New Mac Pros with PCIe424

[dewdman42]

FWIW, I have been in contact with MOTU tech support about PCIe-424 support and was told by them point blank, that PCIe-424 will not be supported Catalina and later. I have no idea whether anyone will find a way to get them to work or not, i think maybe the drivers are 32bit? which would mean no way. Based on their response I sold all my PCIe-424 gear, which amounted to several rack units plus the card. I guess it may keep working for people on windows? Or for people that don't need to go past Mojave on the mac for a while. For me it was the final word I needed to get rid..MOTU has moved on...

So I would not build a new Mac Pro around the PCIe-424. ironically, the need for a PCI mac was part of the justification for a new macpro..hehe Anyway, MOTU has moved on.

For the mac pro, either get TB3 solutions or look to a different vendor that still supports their PCI cards, such as RME, Lynx, etc.. Myself I have moved to using a lynx PCI solution which pairs with an X32 mixer...love the combo actually.

[bugscoe]

So after reading this it looks like if I want to upgrade, my old MOTU hardware will be retired, which is unfortunate.

I was looking to upgrade from my 2010 Mac Pro to the new Mac Studio M2. I'm currently using 3 MOTU audio interfaces, MOTU 1296 & 2408 & 2408mk3 connected to the PCIe-424 card.

My question was what are the upgrade options for the PCIe-424 card? Will this work in an PCI expansion chassis? I have UAD PCI cards that are compatible with an expansion chassis but if the MOTU card isn't, that means I'd need to also factor in upgrading my audio interface hardware. Oy...

[mikehalloran]

So after reading this it looks like if I want to upgrade, my old MOTU hardware will be retired, which is unfortunate.

I was looking to upgrade from my 2010 Mac Pro to the new Mac Studio M2. I'm currently using 3 MOTU audio interfaces, MOTU 1296 & 2408 & 2408mk3 connected to the PCIe-424 card.

My question was what are the upgrade options for the PCIe-424 card? Will this work in an PCI expansion chassis? I have UAD PCI cards that are compatible with an expansion chassis but if the MOTU card isn't, that means I'd need to also factor in upgrading my audio interface hardware. Oy...

There is no upgrade/update/workaround—the 2012 Mac Pro was the end of the line. The 424 was not built with upgradable firmware. Apple changed the firmware requirements and MOTU never built a compatible card.

There are many, many threads on this beginning 2013 and a ton of posts declaring how easy it should have been. It wasn’t.

[bugscoe]

Thank you for confirming!

My MOTU hardware has been rock solid over the years. Too bad MOTU didn't continue the support for these older units.

[jborum]

I agree Gregg (bugscoe), it's a shame every time reliable gear gets forced into obsolescence. The 424 card was perfect for me, basically an invisible workhorse for years that did its job and I never thought about it.