• Registered: 2022-01-20
  • Posts: 1

Topic: 2004 Fireface 800 and 2017 MacBook Pro running Monterey

Hi to you all,

I am a French man living in Norway, an enthusiastic 2004 RME Fireface 800 owner and have been enjoying this tremendous interface for years on various Apple machines that always had a Firewire port - as the 2004 Fireface 800 has only Fireface 400 and 800 ports.

This fairly recent laptop of mine has "only" 4 USB-C ports and I checked the web for decent hubs that would allow me to connect my dear Fireface to the MacBook Pro but I only found some hubs that are now discontinued.

I also see there are connectors that could go from :
-Firewire to Thunderbolt 2 > Thunderbolt 2 to USB-C
-Firewire to USB-A > USB-A to USB-C

Would any of this work?

I read many threads circling around this issue but it is either with a newer interface than mine or a different laptop.

Is there any hope I could connect the Fireface 800 and the laptop I have?

Which chain between the 2 would work best?

Thanks for your kind help, please pin this post or reroute it to the right topic if it's been "answered" already.
Cheers,
Nico.

  • Registered: 2019-09-02
  • Posts: 23

Re: 2004 Fireface 800 and 2017 MacBook Pro running Monterey

Yes you can convert the Firewire to Thunderbolt to connect to a modern MAC.
Find out which of the 4xUSB C ports on your Macbook Pro support Thunderbolt 3.

Firewire cannot be converted to USB. So only the first option you mentioned will work. 

I would recommend using the 2 Apple adapters:
-'Firewire to Thunderbolt' adapter.
-'Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt3(USB C)' adapter

Then plug into one of the TB3 ports and install the latest compatible Fireface 800 driver for Monterey (MAC OS12).
Ensure your Fireface 800 has firmware version 2.77 installed.

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