I would also look at the metric halo unit. Supossed to be very nice.

The MIO, 2882+DSP from Metric Halo is a great box. I have one. It sounds incredible. The DSP isn't functioning yet. It's still beta, kinda. But it's 96k, 8 I/O, Adat, Aes/Ebu, Spdif, 8 very nice mic pres and completly FW bus powerable, so it's the perfect solution for mobilty in recording.

Check it out:
http://www.mhlabs.com/index2.html

Apogee Firewire aint ready just yet, is that Motu ready?

I bet not!

Nice ad though!

:) :) :)

Originally posted by Julian Standen:
1) When will the Apogee FW Ambus card be ready?

2) Do you predict OSX to blow the DAW world right open? Will Mac actually BE unlimited tarck DAW's when they leave the factory...? And need NO extra hardware other than a converter?

3) In a OSX world, will a Fire Wire converter be king?

Hi, Jules... thanks for the invitation.

1. The Apogee FireWire card is scheduled for release in April. We reckoned about 90 days at NAMM and we're on track. We would like to have been quicker, but what we are trying to do here is to conform to emerging international standards, and some of them are still emerging :) .

The card implements mLAN - I think we're one of the first people outside Yamaha to do that - and we are also working with other companies and organizations who are trying to define and implement what will become truly open standards.

This is not a quick process. Things will not completely come together until 1394b is out there and there are solutions to a number of issues. This means that it's really early days with FireWire audio right now. The initial card will do 24-bit, 44.1/48 kHz, so if you need 96 kHz straight away, I'm afraid it isn't going to be us.

We debated for a long time whether to go a proprietary route (eg work with MOTU or MH or whomever: both are doing very cool things) and we decided that we should hold out for common standards although it will take longer. I think all the manufacturers supporting FireWire will eventually be on the same page and be able to talk to each other, and I would encourage that - think MIDI!

We look forward to a common protocol that will enable any FireWire audio device to talk to anything else. And to full cross-platform OS support! We want you to be able to build a system where you can choose the hardware and software you like and have it all work seamlessly together: again, like MIDI.

That's the Apogee bit: the following is personal conjecture.

2. I am not personally in direct touch with Apple. However I am knocked out by OS X and Core Audio. Having both a Mac and a Un*x background it's kind of the best of both worlds! Ultimately I don't think you will need additional hardware other than a converter and whatever other boxes you want to work with.

I don't know if Apple will do a "Final Cut Pro" for audio - that would be very cool and a very logical thing for them to do. Immensely powerful processors with carefully-designed and beautifully-thought-out audio support... just what you need for awesome native systems. If Apple did the software part there would be some big changes in the industry: look at what's happened with video.

3. I think FireWire is the interface of the future. The important thing is you don't need special bits in your computer, just a port - a standard port, and Macs have two. Each should be able to carry a good 60-odd paths of 24/96 audio (one port, 1394a, more to come).

In my view, the future lies in native systems, open systems you where you can choose exactly the bits you want, you aren't locked in to one manufacturer's stuff.

I think FireWire plus native systems is where the industry is heading. And we would like it to be as open as possible so everyone can play. I think OS X will be an immensely powerful player in that field. But rumor has it that MS is working on parallel lines too. You may well find that everyone is doing it in the near future.

I hope that helps.

--Richard Elen
VP marketing at Apogee

Richard,
That was a very informative post. Thanks for joining us.
:D

I second that....
Thanks, Richard, for a very illuminating post..
I can't wait for the advanced audio and MIDI features of OSX to be fully utilised by software developers...
There are some serious groundbreaking changes going on at the moment, and mLAN is one that I for one have been anticipating for a while....
As you point out, like the original MIDI, mLAN may be a language of several dialects...but a universal standard must surely emerge.
Thanks again for the post and much respect for the enthusiasm and dedication to audio quality that Apogee has come to stand for......
Hey...hold up....I'm not brown-nosing here...credit
where it's due.....I do think that the Trak2 is a little over-priced though ;)

Track2 is way too expensive. With a firewire card and the 8x DAC it's over £3000 before VAT - thats way more that my G4 Titanium will cost me. Surely it should be a grand less!