I have had a FW410 card for about 2 years. When I got it first the midi would not work properly (every time i tried to sequence midi, the connection to the soundcard would drop out). Audio recording and playback was fine, but to get a midi connection working I ended up buying an M-audio unosport 1x1 usb lead.... this worked perfectly.
So for the last two years I have used the FW410 for audio, and the unosport 1x1 for midi.
I bought some more gear and I needed more midi ins/outs... I thought maybe theres newer drivers for the card - lets try to get it the midi working... downloaded new drivers, installed, then in Live had the midi input on the FW410 working alongside the midisport midi.... tried to activate the FW410 midi output, and everything freezes... can't close Live, can't do anything...
Thought perhaps it's a Live problem, so I borrowed a mates M-audio 2x2 midisport to see if that would work... it works perfectly!
So I bought myself one those... I now have 3x midi ins and 3x outs and a soudcard that just does sound.....
total cost of a midi solution for me - e120! I was thinking of emailing m-audio for some of that money refunded!!! seeing as I bought a soundcard that boasts midi connections but doesn't deliver...
My conclusion - the M-audio FW410 is a flawed design - or - a 4pin firewire port cannot handle both audio and midi information reliably...
b.t.w, I borrowed a mate's FW410 to see if maybe the unit I had was damaged, but the very same problem occured... he says it works fine on his machine but he never uses the midi out and only does lightweight work with 1 midi in....
