Getting a MOTU UltraLite Mk3 FW400-only to run on an M1 MBP and Monterey.

[Weasel-Boy]

I need to update my OSX so my research on what was safe for my Ultralite MK3 FW has landed me on your post….

…Was 12.3 ok with it or would you say its a bit flaky?

It’s been a while since I’ve dealt with any of this….but as I remember it, the installation of macOS 12.3 on the M1’s internal boot drive did not interfere with the MOTU UltraLite’s operation. But when I booted from a cloned external SSD, running 12.3, the UltraLite would not run. Reinstalling the MOTU driver on the booted external did not solve the problem. Please keep in mind this issue presented itself on a bootable backup, not the internal SSD. And on an M1 Max.

The warning prompts that the OSX boots were throwing out due to the legacy MOTU drivers are silicon M1-based, as far as I know. Not sure if older Intel chipped MBPs would do the same with higher OS installations.

I’ve been seeing the warning prompts after every incremental OSX update all the way up to 13.4.1, simply because I never bothered to purge the boot drive of the older MOTU driver installation. The newer drivers for the MOTU M2 are unaffected.

[michaeloreillymusic]

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I've just updated to macOS 13.6.1 (Ventura) with a MacBook M1 max and an ultralite MK3 hybrid. The MOTU works perfectly with the aforementioned dongle cluster detailed in this post.

Ventura does not seem to allow one to clone the OS (CCC and Super Duper) on an external drive, but I was able to install Ventura to one APFS volume on an external SSD. On a second volume on the same drive, I was able to do a time machine backup of my current MOTU working system. Booting into the external, I set up and restore from the time machine backup. Everything is there! EXCEPT, like yourself OP, the ability to use my MOTU.

I re-did the process for getting the MOTU to work, as detailed here, https://motu.com/techsupport/technotes/ ... udio-inst/ (https://motu.com/techsupport/technotes/apple-silicon-motu-audio-inst/). Despite MOTU still working when I boot into the internal, I cannot get it to be recognized when I boot into the external.

I may go your way and get an M2 but the MK5's look like they are back in stock - if you had to do it now, would you still go with the M2?

[Weasel-Boy]

I may go your way and get an M2 but the MK5's look like they are back in stock - if you had to do it now, would you still go with the M2?

Absolutely. As I discovered, the M2 has this uncanny ability to completely null out guitar RF, hum and buzz all on its own. It's almost magical.
For the setup I'm currently using with the Macbook, I don't need the additional $450 expense for all the extra I/O the UltraLite Mk5 provides.

BTW, I've had a back and forth with SuperDuper's author about cloning silicon Macbooks bootdrives. You can indeed clone a bootable macOS14.1.1 HD onto an external SSD.

The problem is, is that if the Macbook's internal SSD dies, an external SSD will not be able to boot the Macbook. This is because the ROM bootchip that Apple used to build into the circuit boards, pre-silicon, is no longer there.

They made the boot routine strictly software based and built the routine into the bootdrive. Hence: if your internal SSD dies, the machine is dead until a new SSD is installed by Apple. Then you can use the clone to get all your data back. Expensive and sucks, huh?

But, as long as the internal boot SSD remain in good shape, you can, indeed, boot from an external SSD that was (at least) created with the current version of SuperDuper. I can't speak for CCC.

[revvy]

I had a MK 1 til I switched to Silicon, over 10 years of service. Deciding to buy a Mk 5 to replace it was a no brainier.

Edit: ah, nekrothread

[maanga]

Motu has released a new audio interface connected through USB 3.
If you have not bought the FW version, you can go for this.
Regards.