Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

undercode wrote:

Thanks guys for the positive feedback on my tracks. It's always encouraging.

I'll post here my setup so you can have a picture:

PC Intel Dual Core 1,80 GHz - 1 GB Ram - Asus PK5 - Asus EN8500 GS - Windows XP SP2 - Fireface version driver 2.89 (I'm using this one because I don't need Vista updates. If ain't broke, don't fix.)

Macbook Intel Dual Core 2,20 GHz - 2,5 GB Ram - Intel GMA X3100 - Mac OSX 10.5.4 - Fireface version driver 2.62

I constantly (not all the time, of course) switch the Fireface connection between the two computers. I even have a external hard drive connected to the Fireface hub. Zero beeps. Zero Errors.

On the PC, the default audio is the internal realtek audio device. On the Macbook it's the built-in sound module. iTunes, QuickTime, VLC and Skype, all using the default audio interface on both computers.

Anything more, just ask.

Cheers...burp!

Which you feed to the ff400 via optical cable ?
That?s what I?ll do I guess.

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

Both ways. I use optical or normal mini jack to inject signal to the Fireface.
Normal audio inserts some wicked little noise in the signal but it's easy to control volume using the system volume keys.
Digital out is better but it's inserting a little white noise randomly from time to time.
Need to trace what's causing it and I need to calibrate the damn battery. It keeps showing (X) and goes to sleep as soon as this pops. I'm now using Insomnia to keep him up...
Also the system volume keys are deactivated on digital out.

For now, analogue output it's the more liable.

Cheers.

Fireface 400 + DIGI96/8 PAD. It's old but works.

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

Digital out is better but it's inserting a little white noise randomly from time to time.

Apparent Solution: Fireface on slave mode.

Cheers.

Fireface 400 + DIGI96/8 PAD. It's old but works.

54 (edited by raoulmusic 2008-07-23 13:35:12)

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

Hi undercode smile

Thanks for your help by the way !
Much Appreciated !

I?ve gone optical out of my macbook straight into the ff400 spdif.
I?ll run it like this from now on - I?m curious if this will be the answer big_smile

Take care  - I?ll be back with feedback once i?m certain.


(edited for typos)

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

Ok, I have runned my setup with everything but logic set to the built-in output for this last period and the problem STILL remains :-(
If I route logic to the built-in output everything?s runs fine (only I can?t use multiple outputs).

I can?t for the life of me figure out if I do anything wrong ...

This is getting depressing :-(

There?s got to be something wrong with this rme unit ..?

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

well i have issues like this.

To be honest the truth is that a lot of systems cannot run the RME reliably.  But some can, however RME is very reluctant to specify a computer setup that will work - So I cannot upgrade as I haveno idea what the mythical setup might bit.

Of course they are not the ones who are going to have to fork out for new tweeters on my speakers.  Oh and they arn't gonna have to fix my deaf ears.

but its not there fault is it?


is it?

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

Try "Flash current Mixer state" via Totalmix' Option menu. I found out lately that the Fireface came preset with an Input to Output feedback loop routing whenever I switched on the unit and had a loop-cable from outputs to inputs set. This would settle after a few seconds once the software/driver took over command. Maybe the default standalone/init settings of your unit are running havoc and need to be overwritten with something that makes sense. Also use "Store Flash Memory" on the drivers' configuration page.

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

Timur wrote:

Try "Flash current Mixer state" via Totalmix' Option menu. I found out lately that the Fireface came preset with an Input to Output feedback loop routing whenever I switched on the unit and had a loop-cable from outputs to inputs set. This would settle after a few seconds once the software/driver took over command. Maybe the default standalone/init settings of your unit are running havoc and need to be overwritten with something that makes sense. Also use "Store Flash Memory" on the drivers' configuration page.

I did that a while ago - no change.
I?ll do it again though  :-D

One thing I noticed yesterday was that opening "Activity Monitor" (Os X Utilities) caused the beeeeeep to occur (and hang).
Could be a coincidence but I?ll keep an eye on it for a while.
Seems like I?m pretty alone on this one :-(


Thanks !

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

strangedays wrote:

well i have issues like this.

To be honest the truth is that a lot of systems cannot run the RME reliably.  But some can, however RME is very reluctant to specify a computer setup that will work - So I cannot upgrade as I haveno idea what the mythical setup might bit.

Of course they are not the ones who are going to have to fork out for new tweeters on my speakers.  Oh and they arn't gonna have to fix my deaf ears.

but its not there fault is it?


is it?

Didn?t see your reply until now and it?s "good"  to hear I?m not alone after all.
I?ve been having this problem for a year now - good days/weeks and then suddently I get the horrendous zero dB hanging tone until I quit all apps or restart.
Once this nightmare starts it will keep resurfacing more and more frequently untill for some unknown reason it disappears... untill next time :-(

This has got to be either a faulty unit or something evil going on (and around) in the firewire loop.

I don?t have the funds to buy a new unit so I will keep using this setup but I must admit that the days of running around recommending fireface 400 to all my fellow composers/producer are thinning out....

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

Yeah I know... I had a multiface ii doin`the same thing... (I had endless beep and I/O boX state: error) After trying everything (Tried other hardware) and reading this, I just put the connected firewire cord in my internal pc firewire port. This got it active again... Then back into my rme pci card... WORKING... It is most definitely a power problem....

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

avva wrote:

Yeah I know... I had a multiface ii doin`the same thing... (...) I just put the connected firewire cord in my internal pc firewire port.

Ouch... ed: :roll
Consider yourself lucky. This is normally a pretty sure way of damaging the MF...


Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME

Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

Do you have any suggestions for me?
I now run logic from my internal sound card in my macbook and out via optical into FF400 - works without beeps but It almost defeats the purpose of the FF400 :-(
Could it be a faulty unit?
Should I give up?

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

Yeah I know... I had a multiface ii doin`the same thing... (...) I just put the connected firewire cord in my internal pc firewire port.

I`m really sorry for making this suggestion... It actually did not bring my MF back to life... Previously I had I/O Box-State error.. After trying everything, I got fed up... Plugged it in my int. FW port and back into rme pci card.. (Yeah I know...) This got the I/O Box-State showing all normal connected and all that.... It`s just that I have that endless beep going anyway....

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

after a good run of many weeks :-) without beeping :-) it?s now back in full effect.
I have to restart at least every 2 hours :-(

The problem seems to start in Logic 8 and then "spreads" to itunes and quicktime to the point where they too will initiate the beeping on their own.

No response from RME support on a mail sent to them several months ago..

Sad situation sad

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

hi all


i too am suffering the dreaded 0db threshold shift inducing BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPP

Im using a macbook pro 15" 2.2  2.33Ghz with osx 10.4.11

the problem occurs almost exclusively with Logic 7

I have tried all workarounds, 800 to 400 cable, bus power, external power, seperate firewire pciexpress card, daisychaing the fireface from various drives

i have tried everything, still the beep

I will try the starting in bus power and then switch to external workaround and see what happens

if that doesnt work i will be getting rid of the damn thing

please someone tell me that this isnt just the way it is

I monitor quite loud and that beep is killing me

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

Hi tamprecision.

Sorry to hear that.
I have had an absolutely wonderful time working with audio since my last post.
No problems at all - no beeps or stuff like that :-)
NOT using Fireface 400 cured the problem.

Get rid of it asap !

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

thanks raoulmusic for the reply what are you using instead?

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

tamprecision wrote:

thanks raoulmusic for the reply what are you using instead?

Just various stuff. Nothing fancy at all.
I still suspect something is not quite how it should be in the firewire department.
Could be on behalf of the macbook (pro or not) or could be related to rme drivers.
I haven?t had much luck with rme support as you can tell from this thread.
Been writing to rme support line too - they didn?t even answer my mails  so I just can?t be bothered anymore.
Won?t be buying rme again thats for sure.

:censored

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

Hi,

I found one old mail from you, seems I overlooked it somehow - sorry.

The problem with this kind of problem is that we'd need to be able to reliably reproduce it to even find out whether it's a Fireface issue or not...

The fact that the sypmtom occurs very irregularly, and sometimes doesn't surface for weeks or more clearly indicates that it's not a general problem. Also, apart from two or three reports here on the forum, we have had no similar reports.

I can't rule out the possibility of a small hardware defect - did you ever consider asking your dealer to send in or exchange the unit?

I also don't seem to see any mention of the FW chipset of your Macbook. Have you tried one of the known FW workarounds, e.g. the repeater cable, to find out whether the issue is FW-related (although according to tamprecision, this does not seem to be the case).


Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME

Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

Hi Daniel ,

Thanks for the answer.
I haven?t tried a repeater cable (of which I have never heard before?) but I have tried almost every possible combinations of the firewire chain ( with the disks and all).
Doens?t matter if the unit get it?s power from the adaptor or not.
I have made a deal with the company where I bought it to have the units sent and tested.
I will report back here if they find something is wrong with the unit itself.

Having had the unpleasant experience with the 0 db beep on so many occassions in the past, I don?t think I dare to use it again though.

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

To be honest I don?t know what chipset is.l don?t see any data about chipset in my System Profiler (other than for the video card).

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1492

boot your Mac press keys Command+S
when you hear sound at system startup
read Firewire chipset under OHCI line

ex: FireWire (OHCI) TI ID 8025
FireWire (OHCI) Lucent ID 5901

regards S-EH

73

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

I understand your frustration about high-level sound in those situations. We might (!) implement something that mutes audio in such a case. But there are two problems:

- as this never happens on our (and most other customers) computers we do not know what case (error) exactly we are talking about. So what happens that should trigger our mute?

- even if we mute audio the basic problem is still there and will make you look into a different solution anyway. When record/playback stops from time to time, mostly unexpected, you do not want to work that way, right?

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

S-E Hansson wrote:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1492

boot your Mac press keys Command+S
when you hear sound at system startup
read Firewire chipset under OHCI line

ex: FireWire (OHCI) TI ID 8025
FireWire (OHCI) Lucent ID 5901

regards S-EH

Thank you S-E Hansson.

This is what it says :

firewire (OHCI) Lucent ID 5811 PCI is now active

HUID 0019e3fffe18fc74

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

MC wrote:

I understand your frustration about high-level sound in those situations. We might (!) implement something that mutes audio in such a case. But there are two problems:

- as this never happens on our (and most other customers) computers we do not know what case (error) exactly we are talking about. So what happens that should trigger our mute?

- even if we mute audio the basic problem is still there and will make you look into a different solution anyway. When record/playback stops from time to time, mostly unexpected, you do not want to work that way, right?

To me that would seem pretty silly , yes.
Like curing the symptom but not the root of evil itself (IF one such really exists).

I fully understand that I am pretty much alone with this one and that there?s a chance that this hasn?t got anything to do with the rme card or driver.
Admittedly there _could_ be an underlying problem somewhere in my setup and/or computer but as I have stated before this thing ONLY occurs with the FF400.
Other cards/interfaces does not exhibit this behaviour what-so-ever.

Retrospectively I SHOULD have taken action sooner and called up rme support directly when I first noticed that there really was a problem going on. Guess all warranties are outdated at this point.

The unit is being sent to be tested for hardware flaws.
If this test does not show anything I won?t be using that card ever again that?s for sure.

So ! In my opinion I don?t see any point in rme coming up with a fix like you describe.
Put simple : I have had bad luck. Bit expenssive experience if you ask me  but I?ll survive.

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

raoulmusic wrote:

Other cards/interfaces does not exhibit this behaviour what-so-ever.

Please do mention which other cards you tried, are these also FW devices? We're not afraid of competitors' names here... cool

Retrospectively I SHOULD have taken action sooner and called up rme support directly when I first noticed that there really was a problem going on. Guess all warranties are outdated at this point.

When did you purchase the unit? You've got two years...

If this test does not show anything I won?t be using that card ever again that?s for sure.

If it's not the card, it could be the computer, wouldn't it be wise to try to approach the issue there? The Lindy repeater cable (search the forum) might be worth testing.

Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME

Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

Hehe big_smile

Interfaces I?ve been using has been Motu 828 , terretec 24 and tc electronics.
Might also have been using an apogee but can?t say if it was with this computer for sure.been a while..

When did I purchase FF400 ? .. around a year and half ago - the store says they only give 1 year warranty though ?

I?ll see if I can borrow a repeater cable/hub/thingie (I googled smile .

78

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

Another question: are you running the FF400 with external power supply? You should do so.

And when you get the beep, is the red host LED lit in that moment?

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

MC wrote:

Another question: are you running the FF400 with external power supply? You should do so.

And when you get the beep, is the red host LED lit in that moment?

It doesn?t make any difference if the power supply is used or not.
I have not noticed if the LEDs change colour or light up during the error.
I?m not sure if I would like to plug the ff400 in again to test and see what the LEDs do.
I promised myself to never have the heart-wrecking experience of seeing/hearing that beep ever again. sorry

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

thanks se mc and rme and raoul for the replies
so i did the chipset test, it came up like this:
Firewire (OCHI) TI ID 8025 built in now active

also today i used the starting in bus power then switching to external and seemed to suffer less although there were two beeps......
I have found that it seems like logic can tie itself in a knot
it seems to be happier when there are only audio tracks and no instruments
however it still beeps when theres only audio
I would say that it happens at least daily and sometimes like 20 times a day
i will watch the red light next week , i did notice that the red host light switched off when i switched on my hard drive (firewire400 gdrive mini triple)
i havent tried the repeater cable cause i dont have one although as i've mentioned i've tried daisychaing from my g drive mini triple
does any of that help?
i dont want to get rid of the fface400 cause otherwise its great
i dont mind workarounds, i just wanna work, im a mix engineer so those beeps can ruin my day
i will keep reporting in the hope of solving the problem
i can understand that this is difficult to solve as there are so many variables
i suggest rme release a competitor to the apogee duet that is certified mac ready
one question, should the red host light be active for sensible operation or off??????
thanks again folks

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

Is there any way to somewhat reliably reproduce this?

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

I dont think there is a way to replicate this sadly

it just does it at random it would seem

normally just when im getting inspired!

it doesnt seem to happen with live???


any suggestions welcome.........

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

worth mentioning: i use a tc powercore compact together with my fface 400 and also a firewire hard drive


currently i have these setup as follows:

powercore on extra firewire port on pcmi express card

fface 400 on firewire 800 to 400 cable

g drive mini triple on firewire 400 bus powered


the only thing i havent tried is daisy chaining the whole lot, as this seemed like an obviously bad idea


Not being all that techy minded i wonder can someone tell me if the "theory" is that all firewire devices should be daisychained????

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

ok so today i tried the switching on in bus power then switching to external

i also disabled system sounds

it was ok all day then two big beeeeeeeeeeeeeeps, nearly deafened me, put me right of my mixdown

when the beep happened the red host light was off

both times logic gave the error while trying to synchronise audio and midi message which it doesnt always do when the beep happens

my next theory is that its a conflict with either my TC powercore or my Firewire hard drive

please RME sort it out

85 (edited by Timur 2009-02-24 11:29:11)

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

tamprecision wrote:

it doesnt seem to happen with live???
any suggestions welcome.........

Well, it is replicable with Live on a PC quite easily. Just make Live crash and the BEEP will happen. My own guess always was that it happens because of the driver being shot down by Live once it crashes.

Changing the Latency Buffer size should reset the driver, but it doesn't in this situation. Only turning the FF off and back on helps to get rid of the beep. Maybe this is a starting point for finding the real reasons behind the problem.

It also happens with one of my other non-FW interfaces, but these stop the sound once Live is finally closed (after clicking on a crash dialog by Live). Furthermore I own interfaces that don't beep in this situation at all.

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

ok so im STILL getting the beep and im going mad

it now happens in Live and Logic

I have tried every possible way of setting this up

I have tried all the workarounds and spent nearly 100 quid on cables and firewire express cards that DONT FIX THE PROBLEM

my chipset is ati which i believe to be ok(?)

basically if this doesnt get sorted in the next 5 days im getting rid of the fireface and will be sure to tell everyone how crap it is (along with all the other crap interfaces

The beep happens but the DAW keeps on running but with only the beep coming out of my speakers

This means to me that the problem is not the software as it doesnt crash

PPPPPPPPLLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE sort this out

Oh and by the way if anyone out there is considering a ff400 for live use : DONT DO IT

This situation is a joke, and now you bring out a usb version..........??????????

I think i'll use my ff400 as a doorstop, at least it would work

To be honest i think you should send me a new USB ff400 in exchange for my old firewire model except that i cant believe that a USB interface can be any good

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

If the DAW keeps running, does turning off/on the FF resolve the situation without having to restart the DAW? Does restarting the DAW resolve the beep without restarting the FF?

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

tamprecision, please no blackmail attempts in this forum. I?am sure our support can help you with the problem.

By the way: We got lots of Fireface 400 users using it live with great success. Some days ago the guys from the awesome live band Blind told us on the Frankfurt Messe how satisfied they are with their interfaces. Even after some nasty crashes and live accidents the 400 did the job.

best regards
Knut

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

I have to restart the daw

i wouldnt use it live unless i thought a 0 db square wave thru the house system was acceptable

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

Well, sadly I have to report the exact same problem.

I have the buzz coming completely randomly, sometimes using Live, sometimes Logic, sometimes Max/Msp, and sometimes simply listening music with iTunes....

So It's software independent, and can occur even with almost no CPU activity

I'm on a MacBook Pro 2.33 Ghz Intel Core Duo, with OSX 10.4.11. Latest RME drivers installed (2.62a)

It was working like a charm for almost 2 years, and now I have the symptom since a month or so.

I didn't install anything new in my system recently.

The only way to stop the beep is to quit all audio apps, deselect and re-select the FF in AMS

During the beep, the FF in's continue to work, I tested this. No red light.

This can happen several times a day, then no more for 2-3 days. It seems to be more and more frequent tough.

Makes me reaaaaaalllly nervous, because I have a live act soon, and I don't know what to do about this? only imagine this happening in the middle...

Did somebody found a solution ?

Thanks, Philippe

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

Hi,

I just wonder can this "beep" issue be heat related,
does it work better if power is unplugged for a while
to cool down and then powerd up again ?

regards S-EH

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

same here..

http://www.rme-audio.de/forum/viewtopic … 674#p24674

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

well, i don't speak german, so it's difficult for me to understand this thread, but thanks anyways.

@sonoro: I see you also have a Virus Ti, like I do.

I *think* - but I may be wrong, that the problems started approx. when i installed the latest OS on the Virus. Maybe just a coincidence, but  I try to find the culprit here...

Also, I cannot tell for sure if the problem arise only when the Virus is On, or also when it is not... Totally not sure about that. What's your opinion on this ?

I should do more testing, but considering it happens so randomly, It's quite difficult to waste time like that

@raoulmusic, if you're still around, do you also have a Virus Ti ?

Thanks

Ph

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

hej phijel,

my posts in the other thread are in german, and to sum it up- the german talking threadstarter complaind about the same problem.

concerning the virusTI; it was also one the first things i have checked since the virus updates are always comeing with some new bugs. but i had the same problem with the virus turned off/ plugged off. i also checked if there is any virus related process running in the background..and no..there wasnt any.

also i wanna mention again that i get error messages concerning a samplerate missmatch between logic and an external device(ff400) when i get the beep.

some support from rme, besides "it isnt our products fault" would be nice:)

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

@ phijel :

Yes - still around and No - I don?t have a virus ti.

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

Looks like I have the same problem like most of you guys.

I even suspect the FireFace 400 (or the FW-protocol/driver) to be responsible for a lot of other crashes. For example in games or other applications.

The user undercode said we should try to enable on-board sound and let the on-board soundcard manage windows audio. So I just activated my on-board sound, choose it as default vista soundcard and deleted all FF400 entries for windows audio. This way the FF400 now is just working in Samplitude/Soundforge etc., but not anymore for windows. I hope I understood this right. Please correct me if not. I'll report back if this worked.

Anyway, this is becoming a big problem for me due to severe crashes. Yesterday night I even had to repair Vista because of blue screens/crashes. I really hope it will be fixed soon.

My system specs:
Asus P5Q
QuadCore 3Ghz
8GB Corsair Dominator RAM
2x500GB S-ATA HD
ATI Radeon 4870 1GB IceQ
FireFace 400
Samplitude 10.2.1 (LAA)
Vista 64 Bit SP1


Cheers
InvisibleMan

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

The beep happens every 5 min this morning, simply by listening to music with iTunes !!!

This drives me nuts.

Especially considering the price of this unit and the number of complaints,

and the fact they do not even care to reply my email sent to support 2 days ago.

I tell you, I consider this a real shame.

Seriously thinking going MOTU now, I cannot afford this to happen in a live situation

Ph

98

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

Obviously a behaviour like this is not a driver bug and not related to the above posts. Either your Fireface is broken, or the FireWire transmission is not working as it should.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

Obviously a behaviour like this is not a driver bug and not related to the above posts. Either your Fireface is broken, or the FireWire transmission is not working as it should.
Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

My FireFace works just fine on another computer. What do you mean by transmission? The cable? It works fine on the other comp too.

One comp is a P4 3Ghz, 3GB Ram, XP SP1, the other a QuadCore 3Ghz, 8GB Ram, Vista 64Bit SP1. The newer one has problems.


Cheers
InvisibleMan

100

Re: FF 400 goes into "loop" (endless beep sound)

FW transmission inside the computer. Many Vista 64 users have problems, some get it resolved. Please search this forum.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME