Mac Mini with new M1 chip

[Tachoir]

Anyone try running the DM 4800 with a new Mac Mini with M1 chip?
If this works, it should be amazing.

 

[Rockum]

I don't think it will be straightforward. Even getting firewire to the M1 requires a chain of dongles. The drivers are even less likely to just work. I am trying to get audio in and out from the DM4800 through a second mac and it is slow going so far. I will update this if I have any major breakthroughs.

 

[Arjan P]

@Fiber No, it's only the end of the road for these mixers IF you change the functioning combination of current Mac and 3200/4800. Noone forces you to do so..

 

[Arjan P]

But you said 'the end of the road for the 3200/4800'. That is simply not true, no matter what the topic of the thread is.

 

[waterstrum]

Happy New Year!
I believe that there will be a way to use the DM4800/3200 with the new Apple Silicon M1.
Too many folks still using these amazing mixing consoles.
I'm confident that there will be solutions.

 

[Peter Batah]

@waterstrum From your lips to the ears of the Tascam Gods

 

[Rockum]

Has anyone ever gotten the drivers to work with Catalina or Big Sur non-M1? That would be a good indicator that it might be doable.

 

[waterstrum]

I did some searching and it looks like multi channel FireWire audio can work well on the M1 Mac running Big Sur.
RME is offering macOS 11 FireWire drivers for some of their legacy interfaces.
That said, it might be an expensive process to rewrite the Tascam drivers.
(Or maybe easy for a dedicated 12 year old.)
I'm wondering how many DM mixers with the firewire card are out there and then, how many of those are folks are running MacOS.
Maybe take up a collection and hire a programmer? (sorry, just a dream)
Or talk to Apple and ask for advice.
They are sometimes sympathetic to solving problems like this.

My take away so far is that it is very possible to accomplish the task.

It would be great to continue the legacy of the DM mixers with Apple's latest machines.

Fingers crossed.

 

[Jon Wright]

I am currently running my DM4800 with Protools and Logic on Big Sur with zero issues I have the 32/32 I/O from the IF/FW DMmkII, A very simple install of the driver kext gave me full use of the desk

 

[Rockum]

Is it an Intel Mac? I tried for hours to get the M1 working with no luck.

 

[Jon Wright]

Yes Intel Mac mini 6 core i7. The Apple Silicon machines will never be capable of running the existing kext file needed to establish communication with the FireWire card.

 

[Tachoir]

I am currently running my DM4800 with Protools and Logic on Big Sur with zero issues I have the 32/32 I/O from the IF/FW DMmkII, A very simple install of the driver kext gave me full use of the desk

What do you mean, simple install of the driver kext?

 

[Jon Wright]

Use the latest installer on the Tascam site for the IF/FW Mkii it works as long as you authorise the kext file in the security preferences

 

[Rockum]

Use the latest installer on the Tascam site for the IF/FW Mkii it works as long as you authorise the kext file in the security preferences

With the M1?

 

[Jon Wright]

No the Apple Silicon chips are the end of the road for the FireWire card. It will work fine on Monterrey on an Intel Mac though.

 

[Rockum]

I can confirm firewire works on the M1. I see the DM4800 as a device, but that is it.

 

[Jon Wright]

I can confirm that the FireWire device itself can be seen in the OS that is not the issue. The Kext file needed to have the device show in audio devices is not compatible with apple silicon or Rosetta 2. I will be testing on the new Mac Mini M1X on release and will try writing a terminal script to let the OS run the kext.

 

[SLRMusic]

Do you have instructions for authorizing the KEXT? I can't get past the installation. TIA