posted 24 October 2011 17:07            

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Sometimes my audio interface (Lynx Aurora 8/FW) shows up as a selectable interface, other times it doesn't. What is the proper order for startup?
1) Mac Pro
2) Aurora
3) Pacarana
4) Kyma Sotware

The Pacarana is connected by FW800 to the Mac Pro and the Pacarana is connected to the Aurora by FW400. The Aurora is not connected directly to the Mac Pro, but the Mac Pro sees it in System Profiler under the Firewire connections (but it doesn't always see in as an audio I/O device.

Thank you!

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posted 24 October 2011 23:13            

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In Kyma, do you see the Aurora in the DSP Status menu listed under Audio I/O devices? (Or are you trying to use it as the Macintosh's audio interface?)

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posted 25 October 2011 06:50            

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The Lynx/FW device shows up in the Kyma DSP menu as an available audio device only sometimes -- I am trying to diagnose why it shows up sometimes and not at other times. The other times the only device available in the DSP menu is "Silent Device".

There seems to be a perfect correlation between when Kyma shows the Lynx/FW available as an audio device and when Audio Midi Setup on the Mac sees the Lynx/Fw available as an audio device.

I am not attempting to use the Lynx/FW for any other purposes besides as an audio interface for the Pacarana.

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posted 25 October 2011 09:37            

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not sure if this is related: I am working through the Kyma Revealed manual. When I play Sounds from the "An Overview" folder such as "RAM-whispers" or "Cross Vocoder noise+oscil", I frequently see an "Out Of Real Time" message in the DSP status window (and the audio playback temporarily drops out).

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posted 25 October 2011 10:39            

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Could you please try to connecting the Lynx directly to your Mac Pro, using one of the other FireWire ports on the Mac?

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posted 25 October 2011 10:59            

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I added a FW connection from the Lynx to the Mac (without removing the FW connection between the Lynx and the Pacarana).

After shutting everything down, startup order was: Lynx, Mac, Pacarana, Kyma. Startup was smooth.

I am still getting the "Out Of Real Time" error, but probably 80% less frequently than before.

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posted 25 October 2011 11:23            

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Now the "Out Of Real Time" error is super frequent again.

e.g. Restarting the Kyma software, then playing "Cross Vocoder noise+oscil", it stutters heavily while outputting the error message, and is often accompanied by the icon of a ticking watch.

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posted 25 October 2011 11:26            

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What sample rate are you operating at?

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posted 25 October 2011 11:31            

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44,100

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posted 25 October 2011 12:14            

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Do you see any messages being displayed on the Paca(rana) front panel when this is happening?

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posted 25 October 2011 12:20            

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Nothing on the front panel of the Pacarana (just the usual Help | Volume | Audio screen).

Note that I tried removing the FW connection between the Lynx and Pacarana and then restarting the Pacarana -- no noticeable change.

I did just receive an error in the Kyma software (after letting "Cross Vocoder" play for around 30 seconds): "The Pacarana is not responding. Unhandled FireWire bus reset or a FireWire error. (22)"

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posted 25 October 2011 12:33            

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and now connecting the FW cable between the Lynx and Pacarana and restarting the Pacarana, after running "Cross Vocoder" for a few minutes I get the error message: "Unhandled FireWire bus reset or a FireWire error. (22)"

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posted 25 October 2011 12:34            

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in this latter case, Kyma software quit and the front panel of the Pacarana read "Host Computer Disconnected".

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posted 25 October 2011 12:52            

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One thing I will try this weekend is changing all of the FireWire cables to new cables.

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posted 25 October 2011 13:54            

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Please make sure the connections are as follows:

1. Mac to Paca(rana)
2. Mac to Lynx

Do not connect the Lynx to both the Paca(rana) and the Macintosh; this causes a FireWire loop which is unstable.

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posted 25 October 2011 13:59            

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This is the configuration I had when i received the initial FireWire bus reset error -- I will make sure to keep this configuration. I don't trust my FireWire cables, and seems like bad cables might explain why the signal keeps dropping out. I will update this thread next week after I have replaced the cables.

Much appreciated on your help, thank you!

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posted 26 October 2011 14:07            

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I replaced the FW cables. Hooked them up: 1) Mac to Pacarana; 2) Mac to Lynx. Same issues as before.

I'm using 15 foot long FW cable -- not sure if that is a possible issue?

Only other thing I can think to do is to see if upgrading the Mac from Leopard to Snow Leopard cleans up any possible driver issues on the Mac.

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posted 26 October 2011 18:10            

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I'll play around with shorter FW cables...seems plausible that might be the issue

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posted 28 October 2011 04:37            

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Hi Naomix.

Are you able to use the Auroras 8 ch AD/DA whilst also acting as the interface for the Pacarana? Eg, 16 channels on the one connection to the Mac.
I have been considering the aurora, and if this is the case then I will definately be going for it

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posted 28 October 2011 06:22            

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Hi Tompty

I haven't tried that yet. Right now I am just using the Aurora as an AES connector to my main AD/DA.

The Mac sees the Aurora as a selectable audio Input / Output, but I haven't tried routing audio directly from the Aurora to the Mac.

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posted 30 October 2011 15:35            

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Still stumped on how to prevent the frequent Firewire bus resets (and resulting audio dropouts):
- Mac connected to Lynx, Mac connected to Pacarana
- Firewire cables under 6 feet in length
- tried different Firewire ports on the Mac and various other permutations of connections
- updated the Mac to Snow Leopard (which eliminated some errors on the hard drive)

When I set the Kyma output to "Silent Device", there are no "Out of Real Time" error messages, leading me to think the issue is the Firewire connection to the Lynx.

No ideas what else to test at this point (besides a different Mac or Audio interface).

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posted 30 October 2011 18:20            

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Could you please send your System Profile by email to support@symbolicsound.com

Thanks!

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posted 30 October 2011 20:08            

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much appreciated, I'll email the profile later this week

I'll have access to a TC Electronic Konnekt 32 in a couple of days, so I'll try that out first

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posted 03 November 2011 17:04            

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Switching the FW interface to TC Digital Konnekt x32 (and following the setup instructions on tweaky) seems to have cleared up the error issues. Not sure why the Lynx did not work properly over FW -- happy to send in my System Profiler info if it is helpful, otherwise will leave this thread for now.

p.s. Not to necessarily endorse the TC Digital Konnekt -- I'm having a hardware issue there, where it has frequent dropouts routing audio in via AES (regardless of whether or not FW is plugged in).

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posted 04 November 2011 09:11            

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For completeness, the TC Konnekt seems to be working fine -- I hadn't properly locked the clock signal.

Summary of the thread is that for whatever reason, my system was unhappy with the Lynx FW but seems happy with the TC Konnekt.

Yay, problem solved

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