Hi I’m researching an appropriate new notebook for my old N8 ,so please give and share your experience , especially how easy to connect N8 FW400 to nowadays notebook.Thanks.
If by “new” you actually mean a 2021 model, I doubt you will find one with a FW port.
Some people managed to make FW400 work by chaining dongles from USB-C >> TBT2 >> FW800 >> FW400, but many did not…
It sure to be a hassle, if you’re lucky, and then you will enter the realm of driver obsolescence that won’t work in your new OS, or won’t be stable.
So, unless you’re a bit of an computer-masochist… I recommend you just forget about using FW400, and replace your N8… (sorry to break the news…)
Its next of kin would be the MG10XU ($220) or something similar.
Then about any recent ($1000) laptop will be powerful enough to record the stereo feed through USB.
But it’s hard to recommend something without knowing more of your usage model / workflow.
You could also decide to make a big move and mix “in the box”, but an audio interface with about the same inputs as your N8 will cost $500++, and the workflow (and laptop) is a complete different story.
There’s a 3rd option in between:
You could prefer to keep your N8, but forget about using FW400 and use instead its analog output you can feed to a basic interface ($100 used; $200 new).
All depends on what else you want to do with your gear.
A simple, pain-free migration from your N8 sounds like using a MG10XU (or similar).
I sold my n12 2 years ago when I got a new computer as even then it was obvious FireWire was finished. There may be ways but you could end up with all sorts of problems. Win 10 has stopped supporting FireWire as well although there was workarounds.
Thanks pals,I don’t wanna invest lot of money for a new mixer,and of course I get familia with N8 and cubase 5 especially hardware mix ,love it.
Anyway let me consider for your helpful recommend .sorry my English is not good.
I am still using my N12 on the latest Windows 10 (21H1) Desktop PC and it works just fine without any issues.
It will work on a desktop and as I said there are ways to keep fw going. You can also get fw cards for a desktop. The question is about getting a new notebook. As someone mentioned there are probably ways of doing it.