May 28, 2006 08:15 pm Well for what you need those devices all would work fine. I would honestly stay away from the firewire at the moment as that type of interface is prone to some problems as of yet with all the software changes going on. USB on the other hand is running pretty stable right now and seems to be a bit more reliable for most users.
M-Audio gear is pretty reliable as well, drivers are kept fairly current so that is not a huge issue. Although M-Audio has been laging behind in driver updates the last year or so. That is one reason I have switched my main interfaces to ESI products. But those are PCI card interfaces for desktop machines and I assume you are wanting something to use on a laptop as well as desktop?
You might want to have a look at the Line 6 UX-2 as well, although it does lack the midi i/o you require. But a dedicated 1 in and out USB midi interface can be had for under $30.00 US. The UX-2 offers some excellant microphone pre amp models which I use frequantly on mine. As well there are some great set ups with the acoustic guitar in mind if you are using and electro-acoustic they work splendidly.