Focusrite Saffire Pro 40. No Sound Output Routing Available

OK, bit of an update on this issue. It’s still not resolved, unfortunately, but I’ve been doing a bit more digging so hopefully some of the following symptoms may ring a bell with you guys and provide some direction.

When I boot up the sample rate of the Saffire Pro is set at 44.1Khz (no big deal as that’s what I want). However, no sound is produced through the Saffire as the device isn’t recognised as an output device (input is fine at this stage)

I addition:- when I attempt to play anything through iTunes the progress bar remains static (frozen).

At this point I change the sample rate to 88Khz or 96Khz the output device is recognised and appears as an available output. However, Sound is only output at these rates as when I revert back to 44.1 it stops (and freezes iTunes again and sometimes crashes the machine altogether).

Does any of this ring a bell/ any pointers?

I also have an M-Audio Axiom Pro as my midi keyboard. I mention this as I’ve seen this name pop up in a few discussions so this may or may not be related.

[ SOLUTION ]

BIG thanks to Tom at Focusrite Support for dealing with this problem and providing the solution. Thanks Tom.

OK, so the solution...

You will need a file named DiceTool.zip (I was sent this as an attachment from Saffire support)

They will provide the detailed intructions on what to do. I have copied them below for convenience.

[Start]

Update the Saffire Mix Control Software (At time of writing this was V3.1)

Slight Correction to the above (minor typos):

Start]

Update the Saffire Mix Control Software (At time of writing this was V3.1)

FireWire Saffire Corrupted Firmware No Outputs Fix (Mac)

Download DiceTool.zip and extract it to your Mac and note the

location.

[Have your Saffire Device switched on]

Open Terminal (Applications+>+Utilities+>+Terminal).

Type cd followed by a single space.

Open a finder Window and navigate to where the extracted DiceTool

folder is. Drag the DiceTool folder across to the typing cursor in the terminal window to automatically input the folder’s path.

Type ./dice bi and press enter. Status information should appear including

how many inputs and outputs the device has. If either the input or output count is reported as 0 then the Saffire firmware has a problem and you should proceed with the steps below.

In the case of this problem type ./dice dfxeap_vol and press enter.

You will be asked if you wish to delete the firmware sector. Type y and hit 
enter. You will see the progress as a percentage while this completes [I didn't see this but it may have been because it was really quick..].

Once complete you are taken to a new line in terminal.

[REMEBER AND DO THIS NEXT STEP] Type ./dice dr and press enter to restart your Saffire.

You can use ./dice bi again to check that your Saffire’s inputs and outputs 
appear correctly.

The procedure is now complete and terminal may be quit.

[STOP]

Hi Johnny,

Saffire Support will provide this file along with the instructions on what to do.

Saffire Support may ask for you system specification along with what the Midi/Audio connection status is for the device (this is found in Mac OS Utilities). It will probably say something like 16 in 0 out.

[ Sorry I can't be more specific - I'm not sitting at my mac ]

Hi, Safire support replied within a day or two. The issue was resolved by downloading the utility(Safire will send the file). By following their instructions the issue was resolved. I have not had any issue with the device since applying the fix.

Hi Apollomusic, In addition to what I was saying earlier. The File "DiceTool.zip" is a utility that modifies/ re-writes the firmware of the actual device. The Saffire support team are therefore reluctant to make this available for general download (hence the instructions to get in touch with them describing the problem).

They will then provide detailed instructions on what to do.

Excellent, thanks for the update.

Apparently Saffire development will be addressing this issue with the hardware (and firmware) and hope to have a permanent fix in place for future products. So you, and everyone else’s, feedback to Saffire is helping improve their products. Which can only be a good thing. Thanks.

Hi Andy,

As apollomusic says it’s worth hanging in there as once the fix is applied then you should be up and running with no further issues.

In addition: I can guess that you may be wondering why we just don’t send you the tool direct. I would be reluctant to do this as one of the requests that Focusrite asks of you is a full System specification. This may lead to a slightly different Unix command set being suggested during the fix phase... and I, and I’m sure all other participants in this discussion, would hate to be the source of any permanent damage to your device by simply issuing the repair script that we were given.

Good luck - let us know how you get on.