Avid, please comment on Thunderbolt/PCIe chassis usage

[nst7]

I would like for Avid to give us an idea when they will release Thunderbolt drivers for Mac, if needed. I know they've been using these at trade shows, so I know this stuff works.

Or tell us if we don't need a driver and can start using these immediately.

The Sonnet Echo Express is available now to purchase, and I'd like to know if it can be used yet.

If someone from Avid could comment, it would be appreciated.

[19 frets]

Just a thought. Since Avid tends not to discuss things prior to release, perhaps the vendor would at least know if a driver is needed.

[nst7]

The vendor has said a driver is needed, unless something has changed.

This is not about a secret product release, so there's no reason Avid can't state where they are on this. These products were supposed to come out last year, so now that they're out, I'd like to know what's going on.

[jasonthurley]

Have you tried contacting them direct.... Forums are usually just for users to assist and Avid will occasionally partake...

[19 frets]

Originally Posted by nst7

The vendor has said a driver is needed, unless something has changed.

This is not about a secret product release, so there's no reason Avid can't state where they are on this. These products were supposed to come out last year, so now that they're out, I'd like to know what's going on.

Just curious. Does Avid have a history of releasing just the driver or will it have to be part of a formal update?

[janmuths]

Am in the same boat. Want to run 10hd on a MacBook pro with magma 3T and hd3accel pcie.
I spoke to an avid representative just recently. He confirmed that Avid is testing thunderbold / magma solutions. To me it sounded as if avid is testing non-macpro solutions intensively. The rep said its working nicely, although testing has not been completed.

My guess is that we'll see something official pretty soon. I hope.


Jan

[Craig F]

As I understand Thunderbolt, it is an extension of the PCIe Bus so no drivers are needed.
But I may be wrong on this.


Usually Avid will say nothing until ether:
a) they approve it
b) it completely won't work (i.e. OSX 10.5 for the longest time)

[nst7]

Apparently, these need a driver for Mac, but not for Windows. But I don't know if it's a typical driver like you would have for an audio interface, etc.

Universal Audio has a software update that brings compatibility to these with their UAD2 cards. Strangely, they say it's working with the Sonnet, but not with the Magma version. So it seems to be very finnicky right now.

But I know Avid has been showing off how great these work at trade shows, etc.

I would just like some kind of idea what's going on. I don't want to buy one of these and then find out it will just be a paperweight for 6 more months.

On the flip side, since apparently there's no driver needed for Windows, I'm wondering if this is ready to go right now with those computers.