Max Daisy Chain Mac M1 Ventura???

[junkmanukuk]

Hi

Ive managed to Daisy chain 2 Ultralites but im having trouble getting my 3rd Ultralite to show up on my M1 Running Ventura with the Apple Thunderbolt to Firewire (A1463) & Apple Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter (A1790) combo


Has anyone successfully got more than 2 daisy chained ??

Thanks

[mikehalloran]

I'm guessing here but the following comes to mind:

MOTU has long recommended using an external clock when three or more audio/MIDI devices are being used simultaneously to prevent drift.

You are using external power, yes? Although FW bus power is rated 24–27V, the Apple adapter is limited to 7.7V last I checked and bus power is unreliable past the first device in a daisy chain. If all three are not externally powered, I would look at that first.

A TB3 port on a Mac can handle 2 devices while a TB4 port can handle 5 per Apple and Intel (who licenses and certifies Thunderbolt). An older TB3 hub into a TB4 port has the same 2 unit limitation.

Although AudioMIDI Setup can combine devices to act as one Aggregate Device, I don't know how the port limitations affect this on an M1. I recommend trying a TB4 hub to see if this solves the problem. Getting it from Amazon makes it an easy return if that isn't it.

The FW spec supports a daisy chain of up to 6 devices or 7 if a monitor is on the end of the chain. Thunderbolt has never supported the entire FW spec but normally enough of it for our use.

How much of this applies to you?