1 Topic by TX-Jdub (edited by TX-Jdub 2020-12-15 00:56:20)

  • Registered: 2020-12-15
  • Posts: 27

Topic: Thank you, RME (from a Fireface 800 owner)

I just wanted to stop by and post a sincere heartfelt THANK YOU for your steadfast support of this great interface over the years. 

What an amazing piece of hardware this has always been for me, just insanely-reliable and sounding great. 

Leaving HW aside for a moment, your software support (even on a legacy device like this) has been equally amazing and best-in-class, in my experience.

Not long ago I tossed my TB to FW adapter, replacing it with a PCI chassis approach (enclosure w/ TB3 ports and PCI card slots) and was able to further improve the portability of my FF800 across all my newer TB3 Macs. 

Such a solution is a bit more complex than the TB2-to-FW dongle I had, but for my purposes & use-case it has been better and ensures at least a couple more years of use.   So imagine my surprise & delight when I learned that you put out a v3.40 driver for Mac OS Big Sur compatibility!!   

I have no idea if my TB3 --> PCI chassis would work in an M1 Mac, and I'll be Mac Pro Intel for a few years to come so it won't much matter.   But I do have an M1 Mini, so I might just have a go for fun one day.  If it works, I'll know it's all because of you guys.  wink

So just wanted to say thanks, again. I remain amazed & grateful that you guys supported the FF800 userbase so long after subsequent (and equally amazing) Thunderbolt solutions replaced it. 

I'm a customer for life and recommend you to everybody I talk to in audio, there's just nobody else with such a great post-purchase fanatical product support experience.  So, thank you RME product & software engineers.

Thank you again, RME team, for all your support and happy holidays and happy new year.

J. West
Texas USA

  • Registered: 2012-03-26
  • Posts: 5

Re: Thank you, RME (from a Fireface 800 owner)

This is great to hear, I am thinking about jumping to Mac, and want to keep my Fireface 400, what PCIe Chassis did you use?

Not sure i trust 2 adapters coming out of the Mac to the FF400 when I am doing a recording session tbh

  • From: Detroit
  • Registered: 2011-04-15
  • Posts: 67

Re: Thank you, RME (from a Fireface 800 owner)

jazzym wrote:

This is great to hear, I am thinking about jumping to Mac, and want to keep my Fireface 400, what PCIe Chassis did you use?

Not sure i trust 2 adapters coming out of the Mac to the FF400 when I am doing a recording session tbh

I use my UFX (1st gen) over firewire with the two dongle approach and it's worked flawless.

MacBook 13" with Touch Bar, into a TB3 to TB2 dongle, then a TB2 to Firewire 800 dongle, then a firewire 800 to 400 cable. Sounds crazy but works perfectly fine!

  • Registered: 2018-12-21
  • Posts: 317

Re: Thank you, RME (from a Fireface 800 owner)

ianhind wrote:

Sounds crazy but works perfectly fine!

I can confirm this, never had a single issue with the adapter chain.
Other option is a Thunderbolt 3 dock with Firewire 800. I was lucky to find an "OWC 13 Port Thunderbolt 3 Dock" on ebay recently for a good price.

  • Registered: 2007-05-02
  • Posts: 75

Re: Thank you, RME (from a Fireface 800 owner)

Did you ever use the OWC 13 Port Thunderbolt 3 Dock with a Fireface 800 and mac M1?

6 Reply by TX-Jdub (edited by TX-Jdub 2021-12-23 17:53:02)

  • Registered: 2020-12-15
  • Posts: 27

Re: Thank you, RME (from a Fireface 800 owner)

jazzym wrote:

This is great to hear, I am thinking about jumping to Mac, and want to keep my Fireface 400, what PCIe Chassis did you use?

Not sure i trust 2 adapters coming out of the Mac to the FF400 when I am doing a recording session tbh

Hey there I'm sorry I've been away for basically a year but I hope you found a good chassis.   Though this is late, here's what I've been using:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075R … &psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07R5 … &psc=1

A solid "Thunderbolt 3 only" cable must be used, not a USB-C or even "Dual-use" cable --- needs to say "Thunderbolt 3" on the packaging, or that PCI Chassis won't be seen by the host Mac.

I think any good TI chipset-based firewire card should get the job done with any Intel-based modern TB3 Mac (and possible M1, I'm going to be testing that this Christmas with a couple of new M1 Macs I've bought).

  • Registered: 2020-12-15
  • Posts: 27

Re: Thank you, RME (from a Fireface 800 owner)

Just a quick update, I did my first tracking today on my M1 Mac and FF 800.   The connection chain was:  Thunderbolt-to-PCI chassis + Firewire PCI-E card --> FF 800  (via 3.41 driver and latest TotalMix 1.74).   It worked fantastic for me today. 

Using Logic at 32 sample buffer size (very few plugs, frozen/wet tracks for low-latency tracking) the interface performed flawlessly.   

I then did a little mixing at 256 sample buffer size and several stock plugs and some Waves plugs were used, no Intel plugs as I ran Logic in Native only mode, no Rosetta etc. 

I'll probably do some Native (non Intel) VI sessions later on (I have Toontrack suite, latest Waves and some Arturia that are all M1 Native compatible) to see what I can accomplish.  I do miss Native Instruments VIs, which I hope will eventually hit M1 Native next year.

Logic in Native mode, on M1 Max is absolutely a beast.   It's not bad in Rosetta mode, either, but a whole other universe when Rosetta isn't used.   

The whole ability to do this is due to having sourced a solid TB-to-PCI chassis + FW card + RME being such an *awesome* company to update their driver for this. 

Absolutely NO OTHER company would write drivers for a 15 year-old audio interface as amazing, capable, and great-sounding like RME and their Fireface 800.

Merry Christmas everybody, and thank you RME.

https://forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.ph … 86#p180086