I am in the process of buying a Creation Station Plus DAW from Sweetwater, but they seem to have limited knowledge of the mLAN technology that I intend to use. I plan to use a Yamaha MOTIF ES (not XS) together with SONAR 7 and KONTAKT 3 (for additional instruments to the internal MOTIF sampled voices). But I also want to use the MOTIF’s sequencer since it has arpeggiator qualities and other cool stuff that I’ve spent a year learning and using successfully. To use the MOTIF’s sequencer with the PC, I want to use the Audio/Midi interface made for Yamaha called mLAN13e which also has the benefit of Firewire connectivity using only one cable. Now Sweetwater’s salesman has been telling me I MUST BUY a separate audio interface (he recommends the Edirol-FA66 which is identical to SONAR’s packaged audio interface that comes with SONAR Power Studio 660). He thinks that I WON’T hear audio without that device, but the mLAN card comes with Audio outputs and inputs (not just Midi ins and outs). Sweetwater, despite being one of the biggest retailers of pro-audio, has had precious little experience with mLAN and it seems they’re learning as they go, but I don’t want to be the trial and error guinea pig. I learned from Scott’s forum that I really should upgrade my RAM to accomodate KONTAKT 3’s heavy CPU usage, so this seems like a very valuable place to get the skinny, although a YAMAHA forum might be cool if, like Sweetwater, nobody has any idea of how this mLAN technology works. I’d avoid it completely if it weren’t for the utility it provides me with my MOTIF’s inner sequencer capabilities transferring to computer so easily by using this firewire mLAN interface that Yamaha touts as being a wondrous aid to achieving my particular requirements. If I can avoid buying the Edirol-FA66, I can much better afford the 4 RAM upgrade I think I’ll need to prevent Kontakt’s heavy CPU usage from crashing SONAR 7 and requiring a complete reinstallation and loss of valuable time and effort. I’m 100% musician and 0% technician, so this could be a nightmare if it goes wrong. Sweetwater also tells me that my ProTools Digi02 is INCOMPATIBLE with SONAR 7. But I’m willing to live with that as long as I can use Sonar’s audio recording capabilities, and burn my CD’s from my Wavelab’s burner, since I learned that Sonar’s Disc-at-Once Burner should be avoided, and my Wavelab software utilizes Track-at-Once burning. But if he’s wrong here, too please let me know. Thanks very much for any help you can give me.

Re: mLan13e as a soundcard for MOTIF ES

See reply to your other post