Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MP 1,1-5,1 FireWire audio issue with Mac Pro 5,1 with opencore

R

Rubycon22000

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 7, 2020
15
1
United Kingdom
Hi,
I recently upgraded from a Mac pro 3,1 to a 5,1. On the old 3,1 the FireWire audio on my Saffire Pro 40 was fairly stable in big sur and Monterey, but on the 5,1 I can’t get any audio out at all. The sound module is detected, and audio IN works fine but not out.

I also have an old dosdude patched Catalina install and the audio works just fine on the 5,1 with that.

Firmware is fully patched 144 and I’m using opencore legacy patcher 6.1.

Can anyone suggest what is wrong, and a possible solution?

Aside from the audio, everything else is working fine.

Mac Pro 5,1 2.8ghz single processor 4 core. NVMe drive.

Thanks

Steve
 
Rubycon22000 said:
Hi,
I recently upgraded from a Mac pro 3,1 to a 5,1. On the old 3,1 the FireWire audio on my Saffire Pro 40 was fairly stable in big sur and Monterey, but on the 5,1 I can’t get any audio out at all. The sound module is detected, and audio IN works fine but not out.

I also have an old dosdude patched Catalina install and the audio works just fine on the 5,1 with that.

Firmware is fully patched 144 and I’m using opencore legacy patcher 6.1.

Can anyone suggest what is wrong, and a possible solution?

Aside from the audio, everything else is working fine.

Mac Pro 5,1 2.8ghz single processor 4 core. NVMe drive.

Thanks

Steve
Click to expand...
On a 5,1 anything past catalina will not support firwire. its basically dead, the only way i got my digi 003 firwire to half work was to upgrade my mojave disk to big sur with the 003 driver already there, i could get sound and input sound but my motorized faders wouldnt work. i eventually erased that mojave drive, reinstalled bigsur and tried to install the digi 003 drivers and it just wouldnt take. you need a new usb/usbc interface
 
According to THIS it seems apple may have restored FW with Monterey? *shrug*

I no longer have a FW Interface to test on my 5,1, but if someone running Monterey can try it, perhaps it may work if you are running Monterey 12.5 or newer?

Can anyone here running Monterey on a 4,1 or 5,1 try connecting a FW interface and confirm?
 
  • Wow
Reactions: MrScratchHook
firewire work well on monterey
(also under big sur)

Screenshot 2023-02-25 at 04.03.36.jpg
 
  • Like
  • Love
  • Wow
Reactions: TheStork, prefuse07 and MrScratchHook
tommy chen said:
yes, the problem with audio interfaces are the drivers that are no longer suitable for these systems.
Click to expand...
im curious to see if the digi 003 drivers will work with monterey i actually never tried, but the sad fact is i sold it because it wouldnt work in big sur, but if the driver works in monterey i will be SUPERMAD!!!! although i went and bought a volt 476 which works good, but still:mad:
 
@tommy chen thanks for confirming!

I know MOTU and RME consistently update their drivers so there is a high chance that their FW interfaces still work, but not sure about Focusrite...


Update: OP -- I have found your solution, check THIS OUT (scroll down to Saffire)
 
Thanks for all they replies so far. They are appreciated. I’d just like to reiterate that the Saffire pro 40 driver was working in big sur and Monterey (and to a lesser degree Ventura) (after registering the kext on the security screen) on the macpro 3,1 I was running with opencore legacy 6.1. It’s just that I can’t make it work on the 5,1 even though I thought it was largely the same. I was hoping for some sort of open core setting I missed. I know the Saffire is no longer officially supported, but I’d like to avoid scrapping a very capable sound device if I can.
 
Rubycon22000 said:
Thanks for all they replies so far. They are appreciated. I’d just like to reiterate that the Saffire pro 40 driver was working in big sur and Monterey (and to a lesser degree Ventura) (after registering the kext on the security screen) on the macpro 3,1 I was running with opencore legacy 6.1. It’s just that I can’t make it work on the 5,1 even though I thought it was largely the same. I was hoping for some sort of open core setting I missed. I know the Saffire is no longer officially supported, but I’d like to avoid scrapping a very capable sound device if I can.
Click to expand...
Really hoping you read what I posted above.... Even though it's d/c, it does still work, so I will ask again:
  1. Do you have Saffire Mix Control 3.9 installed on the 5,1?
  2. Are you running Monterey (with OCLP 0.6.1) on the 5,1?

Screenshot 2023-02-25 at 6.19.44 PM.png
 
Last edited:
Rubycon22000 said:
Hi,
Click to expand...
prefuse07 said:
Really hoping you read what I posted above.... Even though it's d/c, it does still work, so I will ask again:
  1. Do you have Saffire Mix Control 3.9 installed on the 5,1?
  2. Are you running Monterey (with OCLP 0.6.1) on the 5,1?

View attachment 2164583
Click to expand...
Sorry, yes for clarification, I’ve seen that compatibility list on the website before. I was using the 3.9 mix control and OCLP 6.1 on both the 3,1 and the 5,1. It got it working in big sur and Monterey on the3,1, but not on the 5,1. The module is recognised in mix control on both systems, and sound input works in both systems, but sound output only works on the 3,1. The Safffire output device appears in the list, but there is no sound.
 
You'll have a better chance of help with this issue going to the OCLP Discord server and asking for help there, OCLP devs do not read random threads here.
 
To add some further info, the module didn’t like coming out of sleep mode on the 3,1. It would have this same behaviour so I disabled the auto sleep as a workaround. But that solution is not working on the 5,1.
 
So, after a couple of months of experimentation I've managed to get the Saffire pro working fairly consistently on the 5,1 - if I do certain things in a certain order, and I don't know why.. lol.

1. First I must boot into Monterey. Soundcard output won't work but is detected just fine. FW active light comes on.

2. Next as I have a dual boot system under OCLP 6.2, I boot into my windows 11 install (which works just fine, even the sound card works fine).

3. If I boot into Monterey now it almost always works fine, and if it does it will work flawlessly.

I'll keep experimenting...

It works in Ventura as well under the same conditions.

I've tried bypassing step 1 to save time but that didn't work.

My graphic card is a gtx680 2gb, so I'm using the OCLP provided driver.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: MrScratchHook
Rubycon22000 said:
So, after a couple of months of experimentation I've managed to get the Saffire pro working fairly consistently on the 5,1 - if I do certain things in a certain order, and I don't know why.. lol.

1. First I must boot into Monterey. Soundcard output won't work but is detected just fine. FW active light comes on.

2. Next as I have a dual boot system under OCLP 6.2, I boot into my windows 11 install (which works just fine, even the sound card works fine).

3. If I boot into Monterey now it almost always works fine, and if it does it will work flawlessly.

I'll keep experimenting...

It works in Ventura as well under the same conditions.

I've tried bypassing step 1 to save time but that didn't work.

My graphic card is a gtx680 2gb, so I'm using the OCLP provided driver.
Click to expand...
unfortunately thats the drawback of upgrading past a macos thats fully compatible. you have to live with those results
 
I'm in the same situation as you, did anyone find the soulicon? apparently the patches are defective and leave the mac unusable
It is better to continue with the old version and all its functionalities than to update and be left without wifi, firewire, usb in some cases
 
I'm on the same boat, apparently.

My Saffire Pro 40 is detected correctly, input and output.
Inputs work fine. But the MixControl can't get any audio from any DAW, so the device can't output any audio.

Feels like there's some thing stopping the audio out.
I've read and tried some things about adding an AppleFWAudio.kext, but it didn't work.

It's really a shame. They're really good devices.
 
miguelcobain said:
I was able to fix it!

What did the trick for me was following this guide: https://elitemacx86.com/threads/how...rite-and-apogee-audio-interface-on-macos.760/

I didn't need the whole DMAR section, though.
I already had enabled VT-d in BIOS, so I think what probably did the trick was to disable `DisableIoMapper` in config.plist.
I also reset NVRAM a couple of times.

Best of luck!
Click to expand...
Hello!
I can confirm that it works also for me with a Saffire Pro 40 Firewire Interface on Monterey and Ventura with DisableIOMapper - false/disabled, VT-d - enabled in BIOS. For Re-installing the drivers you might disable SIP to let the kexts install and register, you may enable it again after installation.

Still have to do some restarts and cold-boots to verify completely - but for no it seems to work.
 
Hi, I have the same problem. Mac pro 3.1, Big Sur, opencore 1.3.0 saffire pro 40, connected but no sound output. Has anyone made any progress?
 
Hi,
I faced with same problem.
Please let me know if i can help with anything to get a resolution in this case.

BR,
GáborS
 
montesumolo said:
Hello!
I can confirm that it works also for me with a Saffire Pro 40 Firewire Interface on Monterey and Ventura with DisableIOMapper - false/disabled, VT-d - enabled in BIOS. For Re-installing the drivers you might disable SIP to let the kexts install and register, you may enable it again after installation.

Still have to do some restarts and cold-boots to verify completely - but for no it seems to work.
Click to expand...
Hi,

I use Mac Pro 5,1 with open core, where can i do this config?

Thank you for your help!

BR,
GáborS
 
Any updates on this? I'm assuming the two that got it working are on Hackintoshes because I can't seem to find any info on changing the VT-d on a cMP.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back