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This doesn't answer your question, but one that wasn't on your list in the same price range is the PreSonus Firebox 6x10 at $299. It got good press when it came out about a year ago, it looks like the Fast Track is trying to compete in that space. These should all have comparable
sound quality, which for live use
isn't that important anyway. I've heard people whine about the mic pre's on one unit over another but if you're that serious about it you probably have your own standalone preamps anyway. Latency should be no problem if
you're only using a few channels. In
theory USB/Firewire devices are more suspectable to bus contention than a PCMCIA card, but if you only have one high-speed device on the bus it isn't an issue. Just avoid having the audio interface, scanner, video digitizer, and external backup hard drive all going at the same time :-) Historically firewire has had a
better reputation than USB, but
they're about the same now. USB is a bit twitchier with hubs, you have to be careful never to mix USB1 and USB2 devices on the same hub. If you're plugging directly into the computer you're fine. Really the only thing to be greatly
concerned about is the quality of
the device drivers, especially if this is a relatively new device. I like to sift through the manufacturer's support forums to see if people are complaining. Jeff
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