I just found this right here on YamahaSynth. It says there's no current way to use USB instead of FireWire.

Is there any chance that Yamaha will come out with a USB-based card for the XF that's equivalent to the FW16E?

How does the saying go? ... Chances are slim to none, and Slim, he left town! 🙂

As I'm sure I mentioned previously, USB always was fast enough, but back when the mLAN and FW protocols (for moving MIDI and audio between music devices and the computer) were developed by Yamaha, USB simply did not have the Bandwidth.

Currently in the market, Yamaha has been moving toward USB for multiple channels of audio and multiple ports of MIDI. The MOX (2011), the MOXF (2013), for example, feature a 4-in/2-out audio interface plus multiple ports of MIDI communication for a computer.

FireWire (originally an Apple protocol) could be used by both Windows and Macintosh computers. When Apple moved away from FW, they made the more robust Thunderbolt protocol 100% backward compatible with FW... Meaning musicians using FW for their music production rigs, needed a $20 adapter to continue to work with the FW protocol (in the scheme of things, annoying, but not at all fatal)...

_ It is far more likely that you should adapt your computer to use a Thunderbolt system (which is then easily converted to FW) than to wait for or expect a FW-to-USB conversion coming from the music manufacturer side. Certainly, such a device, if one were ever to come to fruition, is not something Yamaha would be likely making. Never say never, but I seriously doubt this.

Most connection protocols, while essential for what musician want-and-need to do, change with very little consulting of this market. We (the entire pro music production market = 'we') wind up getting caught in between. While initially you would see Windows computers adopting Thunderbolt, but given the cost consideration involved in developing around Thunderbolt, Windows computer makers have mainly adopted USB 3.0 so once again the Mac and PC world's have found a way to disagree... On somethings very critical for musicians to work!!!

You're asking if a music manufacturer will build a device to bridge a gap (that the two entities that build computers) seem to want to widen? I'm just saying, it seems unlikely. In theory, getting a thunderbolt adapter for your computer seems like a solution (that already exists). I must say that personally I have not had, nor have I heard of anyone using a Windows PC with a Thunderbolt-to-FW adapter. (It works on the Windows side of a dual boot MacBook Pro). I do know of literally hundreds of folks using this adapter completely successfully on the Macintosh side. There is no reason (in theory) that it would not work exactly the same for fully-Windows computers going forward.

I believe you can still purchase FW adapter cards for Windows computers, and you can buy Thunderbolt adapters for Windows computers. I would have to (and I will) contact Yamaha Customer Support folks about options going forward... For folks who want to continue to use the built-in FW protocols found in both the Motif XS and XF series synths in an ever evolving computer hardware-connectivity world. People definitely upgrade their computer hardware far more often than they upgrade their musical hardware. The customer expectation is to get many more years out of the instrument purchase, and less and less years from their computer hardware.

I found a SyQuest drive and a SmartMedia card the other day... Yikes. I used that with the original Motif and ES. My computer's back then had a SyQuest drive and had a SM slot!

But the FW as implemented in the Motif XS and XF is likely to remain as is...

_ It is fairly obvious that USB remains the single protocol that both computer platforms still feel compelled to provide - even though it allows compatibility with their arch rival 🙂 I say that jokingly, but from the perspective of the music community, sometimes it seems the methods computers communicate with the outside hardware world change in spite of the connectivity we actually need as musicians.

I've heard nothing about USB 3.0 ports. Again, developed independently of the music world... Will music devices begin to use usb3.0, sure, undoubtedly, they have no choice. It's what's going to be found on newer computers going forward. Hopefully, USB 3.0 is backward compatible, I'm sure it is, because if not, then none of your current USB audio stuff will work. It should be 100% backward compatible... Right!!?! 😉