• Registered: 2012-01-30
  • Posts: 3

Topic: RME FF800 FW Yamaha XS Rack FW

This is a long shot and my first post here but when I have a FF800 and XS Rack both hooked up via FW to a 3 port pci FW card on a custom built Audio PC under Win 7 pro 64 with a Texas Instrument chipset the Midi In of the FF800 shows activity but will not pass Midi to software(Cubase 6 for instance). When I hook the XS FW to another port whether pci or a motherboard port the FF800 then passes Midi through but the Midi of the XS is weird with dropouts and hanging notes. I have sent a request to Yamaha Support and I am posting here to see if anyone has an RME FF800 with a Yamaha XS Rack with FW card both hooked to FW ports or anything like this. I was using these devices under XP64 and I had problems but I thought they were related to XP64 not being an officially supported OS. Now I find this is a nasty bug or configuration issue. I just bought the new PC and the support guy has it and is trying to help me. This is a reputable Audio PC company. Cheers!

  • From: Connecticut, USA
  • Registered: 2011-08-01
  • Posts: 376

Re: RME FF800 FW Yamaha XS Rack FW

Hi,
If not already you might try running your Firewire driver in legacy mode. This may help especially with the Yamaha.
In general it will work best if your Yamaha was running on a different firewire buss than another audio interface.
What brand firewire chip is used for the on board firewire?

Thanks Chris

Chris Ludwig
North East USA Sales | Synthax/RME
www.facebook.com/RMEAmericas
Twitter @RMEAmericas

ChrisLudwig's Website

  • Registered: 2012-01-30
  • Posts: 3

Re: RME FF800 FW Yamaha XS Rack FW

Chris
I already tried Legacy on the NEW Win 7 64 machine and it  Bluescreened twice! The support guy at the place that assembled the PC believes it has something to do with changing to Legacy mode. I get the PC back tomorrow and I will try different configurations to see what happens. I know there is a VIA chipset port as I saw it under Device Manager but I do not know if that was the on board FW. This PC has 5 FW, 3 on a pci card, Texas Inst., one rear which I believe is on board and one front which may be too.I just want to mention that I use the FW on the XS Rack for communicating Midi and patch change and sync as it is way faster than USB or standard Midi. I have a Yamaha support guy helping me too. I will not know anything until I get it back and try things. I paid a premium for this PC and they are helping me but I really thought all this would have been sorted out before I received it. My post here it mainly an attempt to see if anybody else uses a Fireface800 and Motif XS Rack with FW. and what there config is if successful. Thanks for the response. Cheers!
Ken

  • From: Connecticut, USA
  • Registered: 2011-08-01
  • Posts: 376

Re: RME FF800 FW Yamaha XS Rack FW

Hi Ken,
What motherboard is this?
With on board Via it sounds like an ASUS board or the micro ATX Gigabyte or Intlel board.
If it is a Intel P67 or z68 chipset make sure it is a current model.
Early revision had issues with their PCI slots that was addressed in BIOs updates and new revisions of the motherboard.

I would have them try a PCI-e TI based Firewire 400 card for this see if it behaves differently.

When switching to Legacy mode with some devices you need to uninstall the driver first and then re-install.
With the RE you usually do not need to too but the Yamaha you might.

Also you need to make sure the devices are turned off and you reboot the computer after swtiching. It is a common mistake to not do this.


Thanks Chris

Chris Ludwig
North East USA Sales | Synthax/RME
www.facebook.com/RMEAmericas
Twitter @RMEAmericas

ChrisLudwig's Website

  • Registered: 2012-01-30
  • Posts: 3

Re: RME FF800 FW Yamaha XS Rack FW

Chris
It is a Gigabyte GA-Z68. PCAudiolabs already had a T1 FW Card with 3 ports on it. I am going to try a few more things. I must say this is almost assuredly a Yamaha thing but I do have Yamaha support and the support guy at PCAudiolabs responding  I did not build this machine so I will forward your post to PCAL Support as they know what they did. Cheers!