MOTU 624 & Catalina intermittent no audio

[stevenew]

Last September my old Mac Pro died and I bought a new Mac mini i7 6 core and installed Catalina. My MOTU 624 had worked fine under Mojave on the Mac Pro (connecting to the USB 3 card in the Mac Pro).

Since using it with Catalina and the Mac mini (via Thunderbolt) every so often when switching it on, it is seen by the system and MOTU Discovery but no audio is heard through it. I have found that either: Rebooting, resetting PRAM or SMC would coax it in to working. Then a few weeks later for no apparent reason it would happen again.

Yesterday it happened and in the end reinstalling the MOTU drivers was the only thing that got it working again.

I am at a loss to see what causes this to happen, it does not correspond to any updates, the day prior to the issue all is working fine, the system is switched off at night, next morning switched on and the 624 does not pass any audio.

I have seen people having issues with MOTU Discovery not seeing hardware but not this issue of being seen but not heard:-)

Maybe I should update to Big Sur and the new MOTU drivers?

Any thoughts?

[mikehalloran]

Are you running v2.0+84544 ?

https://motu.com/techsupport/technotes/driverlog

[stevenew]

Are you running v2.0+84544 ?

https://motu.com/techsupport/technotes/driverlog

Yes, downloaded it again yesterday but have been running it since I setup the system in September last year.

[mikehalloran]

Are you really connecting over Thunderbolt? (TB2 cable to Apple TB2–TB3 adapter to USB-C port)

Why not just USB 3? It won't be any slower.

I have had a few issues connecting USB3 to the USB-C ports in my iMac Pro — especially when I've used a hub—sometimes, it goes to sleep and I have to unplug/reconnect to bring it back. Going directly to USB3 or Thunderbolt as described above has been rock solid. My USB 3 hub does not go to a USB-C port anymore.

[stevenew]

Are you really connecting over Thunderbolt? (TB2 cable to Apple TB2–TB3 adapter to USB-C port)

Why not just USB 3? It won't be any slower.

Yes, Apple TB2 cable to Apple TB2-TB3 adaptor to USB-C port.

Why? I already had a TB2 cable and the TB2-TB3 adaptor and presumed it would work. Which it should.

I guess I could get a USB 3 to USB C cable and try it for a while to see if I get the same issue. Both the USB 3 ports on the mini are in use.

I should add that I can go for weeks and it all works fine then one day it doesn't.

[mikehalloran]

I don't know that it will be any different but, unless both USB-A ports are filled, I'd just use a USB 3 cable into one of those.

[stevenew]

I don't know that it will be any different but, unless both USB-A ports are filled, I'd just use a USB 3 cable into one of those.

Both the USB-A ports are being used, I guess if I could find some long USB 3-B to USB-C cables I could move something to one of the USB-C ports and then connect the 624 direct to a USB-A port.

I am a bit reluctant to start moving things around as everything else works fine...well except Time Machine which was working perfectly until the 10.15.7 update, since then it takes forever to backup even the smallest amount of data, but I live with it!

[stevenew]

I decided to try connecting the 624 with USB to a USB-A port, which as soon as I did it and got everything booted up reminded me that I had tried this before and it causes another issue.

Because of the locality of the 624 to my mouse, using the 624 on USB causes my Apple Magic Mouse to drag to the point of being unusable, once I switch the 624 off the problem goes away. I now remember I went through all this last year when I got the Mac mini, that the location of different USB 3 cables and devices, and the location of the Mac mini cause the mouse to drag.

So I will stick with the 624 on Thunderbolt.

I do wonder if any of these issues, if software related would be any better with Big Sur. Also would the latest Apple Magic Mouse 2 still have these odd connection issues causes by USB 3?