My Focusrite devices are giving me grief!

Oskar · Joined: Jul 29, 2004 Posts: 1714 Location: Norway

Hi, I have a Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 and a Focusrite LiquidMix 16. They both have, rather strangely, decided to be invisible to my macs. I've tried to reinstall/update the relevant drivers, no dice. I've also tried to contact Focusrite, and they seemingly don't know me from Adam, even though I've forked out south of a thosand euros ( or roughly 8.500 NOK). In short, I'm stuck with no solutions and ABSOLUTELY no help from the manufacturer. Any suggestions, apart from chucking the offending doorstoppers in the river?
Obviously, the warranty has expired...

EdisonRex · Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 2:23 pm Post subject:

So you go into Audio/Midi Utility and they aren't present as choices?

You use system info and they don't appear anywhere (look in firewire or usb or wherever they are connected to)... are there unknown devices seen as connected?

Check your cables if not, if they show up as unknown there must be some other problem, I think they're supposed to run off of coreaudio so there aren't any drivers to speak of.

http://www.focusrite.com/answerbase/en/article.php?id=1159

Keysandslots · Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 3:07 pm Post subject:

Also watch out for hubs or cable extenders. I'm using a Saffire Pro 26 and had all sorts of grief at the beginning. Use a good cable, either USB or firewire, and don't go with anything too long.

Randy

Oskar · Joined: Jul 29, 2004 Posts: 1714 Location: Norway

Yep, disconnected ALL hardware, except the Saffire, THEN when that didn't show up, I checked if the FW cable was OK by hooking up a FW disk instead - the disk showed up, no problem, thus eliminating the cable as a possible culprit. Also, re Edison Rex' question, no, there were no non-existent devices showing up either. I'd also done what Keysandslots suggests, namely disconnecting all USB thingamajigs, except for the computer keyboard, as I don't have a wireless one... All the other bits of my setup work well enough, but my two Focusrite bits, which I feel like renaming "f**k us, right?" are lost to my virtual world. This might not be a problem if I could get some support, but the manufacturer has so far ignored 2 (two) requests; I sort of take the hint: They'd rather I splash more cash on new hardware than actually expect to get any help from them. I'm not saying they're getting away with murder, but they ARE getting away with my hard-earned.
And if I have to splash MORE cash to get a system that actually works, I fear that Focusrite have slipped to the bottom of my list of possible candidates, other than the obviously cheap and nasty Behringers and whatnot...
Anyroad, thanks to EdisonRex and Keysandslots for your input, I appreciate you taking the time to help out a knowlessman.

Keysandslots · Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 9:49 pm Post subject:

It's odd the they are not getting back to you. Whenever I had a problem, their technical support team returned my emails quite quickly. I was given this email address: SaffireProSupport(at)focusrite.com.

With the Windows version, there was a very specific order to follow when installing the device and the software. Believe me when I say I'm not treating you like you're an idiot, I had a heck of a time getting the thing to work initially. Find any technical reference docs you can find on the Focusrite site, make sure you have the most up-to-date software and follow the installation instructions exactly.

If you've done all of that and it still doesn't work, it might come down to sacrificing a goat but even that's becoming fairly unpopular lately.

Randy

Oskar · Joined: Jul 29, 2004 Posts: 1714 Location: Norway

Ta, Randy! The folks at Focusrite should also thank you, as I've decided to give them one more go, although getting ignored TWICE has fair had me riled, I tell ya! Seeing as your experiences differ from mine, I'll give them the benefit of doubt. I'll let you know how things pan out!

BobTheDog · Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 12:35 pm Post subject:

My liquidmix has always been trouble most the time my mac cannot see it.

Maybe you have just been lucky before!

Airlock · Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 2:13 pm Post subject:

The subject of hot plugging hasn't come up, but I wonder if you haven't got a fried firewire port or other damage from hot plugging? I'm pretty sure I fried a Saffire that way...

Oskar · Joined: Jul 29, 2004 Posts: 1714 Location: Norway

Airlock, my Saffire conked out after I'd moved the studio area form one corner of my living room to the other. I plugged everything before I turned the system on, starting with my Mac, then my keybords, THEN the Saffire. It also doesn't seem to register audio input, something it used to do, even when it wasn't connected to my Mac.