I'm looking for a good USB2.0 audio/MIDI interface...

[bell222]

Hey everyone, I'm looking for a good USB2.0 audio/MIDI interface for my new Macbook Pro I7. I have a firewire 400 interface but that won't work on the new Macbook Pros so I have to go with USB2.0 which I heard is faster anyway then FW400. I'm using the FW800 for my hard drive which I'm going to be getting (1TB Gdrive) for streaming all of my instruments such as Ivory & Reaktor. I was looking at the NI Kontrol. What do you recommend? I need something with virtually no delay and with very few reported problems. I have a budget of around $200-$250. Thanks.

[bell222]

Can I run my external harddrive ESata and get an adapter for my firewire to go from 800 to 400? My interface is FW400 but my only option on the macbook Pro is FW800. Is there an adapter for this?

[1nput0utput]

Yes, you can get a 9-pin-to-6-pin FireWire cable to connect a FireWire 400 device to the FireWire 800 port. If you want to use an eSATA drive, you'd need an ExpressCard eSATA adapter. I'm not sure which MacBook and MacBook Pro models do or don't have ExpressCard slots anymore. It might be that only the 17" MBP model has one.

[mhschmieder]

I recommend waiting a month or two if you can, and picking up the new RME Babyface. Although, keep an eye on the specs. Several of us are wondering whether it is going to borrow the technology of the Fireface UC, which betters even the Firewire-based Fireface 800 and 400 models, and has the same low latency of the PCIe based multi-channel interfaces from RME.

The Fireface UC is beyond your budget, but the Babyface probably won't be, and it is designed in such a way as to be expandable so that you don't have to throw it out if you need more channels later.

[nick danger]

I have a firewire 400 interface but that won't work on the new Macbook Pros

As has been noted, get 9-pin to 6-pin adapter, and you can use your firewire interface. So maybe you don't need a new interface at all.