I guess that makes sense. 

What about FW 800 drivers for Vista? 

Thanks

I was under the impression that running 3 FF800s on a 400MHz firewire interface was overload.  I am not sure where I got that from though.

You are right - two or three FFs would require FW800 - but not if you use two of these as standalone converters, rather than connecting them to FW.

The card will work with Vista and W7 (32 bit), ASIO only.

Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME

I have Vista now that I have an i7 machine and as far as I have heard, there will not be drivers for FW800 cards - bummer in the summer. 

Am I wrong? 

I think I am.  Here is why. 

Lets use 44100 as a sample rate.  24 bit samples (3 bytes)24 channels in and out - so 48 channels
Bits                  24
Times
Sample rate    44100
= 1,058,400 bits per second
times 48 channels (24 out and 24 back)
=50,803,200 bits per second
Or 50 Mb/sec.  The firewire 400 spec is 400 Mbits/second, right?
Doubling the sample rate to 88k would take me up to 100Mb/sec - still 1/4th the limit on FW 400 spec, right?

I would prefer to own another FF800 (though the 800 part is sort of wasted without a FW800 interface/drivers for Vista).  I would then have 12 mic pres and 3 headphone mixes in addition to whatever I had going on at the Toft board.

I apologize for a lengthy post. And if I am wrong in my math, please let me know. 

But - two questions emerge
(1) Can I support 3 FF800s using a FW400 interface and still run all the back side analog IO if needed (math says yes)? if so, i have to opt for a 3rd FF800. 
(2) Am I wrong about the lack of FW 800 support in Vista and Win 7? 

Thanks. 

By the way - I bought one of the original Hammerfall series DIGI 9652s back when I bought my D8B (not long after the D8B was introduced).  It broke my heart when I had to replace it with the new PC and Vista.  RME Products are that good.  Never an issue once with the thing.  My experience with the FF800s has been comparably good so far.  While I have never owned an Apogee or the likes, I have owned a bunch of other MOTU and comparable level stuff.  RME is light years ahead of them. 

Now that is full out - 24 channels in 24 channels out - which I rarely do, but assume that I get some massive project.

Great idea :-) Connection is straightforward, just a pair of ADAT cables, maybe a BNC for WC if you like. Set the ADI to external or ADAT sync.

The max sample rate on the ADI-8 Pro is 48kHz, so if you want to do 96 kHz, you're better off with an ADI-8 DS, or another FF800 in standalone mode.

There is a RME ADI-8 for sale on ebay.  From what I can tell, it should be able to hook up to a FF800 using light pipe, but I hate to bid on something then find I am wrong. 

Will these two play together?  If so, then how?

Thanks