Ableton Forum

I used to have a firebox when I had my powerbook and I sold when I upgraded to a firepod. But I know I used to use it bus-powered and I'm pretty sure I did when I had my first macbook. But now I just bought a firebox again as a portable interface and it won't run off bus-power from the firewire connection, I have to plug it in. But it's still advertised as being able to run off bus power.

What the hell happened? I've seen other reports of this so I don't think it's the firebox.
Do the macbook pros not provide enough power anymore?

I've got a 2.16 ghz. Anyone else getting this? How about the newer models?

thanks

Winston wrote:I used to have a firebox when I had my powerbook and I sold when I upgraded to a firepod. But I know I used to use it bus-powered and I'm pretty sure I did when I had my first macbook. But now I just bought a firebox again as a portable interface and it won't run off bus-power from the firewire connection, I have to plug it in. But it's still advertised as being able to run off bus power.

What the hell happened? I've seen other reports of this so I don't think it's the firebox.
Do the macbook pros not provide enough power anymore?

I've got a 2.16 ghz. Anyone else getting this? How about the newer models?

thanks

I think they do have power but very little. Not enough for most major sound interfaces.

Jeez this thread came right in time - i was hoping to buy MBP and Mackie Onyx today!

So is anyone running a FW audio interface bus powered from a MB/MBP?
And if so how recently was your mac purchased?

My MBP 2.16 c2d will power my ultralite, but I use the power supply anyway.

I had a brand new Penryn MBP which powered my Ultralite just fine.

I think the problem you're talking about is that the FW doesn't provide enough juice to fire up some interfaces (I distinctly remember there being a problem with Presonus stuff). A workround was to fire it up with AC connected, then you can unplug AC and power it from the FW port.

BTW, I'm not saying the problem has now been solved, simply that a new MBP worked with an Ultralite.

dazzer wrote:I had a brand new Penryn MBP which powered my Ultralite just fine.

I think the problem you're talking about is that the FW doesn't provide enough juice to fire up some interfaces (I distinctly remember there being a problem with Presonus stuff). A workround was to fire it up with AC connected, then you can unplug AC and power it from the FW port.

BTW, I'm not saying the problem has now been solved, simply that a new MBP worked with an Ultralite.

ya, I think you're right, it does depend on the interface. So presonus can't be bus-powered I guess. Is that only with macbooks/mbps or with PCs too?

And besides the ultralite, who can use bus power with their macbooks? What interfaces are you guys using that are or aren't able to provide bus power via firewire?

cheers

Winston wrote:

dazzer wrote:I had a brand new Penryn MBP which powered my Ultralite just fine.

I think the problem you're talking about is that the FW doesn't provide enough juice to fire up some interfaces (I distinctly remember there being a problem with Presonus stuff). A workround was to fire it up with AC connected, then you can unplug AC and power it from the FW port.

BTW, I'm not saying the problem has now been solved, simply that a new MBP worked with an Ultralite.

ya, I think you're right, it does depend on the interface. So presonus can't be bus-powered I guess. Is that only with macbooks/mbps or with PCs too?

And besides the ultralite, who can use bus power with their macbooks? What interfaces are you guys using that are or aren't able to provide bus power via firewire?

cheers

I use a metric halo 2882+dsp, a firebox, a firestudio project, and an apogee duet with my macbook c2d. All of them work fine off bus power.

If I remember correctly, it's an issue limited to a certain chipset or something on the mbp.

rahlo wrote:

Winston wrote:

dazzer wrote:I had a brand new Penryn MBP which powered my Ultralite just fine.

I think the problem you're talking about is that the FW doesn't provide enough juice to fire up some interfaces (I distinctly remember there being a problem with Presonus stuff). A workround was to fire it up with AC connected, then you can unplug AC and power it from the FW port.

BTW, I'm not saying the problem has now been solved, simply that a new MBP worked with an Ultralite.

ya, I think you're right, it does depend on the interface. So presonus can't be bus-powered I guess. Is that only with macbooks/mbps or with PCs too?

And besides the ultralite, who can use bus power with their macbooks? What interfaces are you guys using that are or aren't able to provide bus power via firewire?

cheers

I use a metric halo 2882+dsp, a firebox, a firestudio project, and an apogee duet with my macbook c2d. All of them work fine off bus power.

If I remember correctly, it's an issue limited to a certain chipset or something on the mbp.

which macbook pro do you have? And has this firewire issue been fixed with newer models?

Tarekith wrote:My MBP 2.16 c2d will power my ultralite, but I use the power supply anyway.

Ditto. Except I don't ever use the power supply.

Buss power is always marginal, so if you have a very intensive set with lots of tracks and plugins it makes sense to use mains power, choking and latency issues are much more likely to happen from buss power.

However, if your set is light on track count and plugins then it should be fine.

Most PCs only have 4 pin firewire, which does not offer buss power. That's an advantage of the MBP, a proper 6 pin IEE1394 firewire port.

2.2GHz MBP here. Powers my Ultralite absolutely fine. I always bus-power, I've never used the AC adapter for the Ultralite. No problems when the laptop is mains connected or running off batteries.

I've got a 1.8ghz white macbook and it powers my Terratec Phase 24 using bus power no problem.

It's also worth noting that it makes a difference whether the MBP itself is plugged into the mains or running off battery power.

And that most devices require most bus power immediately after they're turned on.

On mains power, my MBP happily provides bus power to my Echo Audiofire 2 and my external hard drive. On battery power, I have to plug these devices in one at a time, as the MBP can't provide enough power to start them both up at once.

Anyone using Mackie Onyx Satellite with MB/MBP?
if so have you the TI chipset and is the Mackie running fine on bus power?

Hi Robbmasters, You are the one I was waiting for, because I want to order an echo audiofire 2. Can you tell me what latency you get if choosing 256 samples audiobuffer in the audioprefs of Live? I am asking because I need an interface what makes me able to play guitar through software, what´s not possible with the internal soundchip ( 13.1 ms in and 13.1 ms out = 26.2 ms allover ). Thanks, M.LO