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Firewire Hiss Noise with firewire audio interface


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I've just installed snow leopard retail on my core i7 computer(DX58so motherboard), everything is working perfect but i'm getting a hiss coming from my firewire soundcard(fireface 400).

 

Under Windows, i changed to legacy firewire drivers and everything worked perfectly but under osx i'm still getting a strange hiss noise.

 

Is there any alternate firewire kext that will solve my problem(like under windows)?

 

Edit:

It seems a lot of macpro user are getting the same kind of problem and a patch was released by apple in may

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?t...10&tstart=0

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1042

 

The official bug page :

http://macproaudiobug.byethost31.com/

 

i'm exactly getting the same symptom, a friend of mine has the same problem with his firestudio...

he most noticeable way the bug is provoked is by playing any audio.

 

Typically this might be an application playing sound* such as iTunes, QuickTime Player, or playing a movie or sound effects. Presumably any app** that calls core audio evokes the bug.

 

Things get more puzzling when an app is paused or finishes playing. This may stop the bug or not. Hence playing a YouTube movie in any browser will evoke the bug, but even after the video is finished the bug symptoms may continue. Indeed it can continue even when the web page is closed, it continues until the browser application is quit. This can easily leave a machine in the bug state while some browser is hidden in the background, seemingly out of the way.

 

The bug seems also to be evoked by installation of some audio cards, some firewire and USB audio devices and by copying large files from firewire devices.

 

The assumption is that the bug is in the MacOS, as using the same hardware under Windows does not evoke it. The symptoms seem the same booting MacOS under 32 or 64bits. Abundant theories/suggestions of the possible cause have been propounded, clarity is scant.

 

The bug only applies to 2009 Mac Pro computers, not earlier Mac Pros or any other sort of Mac.

 

* Any sound, even an MP3 track which is silent.

 

** Known audio evokers: Flash audio, EyeTV, VLC, LogicPro, Garageband, any web browser sound play, system audio output, games, ...

 

Edit2:

Maybe i should change my smbios to iMac ?

Is there any problem doing that on a core i7 hackintosh?

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  • 3 weeks later...

The IOFirewire~kexts that come with OS X should not need to be changed, the whole firewire standard is kinda built into them and most manufacturers (of Firewire Audio interfaces) only claim compatibility with select few Firewire controller chipsets (usually the older Texas Instruments & Agere/Lucent chipsets) The driver for 1394a in windows and the driver for the FireFace400 may have a better way of dealing with some of the differences in chipsets better than the mac Kexts and the FireFace kexts, when apple changed their firewire chipsets in the iMacs there known issues with compatibility for many firewire audio interfaces, RME included.

 

The whole Firewire OHCI standard was a good idea but there should be more regulations in the standard to ensure more uniform compatibility from all firewire chipset manufacturers because getting a computer with a bad Firewire chipset that's only suitable for a Firewire HDD that you cannot change out for a correctly functioning one is frankly a fkn joke IMO, what a waste, why bother? You listening Apple? HP?!

 

Firewire chipsets to stay away from are Ricoh, JMicron, and integrated ones, unless you've done your homework on the mainboard/notebook inquestion.

 

 

anyway...

 

It should be more likely a driver config/audio routing problem, is it noisy on analogue outputs only? check the RME site for compatibility with the version of OS X your using too. failing that, I would get a new firewire adapter, but do some research to get the best one you can to ensure it's compatible with yours.

 

Might even be your power supply for the FireFace.

 

 

From my experience, RME cards are pretty much bullet-proof for stability and efficiency, I run a digi9652 myself in my desktop, I hope you resolve the issue.

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I also have a RME 400, which is connected to my Dell XPS M1530 laptop, under SL 10.6.3. Everything is ok, but sometimes, I can hear a kind of whistle in my speakers, that disappears when I disconnect the power cable from my laptop.

 

I fixed this issue by buying blinded audio cables, and connecting both power supplies (laptop and RME) in different plugs.

 

What is your firmware revision? An upgrade may fix the problem too...

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey thanks for your replies !

 

So by the way:

I'm using latest drivers & firmware from RME.

I don't use a laptop so no ground power/noise problem.

I don't use a power supply with the fireface, it's powered with the firewire cable.

It's a texas instrument chip(intel dx58So motherboard)

 

The noise is coming FROM inside the soundcard, not from the speakers, it's really strange because i don't have any noise under windows7.

 

 

That's kinda weird but well, maybe if i try under leopard(or use older kext) i won't have the same issue?

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I don´t know if there is any known problem with Firewire audio cards, but im using an ProFire610 and it worked pretty well with the m-audio driver.

 

Yeah it works pretty well for me too, but check if you're not getting a noise from you soundcard.

 

Do you use the macpro smbios ? are using 10.6.3 ?

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Although i haven´t worked hard with audio since i installed OSX (last week) it seems noise less.

I´ve played with some pro tools sessions and watched some videos and it seems to be working ok.

 

Well... since i´m very new to this OSX86 thing, i have no idea what´s macpro smbios is ;).

If that helps, I dind´t modify my BIOS (Asus P5Q). I installed 10.6.3 booting from EFI Empire CD and then installing from retail Snow Leopard DVD.

 

Cheers..

PG

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I changed smbios to Imac and i'm still getting the hiss noise on two different system:

-core 2 duo, gigabyte DS3R, presonus firestudio mobile

-core i 7, intel dx58So, fireface 400

 

Both vanilla 10.6.3 system.

 

 

Do i have to use another cpupower management kext?

 

I'm really lost, everything works great but the hiss noise is present on both system.

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  • 1 year later...
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