For several years, I’ve been producing jingles full time with the MotifXS6 as my “main squeeze”.  Meaning - I made full use of the Motif as both my MIDI and audio interface via mLAN, and the VST Editor. 

Always upgrading to the latest versions of Windows and Cubase has produced problems now and then.  Dropouts, crashes, etc. 

Looking back, I’m pretty sure the problems were mostly with the audio, and yesterday I decided to stop tasking the Motif as my audio interface.  (went with a simple USB model). 

What I found is that I can still make full use of the VST Editor, remote functions, voice editing, patch selection, etc. with the Firewire/mLAN setup just fine and it runs smooth as silk.  It seems I do NOT have to use USB for the Motif VST Editor. 

I’d been contemplating a Montage this year, or maybe a MODX.  While those are wonderful machines, I won’t be needing them.  Having dropped the “audio” tasks from the Motif/mLAN, I’m good to go!

I’ll check back here for any comments or questions.  :-)

Many FW audio problems can be resolved by applying the YSFW (Yamaha Steinberg FireWire} Utility. Have you tried that?

See....
http://www.motifator.com/index.php/forum/viewthread/460158/
http://www.motifator.com/index.php/forum/viewthread/478528/
...and links within.

5pD - thanks so much for chiming in, and if you care I’d love to hear back from you on this.

(please know that even though I work full-time as a jingle producer with this rig, I’m not necessarily all that tech savy like yourself and several members of this forum).

While this utility might be the solution, the other thing that weighs on my mind is that I’m told Firewire is finished, and will eventually not work.  Is this true?

If so, I’d rather start converting (as I wrote above) before the stuff just doesn’t work one day.  Thanks again for any input! - Pete Radd

RADDTUNES - 24 April 2019 12:20 PM

5pD - thanks so much for chiming in, and if you care I’d love to hear back from you on this.

[...]

While this utility might be the solution, the other thing that weighs on my mind is that I’m told Firewire is finished, and will eventually not work.  Is this true?

If so, I’d rather start converting (as I wrote above) before the stuff just doesn’t work one day.  Thanks again for any input! - Pete Radd

You’re welcome.

Yes, FireWire (IEEE 1394) support is waning, both in terms of the physical port and operating systems. My personal approach is to keep using computers that are compatible - music applications don’t typically require the fastest processors or extremely large memory capacity, and often not the latest OS.

While FireWire itself won’t suddenly stop working, computers can fail and an updated OS might not support it. If using an external interface for audio feels more secure and fulfills your needs, I certainly won’t suggest that you not do it.

One of the reasons I’m not a fan of Apple:
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/06/the-rise-and-fall-of-firewire-the-standard-everyone-couldnt-quite-agree-on/

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/06/the-rise-and-fall-of-firewire-the-standard-everyone-couldnt-quite-agree-on/2/

Wow - I didn’t even know FireWire was an Apple thing. 

Yeah, I’m done with it for audio anyway.  At the point when it stops handling things so elegantly MIDI-wise between my MotifXS6 and the VST Editor, I’ll simply switch over to USB . 

Thanks again. :-)

I’d suggest sticking with MIDI via FW for as long as possible, since data communication is noticeably faster than with USB.