PLEASE! Update Mac FW-1884 drivers to 64 bit

[Fernand]

Make sure the machine is in "Computer" mode. Press the button on the TASCAM or launch the driver front end from the PC. That will bring up the all-useful control panel. You then enable Mackie mode in the driver. There's a drop-down. Set a plausible sample rate etc while you are at it, and a buffer say of 256 for openers. In addition to the audio ports, the driver will map the device as 4 MIDI ports and one or more CONTROL ports. What you want to attach for Surface Control is the primary CONTROL port, not the MIDI ports, I forget the exact names they use, you'll see it.

When you have all that working, don't overlook the useful Soft LCD simulator. With Cubase I usually put it on the second monitor with a Mixer view. It's very handy.

In Logic it's insanely useful as the program is constantly remapping the channels and the rotaries, for instance if you start digging into a track, what sends it has, Logic assigns the channels on the Tascam to the main track, then to the aux busses you are addressing, the master out, inserts etc. Which is very sweet but confusing as hell. So the Soft LCD helps.

Oh, BTW, if you are running the FW1884 with OsX over Network MIDI, Soft LCD displays on the bridge machine, in my case the Windows PC. That's great if you have a screen to devote to it.

 

[JWalker]

For some reason i can't access any of the functions in the control panel.. not able to select of click on any of the functions.

 

[DeeringAmps]

Can we keep this in your original thread?
http://www.tascamforums.com/threads/tascam-fw-1884-control-surface-in-fl-studio.2853/

 

[Fernand]

good idea - JWalker phone home ...

 

[Max26]

WHAT IF we make a partition of our HD on our iMac and in that partition install OSX snow leopard (the last version to support the 1884 in 32 boot) See here http://osxdaily.com/2011/03/12/how-to-install-dual-boot-mac-os-x-10-7-lion-and-10-6-snow-leopard/

I got this idea cause I know my bro is using windows on his iMac sometimes. I think with a this old version of mac osx we won t be able to go on the internet very much cause the browser didn't follow if I remember well BUT we will be able to dedicate this to make some music once again. Please let know if you tried.

---

ok I tried installing Snow leopard and cannot be done cause my Imac is a 2012, early 2011 imac could support it. So I see the drivers for 1884 support windows 7 in 64 bit!! so the answer is to install windows 7 I assume. ahhhh not windows!

 

[Fernand]

Installing 32 bit snow leopard wouldn't help unless you actually ran it, and Logic X does not run in 32 bit OS or 32 bit mode. Windows 7 64 bit is fine but Logic doesn't run in windows. Running an OS in a VM is generally too slow and the firewire driver layer is normally below the VM. I tried and couldn't find a usable configuration so far.

The way i use my Tascams every day is to connect them to a bridge machine, either my G5 running Snow Leopard, or (preferably) my i7 running Windows 7-64 bit, and configure network MIDI connections that pop up on my Mountain Lion machine for Logic X as Control Surface(s). I can alternately use them locally in my windows DAWs by reconfiguring the local rtp.MIDI. I've documented this in depth on Gearslutz.

 

[ShaneW]

Full support to all...Unfortunately its my realisation that this is a pointless quest as global technology philosophy dictates we should be fully prepared to disguard our dearly loved FW1884's and go spend another couple of thousand US on new pre-amps and control surface just as often as we have to buy a new PC or mobile phone...Simply put, Tascam dont want to further support our FW1884's, they want to sell us more hardware. I apologise for not being more supportive.

 

[Gravity Jim]

This unit has been discontinued, right? And, as I've pointed out in this thread, the fast demise of support is probably not Tascam's fault but rather the implosion of Frontier Design Group (which now manufactures nothing but some cheesy video software or something). Contact Frontier, ask them who wrote the drivers, contact that person, tell them you want the MOTUNation deal and demonstrate (with this website) how many people will pay 50 bucks for a 64 bit driver. If someone had started this process back when I pointed this out you'd have your damn drivers now, or at least you'd know whether or not it's hopeless and who you should actually blame. I'd do it myself but I don't own a 1884. Only action and the promise of money will make it happen... Posting here about how Tascam broke your heart will have no effect.

 

[DeeringAmps]

Jim, I could not have said it better myself.
I do NOT think that Tascam is to blame here.
T

 

[Ben Dardoufas]

First of all,
hello to all.
My "solution" to this problem was just to never update to snow leopard and there on, as i knew i'd be killing my tascam, i use my mac pro only for music, recently i bought a Samsung SSD did a clean install of Leopard again.

So i'm basically running an all "old" system with Logic 9 that's very stable and works seamlessly and very fast.
Also i can't afford a new interface or controller, so that's my workaround.

I would be great if frontier or fckn' Nasa programmed a new fucking driver but i don't think that's gonna happen anytime soon.

Bare in mind that the 1884 has been around for TWELVE years, i bought it when it first came out and you all know it wasn't cheap so i'm not shelving it over a "fancier" operating system as it still works and at least it's build quality is concrete.

Anyway, i didn't think i'd be writing this much...my addition in the near future will be an RME or 2nd hand benchmark DA converter but i'm keeping the tascam as is

 

[Fernand]

Well, Frontier was not cooperating in helping find the coder on the driver. Tascam seemed to grok even less.

I hadn't really used Logic since version 5 on Windows. With its memory limitations and more of the same on 32 bit OsX, it wasn't worth putting much effort into Logic 7 and 8.

But when Logic X came out it drew me back towards Logic. That's when I discovered that there were no 64 bit OsX drivers for the TASCAMs. Or for my PCI cards.

But now I'm using both a FW1082 and an FW1884 1) as Control Surfaces locally with my 64 bit Windows DAWs, and 2) bridging them over Network MIDI to my 64 bit OsX machine to use as Control Surfaces with Logic X.

I got one of the newer, better and less expensive Firewire Audio Interfaces that I also use with both Win and OsX.

The TASCAM gear, that's old-fashionedly made of steel and other robust materials, was very cheap because people don't want to go to the trouble, so all in all I'm not seeing much reason to complain.

 

[Gravity Jim]

Who did you talk to at Frontier? When the guys at MOTUNation did this same thing, they sailed through the process.

 

[Fernand]

I don't recall, it was years ago.

And what was the MOTUNation deal?

 

[lyford]

My "solution" to this problem was just to never update to snow leopard and there on, as i knew i'd be killing my tascam, i use my mac pro only for music, recently i bought a Samsung SSD did a clean install of Leopard again.

This is what I am doing as well (though I am running Logic 9 under Snow Leopard 10.6.8 just fine) and I would rather trade stability for novelty on my production machine. That said, I am getting concerned that a few of my soft synths* will want to force me to upgrade OS soon as well, and I know my next Mac purchase will ship with 10.10.

*mostly the stupid copy protection

 

[DJTemple]

***Ready to pay for an update***
Hi guys just read the whole thread, I owned recently a FW-1082 from a friend which I used for years on my PC (now dead). I jumped to MAC and upgraded to Yosemite, working fine for everything except my 1082... It sucks to see Tascam not even updating the drivers... Coming from a broadcast background, I operated a lot of Tascam equipment and was willing to expand my studio around my 1082 with same-brand stuff. They've just lost me as a customer. That said, I'm trying to find out a way to make it work. Last chance, maybe that post would help us all:
http://www.macstrategy.com/article.php?123
Wish me good luck!
J.T.

 

[DJTemple]

Maybe it would be a good thing to show this thread to Tascam members...
As I googled, we're not alone: https://www.google.ca/search?hl=fr&...&hl=fr&as_qdr=all&q="yosemite+tascam+fw+1082"

 

[Fernand]

@DJTemple, let us know if you get Tascam or Frontier to respond. My guess is that a hundred users even at a hundred bucks is not enough to make it happen.

Meanwhile if you just want the control surface, you can make it work my way via a Windows PC over the LAN. Now that Logic has updated again, I'll have to re-hack the TASCAM descriptors back into Logic 10.1.1, will advise if there's a problem.

 

[DJTemple]

Hi, I've sent a support request to Tascam Europe in French, it went to Tascam Germany but fortunately they perfectly understood and replied to me in English. Took only a couple hours before they explained what happened, which left me skeptical. Theirs first, mine second, here's the email exchange: CLICK ON QUOTE BELOW TO READ

Asmanidis, Vasili <Asmanidis@teac.de>
08:20 (Il y a 20 heures)

À moi

Dear Mr Temple,

Driver update development for the Tascam FW-1082 (and FW-1884) has been discontinued.
Unfortunately these units have trouble handling Apples's RAM allocation under 64 bit.
Since this is a hardware issue, it cannot be resolved by modifying the firmware or driver.
Please keep in mind that the FW-1082 is a 32-bit machine, developed in 32-bit times.

Thus, only limited support of 64-bit platforms (Windows with max. 4GB RAM) is possible, especially since 'Maverick' or 'Yosemite' no longer support 32-bit kernel mode. This means the FW-1082 will not work under MacOS X 10.8/10.9/10.10 at all, be it as an interface or as a controller unit. The last MacOS that allows switching to 32-bit kernel mode is 10.7.

By the way, you have reached Tascam Germany. For future tech support requests please contact Tascam USA directly via: custser@teac.com.


Mit freundlichen Grüßen / Best Regards,
Vas Asmanidis, TASCAM Tech Support

***************************************

TEAC Europe GmbH
Bahnstr. 12
65205 Wiesbaden
Tel.: +49 611 7158 735
Fax: +49 611 7158 270
www.teac.de
www.tascam-europe.com
Sitz der Gesellschaft: Wiesbaden
Eingetragen beim Amtsgericht Wiesbaden, Reg.-Nr. HRB 3450
Geschäftsführer/Director: Haruo Onda, Yoshihide Nomura, Tetsuo Oikawa, Yuji Hanabusa, Hiroshi Tokushige


-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: james.ibdproject@gmail.com [mailto:james.ibdproject@gmail.com]
Gesendet: Donnerstag, 16. Juli 2015 22:08
An: Audio-Support
Betreff: Interfaces Support (FR)
Wichtigkeit: Hoch

Name: James Temple
email: james.ibdproject@gmail.com
Land: Canada
Produkt: FW-1082
Plattform: MacOS_10_10
Bitbreite: 64Bit
Laptop: ja
Prozessor: Intel Core 2 Duo
Chipsatz: MacBook Pro
Speicher: 1-4_GB
USB_Chipsatz: Intégré Firewire
USB_Version: 2_0
Hardware:
Software:
Beschreibung: besoin d'un pilote à jour pour les macs récents, je sais qu'il existe malgré l'arrêt du support.
Le FW-1082 est un appareil efficace et solide, seul problème: pas de pilote compatible! Nous sommes plusieurs sur le net dans les forums prêts à payer pour un update (lien ci-dessous). J'avais comme projet d'acheter plus de matériel Tascam pour compléter mon studio, je vais me tourner vers une autre marque étant donné que je dois me débarrasser d'un mixeur presque neuf et en acheter un autre...$ Voici les liens:
1- http://www.tascamforums.com/threads/please-update-mac-fw-1884-drivers-to-64-bit.904/
2- https://www.google.ca/search?hl=&as_q=s_epq=smite tascam fw 1082&as_oq=s_eq=s_nlo=s_nhi=r=r=s_qdr=l&as_sitesearch=s_occt=y&safe=ages&as_filetype=s_rights==semite tascam fw 1082&safe=ages&hl=&as_qdr=l&start

 

[DJTemple]

Unless we find a programmer or a computer crack who can fit the old driver by reverse engineering into my new OSX, I don't see how... I stare at my 1082 mixer almost in tears, wishing it would work someday somehow. What about retro emulation?

 

[Fernand]

This is "simple". First of all we'd need the source code to the 32 bit driver. There are probably serious bureaucratic obstacles to that, as Frontier USA did the design, but the FW1082 and FW1884 products belonged to Tascam, Japan.

Even if Frontier released the source code, drivers are the most esoteric programming terrain, requiring intimate understanding of the OS and the hardware. There are very few programmers who work at this level.

What Mr Asmanidis is saying is that there is, moreover, a hardware limitation. Firewire, unlike USB, generally relies on Direct Memory Access (DMA) to move data between (shared) memory and the serial Firewire line. That's why it puts less load on the CPU. It is therefore possible that interfaces designed for a 32 bit bus cannot as easily address 64 bit wide memory. I am using it OK in a 64 bit Windows 7 system, but Windows and OsX have different kernel architectures.

If Tascam/Frontier went to the trouble of creating the 64 bit Windows drivers, while there are probably more music computers running OsX, you'd think they would first/also be offering an OsX 64 bit driver unless there's indeed an additional barrier to creating an OsX 64 bit driver.


I know the attachment we all feel to these rugged control surfaces. That is why I'm using my FW1082 and FW1884 in Logic X over the LAN. This works by by plugging the FW into either an old Mac or a PC (for which drivers DO exist), and bridging over to the OsX machine using Network MIDI.

I've never bothered to try bridging the audio as well, largely because newer (and cheaper) interfaces are available, and they're perhaps cleaner, but if one wanted, I think that might be feasible too. In any case, if you want your FW1082 or FW1884 doin' the fader dance w/ Logic X, it can.

The bridging technique has been working just fine. It requires no programming, no fees, everyone can do it for themselves, no source code needed, no favors from Tascam or anyone. I've detailed the "how-to" on the GearSlutz forum here :

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/logic-pro-x/853795-fw-1884-support-2.html

Let me know if you are trying it and need help.