[Trevor]

"Mike Rivers" wrote in message
...
On 4/27/2013 11:05 PM, Trevor wrote:
"Mike wrote in message
There are AES and IEC standards for digital interfacing that will help
here. They won't last forever, but will probably be of value for as long
as you want to use the hardware.

Right, but that severely limits the choice of affordable hardware at
present.

What limits do you see? Do you not want to buy something with an ADAT
optical interface for fear that you won't be able to get a mate for it in
ten years? This is computer hardware. Something that's essential to the
system will become obsolete before you're ready to give it up. Buy a PCI
card with an AES interface like a Lynx and the next computer you buy won't
have a PCI slot.

Right, they are already obsolete. Buying new hardware with that interface is
just plain silly.
(except for $10 stuff which you can throw away without a second thought)


Buy a USB interface to ADAT optical and in ten years nobody will be making
an 8-channel mic preamp with ADAT output.

I wouldn't bet on five let alone ten.


But chances are, first, your USB2 interface won't have a driver that works
with the USB4 interface on the computer after your next one.

If USB4 follows USB3, USB2 and USB1 backward compatibility, that won't be a
problem. What will be a problem is getting Windows 9/10 drivers for the
interface, or getting Windows 8/7/XP drivers for the computer to downgrade
the OS.


But my reply was to the suggestion it would be cheaper to buy a seperate
interface and converter so only one would have to change when standards
do.

But remember that there's an interface on both ends - one to the A/D
converter and the other to the computer. When either one becomes obsolete
or unreplaceabel, your system is dead.

Exactly, whether they are in one box or two.


I'm still unconvinced at this point in time. And unlike firewire, I'm
betting on USB ports for a while longer at least.

But USB isn't just one thing. There are some bumps in the road with
today's USB audio devices that won't work with new computers have have
only USB3 ports. Some manufacturers will straighten that out with a driver
update in a year or so, but others will simply discontinue that product
(and support) and sell you a new one.

Yes, driver support has always been as big an issue as the hardware itself.


I don't know what to make of Firewire (or the audio industry that uses
it). The only way you can get a Firewire port on a computer today is to
buy one of a few Macs or get one that's new enough to have a Thunderbolt
port, and then get a Thunderbolt-Firewire adapter (which seems to work).
Most audio interfaces that used Firewire used FW400, but the new Macs are
800, PreSonus' new consoles will have Firewire 800 (the present ones have
400) which means anyone like me keeping PCs alive with Firewire 400 cards
won't be able to use one.

Why on earth do they want to use FW800 when FW400 is sufficient for the job
and compatible with FW800, while not the reverse?
Of course the real question is why would they want to use Firewire at all
now it is becoming more rare. The MOTU idea of combo FW and USB seems more
logical to me at least.


I think that if you're ready to bet on the future now, you'd best start
looking into Ethernet connectivity. That's a port that, if dropped by the
industry suddenly, would probably grind the whole world to a halt.

Perhaps, but that will be up to the manufacturers to provide the interfaces
first. It's slowly going that way it seems.


And if you aren't interested in betting on the future, then like me, stay
in the pasture for another generation of equipment.

Right, don't need to upgrade mine at the moment anyway. But the problem
never goes away, you just have to face built in obsolesence with all
computer equipment. It's been that way since my first in 1980 and will
probably be that way long after I'm dead.

Trevor.