1 (edited by nikido 2017-11-22 21:55:49)

Topic: Fireface UCX and Mac (High Sierra) - Power On/Off troubles

Hey! I have a weird problem, actually two ...

Yesterday I managed to install the drivers and Total Mix. Everything worked fine. Today i switched on my computer and the Fireface couldn't be found, so I had to reinstall the drivers again.

whenever I powered off the Fireface (USB connection to Mac) my Mac looses Bluetooth connection to mouse and keyboard and won't find it again, which forced me to power off manually.

The UCX and Mac are completely new, I read the manual but couldn't find a hint. Does anyone have a glue what this could be? My studio monitors also make a small click whenever the device is powered on or off, but I think thats normal. I don't always listen music through the Fireface, so it want to switch it on and off as I please without having these kind of troubles. Or do I have to follow a certain order whenever I power my devices on or off?

Thanks for your help/ solutions!

Re: Fireface UCX and Mac (High Sierra) - Power On/Off troubles

Sounds like the normal driver problems around security on High Sierra. See here:
https://www.forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.php?id=26077

As for the rest, not a clue. Can you provide more details about the bluetooth issue?

For power on sequence, the monitors should turn on last, and off first.

Regards,
Jeff Petersen
Synthax Inc.

Re: Fireface UCX and Mac (High Sierra) - Power On/Off troubles

Hey thanks for the reply!

Well, as I said I got everything up and running yesterday. So the security stuff was not my problem (even thought it took me quite a while to figure it out).

I think I localized the source of error. Its my studio monitors. Whenever I turn them out before turning of the interface everything works just fine. I think there's some kind of heavy discharge going on, which somehow directly influences the USB port (and from there the Bluetooth module).

Actually I know that people usually recommend that order (power on --> monitors last, power off --> monitors first) but I have never heard of any damages or troubles - at least not in small home-recording applications. And I didn't have these issues with my old interface (Steinberg UR22).

My monitors are JBL LSR 305. All devices are in the same electric circuit.

Re: Fireface UCX and Mac (High Sierra) - Power On/Off troubles

If you disconnect the speakers from the RME, does the problem remain? If no it means the spike or dip in voltage travels through the ground connection of the speakers through the UCX to the computer.
If you are using balanced cables to connect your speakers removing ground from those cables might cure this.
Another thing to test, do both speakers cause this. If it is only one that one might have a defect that needs attention.

Vincent, Amsterdam
https://soundcloud.com/thesecretworld
Babyface pro fs, HDSP9652+ADI-8AE, HDSP9632

Re: Fireface UCX and Mac (High Sierra) - Power On/Off troubles

I have a similar issue but with Fireface UC on iMac retina 5k late 2015 with Sierra,
no monitors in the equation I am using headphones.
if you turn off the audio interface while the mac running then the bluetooth breaks and I lose mouse and keyboard connection after that only way to get back working is a hard reboot.

Re: Fireface UCX and Mac (High Sierra) - Power On/Off troubles

Does a mac have a safely remove hardware option?

Vincent, Amsterdam
https://soundcloud.com/thesecretworld
Babyface pro fs, HDSP9652+ADI-8AE, HDSP9632

7

Re: Fireface UCX and Mac (High Sierra) - Power On/Off troubles

Does the same happen if you simply pull the USB plug from the UC instead of switching it off?

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

8 (edited by Vlospa 2017-11-23 12:38:38)

Re: Fireface UCX and Mac (High Sierra) - Power On/Off troubles

@Vinark Don't think so, only for disk drives you can eject those.
@MC I will try that and report back tonight.

Re: Fireface UCX and Mac (High Sierra) - Power On/Off troubles

@MC tried removing just the usb cable after your suggestion and that seems to work, no bluetooth issues on Sierra with this use case.
Don't know why would this happen only if you shut down the interface with physical button, but at least there is a workaround. smile

10 (edited by nikido 2017-11-25 21:14:13)

Re: Fireface UCX and Mac (High Sierra) - Power On/Off troubles

In my case the BT connection gets lost also when I unplug the USB cable. But NOT when I connect only one speaker. Either left or right. As soon as two speakers are on, the problems occurs. I tried it with stereo cables, but it didn't help. I didn't not try the trick with removing ground yet ... I'll keep you updated.

Re: Fireface UCX and Mac (High Sierra) - Power On/Off troubles

Same for me here.
Mojave
UCX
When I turn off the UCX with the power switch it turns off my Bluetooth so then I have to hard restart.
its weird because it seems so intermittent.
I was having some issues with interference with my right speaker but I think its all related.
for now its holding up by I have another look at my power board and make sure its not being weird.
I have to move studio in a week so I'll report back after the move.
In the meantime.. the UCX is working great and no issues.

Re: Fireface UCX and Mac (High Sierra) - Power On/Off troubles

Did it again last night!
worked like 5 times in a row.. power off worked as expected. Bluetooth stayed on.
Then when going to bed powered off.. bluetooth switched off.
hmmm....
so strange.

Re: Fireface UCX and Mac (High Sierra) - Power On/Off troubles

Smells like a hardware problem. Like the first Mini with USB3...

In that case, a small RFI interference blocking tape was missing, leading to so much RFI on the BT chip that it turned off. BT and USB3 are on the same frequency.

It would be interesting to see if you're on the same machine, the same family, or different beasts.

MB Pro - 2 X FireFace 400, FF800 & DigiFace USB
ADAT gear: Korg, Behri, Fostex, Alesis...

Re: Fireface UCX and Mac (High Sierra) - Power On/Off troubles

Oh Really!
So strange!
What I'm kind of doing now is really just getting my hand involved taking up and blocking the space between the card and the speaker/IMac.
What you are saying makes sense.
What should I do then if it is indeed some small RFI interference blocking tape missing... hmmm

Re: Fireface UCX and Mac (High Sierra) - Power On/Off troubles

Which Mac are we talking about here?

MB Pro - 2 X FireFace 400, FF800 & DigiFace USB
ADAT gear: Korg, Behri, Fostex, Alesis...

Re: Fireface UCX and Mac (High Sierra) - Power On/Off troubles

Imac 2017 27 inch
retina 5k 4.2ghz

17

Re: Fireface UCX and Mac (High Sierra) - Power On/Off troubles

I have the same problem

Imac 2017 27 inch
retina 5k 4.2ghz 
+
rme fireface uc
+
last driver Catalina compatible

what is the solution?

Re: Fireface UCX and Mac (High Sierra) - Power On/Off troubles

Similar problem for me, but with fireface UFX and not speaker-related

Here are some thoughts and a (poor) workaround:
Powering off the RME interface kills all USB connections (the entire USB stack), the bluetooth module is connected to the USB stack internally, that's why it stops working. My iMac still can be accessed via network in this state of USB death. I use the remote access included in macOS to shut it down with my macbook properly.

My workaround: Close all applications, that can playback sound (iTunes, VLC, all music apps, even your browsers). It does not matter if they are currently playing any sound or not. I can unplug or power off my Fireface UFX safely, when these apps are not running. That's why I assume that this problem is related to the driver.

Unfortunately, since the upgrade to Cubase 10.5 the problem also happens during the first seconds of every audio export. I don't have any solution for this. Can anyone else confirm this issue?

iMac (Retina 5K, 27 Zoll, Ende 2015)
3,3 GHz Intel Core i5
macOS 10.13.6

@RME: I wrote a mail to your support today, but you autoresponder says, you are taking a break till Jan 2nd (which is already over) and delete all mails prior to that date. Do i have to resend my mail?

Re: Fireface UCX and Mac (High Sierra) - Power On/Off troubles

Hi,

I have the same issue with my iMac and UCX. If I turn UCX off the iMac looses all BT connections, and all other peripherals (like to HDDs).

Speakers are off in my case. And it doesn’t matter if the iMac is awake or in sleep. Either way, it completely looses all connections.

Re: Fireface UCX and Mac (High Sierra) - Power On/Off troubles

Hi dah-run,
have you tried this "workaround"?
Close all applications, that can playback sound (iTunes, VLC, all music apps, even your browsers). It does not matter if they are currently playing any sound or not.
I can avoid this problem this way.

21 (edited by dah-run 2020-01-18 17:49:55)

Re: Fireface UCX and Mac (High Sierra) - Power On/Off troubles

frankd wrote:

Hi dah-run,
have you tried this "workaround"?
Close all applications, that can playback sound (iTunes, VLC, all music apps, even your browsers). It does not matter if they are currently playing any sound or not.
I can avoid this problem this way.

I tried it, but it didn’t help.

When the iMac is just idling, the instant I flick the off switch for the UCX, I get the error notifications (harddrive not ejected properly for all my connected drives) and it looses Bluetooth connections to my keyboard, mouse and touch plate... A hard reboot is the only option I have to make it all work again.

I did have Sonarworks Reference 4 headphone edition running though? (But nothing playing).

One more thing: I have my UCX hooked up to a Samson PowerBrite. Can that be the culprit?

Edit: stoopid frikkin’ autocorrect

Re: Fireface UCX and Mac (High Sierra) - Power On/Off troubles

Powering off seems to kill the entire USB-Stack, that's why you get all this messages.
Sonarworks Reference is accessing the RME Interface, so you should close this app too. If you have the same error type like me, you should be able to shut off your interface without any errors when you close all audio apps before.
I talked with RME support and got the information that a driver bug is unlikely. They assume a problem with the USB controller in my iMac. Do you also have a late 2015 iMac?

Re: Fireface UCX and Mac (High Sierra) - Power On/Off troubles

Mine is a 2017 27" iMac 5k...

I’ve had the UCX since june 2012, and this issue happened the first time a few days ago. The thing I noticed first were all the «disc nor ejected properly» error notifications.

Re: Fireface UCX and Mac (High Sierra) - Power On/Off troubles

Update:

I think it was the Sonarworks systemwide Reference application that caused the issues for me. When I quit the program before I shut of the UCX, I haven’t had any issues with losing all USB and BT connections...

Re: Fireface UCX and Mac (High Sierra) - Power On/Off troubles

yes, I'm in this desolate land with you and with a Fireface UC  and a Mac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015).
Am I wrong or it looks like the problem is happening just with externally powered interfaces?

www.unguitar.com
https://linktr.ee/lucaformentini

26

Re: Fireface UCX and Mac (High Sierra) - Power On/Off troubles

The difference is 'removable audio interface' versus 'fixed/stationary/non-removable audio interface', most probably.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

Re: Fireface UCX and Mac (High Sierra) - Power On/Off troubles

what do you suggest, Matthias?

MC wrote:

The difference is 'removable audio interface' versus 'fixed/stationary/non-removable audio interface', most probably.