Mac Studio doesn't see converters, but sees Thunderbolt chassis

[JCVersari]

Hi.
I just upgraded my whole system by buying a Mac Studio M1, a Sonnet Thunderbolt chassis, HDx card and connected everything.
Downloaded the latest HD drivers, of course.
I use ProTools ultimate as I read it is the only version that will work with HDx
The only options I get for Playback engine are PT aggregate I/O or internal speakers.
Thanks for any help.
I have been using PT in my studio for many many years and it is the first time I actually have no idea what to do.

[its2loud]

Originally Posted by JCVersari

Hi.
I just upgraded my whole system by buying a Mac Studio M1, a Sonnet Thunderbolt chassis, HDx card and connected everything.
Downloaded the latest HD drivers, of course.
I use ProTools ultimate as I read it is the only version that will work with HDx
The only options I get for Playback engine are PT aggregate I/O or internal speakers.
Thanks for any help.
I have been using PT in my studio for many many years and it is the first time I actually have no idea what to do.

There are several threads on the DUC discussing Mac Studio with Sonnet Chassis and HDX. Start by doing a search. Like this one

https://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?...sis+Mac+studio

Providing which chassis you have will help us help you.

Questions that need to be answered…

1. How do you have the chassis connected to the Mac Studio?

2. Which chassis do you have?

3. What version of Pro Tools and HD drivers do you have installed?

Let’s start there for now.

[Darryl Ramm]

and adding to those good points

... did you remember to install the Power cable to the HDX card?

... and if its a Sonnet Thunderbolt 3 chassis with a PCI 2/3 switch on the mother board inside the chassis that needs to be in the PCIe 2 position.

... Some chassis like Sonnet Thunderbolt 2 chassis or Thunderbolt 3 eGPU series chassis don't need that switch (cough, as I recently learnt). Make sure that chassis is qualified by the vendor to run with HDX. If not a qualified Sonnet chassis (and only some of theirs will work) you may be out of luck, I'm not sure most other vendors care or have done the work.

... Make sure you are using a genuine Thunderbolt 3 (i.e. from Apple or Sonnet.. came with the chassis) or Thunderbolt 4 cable (from Apple, or look for qualified claims/labels on the package) to connect a Thunderbolt 3 chassis... lots of folks hit problems because they are using a USB only cable. Yes, they all look the same, have USB-C connector at both ends, and a USB only cable will never work.

... in the Mac System Info utility what shows up under PCI devices? The card should show up there, as pci11af,ef70, regardless of driver or security/permissions issues. If not then its more likely a hardware issue. If it shows up there but not a playback engine option then you likely have a driver install and/or security/permissions issue.

I believe there *might* be outstanding issues on HDX card support/bugs/stability on Apple Silicon systems that folks are running into and I am not up on the very latest, I don't run HDX myself. Make sure you look at all the other recent threads.

[JCVersari]

Hi Thank you so much for your help.

Here are my answers:

1. How do you have the chassis connected to the Mac Studio?
USB C

2. Which chassis do you have?
Sonnet AVID desktop chassis

3. What version of Pro Tools and HD drivers do you have installed?
ProTools ULTIMATE / Latest HD Driver

I just got an answer from AVID saying there might be an issue with computer security and HD drivers, so I will look into that tonight

Thnak you so much.

Jean-Charles

[JCVersari]

... did you remember to install the Power cable to the HDX card?
Yes absolutely, I even checked continuity, and it's fine.

... and if its a Sonnet Thunderbolt 3 chassis with a PCI 2/3 switch on the mother board inside the chassis that needs to be in the PCIe 2 position.
It can only host one PCIe card, but I'LL check

... Some chassis like Sonnet Thunderbolt 2 chassis or Thunderbolt 3 eGPU series chassis don't need that switch (cough, as I recently learnt). Make sure that chassis is qualified by the vendor to run with HDX. If not a qualified Sonnet chassis (and only some of theirs will work) you may be out of luck, I'm not sure most other vendors care or have done the work.
Yes it's a dedicated HDX chassis

... Make sure you are using a genuine Thunderbolt 3 (i.e. from Apple or Sonnet.. came with the chassis) or Thunderbolt 4 cable (from Apple, or look for qualified claims/labels on the package) to connect a Thunderbolt 3 chassis... lots of folks hit problems because they are using a USB only cable. Yes, they all look the same, have USB-C connector at both ends, and a USB only cable will never work.
I am using the cable that came with the chassis

... in the Mac System Info utility what shows up under PCI devices? The card should show up there, as pci11af,ef70, regardless of driver or security/permissions issues. If not then its more likely a hardware issue. If it shows up there but not a playback engine option then you likely have a driver install and/or security/permissions issue.
Yes, that is what AVID answered to me today, I will look into it tonight

Thank you so much for your help

[noah330]

The generic cable that worked with my M1 Mini didn’t work with the Studio for my UAD or Chassis. Apple cables and all came to life.

[JCVersari]

Hi,

So AVID support gave me this process to follow and it worked:

http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/e...ation-on-macOS

There was a security barrier in the Mac Studio that blocked the HD driver.

Thanks for your kind propositions of solutions.

Cheers

Jean-Charles