M1 and Fw devices???

[HCMarkus]

Just registered an account here to say thanks to everyone and especially @mikehalloran, and to confirm this still works fine on the latest macOS Ventura (13.4).

Got a Mac mini M2 Pro recently and thought now I really had to say goodbye to my trusty old 828mk3 Firewire. I simply followed the instructions and installed the drivers (I already had the two adapters) and it’s working fine!!

Running on macOS Ventura 13.4 as I speak. CueMix FX app works fine as well! Good times. So happy with this. Feels like my trusty old 828 got a new lease on life.

Great news, but you might want to obscure your Mac Serial Number in that screenshot!

[midnite-mists]

Great news, but you might want to obscure your Mac Serial Number in that screenshot!

Good point... Done! Thx for that.

[lukasi]

Who came up with that nonsense? Big Sur and Monterey don’t support FireWire either. It doesn’t change the fact that Thunderbolt 4/3/2/1 supports most of the FW spec which is only reason why the twin adapters work. There’s no reason for this to change.

Uhh RME actually. Doesn't matter what Thunderbolt can technically support, if Apple wants to remove support for something, they can.

It doesn't matter. Again, Apple does not support FireWire now — and hasn't since 2012.

If your RME unit does not work through the two Apple adapters hooked up to Thunderbolt, that's RME not writing TB drivers. Check their available TB drivers just as we have had to with MOTU. If it can be made to work now, that should not change in the near future. Giving us a "the sky is falling" warning because of something that affects RME doesn't change things either.

BTW, MOTU does not support FW devices in any form. Again, it does not matter because we've figured it out. There's no reason to believe this will change with the next MacOS.

All this may change someday if a future version of Thunderbolt is no longer backwards compatible with TB 1-4 or, more likely, Apple drops support for TB someday in the future—it will be hardware first followed by a three-year transition (same as dropping FW) to conform with California laws and international treaties. Thunderbolt is an Intel Spec, never has been Apple. FireWire was a PPC Consortium spec that, luckily, TB supports about 75% but Apple dropped it in 2012. In any case, that day is not today.

And that's the fact, Jack.

Hi Mike!
Please help:)
I have motu ultralite mk3 and just bought macbook air m1 2020.
I wish to continue using mu Motu if possible.
I got mac installed with sonoma and bought thunderbolt 2 to 3 cable (i had the other ones from before).
The unit is powering but not working.
It says on motu site that installer works up to ventura?
Should i downgrade my os to monterrey or ventura? (its also a question of other plugins working so i dont mind going back to monterrey if that helps)
I would really like to keep my old trusted ultralite!
Many thanx for your time!
Luka

[mikehalloran]

Hi Mike!
Please help:)
I have motu ultralite mk3 and just bought macbook air m1 2020.
I wish to continue using mu Motu if possible.
I got mac installed with sonoma and bought thunderbolt 2 to 3 cable (i had the other ones from before).
The unit is powering but not working.
It says on motu site that installer works up to ventura?
Should i downgrade my os to monterrey or ventura? (its also a question of other plugins working so i dont mind going back to monterrey if that helps)
I would really like to keep my old trusted ultralite!
Many thanx for your time!
Luka

The current MOTU Audio Installer driver works fine over Sonoma. The reason that MOTU does not list it is because of installation issues. In addition, because the Ultralite mk3 is no longer supported, you will need to download it from one of the supported interfaces including the Ultralite mk3 Hybrid page.

Note: macOS 11+ drivers support Apple silicon and Intel-based Macs.

Driver Supports
MOTU Audio Installer
Mac v89555 | Oct. 13, 2021
macOS 13, macOS 12, macOS 11

Read this first
https://motu.com/techsupport/technotes/ ... igh-sierra

If your Security Settings have not been modified to allow 3rd party drivers, this will have to be changed by logging into the Recovery Mode and changing the settings before doing anything else. MOTU has a bulletin on this but I cannot find it. Apple Support has many.

A couple things: With Apple Silicon, this can only be done on your System Drive. The MOTU Audio Installer will not work on an external boot drive no matter what the security settings and there is no workaround. This is mandated by Apple and is not a bug

If you also have a MOTU MIDI device, that driver must be installed first and the MOTU Audio Installer must be removed completely before doing so. Once MIDI is working, the MOTU Audio Installer can be installed. This is covered in other threads.

[lukasi]

It was very simple and it works great!
Thanx Mike