Edirol FA-101 not recognized in OS9

[slowsounds]

Hello all, and apologies for cross posting from another website. I'll have very limited time to troubleshoot this issue before possibly returning some of the hardware involved.

Based on the information at http://www.oldschooldaw.com/forums/index.php?topic=9.0, I bought a second hand Edirol FA-101 to use with some audio software I'm testing on an iBook G3 (Dual USB) and Powerbook G4 (Titanium, DVI.) On both laptops, both running OS9.2.2, I've only had varying degrees of failure:

On the iBook, the FA-101 is recognized when running on bus power. System Profiler lists it under "Firewire" as "fwa02d, 10001", and the "FA-101 Control Panel" will launch and allow me to adjust buffer settings. The red "Firewire" light on the device lights up. However, no input or output devices are listed for the FA-101 in the Sound control panel, and no application will recognize it.

On the Powerbook, the red light lights up, but the FA-101 is not recognized at all when running on bus power. Upon launching "FA-101 Control Panel," I get an error indicating that the unit is not plugged in, and it is not listed under System Profiler. I'm also getting a clicking/buzzing sound from inside the laptop whenever I move the mouse pointer, or when there is disk/CPU activity while the unit is plugged in (based on some searching on the web, this seems to be a common problem with Powerbooks and Firewire.)

I have also tested powering the unit with a 9V 1A center negative DC adapter, and the results are identical, except that the red light will not light up with the Powerbook in this case.

I would appreciate any help or pointers as to what might be going wrong.

[GaryN]

I can't help but notice you don't mention ever downloading the OS9 driver for this unit AND your "symptoms" sound suspiciously like that's what the problem is…

So, did you get the driver and install it?

If not, it's here: https://www.roland.com/us/support/by_product/fa-101/updates_drivers/b1feade9-0b4f-4c28-8a08-f79056537820/

[slowsounds]

Sorry for not stating that; I did download and install the driver.

[GaryN]

I took a good look at the onfo and instructions for this thing and my best guess is:

* The Roland "driver" software did recognize OS9 and installed the Control Panel.

* The missing pieces of the puzzle are what DAW or other software you're attempting to use it with. The only info I can find says the  FA-101 is compatible with ASIO 2.0. You need to have a proper 2.0 ASIO driver installed with the DAW or whatever. Depending (again) on the DAW, there may not even be anything other than an ASIO 1.0 in existence.

I obviously have no way of knowing all of these details regarding your stuff but I do know that audio interfaces made and sold around the time of early OSX had varying degrees of backward compatibility with other things OS9. It often required a very specific ASIO driver in the DAW folder to get the data flowing between the software and the hardware. ASIO 2 was more universal and "fixed" much of that. Big companies like Roland invariably looked forward rather than backward when designing products. That would indicate a bias toward the much-more-evolved Core Audio of OSX rather than OS9. This is one of those issues that you would call a support line to help with. That was then, of course… now is a different story. Now it's all guesswork.

There are similar issues with all things Firewire from M-Audio as well.

I know it's really frustrating because you have two laptops and everything would be hunky-dory if the damn interface would just work.

Possible solutions:
* Keep looking for a fix. Search for any updated ASIO for the DAW.
* Chuck the Roland and find a decent interface that connects over USB.
* Change to a full-size computer and use a PCI-based interface like an M-Audio Delta or a MOTU or similar.
   OR
* Update to OSX (maybe Tiger) so you can use Core Audio.
* Update all DAW software along with that…
   OR
* Apply a hammer to both laptops, give up on music entirely, maybe take up a trade…

The fact that nobody else around here seems interested in this is probably because there's no easy answer.
   BUT
There may be someone haunting this site with the solution.

HELLO……ANYBODY??

[reeskm]

Just a simple user report here with this hardware.

I have this on my PowerPC G4 450 tower @44.1khz/16bit using the latest FA101 Driver and it's recognized and working. I'm below the minimum specs (G4@500Mhz) but it still works.

Don't expect it to show up under Apple's Sound Manager/Sound Control Panel. It's designed for ASIO 2.0 apps only... The driver clearly states it won't work with ASIO 1.0 software.

[GaryN]

The fact that nobody else around here seems interested in this is probably because there's no easy answer.
   BUT
There may be someone haunting this site with the solution.

HELLO……ANYBODY??

Just a simple user report here with this hardware.

I have this on my PowerPC G4 450 tower @44.1khz/16bit using the latest FA101 Driver and it's recognized and working. I'm below the minimum specs (G4@500Mhz) but it still works.

Don't expect it to show up under Apple's Sound Manager/Sound Control Panel. It's designed for ASIO 2.0 apps only... The driver clearly states it won't work with ASIO 1.0 software.

Thanks reeskm    for the confirmation of my deduction although the OP seems to have moved on…

I just love it when I put in time and effort trying to help someone out and they just ghost their own thread without a peep…

[reeskm]

Thanks reeskm    for the confirmation of my deduction although the OP seems to have moved on…

I just love it when I put in time and effort trying to help someone out and they just ghost their own thread without a peep…

Ah, the incredibly fleeting nature of the internet. Well, that being said I've only recently returned here after moving on to other things a while back. Glad to be back.

Another note on this particular interface: With Cubase VST/32 5.0, so far it seems to work but when I try and launch the ASIO Countrol Panel through the Settings->Audio Setup... panel, It just greys out and fails to launch anything. So the only real control over the ASIO latency and buffers is to be found through the FA101 (Apple) Control Panel that ships with the driver pack. Can anybody else confirm this? Or do I just need to grab the Cubase version off this site, because 5.0 had some issues with the ASIO setup?

[slowsounds]

Hello, thanks GaryN and reeskm for your input, and sorry for being late to reply; I was held up by travel and work obligations, and could not find the time to test further. The only program I was able to test ASIO with was Ableton Live 2.0, and despite moving the FA-101 ASIO driver to Live's ASIO drivers folder, I get no ASIO driver to choose from in Live's preferences, and consequently, I get no audio output from the device in Live.

I will try to test with other audio applications this week and report back.

[slowsounds]

An update: I have managed to get the FA-101 (somewhat) working with the iBook.

I have misreported the version of Ableton Live that didn't work with the FA-101 in my previous post; it was 1.01. I have now tested 2.1.2, and after disabling virtual memory and moving the FA-101 ASIO driver to its "ASIO Drivers" folder, I'm happy to report that the FA-101 ASIO device is selectable in Live 2.1.2.

So far, I have been able to test basic audio output on two channels through the headphone output, and guitar and microphone recording through the two preamp inputs. They work as expected. However, with audio playing through Firewire, a typical Live set runs rather choppy on the iBook, despite only consuming around 20% CPU, and seems to grind to a halt a while later, with the controls gradually turning unresponsive and audio dropping out. Maybe an OS reinstall and some performance optimization will help, but maybe the 500mhz iBook with 320 MB of memory is simply under spec for Firewire operation. (I'm not sure, since the manual does not seem to state minimum specs for OS 9. In fact, it says nothing about OS 9 at all; all instructions for "driver installation" are based on OS X.)

Cubase VST 32 / 5 also works as expected, but again, there are dropouts.

With the Powerbook G4, Live 2.1.2 still fails to detect the FA-101. Now that I'm pretty much sure the FA-101 in my hands is not defective, since its basic functions work with the iBook, I'm beginning to suspect that this laptop may have a Firewire hardware problem. I will test again after reinstalling OS 9 on it. If that fails, it seems I'll have to get another (USB) audio interface for it.

[slowsounds]

Another note on this particular interface: With Cubase VST/32 5.0, so far it seems to work but when I try and launch the ASIO Countrol Panel through the Settings->Audio Setup... panel, It just greys out and fails to launch anything. So the only real control over the ASIO latency and buffers is to be found through the FA101 (Apple) Control Panel that ships with the driver pack. Can anybody else confirm this? Or do I just need to grab the Cubase version off this site, because 5.0 had some issues with the ASIO setup?

I can confirm this. In fact, I get the same behavior in Live 2.1.2. But I can open the FA-101 Control Panel separately while no ASIO application is running, and the settings do take effect.

[slowsounds]

Here's something I'm struggling to wrap my head around, being new to audio in OS 9: Is it indeed the case that the FA-101 driver package simply does not ship Sound Manager drivers? Is it only meant to support ASIO? Was this common with pro/prosumer audio interfaces of the time; i.e. was it common to have only ASIO etc. drivers and not Sound Manager?

If this is the case, I seem to be out of luck getting audio in and out of the FA-101 in some important non-ASIO apps such as SoundMaker and Reaktor...

[chrisNova777]

sound manager s upport was not a universla thing i guess
not all interfaces offered it as an option, clearly it took certain driver development to accomplish
there was another thread listing all the sound manager compatible options wasnt there?