why no FW800 interfaces?

[valis]

Skype should be fine on built in audio (and in some cases especially with pro cards on windows it may actually work better).

There are plenty of FW800 interfaces, but since FW400 & USB2 offer plenty of bandwidth for even up to 16-20 channels you're not going to see FW800 used for an interface that just provides a stereo pair i/o, 4 i/o and spdif etc. In fact you have no NEED for FW800 until you really start pushing track counts up (and even then on the latest Intel chipsets USB2 seems to be able to hit lower latency 'ala the RME UFX stuff).

You should also add more parameters to this discussion, as things stand now you'd be served fine by even the cheapest USB card for spdif based recording (Behringer UC202 or w/e). Do you have realtime monitoring needs that require 32samples of latency and no Firewire safety buffer to minimize round trip times for software monitoring? Do you want FX based monitoring in the hardware? (MOTU & RME now offer this for instance). Do you have needs for higher track counts at times? What software are you using? Etc...

[Kcatthedog]

[TimOBrienFlorida]

FW400 can do a huge number of simultaneous channels; fw800 just isn't needed unless you're micing a 150-piece orchestra.

You can put any fw400 on an 800 plug with a simple 800-to-400 cable.

My setup:

Computer -----> fw800 -----> Glyph fw800 drive ---- converter ---> Glyph fw400 drive ---> Motu828mkII

Zero problems.

As long as you put the 400 devices last in the chain, the other devices work at 800 speeds....

[gdoubleyou]

RME: Fireface 800

[balanceman]

thanks for the replies.
Focusrite told me they have a new driver.
I hope it solves the problems...

FWIW:
I originally purchased the scarlett for a multitrack remote recording.
I managed to get 16 inputs using the scarlett and an apogee rosetta800.
here are the results:

Water Bearer Pt. 1 (ft. Rico Pabon) from Act II of Great Integration: A Chamber Hip-Hop Opera - YouTube

That concert went great: 1 hour or more continuous recording of 16 tracks... on USB.
I believe it could work again... I assume it's just drivers...
that RME looks awesome though...