Hey there...

I am running an SSL Madixtreme 64 card on Mavericks at the moment and am looking to rebuild my system to a newer OS. I would love to hear experiences from people who have a Madixtreme card working with Sierra or any OSX newer than Mavericks.

Seems a dark hole of possible doom, and I don't want to wake up to my computer no longer seeing the card.....

I'd defintely test fresh installation of newer OS X to spare drive and test it at your particular configuration.
It definitely doesn't count with new SIP (rootless) security feature and installation package doesn't have updated signature. But some other maybe particular system dependent issues may occur.

So in the new OS X disable SIP (if applicable >= 10.11) and enable installation of packages from all developers before driver installation.

I don't tested its installation at recent OS X versions (have MX4 at Windows), but those two basic steps could help with its legacy kext installation.

Michal

Thanks for the tip!

Any more people?

Yes, you must disable SIP, and usually, installing a new OSX version (full version not a point update) will require you to reinstall the drivers. After that it works just fine.

I have a MadiXtreme64 and SSL Alphalink SX in an upgraded 2010 Mac Pro and have no plans to change anything!

I skipped Sierra as it has zero advantages for running a DAW/audio (siri, bluetooth/iphone/iwatch compatibility) - running well on El Capitan 10.11.6. Main DAW is Logic X but also run Pro Tools 12 when required.

Given that Apple don't make any machines with PCIe slots anymore, I'm not confident about SSL caring about updating drivers in the future - I am a little worried about SSL's tendency not to update/support/drop products, but for now, it's working. It stays out the way, latency is low, seems very solid and 'just works'.

Cheers,

Ed

How to disable SIP, copied from a chap called 'Jim' on Gearslutz (not SSL Jim): : Reboot your Mac, hold command+R to enter recovery mode, navigate to utilities and open terminal. From terminal type "csrutil disable" (no quotes). You'll get a confirmation saying SIP has been disabled. Reboot and install MadiXtreme drivers 1.3.

Up to El Capitan, driver is OK.
Not so happy with Sierra, and in all honesty is likely to remain that way.

Thanks chaps, I'll go to ElCap then and consider it the final stop for the card. Gulp.

Hi Jim,

Is there a specific problem with Sierra, or can I assume that the card's been discontinued (or at least it's OSX support)?

Also, what's kind of problems are there with Sierra? I only ask in case Logic X soon 'requires' Sierra.

Cheers!

Ed

Good question!

Hi Jim,

Can you give any update regarding Sierra? Will there be an updated driver? It's sad because Madixtreme is an excelent PCI-express solution... I do not have any thunderbolt chassis...

Thanks!
Roland

Situation has probably not changed in the last 2 weeks.

MADIxtreme PCI 128 and 64 are both working fine under Sierra. I have two cards in my machine and the only two issues are the following:

1. Preference Pane must be started by typing MADIxtreme into spotlight since it doesn't install in the System Preferences Panel. You can still setup everything and it stores it fine.
2. My system sometimes swaps the order of the two cards which is a problem when creating an aggregate Core Audio Driver. A reboot usually fixes that.

I still like the MADIxtreme cards a lot and would definitely recommend them.

Thanks for the info! I am now running on ElCap and working generally fine. I do sometimes get issues with clocking though (or so it seems, the odd clicks and pops), whether on wordclock clock or over MADI (running an SPL Madison). Might be my Hackintosh. not sure yet.

Such a bummer SSL is not supporting these going forward. My madixtreme has been rock solid.

Thank you very much mobilemozart for the tips. I'm on Sierra with a clean install and all is working fine with Logic Pro X 10.3, Protools 12.7

Hey Jim, how are you?

It seams like the only real problem is that the Madixtreme driver app is not visible in the system preferences... this must be an easy thing to fix...

I wouldn't mind to pay something for a new fully working driver, and I'm sure many people won't mind....

So, please just make an updated driver or make it open source so somebody else can have the honour or make some money with updating the driver....

thanks
johanz

I'm on Sierra, unwisely made the jump to make 'tools more stable and now I can't see my SSL MADI card or Nucleus at all. The driver on the SSL site is from 2011, which can't be right? Is there a more recent option - even sub-optimal would be better than nothing at this point.
Thanks

Hey Mobilemozart,

Did you have to disable SIP to install the drivers for Madiextreme in Sierra?

If so, did you re-enable SIP after?

Many thanks

Robert George

Yes, you have to disable it, no you can't reenable it!

I can vouch for this. Worked perfectly for some days and now it doesn't work at all. Need to disable sip and install the drivers again, aaargh.

SSL please make this work, sierra had been out for ages allready....

Are you getting any latency while doing overdubs etc? Had some reports today that something weird is happening compared to the old 10.9 install.

Hi,

Given the recent developments with Apple and their Mac Pro announcement, would SSL be open to the idea of continuing support for the MadiXtreme series on OSX, if the new Pros will feature PCIe slots?

@ Jim@SSL ?

I think it's a great card that 'just sits there and does its job', and it would be a shame to dump it.

Cheers,

Ed

Some prior history......

SSL MX4 no Windows 8 support, and no answer from SSL

It worked well for a while here, but now it only locks one of my SSL AX's. Have the clock via wordclock, using the madixtreme as wordclock master.

So clock master: internal
OSX 10.11.6 El Capitan
All is configured well. I've been working with this system for years

Does the installer remove all and install again?

Why you have driver 1.3 beta 3 on the site, is it better dan 1.3? I tried to reinstall several times too...

Please make one more update, I'm willing to pay good $$$$$ i'm sure there are more people who prefer this above throwing their rock solid madixtreme cards away.

UPDATE: There was an issues with my wordclock. Thought the wordclock was ok because it was not blinking... So i'm fine for now and won't upgrade to Sierra, but an update would still be valuable for me in the future...

Hello,

There must be quite a lot of systems out there with madiextreme + converters. They are even still sold as bundles. Why cant you make an update for sierra.

We have ME+Alphalink and matrix 2. IpMidi got screwed and cant be re-installed while SIP is disabled. So were stuck with half working 20k desk before we start the whole show of enabling and disabling SIP and re-installing all the drivers.

Not very happy I have to say.

I'm at a crossroads with my old system. I'm mostly working on my MacBookPro because of a need to be portable right now. I'm doing 100+ track mixs with no issues on my MBP and apogee element. But for tracking anything more than a few inputs, which I don't do a lot of right now, I still use my older rig with the Madiextreme, which is still on Yosemite. I really want to get something with enough I/O that is thunderbolt. Im having a hard time deciding what to go with.

As High Sierra looms, I hope that the MadiXtreme issues are at least no worse than Sierra. High Sierra has some good performance improvements I don't want to miss out on (I'm still on 10.11)

This is just planned obsolescence. There's no reason to not update this driver other than the arrogant "we're not bothering to keep up with Apple" or, even worse, "buy our new stuff and dump it".
I may be oversimplifying this but if you're in the software biz then you gotta get on board and go with the flow to stay on top.
Well I don't like apple or SSL now. You've both burned me. Too bad, because I liked the card.

Sorry for the rant,

But seriously, what card do I buy now? Or do I have to sell the Alphalink too?!

We also have a few SSL cards.
Will replace with RME or possibly switch to Dante. Staying at ElCap for now.