Hello, and a fine day to all.
This one is for Sir 5PinDIN.
A friend of mine that I would do anything for, she asked me the other day what if something happens to my FW16e? I said I don’t know but I think if you have another audio interface it might work, but ‘Genius’ here couldn’t begin to say how. :)
She has the newest Universal Audio x8p and an Apollo Quad paired.
Maybe S/pdif or Adat? One or both of those have connections on the back of the XF’s that I’ve not ever used.
We’re prepared not to have it communicate as nicely as the FW16e, but just basic maybe, ah, enough to get the audio of the XF out.

Thanks for your expertise for sure 5Pin.

Thanks for your confidence in me, but in this case it might be somewhat misplaced. My familiarity is with the XF, not the Universal Audio products. Having said that…

Without the FireWire capability (via an mLAN16E2 or FW16E), the XF’s analog audio output is limited to two channels, from the main L+R or Assignable jacks. Even DIGITAL OUT (S/PDIF), while avoiding the analog stages, is still the same signal source that’s fed to the main outputs - that is, two channels. Obviously the Yamaha FireWire interfaces are superior in at least that respect.

The two Apollo units you mentioned apparently have a value of over $4,000US. If your friend has additional funds available, I’d suggest looking around for a spare FW16E if she’s concerned about the possible demise of her current one. Not that I want to start a bidding war, but right now there’s an auction running on eBay for what appears to be the “Motif XF Fully loaded” Expansion Pack (which was available from Yamaha as a promotion when the XF was being discontinued) - it included an FW16E and two FL1024M (1 GB) flash modules. I don’t know the seller, and there are definitely some inconsistencies in the description, so if anyone is interested I’d suggest contacting the seller before bidding.

Well, I thought I clicked ‘Fast Reply’ this morning but I guess I didn’t do that right. :)

Let me try again!  …

Thanks 5pin!  ;-)