Help needed for Audio/Midi I/O solution for G5

[DrDeltaM]

I've been looking around on this forum for a while and it has been a very interesting read :-) Excellent info/help!

My question is this:
I'm about to recieve the Apple Dual G5 i ordered. I need a soundcard for this and a midi interface. I use Emagic Logic.
In the past i've "invested" in some half solutions as budget didn't allow more back then. I don't wanna make the same mistake, so i wanna be future-proof with the budget (maximum 1500 a 2000euro) i have now. (i know this is limited too)

My needs:
- 8 analog I/O's (24bit) would be nice, but i'm willing to start with 2 I/O's of higher quality. Possibility for easy expanding to more I/O's for the future is a must tho. Not sure if i should go for 96kHz or keep with 48kHz (in case i choose some ADAT A/D/A convertor - ADAT soundcard combo). 19" stuff is a plus.
- Wordclock input, for future upgrade of the convertors with a better clock.
- 4 (or more) midi I/O's, 19" would be nice, but not a must (i'd rather save a little here and spend more on audio I/O)
- G5/PCI-x compatible


Thanks for any tips!

[jwh1192]

apogee rosetta 800 is coming out with firewire card soon ... 8 I/O ... you will need nothing but this, a mac, and some cables ...

and Unitor MkII

peace john

[DrDeltaM]

The concept of a good convertor with direct firewire interface is rather interesting (no need for ADAT-soundcard in mac), but...
Wouldn't the Rosetta 800 be out of my budget?
I see that the Rosetta 96K stereo A/D (no D/A...) is 1500euro here now. So an 8 I/O version is prolly a bridge too far atm
Would be cool if they had a stereo AD/DA with firewire, and reasonable price

Is there something usefull to do with the G5's internal optical spdif I/O? It's only up to 48kHz i believe, but a good convertor at 24 bit 48kHz, is prolly better then a cheap convertor at 24bit 96Khz?

Or is it usefull to get an RME or MOTU and also buy a reasonable priced clock (Mutec maybe) for it to 'enhance' the lower budget convertors?

Thanks