Livingston_Drew

Q: Focusrite Saffire Pro 40. No Sound Output Routing Available

Hi. All of a sudden my Mac Pro doesn't display the Saffire option for sound output. The Saffire appears in the input stage (Settings> Sound) and I can see that external signals are getting in (via the Focusrite mixer).

The firewire is connected fine (illuminated).

I have downloaded the latest drivers.

I have checked for available system updates (all fine there).

I have also checked that I haven't muted the outputs (just in case).

 

The main problem seems to be that the audio output option to route through Saffire has just gone. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.7)

Posted on Jan 23, 2013 1:26 AM

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Q: Focusrite Saffire Pro 40. No Sound Output Routing Available

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  • by DavidFromFocusriteNovation,Solvedanswer

    DavidFromFocusriteNovation DavidFromFocusriteNovation Jan 23, 2013 9:22 AM in response to Livingston_Drew
    Level 1 (100 points)
    Jan 23, 2013 9:22 AM in response to Livingston_Drew

    Hi Livingston_Drew,

     

    This is a known firmware-related issue with certain Pro 40's.  Please contact our tech support team via the link below and we should be able to help you resolve this.

     

    http://www.focusrite.com/answerbase/en/contact.php

     

    Best regards,

     

    David Tichauer // Focusrite Technical Support

  • by Livingston_Drew,

    Livingston_Drew Livingston_Drew Jan 23, 2013 9:43 AM in response to DavidFromFocusriteNovation
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 23, 2013 9:43 AM in response to DavidFromFocusriteNovation

    Thanks David. I've just submitted the question to tech support.

     

    To anyone else reading this with the same problem: I'll post the steps to take if successful.

  • by Livingston_Drew,

    Livingston_Drew Livingston_Drew Jan 28, 2013 1:14 AM in response to Livingston_Drew
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 28, 2013 1:14 AM in response to Livingston_Drew

    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.

  • by Livingston_Drew,

    Livingston_Drew Livingston_Drew Jan 28, 2013 1:19 PM in response to Livingston_Drew
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 28, 2013 1:19 PM in response to Livingston_Drew

    [ 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)

     

    FireWire Saffire Corrupted Firmware No Outputs Fix (Mac)

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

    location. 

     

    [Have you 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]

     

    I hope that if you been suffering from this problem then these steps will help.

    I'm guessing the firmware on the Focusrite Pro 40 was corrupten in some way and this solution wipes it and re-writes clean version.

     

     

  • by Livingston_Drew,

    Livingston_Drew Livingston_Drew Jan 29, 2013 12:45 AM in response to Livingston_Drew
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 29, 2013 12:45 AM in response to Livingston_Drew

    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]

  • by JohnnyD13,

    JohnnyD13 JohnnyD13 Jan 29, 2013 8:02 PM in response to Livingston_Drew
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 29, 2013 8:02 PM in response to Livingston_Drew

    Hey, this just happened to me. It doesn't recognize the output of my interface. Where can I download the "DiceTool.zip" file?

     

    Thanks,

    Johnny

  • by Livingston_Drew,

    Livingston_Drew Livingston_Drew Jan 30, 2013 4:49 AM in response to JohnnyD13
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 30, 2013 4:49 AM in response to JohnnyD13

    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 ]

  • by apollomusic,

    apollomusic apollomusic Mar 14, 2013 2:49 PM in response to Livingston_Drew
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 14, 2013 2:49 PM in response to Livingston_Drew

    Hi Drew,

    I have just purchased a Saffire Pro40 and am experiencing the same issues.... exactly! I have been waiting for a response from the Focusrite tech team for 5 days now, but nothing so far. I was wondering how long it was before you got a response from them. And... how has the Pro40 been performing since then?

    Regards

  • by Livingston_Drew,

    Livingston_Drew Livingston_Drew Mar 14, 2013 2:59 PM in response to apollomusic
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 14, 2013 2:59 PM in response to apollomusic

    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.

  • by Livingston_Drew,

    Livingston_Drew Livingston_Drew Mar 15, 2013 2:49 AM in response to Livingston_Drew
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 15, 2013 2:49 AM in response to Livingston_Drew

    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.

  • by apollomusic,

    apollomusic apollomusic Mar 15, 2013 4:05 PM in response to Livingston_Drew
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 15, 2013 4:05 PM in response to Livingston_Drew

    Thanks for the follow up. Since my last communication, the focusrite guys have been in touch and fired the tool over to me with the full instructions. I'm on the road at the moment and will be home in a couple of days when I will implement the solution.... very relieved! I will let you know how it turns out.

    Cheers

    Mark

  • by apollomusic,

    apollomusic apollomusic Mar 18, 2013 12:27 AM in response to apollomusic
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 18, 2013 12:27 AM in response to apollomusic

    Hi Drew,

    Just to complete my tale around this issue.... SUCCESS!!

    I have re-written the firmware on my Pro40 as per instructions from the Focusrite support team and am now up and running and looking forward to gettting into some recording.

    Thanks for all the input.

    Best

    Mark

  • by Livingston_Drew,

    Livingston_Drew Livingston_Drew Mar 18, 2013 3:41 AM in response to apollomusic
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 18, 2013 3:41 AM in response to apollomusic

    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.

  • by andy1212121,

    andy1212121 andy1212121 Mar 19, 2013 1:43 AM in response to Livingston_Drew
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 19, 2013 1:43 AM in response to Livingston_Drew

    I am having the same issue with my Retina MBP I purchased a brand new unit and only managed 4 hours of use before it stopped working. The symptoms are exactly the same as this.

     

    I still have not heard from Focusrite and its proving dificult to get the unit replaced quickly.

     

    Andy

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