Fantasy animals

It's a night for randomness, since I'm not feeling 100% well. 

If I say to you, Presonus Firepod, you'll know what I'm talking about, I'm sure.  For those who don't, Presonus is a brand name.  Firepod is...well, Firepod is...let me get someone else to explain it: It's a Firewire interface with eight analog inputs. There, that helped now, didn't it?

Okay, this is like a puzzle within a puzzle.  We've solved what a Firepod is, but now we have to find out what a Firewire is. Well, apparently it's similar to the cord you might use to plug into your computer, with a USB on one end, and a different kind of connection at the other.  I use one such beast to connect the Kindle to the computer, at times. Firewire, simply put, is a way to connect different pieces of equipment so they can easily and quickly share information, and there's a photo of a typical example included here for your benefit.

So a Firepod is a Firewire with, you may remember, eight analog inputs.  Somebody on Facebook tonight claimed that when he sees Input used as a verb, he sees a German golfer. That's not only irrelevant to our discussion, since we're talking about input as a noun, but somewhat obscure to me, so we'll move on.  Note that the Firepod has analog inputs.  I was trying to visualize this, and decided that in the end it was easier to show you than explain it.  Here's a picture - count the inputs: 

I assume that the analog aspect (I'm talking as one who knows nothing about audio equipment, so correct me if you wish) means that it isn't digital signals that are being transmitted.  That would seem obvious to me, but I've been wrong before when I've said something was obvious (frequently, in fact, especially domestically).

However, this little excursion has introduced me to a couple of animals I didn't know before, the Firepod, and the Firewire.  They sound like creatures who could quite easily inhabit the world of Ursula le Guin, but I don't know, since, as I said in my last post, I've only read one of her books...