M-Audio (Avid) Fast Track Ultra - El Capitan Workaround

[oliveiro]

Whaoo ! that's a lot of In/Outs ! My first soundcard was a USB 1.0 Tascam US428 I worked a lot with, plus it was also a midi controller with joggle, knobs and faders to control Cuba$e interface.

I loved it, but it's now in the 10ft high pyramid of "not supported anymore" hardware devices I keep in my room...

 

I managed to install Sierra as a virtual OS, so I'll try to save time to keep on testing...

Reversing IOAudioFamily lead me nowhere...

 

As you mentionned, Sierra doesn't bring amazingly new features (I don't use Siri, nor Clouds...), so I'm not in a hurry to upgrade...

[Diooo]

Sorry guys for being idle for a week, I had no access to the laptop for testing.

 

Moreover, It seems like time come for me to decide what to do with M-Audio, cause I need a working card with my laptop\

 

Oliveiro, are u sure  virtual os is an appropriate environment for experimenting? Still there is a virtual os bridge drivers etc, which can actually corrupt all the process even more.. But anyway, I bet you got to have some kind of new idea from it

 

In such way I want to ask your opinion If I should waste more time testing any workarounds on Sierra.. To make a last Sierra breath before making my El Capitan system a M-audio-compatible.

[oliveiro]

Hi Diooo

 

For now, I'm under the impression it's ok to test Sierra on a virtual partition, since our board is USB, the drivers are native.

I've yet been able to reproduce what you already tried, so my guess is, it's relevant.

I'll have time from next monday on, to try other things, I mean, other than full USB kexts replacement.

 

AFAIAC I won't go pro on a Sierra system until 10.12.4 is released I guess, this is now an old habit of mine : transition to a new OS, only when it's old (!)

I moved OsX from 9.4 directly to 10.4, and then to 11.4 (fourth updates are most of the time rock stable).

At first it was just because I was using an AMD CPU, and community kernel development for these was taking time

(and lots of efforts from guys from this forum by the way). But I kept the habit.

 

And for Live performances, I even use a 10.8.3 on a Asus F301a laptop, I don't think I will ever upgrade.

Well, I installed a 10.11.5 for it on an external USB 3.0 disk, but just for fun ! ......

 

I say all this, because if we fail to discover a "simple, light and efficient" workaround for 10.12.0, let us not lose hope that next OsX updates bring their loads of improvements (!)

 

let's keep in touch !

[Diooo]

Thanks for your plans, Oliveiro!

 

I very much waiting for the time you could check the Sierra possible solutions, cause as for me - none of the El Capitan workarounds works good for the moment (full USB replacement gives me trackpad without multitouch, light workaround from post10 gives no midi support. Also, as long as I remember, both of them failing USB iPhone connection, so I assume there can be predictions for any USB-connected device to appear non-working)

 

Let me know if you have any ideas which you are running out of time to check, etc.

 

It feels like the answer is somewhere near in Sierra, as we start from working panel.

 

Btw, MB it's worthy to check/edit Info.plist file inside the M-AudioFastTrackUltra.kext?

I remember I saw -=somewhere=- guys danced around this to make the driver supportable inside new OSX environment.

[mcshmoopy]

Hey guys, hope youre all well! Ive recently sent off my Fast Track Ultra 8R for repair so dont have it available to me right now.

 

One thing I did notice on the latest Sierra update (with a recent security update on the release of the new macbooks), the fast track ultra kext is no longer being recognised by default. Im not sure if its because the interface isnt plugged in at the moment or because of the new updates but I think it may open the possibility of re-using the old work around now!

 

I wont be able to test for certain until I get the interface back, it had started developing alot of noise making certain inputs unusable, so hopefully I can get it brand spanking new again and working on Sierra!

 

Bill

[Schplingidy]

Hey yall!

 

Thank you for your attempts of assistance!

 

I followed the steps in post 24 and my M-Audio Fast Track Ultra 8r became operational again! THANK YOU! I haven't had a chance to fully test everything with it but have noticed some issues right away with El Capitan:

 

• My trackpad and bluetooth magic trackpad aren't functioning properly. "Tap to click" is enabled within Sys Pref > Trackpad but does not work on both. I also am not able to access bluetooth in Sys Pref. It's not displayed in Sys Pref and when I try to open bluetooth from spotlight I get an error message saying "You can't open "Bluetooth" preferences pane because it is not available to you at this time. To see this preferences pane, you may need to connect a device to your computer" even though the Magic Trackpad is currently working.

 

• Finder isn't highlighting anything I mouse over. For instance, right clicking a file gives you options to select that highlight when you mouse over them; not the case any more for me. Also, if I right click an app in the dock and try to select something like "Keep in Dock," I need to physically click "Options" in order to access "Keep in Dock" whereas I should be able to mouse over "Options" to display the other selections available.

 

I haven't had a chance to test much further but wanted to see if I can get these sorted first at least before maybe needing to downgrade:(

 

Anyone have any ideas on what I can do to start troubleshooting this? 

 

15" Mid 2015 MBP w/ Retina. OS X 10.11.6. 

[oliveiro]

@Dioo : Sorry i've been away for a few weeks, and still am really busy, so as I thought, I probably won't be able to test anything with Sierra before end of winter. I'm sticking with ElCap for now...

 

@Schplingidy : I don't have a real mac, but other users have encountered similar issues, which probably are related to the drivers used for genuine mac mouse, pad or BT (the other drivers we reverse in post24, are probably needed for these mac drivers/devices) : you should try to identify these drivers from a working Yosemite System, and then use these former versions in ElCapitan, in conjunction with post24 workaround. Otherwise, parse the topic from the beginning, and pm users with similar issues, you might get helpful answers.

 

Sorry I can't help more than that (!)

[JacoLoco]

I've read that some of you obtained a fully functional Control panel. Even with the 24bit feature?

 

I'm an owner off a Fast track PRO (Firmware 1.02) connected to the Hackintosh descripted in the sign,

Logitech keyboard, Trust Bluethoot 3 (ath3k-firmware). Till M.L. 10.8.3 FTPro was working flawless, with the update to Sierra 10.12 I've loose the driver/control panel support for this audio board. It works without drivers but only at 16bit.

 

I've tried to fully disable the System Integrity Protection (SIP) and didn't work, neither with 1.9.3 or 1.9.5 versions of the drivers.

 

Do you think that the method purposed in the 24# post (or in the 10# post??) should be useful for me?

[oliveiro]

@JacoLoco : If you take usual precautions, I don't see any reason not to try one of these workarounds. FTPro and FTUltra differ : I think I read FTPro is classCompliant, FTU is not.

 

I don't know for the FTP, but for the FTU, bit depth is set in your DAW, not in the M-Audio ControlPanel. You can set frequency rates in the panel. But we have a fully functionnal controlpanel under ElCap, yes.

 

Please bear in mind that these workarounds simply revert part of OSX USB system drivers to Yosemite's versions : if you had a working panel under Yosemite, you'll probably get it working under ElCapitan. Sierra has not been successfully tested yet...

 

But you don't mention Yosemite in your post, only ML and Sierra : which OSX version is the latest with a working panel for your FTPro ?

[JacoLoco]

I've catch a super offer for the M-track 2x2M so.. I've quitted the experiment. Too scared to hack / rollback my USB system drivers.

 

Btw thank for this advice "Fast Track Pro is classCompliant, Fast Track Ultra is not."

Without the proper control panel my FTP is locked to 48Khz 16 bit, all 4 output on, with no kext there is audio streaming. With kexts The control panel detect the device & the audio streaming but it didn't works. no audio, sir. I will uninstall all the kest and preferences listed by myself HERE and i will make a composed audio peripheral. I will post the results. 

 

ML 10.8.3 was my latest OS with the control panel fully functional ( 48Khz - 24 bit)

[oliveiro]

Hi Guys, I made some USELESS progress on the Capitan side.

 

I found this http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/228713/4623011a-multitouch-monitor ; someone there explains there's a bug in Apple new USB stack (OsX >= 10.11) which prevents composite devices to work properly.

 

Based on his advice, as a workaround, I created a codeless kext (that's an empty driver file, with no code obviously, just a config plist file), it's attached to this post. This is designed for Fast Track Ultra since it includes idProduct 8320 (hex = 0x2080) and idVendor 1891 (hex = 0x0763). It basically inject "kUSBRemoteWakeOverride = false" into the "merge properties" of the specified device. Installed using KextUtility.app.

 

This solves the MIDI problem but only with ElCapitan genuine USB kexts (ie when NOT using post#10 or post#24 workarounds). So, we still either have audio working OR midi working... but not both unless we use post#24 whole usb stack reversing workaround ...

 

What might interest some of you is that : I guess the same method can be used to solve any composite device trouble (multitouch, scanners, etc...) : to be tested at your own risk as usual... just duplicate the file, rename it, rightclick "show package contents", edit info.plist inside "contents" folder, and set correct vendor and product Id for your non-fully-working device (under IOKitPersonnalities/Display Workaround).

 

The original post indicates to install it to /Library/Extensions, but I use /System/Library/Extensions just fine, probably because SIP is disabled on my machine.

 

I made no progress under Sierra 10.12.3 : on an untouched system, M-audio panel and analog/digital/midi inputs are working fine, MacOs lists FTU in audio devices, but no sound is heard when played (didn't test recording), though M-Audio panel shows "Device Connected /Streaming". I believe it's related to the following error : "StandardUSB::validateEndpointMaxPacketSize: USB 2.0 5.[5-8].3: endpoint 0x07 invalid wMaxPacketSize 0x0008". Which by the way also appears under genuine ElCapitan when connecting the FTU.

 

This page https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=fr&rurl=translate.google.fr&sl=de&sp=nmt4&tl=en&u=https://www.heise.de/mac-and-i/artikel/USB-Probleme-in-OS-X-10-11-3181776.html%3Fartikelseite%3D3&usg=ALkJrhgkJz5Vi4bttVp_uFKMEzxZEObnwQ  explains it's also related to Apple new USB  stack.

 

No clue how to get around this for now.

USBWorkaround.kext.zip

Edited February 1, 2017 by oliveiro

[Diooo]

Greetings fighters.

 

Some guys from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAGVy1Xx0VU in comments section says they made it work on Sierra. I'm not sure if it's true and what are the steps, mb they'll update the community, mb not.

[oliveiro]

@ Diooo !  I saw that Youtube page too, tried to post there to get details from the guy, he didn't answer yet.

 

@Everyone else : I gave up searching another workaround for Sierra : as mentionned in my previous post, many things are natively working (panel, inputs) except no sound can be played through the FTU, so I tried injecting all types of parameters through plist files or dummy kexts, to no avail.

 

Finally, I just decided a last attempt based on post#10 workaround (took a IOUSBHostFamily.kext from Sierra 10.12.3, and replaced the same 8 plugins by the same 4 Yosemite Plugins (see post#10)) and it works pretty much the same, and MIDI is working too (apple has integrated the "kUSBRemoteWakeOverride = false" parameter inside IOUSBHostFamily)

 

My test Platform is a virtual Sierra 10.12.3, I used Reaper, test recorded a few minutes at 96k 24b from spdif, everything went fine. Midi notes came in properly.

 

For those who dont want to create the kext themselves, it's attached here. See the old post for install procedure, and use at your own risk and responsibility. Expect trouble with other USB devices ! keep another usb keyboard/mouse close just in case...

 

I'll stay away for a while now, work to do ! plus the fact I bought another board : an Audient ID14 which by the way is completely awesome. I didn't think I'd hear such a difference in sound precision and dynamic compared to the FTU (preamps and converters make an obvious difference)

 

I'll keep on checking around here, if anybody needs help, read post10, post24 first before asking. Other users posts here give interesting solutions or indications: read the whole topic before asking please (!)

 

And also posting on the topic rather than sending personnal messages, is a better option so that other users can benefit from your questions.

 

Cheers

 

O.

IOUSBHostFamily.kext.zip

[oliveiro]

PS : there is one solution to avoid troubles with other usb devices, I wonder how it didn't come to my mind before : use a USB add-on card, and connect only the FastTrackUltra to that card, all other devices being connected to the ports of your computer.

 

For instance, my computer has an integrated USB 3.0 controller (XHCI which handles USB 1, 2 and 3). All my USB devices are connected to the ports of the computer. I added an old PCI USB 2.0 card (EHCI which handles USB 2.0 only, or OHCI/UCHI for USB 1.0 devices, but it doesn't matter here) and connected the FastTrackUltra, which is USB 2.0, to this card port.

 

See wiki to understand USB specifications.

 

The trick is based on post10 and post63 workarounds, but instead of replacing all USB plugins inside IOUSBHostFamily.kext, Simply replace EHCI and EHCIPCI, OHCI and OHCIPCI, UHCI and UHCIPCI kexts (backup before as usual) with the old yosemite EHCI OHCI and UHCI plugin. DO NOT TOUCH XHCI and XHCIPCI.

 

Voilà !!! FTU works through the old Yosemite USB 2.0 only drivers, all other devices work through standard ElCapitan/Sierra USB 3.0 (thus USB 1,2 and 3) driver.

 

If your computer is USB 2.0 only , I guess the trick would be to add a USB 3.0 card, connect all your other devices to the ports of that card, and connect only the FTU directly to your computer.

 

So my final recommandation would be :

• update to Sierra (if you need FTU midi ports, otherwise Capitan is fine)
• add a compatible USB 2.0 or 3.0 PCI or Express card (shouldn't be more than a few €/$, at least, far less than a new audio card)
• reverse only EHCI OHCI UHCI plugins
• Make good music !!!

 

Cheers !

 

Attached is my IOUSBHostFamily from Capitan 10.11.5, modded accordingly to this post.

IOUSBHostFamily.kext.zip

[oliveiro]

@jrose : Hi ! you say "hooked up to a USB 2.0 hub", I guess it might be the problem, because if your computer has USB 3.0, then the driver used is xhci (controlling USB 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0), whether you use a USB 2.0 hub or not... To use post64 workaround, you need another USB 2.0 controller (that is, if your computer has usb 3.0).

Otherwise, you might want to try post63 (but see warning about USB keyboard/mouse)

 

 

 

Hi,

Thank you for all of the work on this Avid/M-Audio dilemma. I have upgraded to Sierra.  I backed up my kext files, downloaded a Kext Utility and followed the instructions.  My M-Audio screen says hardware configuration error.  Sierra does "see" the FTU8R, as it is in my Audio/Midi settings.  I have the Ultra hooked up to a 2.0 USB hub.  I am using a Yamaha Motif running firewire, but think that 

should not conflict with my USB port. Any thoughts or aha's?  Please let me know and thank you in advance! JR

[oliveiro]

@jrose : Hi JRose. You should read this whole topic, it's only 4 pages, (especially post#10 mentionning Mac SIP protection)

The specified post points to a "how-to" page, describing how to disable SIP.

 

SIP prevents you from installing/modifying Kexts on real Macs. I think this page was written for ElCapitan, so you should double check it it's uptodate for Sierra.

 

 

Hi,

Thanks for your help.  For some reason I cannot reply in your forum.  Oh well.  I am on a "real Mac" and I deleted my hard drive and did a fresh install of Sierra - which I needed to do as my system was bogged down for some reason.  Sierra will not let me modify any kexts as I tried using yours and I got many an error.  The M-Audio software was recognized by my system and the 8R was recognized by my audio setup, but when I tried to record audio in Garageband, it would not.  Also, under the sound icon, it showed the FTU8R, but did not show that it had a function.  I am not sure what the conflict is as I've done everything you have suggested.  Hmmm.  I think I might just have to let it go or keep the 7lb pound brick until I can get a little more savvy with Sierra.  When I hooked my Presonus Audiobox up to my system, it worked without any issues.  Any more thoughts?  Thanks, JR

[jrose]

Wow.  A learning curve indeed.  Thank you so much for your help.  JR

[karlogutierrez]

Hi guys, i was just wondering if anybody got this to work on a real mac without losing gestures, bluetooth etc.? I have tried post 63 on a sierra test partition and the my ft ultra 8r works, but i always seem to lose gestures and bluetooth. Also would there be a way to do workaround 64 on a real mac? I am on a Macbook Pro non retina 2012. Thanks!

[oliveiro]

Hi Karlo,

this touchpad and BT trouble is a recurring topic here, and I'm sorry I don't have a real mac to experiment, because I'm convinced it would not take long to identify the proper kexts to revert...

As far as post64 workaround is concerned : is your macbook usb 2.0 or usb 3.0 ?

second question : do you have something like a pcmcia or expresscard slot ?

What you'd want to do is add a cheap USB controller to the computer (not a hub), and from the few quick searches I've done, Thunderbolt or Firewire are of no help...

 

Hi guys, i was just wondering if anybody got this to work on a real mac without losing gestures, bluetooth etc.? I have tried post 63 on a sierra test partition and the my ft ultra 8r works, but i always seem to lose gestures and bluetooth. Also would there be a way to do workaround 64 on a real mac? I am on a Macbook Pro non retina 2012. Thanks!

[karlogutierrez]

Hi Karlo,

this touchpad and BT trouble is a recurring topic here, and I'm sorry I don't have a real mac to experiment, because I'm convinced it would not take long to identify the proper kexts to revert...

As far as post64 workaround is concerned : is your macbook usb 2.0 or usb 3.0 ?

second question : do you have something like a pcmcia or expresscard slot ?

What you'd want to do is add a cheap USB controller to the computer (not a hub), and from the few quick searches I've done, Thunderbolt or Firewire are of no help...

thanks for the response, on post 64 workaround, my macbook is usb 3.0, but i can't add any hardware to my macbook as far as i know, so i don't think it's possible to have a separate 2.0 port. i can only see using a usb hub which will not really be 2.0 thus won't work. would you know of any way to add a 2.0 card or something to a real mac? i think only ram and hdd are user replaceable with these. thank you

[oliveiro]

You can further investigate around Firewire or Thunderbolt : maybe converters exist (to usb 2.0) even though I was not able to find any : I only searched for 2 min, nothing exhaustive... Otherwise, take advice at your nearest mac store ?

 

(Osx on a pc laptop is more flexible, if you can afford a second hand intel laptop, but I guess it's not the advice you're waiting for)

 

 would you know of any way to add a 2.0 card or something to a real mac?

 

PS : I for one added a USB 2.0 PCI add-on card to my desktop computer with ElCapitan, and simply dual boot my laptop to Osx 10.8 for live sessions with the FTU. Maybe consider dual booting ? Or virtualize ... ?

[karlogutierrez]

You can further investigate around Firewire or Thunderbolt : maybe converters exist (to usb 2.0) even though I was not able to find any : I only searched for 2 min, nothing exhaustive... Otherwise, take advice at your nearest mac store ?

 

(Osx on a pc laptop is more flexible, if you can afford a second hand intel laptop, but I guess it's not the advice you're waiting for)

 

 

PS : I for one added a USB 2.0 PCI add-on card to my desktop computer with ElCapitan, and simply dual boot my laptop to Osx 10.8 for live sessions with the FTU. Maybe consider dual booting ? Or virtualize ... ?

Actually I've used a hackintosh for the past 4 years or so and very recently got the chance to buy a used macbook pro.. so i agree this is a perfect workaround for hackintosh users.. Anyway, thanks so much for the help, I'll just continue to search around and report here for others to see if i do figure out something that could work.. And I am considering dual booting, I'll just have to see which works for me best, otherwise I'll just save up and buy another interface if i get the chance. Again, thank you!

[oliveiro]

 

if i do figure out something that could work

I hope you do

 

 

otherwise I'll just save up and buy another interface if i get the chance

Then, (if I may), have a look at Audient Id14 (or Id22)... I'm very pleased with the Id14, even if the FastTrack stays really handy with its numerous in/outs, but to my ears, it was a real jump ahead in matter of sound (conversion and dynamics), for a lesser price...

All that "sound" stuff is subjective, but these usb devices are worth checking...

[gutonha]

Hello people,

 

it's been a while since no one answer here, I hope you can still help me here. 

 

Firstly I wanted to say I'm really impressed with the work you did to find this workaround and the kindness you showed helping others. 

 

My FTU was inactive for a couple of years, since I put up a Hackintosh and bought a Focusrite 18i20 for my studio. But now I wanted to make a portable station for recording and working outside of my studio, so I got a MBP with Sierra 10.12.6 and took the dust off the FTU lying in the drawer. Got stuck with the obsolete driver and after tons of research found this post. 

 

The truth is I'm not familiar with working with kexts and stuff. I was kind in a hurry to make this work and read quickly everything, downloaded one the kext from post #64 and installed the kext. It didn't work, the FTU was not streaming audio yet. I didn't understand how I could install some of the plugins of the kext since it was one file alone, so installed the family hoping that it was a modded kext that i didn't have to do anything else to work, but it didn't, the FTU was not streaming audio yet. I wonder if I have to access the kext plugins in some way (again I'm really noob, maybe it's a dumb solution, sorry for that) and install only the plugins listed on post #64. 

 

Then as it didn't work I went to post #10 and followed the instruction and got the kext folder which i had access to the plugins. Thought it was the solution, installed only the kext listed in post #64, restarted the computer and voilá, my trackpad and keyboard stopped working. 

 

So had to spend the night reinstalling Sierra. Now, with a little more precaution then before, I come here to ask for you what I did wrong, if a missed some important step, if I got the wrong kext for my setup...

 

Really hoping to make this work, got a workshop I teach next week and don't want to buy another audio interface, neither take out the scarlett out of my studio.

 

Thanks again for your attention and happy new ears to all!

Hello people,

 

it's been a while since no one answer here, I hope you can still help me here. 

 

Firstly I wanted to say I'm really impressed with the work you did to find this workaround and the kindness you showed helping others. 

 

My FTU was inactive for a couple of years, since I put up a Hackintosh and bought a Focusrite 18i20 for my studio. But now I wanted to make a portable station for recording and working outside of my studio, so I got a MBP with Sierra 10.12.6 and took the dust off the FTU lying in the drawer. Got stuck with the obsolete driver and after tons of research found this post. 

 

The truth is I'm not familiar with working with kexts and stuff. I was kind in a hurry to make this work and read quickly everything, downloaded one the kext from post #64 and installed the kext. It didn't work, the FTU was not streaming audio yet. I didn't understand how I could install some of the plugins of the kext since it was one file alone, so installed the family hoping that it was a modded kext that i didn't have to do anything else to work, but it didn't, the FTU was not streaming audio yet. I wonder if I have to access the kext plugins in some way (again I'm really noob, maybe it's a dumb solution, sorry for that) and install only the plugins listed on post #64. 

 

Then as it didn't work I went to post #10 and followed the instruction and got the kext folder which i had access to the plugins. Thought it was the solution, installed only the kext listed in post #64, restarted the computer and voilá, my trackpad and keyboard stopped working. 

 

So had to spend the night reinstalling Sierra. Now, with a little more precaution then before, I come here to ask for you what I did wrong, if a missed some important step, if I got the wrong kext for my setup...

 

Really hoping to make this work, got a workshop I teach next week and don't want to buy another audio interface, neither take out the scarlett out of my studio.

 

Thanks again for your attention and happy new ears to all!

 

I'm kinda of embarassed now, as I was writing this post I thought "Man, you should try Show Package Content on the kext." 

 

The plugins are there. So I just install the ones listed on post #64 and it should work? I got my USB 2.0 hub here and I don't need the MIDI to work, but I would like to have the Bluetooth working. Will this disable my bluetooth? 

 

Thanks again.

[gutonha]

Yeah, tried to do it again, installing only the plugins from #64 and same thing, trackpad and keyboard died. Reinstalling Sierra....