MOTUnation.com

Ok, just to wrap up this thread:

I got an Apanage powered hub with 7 ports plus 3 charge-only ports. The M4 runs fine with connected to the hub, with data USB of the hub connected to the Camera USB 3 Adapter USB in, and a charge port connected to the Lightning port on the adapter (for charge-thru).

MOTU support guy said he'd contact folks within MOTU to update their docs, webpage, etc. to note the possible need of a powered hub for iOS use. He posted a tech-note to that effect, but other than that, there is no mention of power draw issues with iOS devices.

The lack of a secondary power source option on the M4 (and M2) is a design flaw. If the unit requires such a specific and non-universal quantity of current, they shouldn't require so much hoop-jumping for the unit to function. It's good that the unit lets you know by failing to turn on, (rather than operating with errors).

I suppose another way they could have approached it would be to provide a little hardware adapter that splits the USB C into a data port and a power port. Those that need it can use it, and those that don't can set it aside.

Thanks for the update. I've asked the local supplier about order times but I might wait, like Mike to see what floats to the surface of the swamp at NAMM. I probably would not make a lot of use of iOS with it, but now I'm concerned that if MOTU didn't properly test the iOS setup, they might not have been that thorough with other use cases.

Postscript:

I woke up to a power outage in my neighborhood. When the power came back on, my trusty old RME FF800 (my main studio interface) was making quiet tone, wavering around 495Hz on it's main outputs, but was definitely frozen, not recognized by the MBP. I've turned it on & off, even cycled it off for about 20 minutes. I'll see if it ever resets. It's possible it needs to have some capacitors replaced. (That's a thing I've read).

I'm glad I have the M4 here as a worthy stand-in.

Do you have power supply with surge protection?

bayswater wrote:Do you have power supply with surge protection?

Many (most? all?) power companies have insurance that covers devices requiring repair or replacement after a surge. They don't advertise it, of course. I learned about this from a friend who had major appliances ruined when the power came back on after an outage — PG&E replaced them all. It never hurts to ask.

mikehalloran wrote:

bayswater wrote:Do you have power supply with surge protection?

Many (most? all?) power companies have insurance that covers devices requiring repair or replacement after a surge. They don't advertise it, of course. I learned about this from a friend who had major appliances ruined when the power came back on after an outage — PG&E replaced them all. It never hurts to ask.

It's an option, but I'd rather not have the equipment fried in the first place. Although I live in a place with very stable power, I always had a 20 amp APC with 4 outlets and battery backup (very short term), and then two Furman power bars with their own fuses. This is overkill for my stuff now that a lot of the rack stuff is replaced with plugins, but still added very little to the cost of the overall setup.

mikehalloran wrote:

bayswater wrote:Do you have power supply with surge protection?

Many (most? all?) power companies have insurance that covers devices requiring repair or replacement after a surge. They don't advertise it, of course. I learned about this from a friend who had major appliances ruined when the power came back on after an outage — PG&E replaced them all. It never hurts to ask.

I have a very serious line conditioner box-- but as I look, I think just my computer is on it, and not my interface.

Thanks for the tip. I might as well look into seeing if they may cover the cost of repair or replacement.

The utility company says (in short) "nope."

The RME FF800 has a known issue with the caps on the power supply, and some pretty clear instructions on replacing all 12 of them. (Easier said than done, I imagine, but I kinda grasp it). Another option is to replace the power supply. When I have space I'll open it. I expect to see some bulging large caps on the power supply. It makes sense that if they were already starting to go, that even a little power surge could put them over the edge.

At least now my new hub and M4 are even more useful!

mikehalloran wrote:Unless there’s something at NAMM that changes my mind, I’ll be buying a M2 or M4 for the desktop come January.

SSL 2?

Since my FF800 is down, I've been using the M4 with my rMBP on OS 10.11.6 (El Cap) Note that the M4 is not supported pre 10.13

With the driver installed, the M4 needs to be cycled off & on after every restart to be recognized. Not a big deal, I don't restart that often.

MOTU support suggested I remove the driver and work in class-compliant mode. But not only did that not fix the issue, the M4 doesn't work at all in class compliant mode on my system.

[EDIT: after a couple power off on cycles, it eventually started working in class compliant mode. I don't know what combination of tasks caused it to either not work, or work]

So, at least the driver partially works in El Cap. I'll update on that progress. But since 10.11 isn't supported, I'm not holding high hopes.

I have an external drive with different OS's on different partitions. I can see if the M4 does any better in High Sierra. If so, I may consider updating to High Sierra in the coming days. As with any OS update, there pros & cons (here's a new shiny thing, ... but, we'll be taking these! Slice! )

Thanks for all these updates. I've got an M4 waiting for checkout, but from what you've said, I'm going to hold off. It doesn't look like this has been properly tested before it was shipped. A couple of interesting alternatives have popped up at NAMM.

UPDATE:

After some series of cycling the M4 on/off, it is now working in class-compliant mode (in El Cap). Not sure why it failed the first couple times.

But it still needs to be powered off and back on to be recognized after a restart of the MBP

stubbsonic wrote:But it still needs to be powered off and back on to be recognized after a restart of the MBP

Is it the same for either of the MBP USB ports? On my MBP, they do not behave the same. One detects anything plugged into it (what you'd expect for class compliant) like you'd see with a mouse, but the other is fussy about who it associates with.

Good call, Bayswater.

I tried the hub on both ports, no luck. Then I tried the M4, sans hub, on the right port, no luck. Then on the left port, and eureka!

So in class-compliant mode, it works and reboots normally on the left port sans hub. Not very convenient, but at least I know what will work.

I really appreciate your following this thread, and making that very wise suggestion!!

Good news.