Revision 7 and 8 should work, at least they do for me.

Stock: 2011 MBP 17" 2.3 i7 Quad, 750 gb HD, 4 gb 1333 mHz RAM, dedicated ATI graphic with 1 gb RAM

Changed to: 256 gb SSD as main drive (bootcamped Windows + OS X) + 750 gb HD in Optibay (1. partition: sample libraries, data, 2. partition: backups, downloads, whatever, 3. partition: bootable 1:1 clone of OS X), 8 gb 1600 mHz RAM, external eSATA 2 gb HD for (backups, copies of sample-libraries, etc.), external DVD writer.

I had to get a Bluetooth USB stick and trick the MBP to make use of it instead of the internal one. The internal one fails at less than half a meter, which did not happen with former MBP. So either mine is broken or the new design is flawed.

I would have to check the 2011 MBP specifically. I do know that using a Firewire HD makes a difference for the MBP's internal electrics, I did not check temperatures though.

You may want to take a look at this thread: http://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-co … proof.html

Both. The thread on Gearslutz is quite informative and explains the possible source of your additional heat. It's something that affects FW devices in general, at least for those people who report it.

Hi Timur,

I did some test with the fireface 400 on my new macbook pro. Using the fireface 400 directly connected to the macbook pro firewire port I have the cpu running at almost 90 degrees and cpu kickin for ever. I have tested also connecting the harddrive to the fw800 port and everything works under normal temperature. I have tested logic, reason and record.

Do you have an idea of why the cpu is so under stress with the fireface 400? I have the latest drive and firmware.

Is someone in the forum here having the same issue?

It is really weird because my fireface 400 has worked on all the previous mac. I suspect that this could be due to the agere chipset or some 64 bit issues.

We should put this into a new thread, since it's getting off-topic. Maybe Daniel can split this discussion into a new one?!

This should not happen when you are not using any audio application though, only when actively using the FF400 for playback/recording. And even then the 90°C should only happen when you put additional load on the CPU, please try simple Stereo playback of an single audio clip (60°C here with fan-speed increasing slightly).

I looked into this on my Sandybridge i7 Quad (2011 MBP) and found some interesting and surprising results. Once I find time to look at a Nehalem i7 and Core2Duo iMac I will write a full report (in a new thread). Just so much, on the SNB i7 actively using (likely) *any* FW or USB audio interface leads to OS X turning off most CPU power-saving states (C-states). This leads to *all* cores staying active at +1 Turbo bin (3.1 gHz on my 2.3 gHz i7). While for temps this might be a problem it can be quite beneficial for audio applications (I spent quite some effort and time doing exactly that on my C2D MBP).

I tested RME FF400 (FW), BF (USB), NI Kore 1 (USB) and most important Zoom H2 (USB compliant, which needs *no* drivers, but uses OS X' ones).

Speedfan by Almico offers full fan-control for those mainboard compatible: http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

It cannot control fans of Macs though. In order to achieve that you have to use SMCfancontrol to set your desired minimum speed and then reboot into bootcamped Windows. The fan-speed setting will stay in SMC memory for as long as you do not turn off the Mac.

I think I may have partially answered my own question, in that it looks like the developers of smcFanControl were working on a Windows version which is still available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/macfan/

I should point out that MacFan 0.65 is no longer being developed.

MacFan requires you to run it from Start > Run... , browsing to the location of the program and then adding the fan speeds in rpm that you desire, as arguments. For example, for my MacBook Pro I enter this statement (including the quotation marks, and yes, I have it located on my desktop for now):

"C:\Documents and Settings\UserName\Desktop\MacFan0_65\MacFan.exe" 4000 4000

which bumps the fan speeds up to 4000 rpm from Apple's default 2000 rpm, just like smcFanControl does over on the Mac side. You don't want to do this following a re-boot from the Mac side, if you've been running smcFanControl, as MacFan is aware of this, and will tell you that improper fan speeds seem to have been saved. Running this following a cold boot results in no problems.

It would be nice if the program's window would stay open after running, to allow examination of all the text, but it disappears as soon as the speed change is complete. It would also be nice if there was a way to store my preferred speeds, so that the computer would start up with these new speeds automatically, without having to run the program. However, it's still an improvement over booting into the Mac OS first to get the fans up to speed, and then rebooting into Windows.

A typical session in Pyramix will get my MBP's GPU up into the high 70s/low 80s (Celsius), but with a 4000 rpm fan on it, it rarely exceeds 65 degrees.

To bring this rocketing back on topic, this is all while running a Fireface 800 as my ASIO interface which, truth be told, also gets a little warm during use.

Hi Timur, my macbook pro is raised on 2 coolball and screen always open at 90. It is very strange cause as soon as I hit play i have this issues. However only in Reason, Record and live - itunes is not affected. But the most worrying thing is that I m testing all these daw with a single midi channel, not even audio.

yes, sure. I replied you privately.

Just open a Command Prompt and run it from there.

Just create a batchfile (txt file with ending .bat or .cmd) and have that run on startup. If MacFan needs administrative rights and you are using UAC you need to either change its properties and manually acknowledge the administrative popup or run it via Task Scheduler.

Hi Timur..i think i know the cause of the overheating. I use an external monitor plugged into my thunderbolt port. When I unplug the monitor the temperature goes down and it works at 60 degrees with no fans kicking.

Display with DVI dual link resolution 2040 x 1152

Let's skip over to the other thread then.

which can be found here:

http://www.rme-audio.de/forum/viewtopic.php?id=11957

Hi folks
I wanted to chime in on the end of my 2 year agony with the Fireface 400 and a 2009 Macbook Pro. I bought the Lindy repeater which gives the appearance of working. However, I put up with very poor audio performance from Digital Performer and completely terrible performance with Ableton Live, taking it for granted. Then, recently, on a lark, I used an expresscard firewire adapter I had. Audio performance suddenly became excellent.

So in my experience the Lindy repeater cable is not a solution really. It gives the appearance of working, but nothing that one would expect from a 2500$ laptop and 1000$ soundcard. With the LIndy repeater cable, my putzy Lenovo x200+USB Edirol was a much more stable platform for recording.

Hey guys, Im having a problem with my Fireface 800.

First off, Im aware that my iMac falls under the "revision 6" FW chip problem. However, up until the past month, my FF was working perfectly, plugged into either 800 or 400. All of a sudden, out of nowhere it stops working, by that I mean that it will no longer sync at all via 800. When plugged into 400, it will sync only as long as it is not chosen as the device (either for the computer as a whole or in a DAW), at which point it will jump in and out of sync every few seconds (audio does the same).

I know of the workaround and have tried it. I have a Western Digital FW external hard drive, and have tried daisy chaining everything in every single combination, it makes no difference. I know my FW cables are all working as I have tested them with the external hard drive. At first I thought there was a problem with my FW ports, but the hard drive seems to be working fine.

Again, I've tried every combination of daisy chaining, without a positive result.
I've also uninstalled and reinstalled all the drivers and firmware several times, as well as tried older versions.

I dont understand how it went from working perfectly fine one night, to not working the next morning (which is literally what happened).

Any ideas?