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Macs with T2 chips and USB 2 interfaces.

Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2019 11:15 pm
by mikehalloran
There have been a number of threads on Macrumors concerning problems with pro audio interfaces and Macs with T2 chips. MOTU hasn’t come up but I found this:

https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/02 ... onnections

I think this is the solution referred to in the above article
https://www.amazon.com/Certified-Cable- ... 5995&psc=1

I’ve been quite concerned as I have been jonesing for an iMac Pro and quite concerned about what I’d been reading. Actually, I’m a bit relieved that there appears to be a cause. People are going nuts over this and I’ve been pasting the link on some of the threads.

Re: Macs with T2 chips and USB 2 interfaces.

Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2019 8:03 am
by bayswater
FWIW, my Scarlett 18i8 is connected to a USB3 port on a 2018 Mini and has presented no problems. I've also had it connected to a TB3 port via an Apple TB3 to USB adapter, and on a 10 port USB3 hub.

Re: Macs with T2 chips and USB 2 interfaces.

Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2019 9:35 am
by cuttime
Another satisfied Focusrite customer in the most recent comments:

http://cdm.link/2019/02/apple-2018-glitch/

Re: Macs with T2 chips and USB 2 interfaces.

Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2019 11:15 am
by Michael Canavan
Similar sort of problem to an intel bug where they would power down CPU wise, which would glitch a song I was working on whenever it hit the busy piano part, introduced in their Macbooks around 2008.

There's a solution with the hub, so it's not the end of the world. And someone reports it working with cheaper $59 solutions, so that's good. Hopefully a software solution comes.

Re: Macs with T2 chips and USB 2 interfaces.

Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2019 3:58 pm
by bayswater
Michael Canavan wrote:Similar sort of problem to an intel bug where they would power down CPU wise, which would glitch a song I was working on whenever it hit the busy piano part, introduced in their Macbooks around 2008.

There's a solution with the hub, so it's not the end of the world. And someone reports it working with cheaper $59 solutions, so that's good. Hopefully a software solution comes.
Hubs and adapters work well with my new Mini. I bought two TB3 to USB adapters at the Apple Store, although the person there identified another store nearby where I could get the same thing for less than half the price. Would have been < C$40 for the two. I got a 10 port USB3 powered hub on Amazon for C$45, thinking if it didn't work, not much was lost. But it does work just fine. Two drives I had earlier on FW800 and USB 2 turned out to have USB 3 plugs, so they are working much faster. That along with a new TB3 SSD drive for samples, and all is well with those connections.

The downside of the MINI is the Bluetooth connections. I have older wireless keyboards trackpads and mouses from a 2009 iMac, and these will not stay connected properly and Logitech mouses will not track properly on this Mac. I tried the new Apple wireless devices and they seemed fine, but are quite expensive, so I've gone to USB wired. I like the lower latency, and I'm all done with Bluetooth on this setup.

The other widely cited problem is interference between USB 3 and wifi. Going to 5G wifi solved that problem.

Re: Macs with T2 chips and USB 2 interfaces.

Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 1:56 pm
by cuttime