Traveller (mk1) with M1 Macs (Big Sur)

[Rodrigo]

Hello all,

I've had a search but didn't find any info on this specific combination. From what I've seen it may be possible to use an mk3 Traveller via "many dongles" to speak to newer (M1) macs, but I don't know what that means in terms of a mk1 one.

I see neither here:
https://motu.com/en-us/news/motu-and-macos-big-sur/

It would be great to upgrade my studio computer to one of the newer M1 minis, but if that means also having to replace my interface, things get a bit more complicated.

Has anyone managed this and/or does it seem like it may be at all possible via some combinations of dongles and such?

[traveler1]

Hi Rodrigo,

Not 100% sure if this is helpful in regards to the M1 Macs but I'm using a Traveler MK1 on an iMac 2014 via FW-TB2 adapter on Big Sur 11.2 and it works totally fine. I just downloaded the latest Motu audio drivers (despite it not saying anything about traveler mk1 compatibility) and having no issues here.

[Rodrigo]

Awesome, that's really good to know!

I take it you're using the official apple FW-TB2 dongle? Not sure if that matters, but good to know in terms of replication.

[traveler1]

Yeah exactly, just the official firewire thunderbolt 2 adapter. Perhaps you'll need a combo as you said Firewire to TB2 to TB3/4 ——assuming the M1's have TB3/4 ports

[Rodrigo]

Yup, I think that may be the case. Thankfully I have a FW400 to FW800 cable (which is what I presently use now), so that saves me an extra dongle.

[mikehalloran]

Yeah exactly, just the official firewire thunderbolt 2 adapter. Perhaps you'll need a combo as you said Firewire to TB2 to TB3/4 ——assuming the M1's have TB3/4 ports

The M1 has TB4 which is an enhancement of TB3. Though this mainly benefits Windows where TB3 support is extremely limited, TB4 allows multi-port TB hubs to Mac/Win users, something that cannot exist with TB3.

A TB3 hub allows only passthrough of TB3 to one port — all others in the hub are USB 3 and/or 3.1.

Unfortunately, TB4 hubs are not backward compatible with TB3 ports.

[Rodrigo]

Hmmm. From the looks of the Apple webpage the current TB2 to USB-C cable takes it up to TB3. Are you saying that TB3 peripherals won't work with M1 macs at all then?