Firewire audio interfaces

I am trying to get i tunes / garageband / cubase to work using a Focusrite Saffire audio interface and as a complete novice can't even get any sound at all out of it. WHEN I LOOK IN SYSTEM PREFERENCES sound it shows the interface and I have selected it as both input and output source but there is no sound unless I turn this back to internal sound.I assume the only connection should be the firewire cable between the mac and the interface? HELP||||||||

imac 2.4 20", Mac OS X (10.5.2), intel imac

Posted on Apr 2, 2008 11:38 AM

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4 replies

Apr 19, 2008 7:43 AM in response to jinjaman

I've got a Saffire and it's working well in, but a few things have to be in place. Have you installed the SaffireControl app and updated the firmware? You can download it at http://www.focusrite.com/support/software/saffire/. Obviously make sure your monitors/speakers are on. 🙂 Are the lights for the two Line Mode inputs at the upper left of the Saffire green or orange? They should be green if it's connected correctly. You'll also want to make sure that the external power adapter is connected - I wouldn't necessarily trust that the FireWire port is providing enough juice to run the Saffire completely. Make sure the center Monitor knob is turned up and not muted.

Also, once you get it working I found that installing the SoundSource app ( http://rogueamoeba.com/freebies/) is extremely useful for letting me switch between the Saffire and the built-in speakers in my iMac.

What type of system are you running this on? What version of MacOSX? Good luck!

Apr 23, 2008 2:42 PM in response to Lacer

Hi,

I'm running a Saffire LE on the FW400 port on my Intel iMac 2.4 GHz, the issue I have is that when I power down my iMac, the power on the FW400 connection to the Saffire LE is kept switched on and so I do occasionally have to unplug/replug the FW400 connection to get a clean reboot of the Saffire LE. The USB ports do get the power removed when I power down.

Any ideas please?

Cheers,

Al

May 18, 2008 12:33 PM in response to jinjaman

The solution to a similar problem I had might have some bearing on your issue. My Saffire works great with Garageband, Logic, Reason 3 and 4, and all the Apple creative apps directly. BUT Native Instruments' Kontakt 3 standalone would not output audio through it. They have a bug, and a workaround: Go into Audio MIDI setup app (part of Mac OS)and create a NEW "aggregate device". Put the Saffire channels 1 and 2 into it, and the save, quit. Now you will see in Kontakt a new audio output choice called "aggregate device". This works and makes the audio play.

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Firewire audio interfaces

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