Sierra

[earlevel]

This is where being a Windows user has its advantages with the DM mixer. Thankfully the hardware and it’s drivers have little to no issues with the most current version of Windows. Buy the 2SeeMy option card for just a little over the cost of a LCD replacement screen, hook up any VGA monitor to your DM and no longer be riddled with LCD issues.

Well, I do all my music work on Mac, so...

I'm aware of the 2SeeMy option, but my comments were about the TASCAM product, not whether flaws and lack of support could be fixed by a third-party solution (from Europe on a marginally functional website, requiring mods...reasons I didn't go that way before).

 

[cmaffia]

You also commented that you spent $1000 on LCD replacement screens so I mentioned it in case you weren’t aware the product existed. I can attest, as can others on the forum, that the 2SeeMy option is well supported and well built product. Both my machines have one installed. It’s just as easy to install as a replacement LCD screen. As to your issue, it looks like others have the drivers working fine with the same OS version so you’ll have to troubleshoot the problem and why it happens in your environment. I tried to help by asking specific questions above but you haven’t answered them.

 

[earlevel]

@cmaffia
I'm not blaming TASCAM, past a design flaw that doesn't let you keep a supposed professional product powered on without replacing the display regularly. Not too keen on driver support being dropped, but all things end. I'd like to keep it going a bit longer if I can.

As for Sierra on an unsupported Mac, sure—technically true. But mainly in that Apple didn't supply an updater. There is no inherent difference in processor capabilities or other hardware, though. At least, as a long-time Mac software developer, I don't see an obvious reason why it should be failing due to that difference—but it's one of the variables on my mind, why I mentioned it. I'll see if I can figure out the details somehow—after the holidays. Yes, the mixer itself works, it's just the data transmission that goes to sleep.

Thanks...

 

[cmaffia]

Ok hope you sort it out

 

[earlevel]

You also commented that you spent $1000 on LCD replacement screens so I mentioned it in case you weren’t aware the product existed. I can attest, as can others on the forum, that the 2SeeMy option is well supported and well built product. Both my machines have one installed. It’s just as easy to install as a replacement LCD screen. As to your issue, it looks like others have the drivers working fine with the same OS version so you’ll have to troubleshoot the problem and why it happens in your environment. I tried to help by asking specific questions above but you haven’t answered them.

Well, you've probably figured out I was typing a reply on the other at the time...I might have jumped on a mod-solution (2seemy) sooner had TASCAM been more forthcoming with the fundamental flaw of the display (the contacts are essentially glued on, heat doesn't play well)—I didn't know I'd have to continue replacing them. The latest one has been real solid, though, after the previous one started dying almost immediately, so I'm probably good until time to replace the mixer.

Oddly, after having to re-plug the firewire connection daily, maybe 2-3 times, it's been good since I replied to this thread. So it's a little difficult to answer your questions. Mainly, I joined the thread because I wanted to see comments from other Sierra users. IIRC, I've only seen one person specifically say Sierra is working for them, so I wanted to know if that's what other people are experiencing, or whether my experience was the norm—especially since the matrix shows lack of Sierra support. It wasn't to complain, it was to know whether there is some hope or I'm out of luck.

Thanks

 

[Jeff]

Sierra working great for me. Have not gone to High Sierra yet, but I don't feel the need to.

 

[DannyMcO]

Anybody here successfully using any TASCAM product with High Sierra?

Asking for a friend. Cough cough.

 

[Arjan P]

Yes, as you can read earlier in the topic (page 2, Russ Nixon).

 

[Marvel]

Using a late 2012 iMac, with High Sierra, plus the betas of just about everything: firmware, driver for the FW. Works flawlessly so far. I didn't have to do an upgrade though, fresh user with High Sierra already installed before connecting the DM and installing firmware and driver.

 

[earlevel]

Oddly, after having to re-plug the firewire connection daily, maybe 2-3 times, it's been good since I replied to this thread...

Strangely, after three full months of being forced to re-plug my interface several times a day...It works great now. I had suspected that the port was maybe sleeping (entering a low power mode) when the computer was unattended for a while, and not waking up without prodding. I'd looked for solutions, never came across anything. I enquired here about Sierra compatibility and told of my problems...and the problems went away and haven't returned.

The DM-3200 is always there when I send something to it, my DAW no longer complains that the hardware isn't responding. At the time I was making no changes to the system (late in a software development cycle, you don't make changes to anything if you can help it), so I have no idea what could have changed. I just wanted to post here to say Sierra is working fine for me. Now.

 

[DannyMcO]

Using a late 2012 iMac, with High Sierra, plus the betas of just about everything: firmware, driver for the FW. Works flawlessly so far.

There are betas out? The main status page says everything is still in development - that they aren't even testing anything. Where'd you pull the beta drivers from?

 

[DannyMcO]

Anybody using a US 20x20 successfully in High Sierra? Please share the details of how you got it to work. Much obliged.

 

[Marvel]

There are betas out? The main status page says everything is still in development - that they aren't even testing anything. Where'd you pull the beta drivers from?

The thread with beta drivers and a link to the Tascam beta page for the DMs is pinned to the top in this subforum.

And no, they are not testing anymore, but you can find the latest drivers they made. And they work fine for me. You mileage may very of course.

 

[Tachoir]

I have been running the beta driver for the IF-FW/DMmkII card in my DM4800 console with a MacPro 4,1 running MacOS Sierra (10.12) for several months, and never had any issues. I have been working on upgrading my MacPro 4,1 to High Sierra (10.13) today. I wanted to report that I had a strange experience when performing this upgrade from Sierra to High Sierra - BUT, it appears to be working now.

I must first disclaim that the MacPro 4,1 is not even officially supported by Apple to run these latest versions of MacOS, but thankfully there are patches online to make that work. That may or may not have played a part in the snag I had in the process of upgrading to High Sierra. The High Sierra update itself went well, but I lost the driver for my IF-FW/DMmkII. I guess I need to upgrade some hardware in the studio, but I like the tools I have and I plan to exploit them until they just don't work anymore!

Anyway, after the High Sierra upgrade was complete, my IF-FW/DMmkII driver did not load. Being that this left me in the situation of having to downgrade anyway, I tried a fresh install of High Sierra, then I loaded the beta driver (iffwdmmkii_installer_188754_release.dmg, which installs driver IFFWDMmkII-1.30f10). After the Mac rebooted, I had a warning message that said a System Extension from TEAC was blocked, and it directed me to the Security & Privacy Control Panel to allow the driver to load. Once I did that, the driver loaded and the IF-FW/DMmkII driver is loading just fine.

I'm using the DM4800 & IF-FW/DMmkII with MOTU DP8 on this older MacPro 4,1 running High Sierra 10.13, and so far things appear to be working just fine. Maybe I'll be ok for a couple more years!

-Russ

--EDIT
After fretting for a couple of hours that the control surface setup wasn't going to work, I discovered that High Sierra's new AudioMidi Setup app simplifies things a bit. For whatever reason, the DM4800 appears with only one connection point, rather than 5 or 6 like it used to. You then had to create external devices, name them Mackie Control, etc... Apparently, you skip all that and just configure things in your DAW like you normally would. But instead of pointing your Mackie control surface ports to those external devices you created and connected to the control ports on the DM4800/DM3200, you simply point them directly to the control ports themselves. I was astonished when I experimented a bit in Digital Performer and voila, control surface came right to life!

So - at the moment, I have an unsupported Mac running High Sierra 10.13 with an unsupported IF-FW/DMmkII in an unsupported mixer, and it's 100% functional. I'm living on the edge. Don't try to stop me. I'll take you down with me.

 

[Tachoir]

I have been running the beta driver for the IF-FW/DMmkII card in my DM4800 console with a MacPro 4,1 running MacOS Sierra (10.12) for several months, and never had any issues. I have been working on upgrading my MacPro 4,1 to High Sierra (10.13) today. I wanted to report that I had a strange experience when performing this upgrade from Sierra to High Sierra - BUT, it appears to be working now.

I must first disclaim that the MacPro 4,1 is not even officially supported by Apple to run these latest versions of MacOS, but thankfully there are patches online to make that work. That may or may not have played a part in the snag I had in the process of upgrading to High Sierra. The High Sierra update itself went well, but I lost the driver for my IF-FW/DMmkII. I guess I need to upgrade some hardware in the studio, but I like the tools I have and I plan to exploit them until they just don't work anymore!

Anyway, after the High Sierra upgrade was complete, my IF-FW/DMmkII driver did not load. Being that this left me in the situation of having to downgrade anyway, I tried a fresh install of High Sierra, then I loaded the beta driver (iffwdmmkii_installer_188754_release.dmg, which installs driver IFFWDMmkII-1.30f10). After the Mac rebooted, I had a warning message that said a System Extension from TEAC was blocked, and it directed me to the Security & Privacy Control Panel to allow the driver to load. Once I did that, the driver loaded and the IF-FW/DMmkII driver is loading just fine.

I'm using the DM4800 & IF-FW/DMmkII with MOTU DP8 on this older MacPro 4,1 running High Sierra 10.13, and so far things appear to be working just fine. Maybe I'll be ok for a couple more years!

-Russ

--EDIT
After fretting for a couple of hours that the control surface setup wasn't going to work, I discovered that High Sierra's new AudioMidi Setup app simplifies things a bit. For whatever reason, the DM4800 appears with only one connection point, rather than 5 or 6 like it used to. You then had to create external devices, name them Mackie Control, etc... Apparently, you skip all that and just configure things in your DAW like you normally would. But instead of pointing your Mackie control surface ports to those external devices you created and connected to the control ports on the DM4800/DM3200, you simply point them directly to the control ports themselves. I was astonished when I experimented a bit in Digital Performer and voila, control surface came right to life!

So - at the moment, I have an unsupported Mac running High Sierra 10.13 with an unsupported IF-FW/DMmkII in an unsupported mixer, and it's 100% functional. I'm living on the edge. Don't try to stop me. I'll take you down with me.

 

[Tachoir]

Hi Russ,
Here is the dilemma, I want to run the new version of Logic 10.4. It requires Mac OS 10.12 (Sierra) or higher. I'm currently running Mac OS 10.11.6 - El Capitan.
I'm seeing that people are running Sierra and their DM's are running fine.
So, I want to slowly upgrade to Sierra - However, It is not available from the App Store. The only upgrade option is High Sierra - And I'm seeing that as an issue. Not sure if anyone is using this with their DM4800.
Apple shows all the previous versions of the OS - Mavericks - El Capitan, but the Sierra OS is not available.
Question - 1. Where can I get Sierra and 2. Is anyone having any luck with High Sierra and the DM4800 with the IFFWDmkII Firewire card?
How is High Sierra working for you?

 

[Marvel]

High Sierra and all drivers working fine here on a 2012 iMac.
But good question about Logic 10.4. Has anyone tried it with the DM-4800?

 

[Tachoir]

I can confirm, after finding the Mac OS Sierra - that all is working as expected running Logic 10.4. I'm not ready to go to High Sierra. Enough drama for now. But in order to use the new Logic, you have to bear running Sierra or better. It works.

 

[Marvel]

Better safe than sorry.
Thanks for the info, guess I'll give Logic 10.4 a try then.

 

[fclum]

So, I know this thread is old but maybe someone will see this. Here's my dilemma: I've got an old, 3,1 Mac Pro 8-core that is no longer supported and won't run Sierra or later or the newest version of Logic. I need to upgrade and I'm trying to do the math and determine the path I should take going forward. The CHEAPEST way would be to buy a used 2010-2012 Mac Pro and put my drives and UAD cards in it but I'm not too sure about how long Apple will even support those Mac Pros. I guess my question is this: Is anyone successfully using a Mac Pro 2010-2012 with Sierra Or High Sierra and the DM3200 with IFFWDMmk2 card installed? Is anyone using the newest version (10.4) of Logic Pro? Lastly, is anyone using the DM series boards with IFFWDMmk2 and a 2013 or later Mac Pro or current Mac lap-top?