors did the trick.
 Personally if there was someone who could write an SDK and if CW supported the fw it would still be an amazing controller/A/d sound card..
 As far as my  A/d I choose to use my focusrite's A/d card as it sounds amazing over the fw and the quad capture. But the FW IMO sounds great and is more than you need accept for the lack of driver support and the occasion hiccup. And the fact its been discontinued..