• Registered: 2012-09-21
  • Posts: 1

Topic: Policy on driver maintenance?

I'm in the process of buying a new audio interface, and the last thing I want is being told in a few years: well sorry, we don't make drivers for those anymore.  Some companies continues to make drivers updates for out of production units for very long, some don't.

Is there an explicit policy at RME about the time we can expect driver updates?  How many years?  Or how many years after the discontinuation of a product?

Currently the FireFace UC is at the top of my list for a new card, but I now always check the driver status of old cards before investing, and what I see in the driver list of RME isn't exactly good news on this matter.

Tx

_____________________________
http://hardsync.blogspot.ca/

HardSync's Website

  • From: Germany
  • Registered: 2007-04-10
  • Posts: 9,770

Re: Policy on driver maintenance?

There is no explicit policy. Since most drivers (HDSP, USB, FW) work for several devices, units are likely to be included in the driver family even after being discontinued. As an example, the FF400 is out of production now, but there is no plan or set date when it will be excluded from FW driver development. That said, it will not receive some new features such as Totalmix FX, since the hardware simply does not support it.

As another example, the older non-HDSP Hammerfall cards or the Digi 96 series, with the latest driver being from 2005 or so, still work in Windows 7 (possibly even 8, not sure if that's been tested), albeit only with the 32 bit version. That means the card's potential lifespan expands well over ten years and counting (as long as that W7 PC won't fall apart).


Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME

Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME

RME Support's Website

3 Reply by MC

  • MC
  • MC
  • Administrator
  • Offline
  • From: Germany/Thailand
  • Registered: 2007-04-06
  • Posts: 25,585

Re: Policy on driver maintenance?

HardSync wrote:

Currently the FireFace UC is at the top of my list for a new card, but I now always check the driver status of old cards before investing, and what I see in the driver list of RME isn't exactly good news on this matter.

Example?

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

MC's Website