You don't need a Macbook unless you want one. The FW410 was my first interface and while I didn't like it's aural signature and limited routing, it worked well enough with XP, Vista 32 and 64, and I tested it with Win 7. I don't expect the Profire series to be much different. Audition 3 is my DAW of choice too (2 & licensed CE Pro before that).

So.....
1-what is your OS and how much ram
2-what ASIO driver are you using in Audition for all three categories
3-when the audio drops do you have access to the M-Audio GUI control panel applet?
4-How many plugins/VSTi's
5-onboard firewire and if not why isn't it a Texas Instrument chipset

I decided it was time to nuke my comp. That seemed to do the trick everything is working just fine now. Thanks for the advice never the less. You can lock/delete this thread now.

Glad it worked out. Sadly if drivers get misinstalled or, over time, get uninstalled/reinstalled on occasion the best route IS to reformat with a clean install.

One good bit of advice is to get your setup exactly like you want it and working smooth, then make a backup image of the hard drive. That cuts the time WAAAYYYYY down on a reformat.

In the FWIW category, Win7 seems to clean up after itself pretty well but I don't rule out cleaning remnants from it either.

Thanks dude. I'll keep that in mind!