audiofire 2/4 + mbp user ? please read this

nonnus · Post by **nonnus** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 12:52 pm

aren´t there more mbp users using audiofire 2 / 4 over here ?

lucky people...

guatamaham · Post by **guatamaham** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 2:21 pm

nonnus wrote:aren´t there more mbp users using audiofire 2 / 4 over here ?

lucky people...

i am! sorry that i'm just now finding this thread as i've had all of the same issues with my audiofire. i'm running the audiofire2 on a core duo macbook pro. i've had it since september and it's worth noting that i've not updated the firmware until just now. so i guess that would be 3.0.2... anyway, i have had the missing midi issue, the audio going missing from the left side and also weirdness after sleeping/waking. sometimes it will just not work altogether and i'll have to reboot the machine (sometimes more than once).

another annoyance is that it never stores my settings for -10db/+4db on the channels. every time i remove it and plug it back in, i have to toggle back and forth between the two to get it where i want it. however, this might just be an issue with the earlier firmware. hopefully the newer one fixes this (although apparently it didn't fix the missing channel issue).

final issue: i have my external drive running into it. if i have my default output set to the audiofire and the drive plugged in, whenever i sleep/wake, the drive is accessible but there's no audio output to the audiofire (tho it will go to default output if i change it). i have to eject the drive, unplug it, unplug the audiofire then plug 'em all back in to get it to work!

nonnus · Post by **nonnus** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 4:00 am

guatamaham: no prob on the delay,
i just hope noone gets pissed about me trying to keep the thread up while waiting for mor responses...

but thak you very much on your report

so there´s 3 of us already,
in fact all the people that reported using an audiofire on the mbp had the problem that this thread focus on and some more on the mix

i also had the hd issue, in my case if connected the mac with the af and hd turned on, no audio would come out of af
i would need to 1st start the af, only after the start the hd

serotoninsteve · Post by **serotoninsteve** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 8:31 pm

Here I'm back,
got my MBP back today,
they changed the top cover,
but the touchpad button is misaligned now,
they told me that's normal,
and that they can't change it another time.
The cover and the touchpad is one unit when delivered.
I wasn't happy about that,
but took it back home and now the microswitch seems to be broken
on the left side, what a crap!

Sorry but couldn't yet test the new driver,
but if it doesn't work for Nonnus then I'm quite sure it's the same over here.
First the MBP goes back tomorrow and then the audiofire is for sale on ebay.
Echo support didn't even write back until now!

I think I'll wait until the Musikmesse, and look for something PCI/e,
there are already a few expensive units out, I'm pretty sure smaller interfaces become available too.

robin · Post by **robin** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 8:48 pm

nonnus wrote:i also had the hd issue, in my case if connected the mac with the af and hd turned on, no audio would come out of af
i would need to 1st start the af, only after the start the hd

Yep, the same prob in the macbook. If you leave the HD plugged into the audiofire (eject the HD) restart the af the sound is still gone. Do the same then unplug the HD. Plug Af in and it's ok.

It's not something I do often really but if you have an external fw hardrive with stuff on this is a problem I guess. I never let my machine sleep though when I use Live. I've seen issues with waking up with Live too even before the AF.

I suspect this (http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=2531)might have some bearing on things. I think Echo's firmware might need some polish though too.

nonnus · Post by **nonnus** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 3:16 am

robin:
i don´t have the hd issue anymore,
i think since the v3.1.1 update,
now the hd appear and audio plays aswell

serotninsteve:
some bad luck you´re having !!!
in the meanwhile i found it is possible to try a different fw audio driver (although i am not sure if it really is the one that is supposed to come out on 10.4.9) and have been advised to try it out

if you want you can do the same:

The driver is available as part of Apple's FireWire SDK 23.
I am legally prohibited from distributing this driver by the terms of Apple's license agreement.
However, you can register for free as an Apple developer and download it yourself.

To register as an Apple developer, go to:

http://developer.apple.com/membership/online.html

and click the "Join Now!" button.

Once you have registered, navigate to:

http://developer.apple.com/sdk/

and click on "FireWire SDK 23 for Mac OS X". Download and install the SDK.

Once the SDK is installed, open your hard disk and navigate to Developer/FireWireSDK23/FireWireComponents/FireWireAudio 2.0.1. Open the installer file labeled "AppleFWAudio-2.0.1fc1-e8.pkg".

Follow the on-screen instructions.
Once this is done,
restart your Mac.

Tip:
as i idid not want to install the full sdk,
i just used the show package content option,
and extracted AppleFWAudio-2.0.1fc1-e8.pkg from the archive.pax.gz

i have been testing it and until now everything seems ok,
but anytime the sound from 1 can decide to go away...
still teesting

will report if somehing happens...

guatamaham · Post by **guatamaham** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 4:07 pm

nonnus wrote: i don´t have the hd issue anymore,
i think since the v3.1.1 update,
now the hd appear and audio plays aswell

cool! i haven't been testing this, but i will. hopefully i have similar results.

nonnus wrote:will report if somehing happens...

please do. i'm antsy about changing my firewire driver but if it works out for you, i'll give it a shot.

it's worth noting, by the way, that i only have the audio channel dropout issue in Live. i've not experienced it in max/msp yet. granted, i usually write in Live so it's open for longer periods of time... however i also will leave my audiofire connected as the default output all day long and listen to iTunes with no issues whatsoever (and have been doing so for months now).

kugutsumen · Post by **kugutsumen** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 5:13 pm

Just bought an Audiofire 4 today... and I have a MBP.

However, I only tested it quickly on my Mac Mini with some headphones and upgraded it to the latest firmware. I haven't really played much with it since I forgot to buy some audio cables.

This thread made me panic a little bit. It is now the 31st of March so I guess the 10.4.9 firewire driver fixed the problem. Nonnus?

Btw... before I bought an audiofire 4 I had a similar problem, I was using two usb c-media and used Mac OS X Audio Midi Setup to create an aggregated device. It was working fine but 1/2 would die for no reason; it would also die everytime I dropped a file from iTunes on a live track. Then I realised that I had the default output in OS X Preferences set to one of the c-media device... When I set the default output to the built-in audio device, problem was fixed.

OvertoneZero · Post by **OvertoneZero** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 5:18 pm

Does this card (Audiofire 4) work now or what? As an audio interface it looks like exactly what I need features-wise at a fair price, but it's definitely overpriced for a paperweight.

Macbook Pro 2.33 ghz Core 2 Duo is seeking petite, fiery 2in/4out for late-night low latency recording

robin · Post by **robin** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 5:49 pm

My AF2 has always been far from a paperweight.

I've had a few wrinkles but overall I'm happy enough.

nonnus · Post by **nonnus** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 9:11 pm

kugutsumen: the same hapened to me when i got my first audiocard with propper jack outs, no cables...

in the meanwhile i have had no complaints about the audiofire 4, it has worked flawlessly on the mbp but only since i installed an alternative developer firewire driver...

i currently don´t know if the af works ok only with the 10.4.9 withouth insalling this driver, maybe you can find out...

please report over here

p.s.: at first i also thought the af issue might have to do with sound preferences but even only using it with live core audio it would have the sound from ch 1 jump to ch 3...

OvertoneZero · Post by **OvertoneZero** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 3:38 am

nonnus wrote: in the meanwhile i have had no complaints about the audiofire 4, it has worked flawlessly on the mbp but only since i installed an alternative developer firewire driver...

What driver is this?

All the MB Pro caveats, exceptions, jury rigs, etc concerning the AF 4 make me super wary about throwing down for the interface.

I was thinking about the Konnket 8 or Audio Kontrol 1 as alternatives to the AF 4 but in my net research I've found that a lot of people seem to have issues using these firewire interfaces with Macbook Pro. The only thing worse than hours of net research about audio hardware is buying audio hardware that doesn't work.

Where are the expresscard interfaces? So much for 'It just works.'

kugutsumen · Post by **kugutsumen** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 4:21 am

nonnus wrote: i currently don´t know if the af works ok only with the 10.4.9 withouth insalling this driver, maybe you can find out...

It should since you updated to 10.4.9 and seeing the way OS X Software Updates work, the sdk driver you installed has most probably been overwritten.

I'll post feedback.

My setup is:

Echo Audiofire 4 (Console 3.1.1, ARM Firmware 3.1, FPGA 3.0.2)
MBP 2Ghz 2GB Ram (1st generation... this is my 5th motherboard and finally random shutdowns don't occur anymore...)
Mac OS X 10.4.9

nonnus · Post by **nonnus** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 5:27 am

OvertoneZero: the info on the specified driver is a bit earlier on this thread

kugutsumen: i am not really sure if the driver was overwritten wuth 10.4.9...

first reason is that on the update info there was no mention to any fwaudio changes...

also i just checked my applefwaudio systems extensions on system profiler and it shows the following info:

AppleFWAudio:

Version: 2.0.1
Last Modified: 10/23/06 9:45 PM
Get Info String: AppleFWAudio 2.0.1, Copyright 2002-2006 Apple Computer, Inc.
Location: /System/Library/Extensions/AppleFWAudio.kext
kext Version: 2.0.1fc1
Load Address: 0x9a5000
Valid: Yes
Authentic: Yes
Dependencies: Satisfied
Integrity: Kext is modified

so as far as i can tell it is still the dev driver i installed and not a standart system one...

can you please report what you have in your install ?

kugutsumen · Post by **kugutsumen** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 5:42 am

^^^

Shit, you're right:

AppleFWAudio:

Version: 1.2.2
Last Modified: 19/10/06 1:20 PM
Get Info String: AppleFWAudio 1.2.2, Copyright 2002-2006 Apple Computer, Inc.
Location: /System/Library/Extensions/AppleFWAudio.kext
kext Version: 1.2.2b1
Load Address: 0x875000
Valid: Yes
Authentic: Yes
Dependencies: Satisfied
Integrity: Correct

Are you using the same Audiofire Firmware and FPGA?

I am tempted to install the same version as you.

https://connect.apple.com/cgi-bin/WebOb ... leID=19682

I still have my ADC account...(Free reg)

Edit: Google audiofire and applefwaudiofire.. it seems that your problem is a Mac OS X problem and it happens with other hardware as well:

http://community.sonikmatter.com/forums ... 34511.html

From the Focusrite Saffire Pro support pages, which I came across while helping out a pal who has one:

QUOTE
Issues wiith OSX / New Apple Firewire driver

If you are experiencing recording or software monitoring dely; or if you are finding that your Saffire pro turns off your mac please download this driver from the apple develper site: Apple Developer Site
You need to get SDK23. You will be asked to register (free to register), and then you can download the driver.
Once installed you should see a "Developer" Folder in your HD.
Go to HD > Developer > FirewireSDK23 > FireWireComponenets > FirewireAudio 2.0.1 > AppleFWAudio-2.0.1fc1-e8.pkg
Run this installer.