Carbon Central 2024.6 available

[dominicperry]

I've just seen that Carbon Central 2024.6 is available.

Sonoma is still not officially supported with Carbon - as per the other thread here (https://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=427865), Avid are still finding dropouts with Sonoma in the most recent versions.
I suspect that this is an Apple problem, but it doesn't look good that an OS can be out for a whole year and AVB (or perhaps just Avid's AVB) still isn't reliable.

Dominic

[K Roche]

Originally Posted by dominicperry

I've just seen that Carbon Central 2024.6 is available.

Sonoma is still not officially supported with Carbon - as per the other thread here (https://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=427865), Avid are still finding dropouts with Sonoma in the most recent versions.
I suspect that this is an Apple problem, but it doesn't look good that an OS can be out for a whole year and AVB (or perhaps just Avid's AVB) still isn't reliable.

Dominic

Well 8 and 1/2 months actually, but yes fairly disconcerting makes me nervous that my Carbon and Intel iMac will end up being stuck at Ventura which works fine BUT since I also edit music video in Final Cut Pro I would like it to not be stuck there. And does no bode well for upgrading to new iMac when they come out next year.

[Cowboy Bob]

There is also a firmware update for Carbon included in the CC update.

I have been running Sonoma 14.4.1 on my new Mac Studio M2 Max for nearly 2 months now. No issues at all other than the dreaded hanging midi notes that most of us encounter at one time or another. Nothing to do with AVB or Carbon. Full disclosure: So far the max simultaneous DSP enable tracks with Sonoma have been 12. None of my larger mixing sessions are DSP enabled so for 60+ tracks, still no issues.

Of course this is on my SECOND brand new Carbon. FWIW Avid has my original to be repaired (had to prepay for that) Last week they said they were about three weeks back logged.

@k Roche FYI I noticed on one of your videos your Carbon behaved exactly as my original Carbon did. When I questioned Kyle, he told me that was normal. HOWEVER this new Carbon does NOT behave such. The relays actuate on power up, of course and when changing sample rates. Often my original, when idle would start clicking relays for no apparent reason.

When I finally get the original Carbon back, I'll use it in "PRE" mode and sell the Focusrite, I think.

Anyway, No issues for me with Sonoma but YMMV

[boomspot]

Yes, it’s concerning that within 8 1/2 months Avid hasn’t been able to work with Apple to resolve the issues preventing certification of Sonoma. Shouldn’t this be the main focus of the Carbon product team? Perhaps Apple Intelligence will help them out when its released with Mac OS Sequoia this fall.

B

[K Roche]

Originally Posted by Cowboy Bob

There is also a firmware update for Carbon included in the CC update.

So do you know if this new carbon firmware update is stated to fix the documented dropout issue?

(Note) I don't use Carbon Central in my system, wondering do you use Carbon Central even with only the one Carbon unit ?

So far the max simultaneous DSP enable tracks with Sonoma have been 12. None of my larger mixing sessions are DSP enabled so for 60+ tracks, still no issues.

Hum that is kind of strange --- to clarify are you saying you can only activate DSP on 12 tracks (even with with no plugin's on them ?) because I easily activate well over 50 bare tracks with just DSP

@k Roche FYI I noticed on one of your videos your Carbon behaved exactly as my original Carbon did. When I questioned Kyle, he told me that was normal. HOWEVER this new Carbon does NOT behave such. The relays actuate on power up, of course and when changing sample rates. Often my original, when idle would start clicking relays for no apparent reason.

Humm Not sure which video you are referring to ---I believe I only hear the relays when power up or switching sample rates and not while idle ????

When I finally get the original Carbon back, I'll use it in "PRE" mode and sell the Focusrite, I think.

Anyway, No issues for me with Sonoma but YMMV

[Cowboy Bob]

Hey Kev,

I think it is mostly to communicate with the fan. That’s all I could find. I didn’t use CC on my Intel Mac, but I read that it was recommended to be used with the Apple silly con. I’ll need it anyway when I get my other Carbon back.

No, what I am saying is that DSP is engaged on 12 or so tracks WHILE tracking through plugins. Typically a channel strip, with sends to reverb. I have NOT tested to see a limit. I reckon I’ll find a limit in time, but so far I’ve not needed to find it.

I typically don’t engage DSP while mixing, so as I said, that’s my work flow.

I feature then that I misunderstood your video. My original Carbon activated relays of course on power up and sample rate changes, but there were what I feared was excessive relay action during those times. Power on for example would be several relay actuations, now only one. Sample rate changes were not affected as I recall. Also as I said, sometimes while sitting idle, relays would actuate.

I asked Kyle shortly after I bout Carbon about it, but he said it was normal. Comparing to my new Carbon, it is not.


Still in all, no issues FOR ME using masOS 14.4.1. I did try to downgrade my Mw Max Mac Studio after I bought it but it would not allow it.

[BScout]

Originally Posted by boomspot

Yes, it’s concerning that within 8 1/2 months Avid hasn’t been able to work with Apple to resolve the issues preventing certification of Sonoma.

There is no "working with Apple." Avid reports the issue. Apple fixes it when they want to. There's nothing more Avid can do. It's 100% up to Apple.

This isn't the first time that Apple has screwed AVB support -- just the first time since the Carbon has been out.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by BScout

There is no "working with Apple." Avid reports the issue. Apple fixes it when they want to. There's nothing more Avid can do. It's 100% up to Apple.

This isn't the first time that Apple has screwed AVB support -- just the first time since the Carbon has been out.

I really hope that is not the case. As frustrating as Apple can be to try to work with, serious ISVs should have contacts and ability to try to escalate stuff at Apple. I've sure seen that from one of the largest Apple ISVs, helps with lots of stuff, some uh well, yes Apple is Apple. (And if you think Apple is bad try working with Microsoft on deep complex Windows issues).

There are enough ex-Avid employees at Apple (OK including those that left Avid not so voluntarily) that I'd hope there is some chance of making appropriate contacts there, seeking help and escalating things. Heck Dave Tremblay is over at Apple in a senior engineering role in the audio team.

WWDC just finished and if nothing else turning up there and talking to Apple staff can help, seen that work multiple times. Sounds stupid but it can work. Get the right person interested and great stuff can happen. I expect Avid to be beyond needing to do something like that here.

But "working with" has a very broad interpretation, I'm currently "working with" Apple on core Audio Bugs, which means very little: swapping messages about testing updates though Developer Feedback Assistant. Some horrible bug in AVB might need a huge amount of work from folks. And I do expect it's a super small team doing AVB stuff at Apple so that may just be a bottleneck.

But who knows what the technical issue even really is, here and how hard it might be to fix. Has Avid provided a Apple bug number? (Other developers cannot see those bug reports, but still a number might be interesting).

Avid taking the weird decision here with AVB was a mistake, sure that's 2020 hindsight, but FFS why do such weird ****? Thunderbolt and none of this would have been an issue. And Windows users could use Carbon as well.

---

OK off to debug why xCode 16 Beta breaks simple header files, and likely file a bug report, ... and yes kiss the Apple ring. Actually DUC today has been my way of avoiding doing that sigh.

[maldenfilms]

Do we have any indication as to what's new / changed? I can't seem to find a changelog on CC.

[dominicperry]

Originally Posted by maldenfilms

Do we have any indication as to what's new / changed? I can't seem to find a changelog on CC.

As per the announcement post here: https://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=428806

"Enhancements:
Improved logging for fan speed tracking
Minor bug fixes"

No other information......there is no changelog/release notes for Carbon Central.

Dominic