Problems with Phonic firewire mixing desk.

[johhnog]

I have gotten myself a reconditioned Intel 2.4gz pc recently.Am upgrading my system slowly,
most is being bought secondhand from ebay.
As well as the Phonic helix mixer i have a focusrite saffire 6 usb soundcard.
I have a Helix Phonic MK2 firwire mixer that refuses to be recognised by the windows 7 (64 bit) home premium edition pc.
I downloaded the updated drivers for win 7 from phonics website,installed as stated in manual.
When it finishes installing it asks you to connect and turn on the mixer,i have done this but after windows searches for it without finding it,
i just get the same message about connecting and turning on the mixer.
I was using this with my old pc running xp home,i was just testing it out before i got hold of the WIN 7 pc,
it worked although cubase vst did not show the phonic mixer channels as inputs so i couldn't use the various routing options it has on later versions of cubase,
i was then still using cubase vst.
I have Cubase 5 at the moment,the mixer- if it was running as it should be would show up in cubase 5 as inputs,
you can then route signals out from cubase to individual channels on the phonic mixer and use the mixers on-board fx,
then record back into cubase(thus saving processor and memory on my pc).
Has anyone come across problems like this with firewire devices in WIN 7 -64?
The firewire card is a Dynamode 3 port card.I bought that make after a member of the steinberg forum was recommending them.
It appears in device manager as IEEE1394,no conflicts according to WIN 7 it is working properly.
If anyone knows a way to sort this out it'd be much appreciated.
thanks,fingers crossed.

[dsan@mail.com]

First thing that comes to mind - after installing the drivers, did you restart the computer? Most common error is to attempt to use the device. A restart is typically required (even though it may claim to be "plug n play".) I have had this happen in the past with other hardware and then after a restart things work as they should.

Next thing that comes to mind - you state "updated drivers", giving the impression you previously had this unit installed on this computer. If so, did you completely de-install the drivers before attempting to install updated drivers? I don't trust Windows to install correctly from the properties page when using "Update Drivers" button. I prefer to use the installer provided by the manufacturer of the equipment and follow their instructions.

Is this a fresh install of W7 or an existing installation? If an existing installation you may need to COMPLETELY de-install drivers before installing new drivers. Consider this a possibility.

Are you sure you did not install the hardware before installing the drivers and perhaps Windows found a driver in its package and used that? If this is a possibility, COMPLETELY de-install the drivers then do a fresh start (shut down and start up by the power on button). Then try the driver installation before plugging in the device.

I have had no problems with Windows 7 and installing legacy hardware. At least none that come to mind. I'm using Edirol FA-101's on a W7 and a Vista computer without issues. Although the ports are native on the mobo's so not sure if your problem could be the card. I read that Windows is reporting no conflicts but who knows. If you have another firewire device I'd test the ports to be sure they are functioning properly.

The only other suggestion I can make is that sometimes we think we are following instructions to the letter when it is very easy to overlook a crucial step. Not saying this is the case but just be absolutely sure you are following instructions to the letter.

It's also possible you may need to restart Cubase to get it into your profile completely. I remember similar issues with Live 8 not recognizing a device but then after a restart it appeared. Just a thought. Technology, great stuff, when it works

Like you I have my fingers crossed for you. HTH

Happy Musiking!
dsan

EDIT: It may also be that you cannot have both the Helix unit and the Sapphire unit plugged in at the same time. Dunno. It appears the Helix unit acts as a sound card too. It is generally accepted only one sound card per machine.

If this is your set-up try unplugging the Sapphire, do a restart and then see if this gives you success. HTH

[johhnog]

thanks for the advice dan,i did have it installed previous with the drivers on cd for xp and vista(I think vista),i installed cubase LE1 that came bundled with the mixer onto the win 7 pc,cubase worked but with massive latencey,someone on the steinberg forum said it would work.
When i uninstalled the phonic mixer on the win7 pc i get the error message saying a file is missing.
I reinstalled over it so that could be the problem?
Also,never rebooted after installing the phonic mixer.
I don't have a win 7 disk but do have a recovery disk that came with it.
What would you suggest i do?make a clean start by using the recovery disk?it would just get rid of any programmes i have installed,cubase and windows updates so far.It would leave win7 still installed on the drive but would just mean having to go through all the re-installing and running all the windows updates again.
Let me know what you think,thanks again.

[dsan@mail.com]

A clean install is always a good thing; however, it is not always practical.

You will need to ascertain for your self if a clean install will be a good decision. It will depend on how difficult the installation of all you want installed will be. If it's not much trouble then I will recommend a fresh install. If it will be complicated then I suggest trying to find some other solution. Although, the way you have described things, I doubt you need to do a clean install at this time.

Regarding installing the drivers over the top of: Yes, it could present a problem. If done via the manufacturer's installation program it should be OK. Still, when updating drivers, I find it best to completely remove any previous installation, restart and then proceed with a proper installation. And then Restart. Again

Regarding the error message saying a file is missing: this should be your first clue something did not go well with the installation. Just because of this I would be willing to do a clean install of Windows. However, if you can find EXACTLY what needs to be removed it may not be necessary to run a fresh Windows installation. Check at Helix's website to see if they offer a method to de-install.

Your recovery disk will act as an installer for Windows. It will also install any programs by the maker of your machine that you may not want. Yes, if you decide to use it you will lose anything installed on your computer. Make an analysis of whether or not it is worth it to you to go through the hassle of installing everything again.

If you decide to do a fresh install of Windows, take your time. DO NOT RUSH! Consider every move you make and make the right moves. Once you have your computer set up how you want it, create a recovery disk of your own (if you have a spare hard drive.). This way you will not have to go through the installation process in the future, although you may need to re-authorize some software, depending certain factors.

Did you try yet to remove the Sapphire from your system and try the Helix by itself on your system?

HTH

Happy Musiking!
dsan

[timobrien]

The firewire card is a Dynamode 3 port card.I bought that make after a member of the steinberg forum was recommending them. It appears in device manager as IEEE1394,no conflicts according to WIN 7 it is working properly.

Looked at the spec sheet - it does say it's an OHCI compliant card, but it does NOT say it has a TI chipset.

You really, really want a TI chipset for best compatibility with interfaces. SIIG and Belkin make reasonable cost TI chip'ed firewire cards that are known to work with just about anything.

[dsan@mail.com]

snip....You really, really want a TI chipset for best compatibility with interfaces. snip....

Agreed.....Totally!

Happy Musiking!
dsan

[johhnog]

did system restore from the date just before the previous owner shipped it to me,there was not much to lose and infact don't seem to have lost much apart from cubase 5,phonic control centre and some windows update.
it is now back to a clean state.
Am going to install cubase 5 plus the updates for it.
Tommorow,i will install the phonic software and the drivers for the focusright.
Will keep you up to date on how it goes.
I went on various forums including phonics and there is a lot of people with firewire mixers/interfaces who are having similar problems getting windows 7-64 to recognise their software/hardware,not much help from phonic for many people using their products,not the way to run a buisness imho.
I will also look out for the SIIG and Belkin cards if this install fails again,so much for advice at steinberg.
thanks again for bothering to help guys,its much appreciated by me.
Will update on how things go in next few days.
peace.

[johhnog]

not got around to trying to install the phonic mixer yet,maybe later tonight if not too tired.
just out of interest would this pci forewire card with the TI chip do the job you think?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002UOSI3U?t ... aXdIbWk%3D

it was one more affordable compared to most others,i'm out of work on low income hence me trying to get a system together secondhand on a small budget.
Let me know if you think that's the right type of card please guys.
thanks for the previous advice,had no reply from phonic and no replies on the steinberg forum...what a surprise.
cheers.

[dsan@mail.com]

The card seems suitable and has decent reviews. Beyond that I am unaware.

Before investing though try the suggestion I made about removing the Sapphire from your system and just giving the Helix a go. It may be there is a conflict when you try to use both Sapphire and Helix at the same time.

I notice in the Helix manual it states how to install for Windows XP and no mention for Windows 7. Normally anything that will run on XP will run on Windows 7; however, you may need to first set the properties of the installer to run in XP mode. Do you know how to set that?

While you're on that properties tab be sure to "Unblock" the installer. I am confident you have not done that and that could be why the first installation was incomplete. Windows will block unknown .exe files and few people know to unblock the file before attempting an install.

After you have accomplished the above, run the installer - as administrator. Be sure to restart your system after this part of the install.

Then run the Helix control software as described in the manual to be sure the device will function. If you do not have this manual you can download it at the Helix site. BE SURE TO READ THE MANUAL! They describe some necessary steps to operate and state that your device may not function if you do not follow their instructions.

Then install Cubase and go from there. Hopefully Cubase will find it and all will be well.

HTH

Happy Musiking!
dsan

[johhnog]

i am on windows 7 home premium,i tried to run in xp mode after someone sujjested that for a version of cubase(LE1) that came bundled with the helix phonic mixer.
Have already installed cubase 5 and also installed the 2 latest updates for it.
Will give the phonic mixer 1 more attempt at installation then change the card to one with the TI chpset like the one from amazon i posted the link to.
thanks dsan.

[johhnog]

meant to say windows 7 home premium does not allow you to run in xp mode,got that error message when trying to run cubase LE1 in xp mode on the win 7 home premium OS.

[dsan@mail.com]

Let us know how this turns out for you.

Good luck!

Happy Musiking!
dsan

[johhnog]

hopefully i will be able to get time over the weekend to rig everything up,have got stuff to deal with at the moment so haven't taken apart the old set up on my old xp based system and connected everything back up with the newer dual core win 7 64 bit system,will def let you know the results when done.
thanks for the help so far.

[johhnog]

had to get a firewire card with TI chpset,installed and it is now recognised and working.
Cubase 5 is completely new to me after using old vst for years,going to be a long learning curve for sure.
Saffire 6 usb soundcard has no noticeable latencey,only thing i noticed is the light labelled 'midi' on the front of the souncard does not light up or even flicker when playing midi even though it sounds great,can play along to a beat in time with no delay in hearing any sounds.
Room is now a maze of wires and cables,needs a good tidy.
I need to grab some of the old cubase vst .all songs and mix individual tracks down to .wav files then i can import them into cubase 5.
someone suggested installing sx3 which can import old vst files but i have had enough of messing around trying to install various things so will just convert to individual .wav then import and try and arrange to sound like the original songs made in cubase vst.
Thanks for the help guys,much appreciated.
Now to begin the long learning curve.
many thanks again.
J.

[dsan@mail.com]

Woohoo! Glad you got it sorted, johhnog!

Happy Musiking!
dsan