Bring back FireWire audio

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That's complete nonsense to start with. El Capitan does not change anything about firewire audio support. Interfaces that do not follow the firewire audio standard protocol need to provide a signed driver in order to work. Many companies already got their drivers compatible with 10.11, others have not. Contact Apogee regarding issues with your interface.

MOTU are re-writing their USB drivers for El Capitan but all their Firewire devices are listed as compatible. (My old 828 mk 2, firewire is working fine on my test OS).

Focusrite are reporting all their Firewire devices work OK under El Capitan so I'm not sure where you're reading that Firewire is not supported at an OS level (i.e. all firewire audio devices).

http://www.motu.com/newsitems/motu-and-os-x-el-capitan

http://us.focusrite.com/answerbase/are-focusrite-products-compatible-with-el-cap itan

What you lose with the new OS is the software interface for the Ensemble. Without Maestro there is no input or direct monitoring control etc. The firewire Ensemble will be unsupported in El Capitan.

Jazzmaniac wrote:

That's complete nonsense to start with. El Capitan does not change anything about firewire audio support.

Careful with the "nonsense" statement. Below is a press release from Apogee that explains the situation. The bottom line is:

Apple has discontinued development and maintenance of their FireWire Core Audio driver for the new Mac OS X El Capitan

“Apple began to phase out FireWire connectivity in 2012 on all Mac computers. With significant improvements to USB audio and the introduction of Thunderbolt, the performance and stability offered with FireWire audio interfaces has been surpassed. As a result, Apple has discontinued development and maintenance of their FireWire Core Audio driver for the new Mac OS X El Capitan. For this reason, we simply cannot ensure a stable/reliable experience for users of our FireWire audio interfaces who choose to upgrade to this new Mac OS release.

Due to the fact that Apple is no longer developing their FireWire Core Audio Driver, Apogee’s Duet FireWire and Ensemble FireWire will not be officially supported on OS X 10.11 El Capitan or any future Mac OS X release. While these products may work normally for some users, Apogee will not be able to provide technical support, troubleshooting or bug fixes for any software related issues you experience on OS X 10.11 El Capitan or higher. Please note, Apogee will continue to fully support our FireWire users who remain on Mac OS X 10.10 or below, just as we have done since the products were first introduce in 2006. In addition, we will continue to provide repair services for the hardware components as long as parts continue to be available.”

Hope that helps

Edgar Rothermich - LogicProGEM.com

(Author of the "Graphically Enhanced Manuals")

http://DingDingMusic.com/Manuals/

'I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.'

Firewire support in OS X 10.11 is not "gone", it simply isn't being "evolved" any longer. Slap a USB 3 adapter on it, plug it in, see if it works.

Edgar wrote:

Jazzmaniac wrote:

That's complete nonsense to start with. El Capitan does not change anything about firewire audio support.

Careful with the "nonsense" statement. Below is a press release from Apogee that explains the situation. The bottom line is:

What the OP wrote *IS* complete nonsense. Also Apogee could just bite the Apple and develop their own Firewire driver instead of relying on others doing their job. It's not El Cap that doesn't support Firewire audio interfaces, it's Apogee who think that without Apple investing resources into ongoing driver development there's not enough money in it for them to help the customer. It's Apogee's business decision to drop support, not Apple's.

Cheers,

Jazz

I took (a very small) part in an interesting 'discussion' about the ending of FW development..... (Given that all newer model Macs no longer have FW ports anyhow..) a few months ago or so again and it was pointed out to me that while direct OS X development for FW has ended, most FW devices will continue to be supported if they are connected to a TBolt to FW adaptor... as there is something about how that is done that will continue to be developed and such development has continued in 10.11.

I'm not 100% sure exactly what that really means and what it involves but 'those that know' seem to indicate this was important to note, so I did 🙂

Again, read into this what you will..

Jazzmaniac wrote:

What the OP wrote *IS* complete nonsense. Also Apogee could just bite the Apple and develop their own Firewire driver instead of relying on others doing their job. It's not El Cap that doesn't support Firewire audio interfaces, it's Apogee who think that without Apple investing resources into ongoing driver development there's not enough money in it for them to help the customer. It's Apogee's business decision to drop support, not Apple's.

Cheers,

Jazz

Yep, interfaces with drivers are still supported through Thunderbolt. Apogee never did openly say they were using Apple's Firewire driver and that they were only supplying an interface between their hardware and Apple's software. They even called their software a "driver".

I have a motu firewire divice working perfect with EC but I have lost some plugins. so I recomend you to wait with upgrading for some time now

I just verified on my 2012 Macbook Pro running El Capitan that my Firewire audio interface *does* work fine if I plug it into an (Apple brand) Firewire>Thunderbolt adapter and then into my Thunderbolt port.

Whereas the El Capitan upgrade definitely killed my audio interface when plugged directly into the MB's Firewire port.

(I'm using an older Tapco Link.Firewire 4x6 audio interface.)

Whereas the El Capitan upgrade definitely killed my audio interface when plugged directly into the MB's Firewire port.

Whereas my trusty old Motu Ultralites Mk1 and Mk3)... both continue to work via the FW800 port on my 2011 iMac without issue under 11.11.3 and .4b as well as via the TB to FW adaptor on my newer 2015 iMac5Ks... and my 2015 Mac Pro.

I suspect its down to the quality and design of the drivers/hardware as always.......

As an aside... My experience of reliability and stability in regards to drivers and Motu hardware since OS X 10.3 over the last 10 years...... is why I decided to go down the Motu AVB route for my new primary audio interface and so far the 16A (mainly used for connecting a bunch of external hardware synths and FX units..) via TB2 as well as across the network.. has worked pretty flawlessly.

Cheers....

Nigel