• biggy
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  • Registered: 2011-11-05
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Topic: Perplexed (a bit) by driver/firmware version numbers

Very happy user of a Fireface UFX here. But the plethora of software version numbers associated with the interface I find a little bewildering. For example, I use my Fireface with both USB and Firewire, according to where I am, so I'm currently juggling:

Intel Mac driver version 3.0
USB Mac driver version 1.61
Totalmix: 0.95

The Fireface USB Settings application reports UFX firmware v351
and the Fireface [Firewire] Settings application reports UFX firmware v340

and yet on startup the Fireface's splash screen reports Software Version 1.44

I think this means I'm all up do date but there's no way I'd stake my life on it! Maybe there's a place on the website RME could summarise the current up-to-date software versions associated with an individual product. Perhaps there is already, but I haven't seen it. It just doesn't feel right to apply a (USB) firmware update v351, and then immediately (Firewire) v340 - and yet this presumably is correct. I'd also suggest that the name 'Mac OS X Intel Flash Update Tool' does not make it hugely clear that it's a firmware update for the interface - the uninitiated user could think they're about to update something in OS X.

Possibly no-one else finds this the least bit confusing - in which case, please ignore.

Robin

  • From: Washington DC, USA
  • Registered: 2007-08-06
  • Posts: 442

Re: Perplexed (a bit) by driver/firmware version numbers

I also find this confusing.  I would welcome anythng RME could do to make this clearer.

  • From: Melbourne, Australia
  • Registered: 2007-05-16
  • Posts: 495

Re: Perplexed (a bit) by driver/firmware version numbers

As a UFX owner, perhaps I can help:

There are three distinct parts of the UFX firmware:

The FW firmware, and the installed version of this is reported in the Settings panel when it is connected by FW;

The USB firmware, and likewise the version number of this is visible in the Settings panel when it is connected via USB;

The DSP firmware (which handles reverb and the display), and the version number of this is shown on the UFX display at startup.

At this stage firmware can only be updated over a USB connection, but updates all components.  If you run the firmware update tool, you will see that it displays three separate version numbers (eg., currently for Windows these are 351/144/340), and the update proceeds in three steps.

Hope this eliminates the confusion.

De gustibus - et sonus - non est disputandum
  • biggy
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Re: Perplexed (a bit) by driver/firmware version numbers

That does help, and posting the question itself also did (as is often the way!). The fact that one doesn't, in fact, have to install Firewire and USB firmware separately is good, too, and I hadn't realised that. Still, the situation could very easily be made much clearer by RME. Just a few non-ambiguous sentences are required, and possibly a tweak of terminology here and there. For example, the 'Flash' update that refers to 351/144/340 - why not state unambiguously that this is a firmware updater, and what each number refers to? And why use '144' on the website but '1.44' on the UFX splash screen?

In the end we're most of us studio people, we can deal with some loose, abstract concepts, we go with the flow and find a way to understand and make things work. But clarity is always welcome, and I'm sure there's room for improvement here. Meanwhile, the quality of the product itself, and the software, is undoubted. The UFX far and away the best interface I've ever used, and I just love TotalMix.

5 Reply by MC

  • MC
  • MC
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  • From: Germany/Thailand
  • Registered: 2007-04-06
  • Posts: 24,901

Re: Perplexed (a bit) by driver/firmware version numbers

Panatrope is alll right. And basically it's as easy as reading the readme inside the Mac fut archive :-)

> This software updates the Fireface UFX firmware to revision 351 (USB) 144 (DSP) 340 (FW)...

But I will change the text to make this more clear.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

MC's Website