M-Audio FireWire 410 -- Confusing and Crappy

First, a disclaimer: I am not a professional musician or an audio engineer. But I have worked in radio for over 30 years. So, I think that it is not just my incompetence that has made my experience with the M-Audio FireWire 410 audio interface a hair-pulling-out nightmare.

For those not familiar with the FireWire 410, I should explain that its function is to provide a hardware, FireWire-based connection between audio sources (microphones, instruments, etc.) and your computer.

Setting it up is a mind-numbing experience, as I've found during hours of configuration hell on both Windows and Mac machines. In fact, even though I've had it for over a year, some of my audio software still does not work properly with it.

But the most crappy thing about it can be found in this warning in its manual:

IMPORTANT: It has come to our attention that problems have been reported with several types of IEEE1394 (“FireWire”) devices, including MAudio FireWire devices. These problems occur when using a 6-pin bus-powered connection when plugging and unplugging external FireWire devices, when both the computer and external device are powered on. This is commonly referred to as “hotplugging”. In some cases the FireWire port on the host computer system is rendered permanently inoperable. In other cases the external FireWire device is rendered permanently inoperable. M-Audio does not want users of M-Audio FireWire products to experience such costly problems. Therefore, M-Audio must require that users of M-Audio FireWire devices refrain from hotplugging any M-Audio FireWire device. You must make your FireWire connection while both computer and FireWire device are powered off; then power on.

I have never heard of a FireWire device (or USB device, for that matter) that will render a port "permanently inoperable" just from plugging it in while the computer is already on. Fer cryin' out loud, that ability to "hot plug" is one of the main selling points of FireWire/USB connections.

So, for its Byzantine set-up and for requiring that one must plug in the M-Audio FireWire 410 only when your computer is powered down, I hereby declare it a crappy piece of software (and hardware).