Which audio cards can be bus powered using the Thunderbolt to firewire adapter ?

Clearly it's not a priority for Apple. They don't care for now. I think the production of this adapter took so long because they couldn't solve the power throughput issue. I still wait for answer from Focusrite if they could test this adapter with their audio products.

One thing bugs me that I pay a lot of money for a high-tech computer which is really full of compromises. I thought it wouldn't be like this if I buy the best stuff when I finally could allow myself to forget about price value ratio.

My last hope is that if it won't have enough power for my audio device then perhaps other manufacturers will release better Thunderbolt to Firewire products later. I can't believe that this technology cannot give more power.

removed

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5309

"How much bus power does the Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter supply?

The Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter provides up to 7W of bus power. This will power the majority of FireWire devices, but there may be some devices or chains of devices that require more power."

HI all,

We've ordered a couple Thunderbolt to Firewire adapters for testing our Saffire interfaces. Once we determine compatibility, we'll update this answerbase article.

Best regards,

David Tichauer // Focusrite Technical Support

MOTU Ultralite Hybrid does not work with bus power only on FireWire. It works fine when plugged into the wall though.

Update: i called MOTU and one of their support people confirmed that it doesn't work via bus power. He had just tried it this AM. It works fine powered via the the wall adapter with FW or USB.

That Retina display takes a lot of power.

Hi there, I just connected my motu ultralite FW here to the 800 to 400 adapter to the FW-TB adapter to my new MBP retina 15". At first I connected the ultralite to the power supply and it worked, then I disconnected the ultralite power supply and that worked as well, ...for about an hour and a half, then I moved the ultralite wire a little and there was some kind of beep and it stopped working. And now I can't get the MBP to recognise the ultralite anymore, no matter what I do.

I've read that some people wrote that it should work with the power supply if the bus power doesn't work. And while it initially worked that way, now nothing happens either way.

It's frigging annoying.

The OS is OS X 10.8.2

Is it possible that it will work in windows 8 or 7?

Is it possible I overloaded anything?

The back of the ultralite says: 10-24V DC 6V tip + or -

Using the Ultralite with FW-TB adapter here without issue... with or withou external power.. though admittedly i use with with an external power supply 90% of the time.

So, check the adaptor itself.. Some of them have been reported as having loose connections.. when plugged into the Mac... so shut down your MBP (Important to do this.. don't just restart it or put it to sleep) take the adaptor itself out of the back of the Mac... and reinsert. Wait at least 2 minutes (Also important..) and then start Mac up and it should reset and be back to normal operation.

If that doesn't work.. try doing a full PRAM reset too...

https://support.apple.com/kb/PH4405

No idea about Win 8 because i don't use it... but it does work fine with Win 7 and the correct drivers... Just make sure you install/update to the latest Boot Camp (Don't even think about trying to use Audio stuff via any of the Windows emulators/virual rigs....such as VMware Fusion for example.. You are asking for lots of trouble trying that...) and it's drivers.. for the FW to TB adapter to be properly recognised by Win 7...

http://support.apple.com/downloads/#bootcamp

Tried that, still no response, and the PR stunt didn't change much either. Do you have a motu ultralite MK3 firewire and a MBP retina 15" then?

Because you say "take the adapter out of the back of the mac" while the TB connection is on the side of the MBP.

I had cut and pasted the relevant parts from an email I had sent to one of my clients.. about the same problem with his iMac.., hence the change from MBP to Mac half way through..... The principle is the same however...

FWIW.. I own 5 Ultralites, two Mk1s, a Mk2, a Mk 3 and a Mk 3 Hybrid... and have a variety of different iMacs and MBPs including a 2012 2.7Ghz 15" Retina.. .. All five have worked without issue using the FW to TB adapter on both my TB equipped iMacs and MBPs... with the exception of the now fixed TB 'sleep' issue that turned off the TB port of my 2012 iMac when the main display went to sleep... (This was seemingly fixed by a firmware update last year)

Anyhow, I'm wondering if you have 'popped' either your adapter, the TB port itself or even your Ultralite's FW port..when you moved the cable. Do you have access to another FW device like a HD which you could use to test the adapter and TB Port? That way you could rule out those two leaving only the Ultralite itself as possibly having an issue or some form of weird OS X issue.?

Can you also confirm the Ultralite works just using the power supply and not connected to the computer? (Lights on and audio being passed from an input to it's headphone socket or speakers.. )

I am assuming, from your description that you have a Mk3 and not a Mk3 Hybrid? If that assumption is incorrect, does the Mk3 Hybrid work via USB still?

It's not the hybrid version and it works standalone too. I haven't been able to try any other TB or FW periphals.

So I have to test this for them then? I would have thought "if I buy one laptop for a price that could buy four laptops, at least everything will work smoothly??!!

Peripherals

Are there any problems wih the usb audio interfaces?

Wie usa zegt moet ook usb zeggen.