Ableton Forum

...does that make it a bad idea to buy an emu 1616 cardbus, seeing as I won't be able to find a laptop to use it with 5 years from now?

why is cardbus on its way out and when will it be out???

because expresscard is replacing it in laptops - sooner or later they're going to stop making laptops that take PCMCIA type II. A quick poll of the techie people I work with suggests that this might happen in 3 years time. kind of unfortunate if you've splashed out loads of money on a cardbus audio interface on the presumption that it will outlive your current lappie...

Count me one of those people. I have a RME Multiface and pcmcia card and am about to upgrade to a macbook pro. New Expresscard format slot only, on the macbook pro.

RME support have indicated:

1. they do not anticipate making an Expresscard card for the HammerfallDSP range.

2. Expresscard > pcmcia adaptors will become available "sometime in the future" but NOT from them.

3. (inferred) they'd rather we all bought Fireface 400s (RME's roughly equivalent FW solution)

hmmmmmmmmmmmm

i love my 1616m, i'm sure there will be some workaround, and how frequently do you plan to move to a new machine? that is, do you swap out machines more frequently than cards? that's the only reason i could see this being a concern (otherwise, the machine and the card will have roughly the same lifespan).

that's shameful...
I really don't want to trade my Multiface/Cardbus for a firewire solution. I've heard about the differences between both protocols, regarding performance and stability. PCMCIA and DSP on Cardbus is rock solid.
Pehaps I should wait one more year or so to see if is worth to get a new laptop that doesn't have PCMCIA.

I got an Echo Indigo DJ in March, and I'll probably get a mac lappie in a year or such if everything goes well. That means my Echo Indigo (which is sooo nice and portable) will be useful for...nothing

Why oh why?

Agreed 100% SubQ. I'm really _really_ hoping this future "adapter solution" will be the trick.

I've been so happy with the PCMCIA/Multiface for stability on stage (feeding 8 chs of audio out, and hammering the MIDI notes like a percussionist.) I just don't want to change.

Also my band uses two Multiface/Powerbook combo's. So it's double expensive duty for us to move off the existing system. I don't mind springing for a macbook Pro, fair enough, but OUCH to a new RME as well.

Just have to see how things develop...

Yeah, but a future adapter will be hokey, and if companies move to an express solution you'll most likely see the drivers for pcmcia solutions stop being developed/supported in the future. Even if you got an adapter to use PCMCIA on an express system like the macbook pro... will you be able to get any working drivers to run the card?

Greg

It's a drag... as of yet, I don't know of a single product for the ExpressCard, audio or otherwise. I asked an Apple sales dude yesterday if he knew of anything yet and he did not.

Lame. I guess the egg comes before the chicken.

Screw firewire. Screw USB2. I want a hard connection to my computer for my interface. I'm as lost as everyone else. I want a MacBook Pro, but not until I can have a complete system.

I was looking at the express card yesterday as well and as far as I could tell it looks to be the same thing except a bit smaller, unless someone else can say otherwise. That port is still somewhat of a mystery.

Yeah I love using a PCMCIA card because there's no cable and no external box. I will miss it.
On the other hand, If I get a new laptop now, I'll bet a stack of Korean supernotes that someone will come up with audio card for the new bus in 3 years time!
Don't panic!

while Emu has yet to do it, it seems to me that they have built some backwards compatibility into there design of both the 1820 and 1616. They could sell replacements for the PCI (1820) and PCMCIA (1616) cards for whatever form factor the new attachemnt are because the breakout box is connected to the card via an eithernet cable. Who knows if they will actually do it but not buying a soundcard that you want because in the furture they may replace the interface seems a little off. I remember at least a years ago that BTX was going to replace ATX Motherboards. Seen any of those?

there are also USB-to-PCMCIA interfaces

I received this email from Sewell Direct, who apparently will be marketing an ExpressCard/PCMCIA adapter (from Duel Systems, I believe)


Paddy,

The update, as per your request on our techblog, is that we will be receiving the Alpha testing unit this month. We won’t start doing beta testing for probably a month afterward. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks,

Jordan Yorgason
Technical Support
Sewell Direct
Telephone: 801.356.3823 x701
Fax: 801.356.3826

I ditched my Cardbus/PCI + Multiface v1 combo for a Fireface 400 because I bought a macbook pro.. despite initial doubts so far I'm pleasantly surprised. I didn't have to change any latency settings and could continue using it like I was the Multiface..