Macbook firewire and MOTU Question

thenickstarr · Post by **thenickstarr** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 9:21 am

Hello, currently I am using Logic 8 with a Macbook (not pro) 2.2 Ghz. I am using a presonus firestudio project at the moment. I have problems with it apparently because I have the Agere chipset in my built in firewire card and Presonus has told me that as of now they are not compatible.

I'm thinking of switching to an 828mkII with an 8pre and just wondering if anyone knows how this will work with my macbook and the agere firewire deal. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks
Nick

DaveSocal · Post by **DaveSocal** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 10:17 am

Greetings Thenickstarr,

Although I have yet to fully test Logic 8 (Express, for me) (and Leopard) with my 828mkII, I can say that it has performed flawlessly with Logic 7 (Express) and Tiger.

I hope to test it later this week. I will post my results back here.

Cheers,

DaveSocal

thenickstarr · Post by **thenickstarr** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 6:09 pm

Yeah the more info the better, thanks.

Upon further searching I've found people asking the same questions about this new agere firewire chipset with no answers. I'm beginning to wonder what WILL work with this chipset, if anything. If anyone uses a mac post October '07 that uses this chipset please let me know if MOTU will work!

Nick

thenickstarr · Post by **thenickstarr** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 3:53 pm

Anyone using a macbook with an 828? Any luck?

flexibus · Post by **flexibus** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 9:56 am

I do since yesterday, with a second and one, it work very well for 1 hour and then it crash and now my computer can't reconect with I'm very afraid

misterhemi · Post by **misterhemi** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 3:05 am

I use a MacBook Pro IF the MB and MBP share the same chipset, it should work fine. I use an 8pre and never had a problem with it but don't know about the 828

Saintmatthew · Post by **Saintmatthew** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 6:17 am

I use a macbook (13" White Core 2 Duo) with either an 828 mkII or an 896HD (depending on where I am) with no problems whatsoever.

cavemusic · Post by **cavemusic** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 2:43 pm

I'm interested in this question too, since I'm planning on buying a new MacBook Pro. For anyone who hasn't heard the whole story about the Mac firewire issue, here is a clarification. A new firewire chipset is in the latest MacBook, Macbook Pro and iMac models that appeared in late 2007. Those models have an Agere firewire chipset, which replaced the previous TI chipset. The Agere chipset has been known to cause problems with some firewire audio interfaces (this seems to be confirmed for RME and Presonus units). If you have an earlier Mac, you wouldn't have this particular problem.

Only Macbooks and Macbook Pros that appeared after Nov. 2007, and iMacs after Aug. 2007 have the Agere chipset. From what I've read, OSX won't give sufficient information to determine which chipset you have, but if you boot into XP using bootcamp, you can find out information in the device-manager.

It'd be very helpful to clarify that you indeed have a late-2007 model Mac with the Agere chipset if you're responding here.

There is more information about this issue on the RME forum
http://www.rme-audio.de/forum/viewforum.php?id=4

I asked someone at MOTU about this issue. He said that they have tested their firewire products with Macs having the Agere chipset and they have found no problems. So that's good news, but I'm hoping that the MOTU user community can help confirm that.

Thanks!

SteveJL · Post by **SteveJL** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 3:54 am

cavemusic wrote:I'm interested in this question too, It'd be very helpful to clarify that you indeed have a late-2007 model Mac with the Agere chipset if you're responding here.

There is more information about this issue on the RME forum
http://www.rme-audio.de/forum/viewforum.php?id=4

I asked someone at MOTU about this issue. He said that they have tested their firewire products with Macs having the Agere chipset and they have found no problems. So that's good news, but I'm hoping that the MOTU user community can help confirm that.

Thanks!

I would like some confirmation on this also, as I have an 828 mkii and would like to move to IMac c2d 2.8/24 in. and Logic 8 but do NOT want to have to use a USB audio device (I love my 828 mkii).

Thanks for any feedback any users with a MAC with the Agere chipset running with MOTU FW devices can give as to compatibility.

FrankM · Post by **FrankM** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 7:44 am

I was asking the same question since the previous gen MBPs are now cheaper (there's a rebate deal at Amazon, you can get the 2.2 for $1536, or refurbed from Apple for $1449 -- but I think Apple charges tax & shipping). The brand new MBPs don't offer much more in terms of running VIs & plugins so I think it's time for me to replace my PowerBook G4.

The MOTU TS guy seemed to have not even heard of the FW chipset issue with MBPs; he said that their recommendation to use TI FW chipsets applied to *PCs* only.

I also asked him about daisy-chaining a hard drive off a MOTU interface to use with streaming samples, recording, etc. "No problem" said he.

My experience is limited because I'm currently using the built-in audio in my PBG4. I am just nervous about dropping around $2K and getting compromised performance. I expect a BIG jump, coming from my PBG4.

FrankM · Post by **FrankM** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 7:47 am

Last night I did some googling and read a few reports of people buying MacBook Pros in the last few weeks and finding TI FW chipsets! However they still seemed to be having problems with audio interfaces. Another post somewhere said that he had it on good knowledge that these were software issues and were potentially fixable.

b3john · Post by **b3john** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 10:14 pm

I'm trying to confirm if this is a problem that people are having with the MacBook (not Pro) made after 11/07 with the 2.2 GHz merom CPU and Santa Rosa chipset. IOW, trying to figure out if this is a FW800 problem (iMac and MBP only) or also includes FW400 (including MacBook).

Is anyone with an recent (11/07 or later, Santa Rosa) MacBook or MacBook Pro successfully using a MOTU UltraLite, Traveler, etc.?

b3john · Post by **b3john** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 2:27 pm

I called MOTU tech support today, their tech said they weren't aware of any issues. I did find a link to a MOTU support document dated 02-Nov-2007 where they specifically mention support for both the "TI (Texas Instruments) or LSI (formlery (sic) Lucent/Agere) chip". They single out an NEC FW chip as not being compatible and recommend the TI, but apparently the Lucent/Agere is supposed to work with the UltraLite, etc.

While I was at it, I also called Apogee and spoke with one of their techs. He was very aware that people are having issues with Apple's change to the Lucent/Agere FireWire chipset, as well as the internet controversy that its causing. He said he had just received a newer MacBook that he used to try to recreate the problem with their FireWire interfaces (I had specifically asked about the Duet and Ensemble) but he hasn't been able to duplicate the issue with Apogee gear and the newer MacBooks. Hopefully that's a good sign.

Can anyone with the Lucent/Agere FireWire chipset on their MacBook and either an UltraLite or a Duet confirm they are able to get this combination to work?

EMRR · Post by **EMRR** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 5:22 pm

Timely post; any more answers surface? As I begin the joyous journey of purchasing a device that will allow my new Macbook Pro to successfully run DP at 88.2kHz?

argyl2 · Post by **argyl2** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 4:58 pm

hey, I'm on my second traveler and so far, neither have worked with my macbook(not pro)

it's late 2007 model with the lucent chip 2.16 Ghz intel core duo with 2 gigs ram

I'm waiting on motu's reply as they told me the same thing on the phone, that chipset updates are only an issue with pc but this unit and my previous one both come up as unknown firewire device when I go into system profiler regardless that I have the updated drivers.

any feedback would be appreciated
thanks
-j

MOTUnation.com

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