is it capable of full duplex (digital in and digital
out)? and if so - does
it do it on Linux? What kind of latencies are we talking about here? (just
curious - have a laptop myself with USB ports (no PCMCIA))...
The problem with the M-audio usb stuff is that it
needs a very specific quality of AC voltage to operate,
which makes destroys the key advantage of having an audio
interface on a laptop. One company researched and developed
a battery pack for these devices, but admits that hum
is introduced into the signal.
I've been looking for a long time, and decided that the
Apogee Mini-me is the best solution, but at $1200.00.
If you don't cream over 24/96k, you can look at the
mbox. Edirol has one with great features, but apparently
the mic pre's are very noisy. VXPocket looks good,
but has no phantom power. These can be had on ebay for
a reasonable price however.