FireWire 410

Pros: Crystal clear audio quality. Low latency audio drivers.
Cons: MIDI timing problems. Apparently a lot of users are finding bugs per M-Audio's FAQ.

Any hardware that cost in excess of $400 should work right out of the box in any default installation. My system is a brand new IBM Thinkpad R40 1.8 Mhz with 512MB of RAM, a clean Windows XP Pro installation and both Steinberg Cubase VST 5.1 and Cubase ...

Pros: Good sound quality, affordable for features
Cons: Unreliable in performance

It's an affordable interface that has gotten the job done. But, I can't say that I've enjoyed the method. In my experience, the drivers have been erratic in performance. Too often in recording situations, the audio driver just takes a break, causing me to have to restart my laptop. Even the MIDI performance has been hit or miss. Sound quality is good for the price. I'm too poor to replace it, and too angry to continue to work with it. What's a guy to do?

Pros: No latency, crystal clear sound, incredible value
Cons: Pre's are typically solid state. Nice, but a tube drive is nicer (personal preference)

I previously tried using USB audio interfaces and while they worked, the latency associated with multiple audio tracks was frustrating. Direct monitoring gets around the latency problem but it's still not ideal.

I plugged in the firewire 410, ran 16 channels of vocals, guitar and percussion through it into a Dell Inspiron p4 2.5 with 784mb ram, loaded it with eq's and effects in Cubase SX v.1.01 and had the joy of playing along in real time with multiple effects and absolutely no audible latency. Amazing.

I can't comment on the midi side of this product (haven't used it yet).

The mic pre's are clean and dead quiet. Nice, but if you're looking for a more dynamic sound you should spend $50 and get an ART tube MP pre.

Overall, for audio, it's incredible