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RME User Forum → FireWire & USB series → El Capitan and Firewire
An american manufacturer tells that Apple stopped developing their Core Audio Firewire driver in El Capitan 10.11. If true, I guess this could also concern RME "legacy" FW interfaces on El Capitan or are they relying on different software so they are not concerned ? Not sure how many people are concerned, but...
FF400 working just fine here....
Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME
From what I understand only development and support is stopped from El Capitan regarding Apples Firewire Core Audio driver. What will happen is though that suddenly Firewire Audio will stop working. Maybe next month or perhaps more probably next year(s) etc
Two Questions arise (to RME and other hardware manufactors):
1. Does your hardware relay on Apples Firewire Core Audio driver ? (Or do your RME Fireface 800 etc have it`s own driver unrelated to Apples Firewire Core Audio driver ?)
2. If relaying to Apples Firewire Core Audio driver: Will you make a "workaround" if possible..?
I must admit that if hardware only a few years old cease to be possible to use due to this, then another manufactor will be chosen asap. (Apogee is seriously out on a dangerous walk here..)
Also the type of connections will be highly considered when upgrading in the future: I believe this will be the death of Thunderbolt to..Chosing a connection like USB seems like a much saver bet..
Saying this as an administrator and system planner for more than ten audio rigs mainly based on RME..(Which by the way still performs perfectly..;)
I think/hope/believe that the core driver will stay for a few years, even if development has stopped. There are too many Macs out there that still have a FireWire-connector and are supported by the latest OS.
However I asked myself the same question - does RME use the core driver or do they have their own? I'd really love to use my FF800 for a few more years ...
If something is stable, then you do not need to spend efforts on it and develop the driver further.
But as there is always a chance that something changes in terms of kernel structures and what not, all driver need maintenance, so that it goes error-free through the compiler and doesn't produce wrong code. As a result of this it needs to be tested.
These efforts are a point of discussion wheter or not to spend efforts for Firewire.
For Apple the meaning of firewire is IMHO low. The FW support by Thunderbold is IMHO only based on the fact, that thunderbolt simply tunnels the firewire protocol through the quicker transfer medium.
If Thunderbolt wouldn't be by design such a tunnel for other protocols/data streams then I would have doubts whether support for Firewire would have been re-written by apple for thunderbolt.
If you need safety and are shortly before an invest I would nowadays always try to buy a product which is based on both USB and Firewire. Alone for the reason that its never 100% predictable, if the one or other runs better on your system, at least on PC. How it is with Apple I can't tell by heart, but from what people tell it shall run very good there.
But while thinking about this .. has Firewire still its asynchronous nature when being sent through the "Thunderbolt tunnel" ?
The mentioned FW audio driver is indeed a kind of 'Class Compliant' mode driver for FireWire audio. I am not aware of units using that mode, and none of RME do. That means this change has zero impact on RME FireWire devices.
That's great news and a relief - thanks :-)
I only know two firewire devices that use Class compliant mode: one is the Firewave from Griffin and the other is a Firewire webcam, without audio, called iBot, from Orange Micro. Both are completely obsolete, but still work on the latest OSX versions, incl. El Capital.
There might be some video cams out there too. But I'm certain these are also obsolete. When it comes to supporting old hardware, OSX is pretty good.
EDIT: just had a look at the iBot. It does have audio...
I'm pretty sure that Apogee uses that driver in a some kind of wrapper for its original Duet and probably for the original Ensemble too!
Great news..My fatih and experiences with RME is well honored 
Thanks ! Keep up the good work !
RME User Forum → FireWire & USB series → El Capitan and Firewire
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