New Drivers Now Available

The main reasons I won't be upgrading to Mountain Lion again, besides simply not liking it, are because:

1. My audio interface is a Presonus Firebox and it isn't compatible with the new OS and does not run properly on it which I confirmed myself when I had ML installed on my system.
The Firebox has S/PDIF i/o/ that works great with the Axe and that's how I've been recording for a while now.
I don't do any reamping (as of yet) so not being able to use USB for audio hasn't been a big deal.

2. The only other ML compatible audio interface that I'm interested in is the Apogee Duet 2 and it doesn't have S/PDIF i/o.
So if I did upgrade to ML and the Duet I'd be forced to use USB audio i/o from the Axe (if I want to stay in the digital domain) and up until now USB audio hasn't been very reliable.
It still remains to be seen if the new software fixes this.
I've tried using the Mac's toslink S/PDIF i/o using a converter box and it works but now well.

So it's not simply a matter of just upgrading to ML.
There's a whole bunch of accompanying shit I'll have to go through and $ I'll have to spend as well.
But if I do want USB audio from my Axe, it looks like that's what I'll have to do.
 
The main reasons I won't be upgrading to Mountain Lion again, besides simply not liking it, are because:

1. My audio interface is a Presonus Firebox and it isn't compatible with the new OS and does not run properly on it which I confirmed myself when I had ML installed on my system.
The Firebox has S/PDIF i/o/ that works great with the Axe and that's how I've been recording for a while now.
I don't do any reamping (as of yet) so not being able to use USB for audio hasn't been a big deal.

2. The only other ML compatible audio interface that I'm interested in is the Apogee Duet 2 and it doesn't have S/PDIF i/o.
So if I did upgrade to ML and the Duet I'd be forced to use USB audio i/o from the Axe (if I want to stay in the digital domain) and up until now USB audio hasn't been very reliable.
It still remains to be seen if the new software fixes this.
I've tried using the Mac's toslink S/PDIF i/o using a converter box and it works but now well.

So it's not simply a matter of just upgrading to ML.
There's a whole bunch of accompanying shit I'll have to go through and $ I'll have to spend as well.
But if I do want USB audio from my Axe, it looks like that's what I'll have to do.
Well, that makes sense. I also made the mistake of purchasing a Presonus Firewire interface. In fact I bought TWO of them: I have a FireStudio and a FireBox. And I am very upset that Presonus has abandoned support for the Firebox and Firestudio. I spent a lot of money on these, and only got a few years use before the manufacturer pulled the plug on driver updates.

There is exactly 0% chance that I will purchase more Presonus gear in the future. Fool me once...


Edit: Back on topic: Thanks Cliff for the firmware update! Awesome!
 
The previous version IS the one on axefx.fr

Well, if that's true then I can't explain why when using Axe v10.06 with the "immediately previous USB driver" I used to use and using Axe v10.06 and the "immediately previous USB driver" available at axefx.fr, I get different behaviour.

If anybody has any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

Also... Like I said before, it may be that I have inadvertently set something wrong/differently in my Axe that is causing my unexpected problems with the old USB driver and Axe v10.06.
The only real problem was that I can't get the feed from the Axe's Output 1 into Logic via USB no matter how the Axe's USB Out pref on the i/o/ Audio Page is set.
All I get is the Output 2 feed (when the pref is set to Output 2) and/or the dry unprocessed feed.
Is there anything else I could have set wrong on the Axe that would cause this to happen?

Any other thoughts from anyone (besides "You're a dick. Everything's fine.")?

Meahwhile, I just checked my Time Machine backups and I actually had a copy on my drive of the previous driver installer that I've just restored now and it does look at first glance to be the same as the one at axefx.fr.
So I'm a bit confused.

I'm starting to wonder if installing the new USB drivers and then re-installing the old USB drivers on top of them doesn't really install all of the old files the same way that it would if I had never installed the new drivers.
Anybody know which files and folders (hidden or visible) that the new drivers installer installs?
I.e. Maybe I'll have to do a full un-install of the new drivers so I can do a clean re-install of the old drivers?
 
What settings are you guys (Windows users) setting your FAS USB control panel to for the least latency? I have mine on safe/2048 samples and still get a bit of crackle/pop with a usb 3.0 port and windows 7. Still, this driver seems to be working better than the last for me.
 
Just got our internet / tv / phone service restored again (regular occurrence with AT&T!!) and saw the announcement - what a cool surprise! Thank you Cliff!
 
Guys, just had an awesome day at the studio. We had a few amps, cabs, and a nice selection of mics. But somehow we were looking for something different.
Axe came on, and you could see smiles! the band was smiling, the producer was smiling, the guitarist was truly having a blast.

After that, they just asked to keep using the axe because was making the workflow so enjoyable.

I knew this. I've used the axe in countless projects and took me out some very unfortunate/embarrassing situations.
But when you see a band genuinely playing better because things were just sounding exactly like they wanted and creativity started to flow.... amazing

Just wanted to share!

EDIT: forgot to mention I update to 10.9! thanks for the update!
 
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OK.
FWIW.
If anybody out there has actually been following my plight and actually cares, it looks like I was wrong about a number of things.
I.e. With Snow Leopard, if I'm running Axe v10.09 with the previous USB drivers (as archived on the axefx.fr/ site), I do get audio happening in the Mac in both Audio/MIDI Setup and Logic (with all 3 USB Digi Out Sources available in Logic).

Not sure what was borked before regarding not having the Out 1 feed available, but it's working now.

I'm not sure how well it works because I haven't had time to take it through its paces yet.

But it does seem to me that the intermittent clicks I was getting before, as described in other threads I've participated in around here, may have been caused by a too small I/O buffer size I was using in Logic's audio prefs.
With a buffer size of 128 samples those clicks don't appear to be happening.
I'm kinda anal about latency (hey, that came out wrong) so I was using 64 samples before which seemed fine, except for those clicks every 2 minutes or so.

Also... It doesn't appear to be helpful in any way to increase the USB Buffer Size value in the Axe (v10.09).

So, it actually looks like USB audio in Snow Leopard does work with the Axe v10.09 (and probably with earlier versions of the Axe II firmware too) as long as you don't install the new USB drivers.
How well or poorly it works remains to be seen.

Sorry for any confusion I've caused in this thread.
 
OK.
FWIW.
If anybody out there has actually been following my plight and actually cares, it looks like I was wrong about a number of things.
I.e. With Snow Leopard, if I'm running Axe v10.09 with the previous USB drivers (as archived on the axefx.fr/ site), I do get audio happening in the Mac in both Audio/MIDI Setup and Logic (with all 3 USB Digi Out Sources available in Logic).

I'm not sure how well it works because I haven't had time to take it through its paces yet.

So, it actually looks like USB audio in Snow Leopard does work with the Axe v10.09 (and probably with earlier versions of the Axe II firmware too) as long as you don't install the new USB drivers.
How well or poorly it works remains to be seen.

Thanks for the info. It is very helpful since I haven't updated yet. I'm still on 10.6 with the older driver and everything "luckily so I am told" working fine on a 10.6.8 Mac.
From your posts it looks like I might be ok going to 10.9 as long as I don't install the new driver.

For future reference, did you ever find out where the Axe usb driver is located on a Mac, and whether or not you have to delete the old driver before installing the new one or not? Several other people (including me) have asked about this since the new driver came out and no one has answered yet.
 
For future reference, did you ever find out where the Axe usb driver is located on a Mac, and whether or not you have to delete the old driver before installing the new one or not?

I never did locate the files on my drive but it doesn't seem to be necessary to delete them when doing a new (or older) install of the drivers.
That was just a thought i had when things were going weird for me.
 
Thanks for the info. It is very helpful since I haven't updated yet. I'm still on 10.6 with the older driver and everything "luckily so I am told" working fine on a 10.6.8 Mac.
From your posts it looks like I might be ok going to 10.9 as long as I don't install the new driver.

For future reference, did you ever find out where the Axe usb driver is located on a Mac, and whether or not you have to delete the old driver before installing the new one or not? Several other people (including me) have asked about this since the new driver came out and no one has answered yet.


Check the OSX driver issue thread - lots of info and comments in that thread. It has now gone 'dark' since the release of the new driver(s).

http://forum.fractalaudio.com/axe-fx-ii-discussion/68766-os-x-driver-issue-6.html

Post 117 and 118: mac driver location: /Library/Application Support/Fractal Audio/AxeFxII

Snow Leopard 10.6.8: MIDI Yes! USB Audio Maybe but Probably Not!

I wonder if it would be worth starting a thread to help Fractal gauge how many 10.6.8 users there are out there with the same issues. 10.6.8 is not officially end-of-life or end-of-support from Apple is it? I suppose there aren't enough of us to make the development and testing effort worth it for Fractal. I just wonder why it is not possible? Very different architecture on Snow Leopard vs. Mountain Lion?
 
This comment from M@ in the other thread especially:

Hi All,

As we've worked on our hardware and drivers, we've discovered and reported issues in OS X to Apple.
One such reported issue was fixed since we reported it. We are hoping for yet another to come from Apple in the future.

Any such fixes are released via NEW VERSIONS of OS X -- Apple do not offer "patches" for older versions.
It really is out of our hands. The problem is in the OS as it handles the Axe-Fx II, which is completely compliant with the USB specification.
 
...I am very upset that Presonus has abandoned support for the Firebox and Firestudio. I spent a lot of money on these, and only got a few years use before the manufacturer pulled the plug on driver updates...
Two words: Metric Halo

Back on topic!
 
Check the OSX driver issue thread - lots of info and comments in that thread.

http://forum.fractalaudio.com/axe-fx-ii-discussion/68766-os-x-driver-issue-6.html

Post 117 and 118: mac driver location: /Library/Application Support/Fractal Audio/AxeFxII

I just checked my computer user Library under the location suggested above and the only thing there was an Axe Edit folder with Axe Edit Settings. No driver at all.

I checked the regular Library/Application Folder in my hard drive and there was no Fractal Audio folder at all.

I checked the System Library and there was no Fractal Audio Folder either.

I know the old driver is on my computer somewhere because the Axe FXII shows up in my sound preferences and works through usb in Digital Performer 8 and Garageband, etc.
 
I just checked my computer user Library under the location suggested above and the only thing there was an Axe Edit folder with Axe Edit Settings. No driver at all.

I checked the regular Library/Application Folder in my hard drive and there was no Fractal Audio folder at all.

I checked the System Library and there was no Fractal Audio Folder either.

I know the old driver is on my computer somewhere because the Axe FXII shows up in my sound preferences and works through usb in Digital Performer 8 and Garageband, etc.

Search your system for any file that starts with "axefx2load".
 
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