there are many such article on the net...
Interesting observation - since you said that, I took a quick look: I did not in any way compile a count or analysis of the various issues I saw discussed, but it did seem to me that the majority of them involved Windows systems (especially XP) - really they did, just sayin'…
Logically, you would expect that an interface hanging directly on the PCI bus would be a tiny bit faster than a USB-connected one (it is a Universal SERIAL Bus after all) but the 1, maybe 2ms. difference just isn't an issue in the real world. You also have to take some of those complaints with a grain of salt as well - say when you ask a few questions and find out that the complainer is actually running a USB AUDIO interface along with his USB MIDI interface through his USB HUB (!) into his Windows-powered Dell laptop and he can't understand why nothing seems to stay in sync between crashes! Again, I'm just sayin'…
One HUGE advantage the Keyspan has over the others is that you an actually BUY it - it's still in production and available from Tripp-Lite along with support (albeit rudimentary, for sure - these folks are NOT musicians) I actually have a spare - how great is that?
I used the original driver for quite a while (before I learned there was a newer one) with occasional, mostly minor issues - none of which related to actual performance. They were things like say, every now and then the Keyspan would hang the MDD on startup much like an extension conflict. I would workaround that by just unplugging it until all extensions were loaded and all was well. The newer driver seems to have "fixed" that, but for all I know, it may have just been unique to my particular setup and only occur on MY MDD - who knows?
Party on Garth…