About USB, Drivers, OS-X, etc.

FractalAudio

FractalAudio

Administrator
Fractal Audio Systems
Moderator
There's seems to be some confusion so this an attempt to clear things up.

1. The Axe-Fx II is an Audio Class 2.0 compliant device. A class-compliant device requires no drivers. The drivers are provided by the OS manufacturer. Audio Class 2.0 also encompasses MIDI-over-USB.

2. HOWEVER... Microsoft does not support Audio Class 2.0. Therefore we provide a driver for Windows systems. It works great (flawlessly in my experience).

3. Apple DOES support Audio Class 2.0, but poorly at this time. Their driver is prone to clock drift. In an effort to mitigate this we now offer the user the ability to increase the buffer size ON THE AXE-FX II END OF THE CONNECTION. This is NOT the same as the buffer size you set in your computer. All peripheral devices also contain buffers to smooth the bursty nature of data transfers from the host computer. Normally this buffer size is fixed but we didn't want to make it unnecessarily large just to satisfy the needs of a poorly designed host driver as we hope the host driver will eventually be fixed.

4. The driver that we supply for OS-X computers is NOT an audio driver. It is a firmware installer. The Axe-Fx II uses a "soft" USB controller. It gets it's code from the host computer. When you turn the Axe-Fx II on it requests firmware from the host. This is superior to a hard-coded controller in that updates merely require a new host image rather than reflashing the controller.

5. The driver that we supply for Windows contains both the firmware installer and the audio drivers (as MS does not support AC 2.0).

6. In beta testing ALL beta testers were able to get artifact-free performance under OS-X by increasing the buffer size. The size of the buffer varied. All beta testers were able to get artifact-free performance under Windows (all versions) using the minimum buffer size.

7. We have had the OS-X clock problem independently verified by a third party. These results have been forwarded to Apple. At this time all we have heard from Apple is "the issue has been escalated".


UPDATE: Apple has fixed the driver as of OS X 10.9
 
Last edited by a moderator:
so what's the ideal setup for OSX guys that want to record? Is the firmware installer a complete solution, or would it be a better bet to run the audio out from the Axe into a dedicated interface? My axe II is in the mail, so I don't even know if I'll be experiencing symptoms of this problem, but I'd like to start recording right away
 
6. In beta testing All beta testers were able to get artifact-free performance under Windows (all versions) using the minimum buffer size.
Click to expand...
Everytime I select anything under 1024 samples on Windows I get a message in the FAS USB control panel that says the selected buffer size is too small for the 48k sampling rate. Is this normal/the minimum buffer size or are some of you able to select a lower size? I'm trying to get the best performance out of streaming audio via USB and minimize audible pops/cut-out which has been a problem for me.
 
jsl2h said:
Everytime I select anything under 1024 samples on Windows I get a message in the FAS USB control panel that says the selected buffer size is too small for the 48k sampling rate. Is this normal/the minimum buffer size or are some of you able to select a lower size? I'm trying to get the best performance out of streaming audio via USB and minimize audible pops/cut-out which has been a problem for me.
Click to expand...

...we now offer the user the ability to increase the buffer size ON THE AXE-FX II END OF THE CONNECTION. This is NOT the same as the buffer size you set in your computer.
 
jsl2h said:
Everytime I select anything under 1024 samples on Windows I get a message in the FAS USB control panel that says the selected buffer size is too small for the 48k sampling rate. Is this normal/the minimum buffer size or are some of you able to select a lower size? I'm trying to get the best performance out of streaming audio via USB and minimize audible pops/cut-out which has been a problem for me.
Click to expand...

Adjust the USB Streaming Mode parameter. To use 64 samples in ASIO buffer you need to have the USB Streaming at Minimum Latency. To have it at 128 you need to have at Low Latency etc.
 
Last edited:
FractalAudio said:
There's seems to be some confusion so this an attempt to clear things up.

1. The Axe-Fx II is an Audio Class 2.0 compliant device. A class-compliant device requires no drivers. The drivers are provided by the OS manufacturer. Audio Class 2.0 also encompasses MIDI-over-USB.

4. The driver that we supply for OS-X computers is NOT an audio driver. It is a firmware installer. The Axe-Fx II uses a "soft" USB controller. It gets it's code from the host computer. When you turn the Axe-Fx II on it requests firmware from the host. This is superior to a hard-coded controller in that updates merely require a new host image rather than reflashing the controller.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your post.

Does this mean that you have to have the newest 167 usb driver installed to be able to update to 10.9 firmware, or to be able to update Axe firmware at all in the future on a Mac?

Can you use the newest FractalBot if you haven't yet updated to the newest usb driver?

If the Axe usb driver is not an audio driver and is just for updating firmware on a Mac, why are some people reporting that the Axe FXII disappears as a choice in the DAWs and some of their other software after updating to the new Axe usb driver?

For now I'm still on 10.6 firmware and an older Axe usb driver on a 10.6.8 Mac and am still able to use the Axe usb with Digital performer 8 and my other software.
Trying to decide whether or not to update to 10.9 without updating the new usb driver. I don't want to Axe to disappear as a choice in DP8. Upgrading the OSX on my Mac not an option, for now anyway. I'm in the middle of a recording project with all my other recording software working perfectly and don't want to take the chance.
 
Regarding the word buffer. This seems to have been confused in other threads and so on as adjusting latency. It has nothing to do with adjusting latency.

Latency is the delay of a communication for example.

A buffer is an area of memory for temporary storage of data. Think of water running into a bath at a constant rate and running out at the same rate. If the flow of water increases going in or the ability of the water to leave the bath slows down, the bath itself will act as a buffer to the water until the flow regulates again. If the water filled the buffer and the buffer is full you then have a flood or an overrun.

A buffer may be used as a way of overcoming temporarily latency or synchronisation issues.

For more on buffers see Data buffer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia especially the section telecommunication buffers.
 
Last edited:
trancegodz said:
If the Axe usb driver is not an audio driver and is just for updating firmware on a Mac, why are some people reporting that the Axe FXII disappears as a choice in the DAWs and some of their other software after updating to the new Axe usb driver?
Click to expand...
This has become the question of the day for me. I just updated firmware and downloaded the new driver and no longer see the Axe-Fx as an option in my Mac's System Preferences>Sound menu... I've read through several posts (including the one moved to the Axe-Wiki), but I still have not figured it out.
 
sgplayer76 said:
This has become the question of the day for me. I just updated firmware and downloaded the new driver and no longer see the Axe-Fx as an option in my Mac's System Preferences>Sound menu... I've read through several posts (including the one moved to the Axe-Wiki), but I still have not figured it out.
Click to expand...

This happens on Mac OS X Snow Leopard ( v10.6.8 ) which is not supported by Fractal. The Axe FX II is gone from System Preferences after the update. Are you also on this version of OS X?
 
sgplayer76 said:
This has become the question of the day for me. I just updated firmware and downloaded the new driver and no longer see the Axe-Fx as an option in my Mac's System Preferences>Sound menu... I've read through several posts (including the one moved to the Axe-Wiki), but I still have not figured it out.
Click to expand...
Okay, so I own two macs, one running 10.6.8 and one with Mountain Lion. Guess which one I just downloaded everything on... I'm guessing that is my problem right? What is the best course of action, update the older mac to Mountain Lion, or roll back to the old driver? If I should roll back, does anyone have a copy of the old driver?? It seems to be gone now that I downloaded the new version. Good times! :)
 
Last edited:
I'm sorry, but I'm a little frustrated with this whole OS X driver mess. While the info Cliff posted above about OS X may be correct to an extent, it's a poor excuse for why the Axe II does not function properly as an audio interface.

Although most pro audio interfaces (and many not so "pro" interfaces) may be class compliant, it's much more common to use custom audio drivers, which FAS has continually refused to do for whatever reason. I guess it's much easier to blame Apple than to hire someone to create a custom driver that works. I've had my Axe II since July of 2011 and have never once been able to use it as an audio interface. Frustrating, considering I originally sold my interface to help fund my Axe II purchase...thinking I no longer would need it based on the advertising.

No PC/Mac debate intended, but Apple is still the preference in the professional audio world. And if you create a driver that actually works, it provides a very stable environment. So saying that the Axe II is Class Compliant, therefore it's "out of our hands" is a cop-out. Hire someone! C'mon...if Line 6 can create a driver that works, I strongly believe Fractal can do the same.
 
Webb said:
<snip>Frustrating, considering I originally sold my interface to help fund my Axe II purchase...thinking I no longer would need it based on the advertising.
Click to expand...

Just curious . . . how did that advertising read? Did you infer something, or did it spell it out?
 
stratamania said:
Regarding the word buffer. This seems to have been confused in other threads and so on as adjusting latency. It has nothing to do with adjusting latency.
Click to expand...

I don't believe this to be true. In audio applications the buffer is related to latency. This is why DAW software generally allows you to set the buffer size. These buffers are FIFO, so the more samples being held in the buffer, the higher the time between the signal coming into the device and being passed to the next stage (such as your ears). This is what causes the latency, a delay between signal input and output.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom