Can’t install Thunderbolt Driver for DADMan on Mac Ventura.

[TheoNogueira]

We are setting up an atmos mix cinema and got the MTRX Studio. I am not there right now, but spent the whole afternoon trying to get the iMac to recognize the interface via thunderbolt. I have used the interface on a windows laptop and it gets recognized and appears on DADMan.

I realized that the mac has lots of issues installing the thunderbolt driver and doesn’t seem complete the installation properly. I am not sure why and can’t move forward on this. Is there a new driver link or anything I can do?

For background, it is an iMac 2020 i9 with plenty of space on storage and 64gb of RAM. It is now on Ventura. I have updated it from Monterey today, thinking it could solve the issue, but it still doesn’t complete the driver install correctly.

[BScout]

Have you reduced the driver security on the computer (have to boot to recovery mode and then adjust it one level down in the security settings)?

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by TheoNogueira

We are setting up an atmos mix cinema and got the MTRX Studio. I am not there right now, but spent the whole afternoon trying to get the iMac to recognize the interface via thunderbolt. I have used the interface on a windows laptop and it gets recognized and appears on DADMan.

I realized that the mac has lots of issues installing the thunderbolt driver and doesn’t seem complete the installation properly. I am not sure why and can’t move forward on this. Is there a new driver link or anything I can do?

For background, it is an iMac 2020 i9 with plenty of space on storage and 64gb of RAM. It is now on Ventura. I have updated it from Monterey today, thinking it could solve the issue, but it still doesn’t complete the driver install correctly.

(edit: Lets try to clean up some confusion. The Mac does *not* have a lot of issues installing Thunderbolt drivers per se. I think that statement comes from Avid having way more problems then they should installing HD Drivers on macOS esp. with Thunderbolt expansion chassis. It's a good thing these drivers come from DAD not Avid. And these drivers are Thunderbolt CoreAudio drivers they are not "Thunderbolt Driver for DADman", if the installer is installed and working in CoreAudio it is done, and if you are having DADman problems they are elsewhere.).

0. The most common problem for driver installs on any recent macOS is users not granting security permissions/privileges. Did you? Don't have lots of windows on the screen during driver installs that might hide pop-ups and go check permissions settings after the install. The ability to approve an install/notices there goes away after 30 minutes.

1. If it "doesn't complete the driver install" then *exactly* how far does it get? Does the installer appear to crash? Give an error message? *Exactly* what is happening? *Exactly* what do you see on the screen? What shows up in Audio MIDI Setup if anything. Give some clues.

2. What is the exact driver/version are you trying to install? Download name and version.

3. Are you following the instructions in the MTRX II Guide Appendix 3? If Avid updated the MTRX Studio doc with similar instructions I can't immediately find them. Follow that exactly, and what happens differently?

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by BScout

Have you reduced the driver security on the computer (have to boot to recovery mode and then adjust it one level down in the security settings)?

DAD really ships that driver as a kext only? Uh oh... respect is fa d i n ....

(That's not called out in any of DAD's or Avid's install doc etc.)

[BScout]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

DAD really ships that driver as a kext only? Uh oh... respect is fa d i n ....

(That's not called out in any of DAD's or Avid's install doc etc.)

Actually I'm unsure. I've only installed it on systems that were already "adjusted" for HDX drivers. I haven't checked if the driver for thunderbolt is DriverKit or not.

[Darryl Ramm]

And to be fair I have talked in detail to one other person when they were doing an install (you probably know I'm fascinated by the MTRX Studio/want one) and turns out they also had this security level lowered but I thought this was a modern DriverKit driver... I could be wrong as well.

[Darryl Ramm]

Well with help from BScout I checked and you should not need to disable the macOS kernel blocking of kext like needed for Avid HDX etc. kext drivers for this driver

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It's a modern AudioDriverKit style macOS driver.

For those that care for clues (besides there being well no kext installed ), the App side of the driver is in /Applications/DADDriverSetup.app ah and you thought that was just a config app...

The driver kit dext is buried in that bundle as /Applications/DADDriverSetup.app/Contents/Library/SystemExtensions/dk.digitalaudio.tb3driver.dext and

There is proof of life at /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL/tb3Plugin.driver/Contents/MacOS/tb3Plugin.

And you can see coreduaiod has the driver running in user space...

$ ps aux | grep coreaudio
_coreaudiod 357 0.0 0.0 34293480 4884 ?? Ss 2:37PM 0:00.05 /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreAudio.framework/Versions/A/XPCServices/com.apple.audio.DriverHelper.xpc/Contents/MacOS/com.apple.audio.DriverHelper
_coreaudiod 356 0.0 0.0 34318984 5880 ?? Ss 2:37PM 0:00.05 /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL/tb3Plugin.driver/Contents/MacOS/tb3Plugin
_coreaudiod 355 0.0 0.0 34392680 6956 ?? Ss 2:37PM 0:03.22 /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL/RMEUsbAsp.driver/Contents/MacOS/RMEUsbAsp
_coreaudiod 354 0.0 0.0 33901040 3488 ?? Ss 2:37PM 0:02.04 Core Audio Driver (ProToolsAudioBridge.driver)
...

So definitively user space driver/dext/Audio Driver Kit/Driver Kit/Systems Extension (thank you Apple for clear consistent naming) not an old style deprecated kext/kernel extension.

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My faith is DAD is restored, I feel dirty for ever doubting them, the world will still go on, and I still want a MTRX Studio

[ntp-jl]

Originally Posted by TheoNogueira

We are setting up an atmos mix cinema and got the MTRX Studio. I am not there right now, but spent the whole afternoon trying to get the iMac to recognize the interface via thunderbolt. I have used the interface on a windows laptop and it gets recognized and appears on DADMan.

I realized that the mac has lots of issues installing the thunderbolt driver and doesn’t seem complete the installation properly. I am not sure why and can’t move forward on this. Is there a new driver link or anything I can do?

For background, it is an iMac 2020 i9 with plenty of space on storage and 64gb of RAM. It is now on Ventura. I have updated it from Monterey today, thinking it could solve the issue, but it still doesn’t complete the driver install correctly.

The most common issue with the Thunder Core driver on Mac is that people don't enable/allow system extensions during installation of the driver. There is a pop-up window during the installation where the driver asks you to enable/allow system extensions.

First step in a troubleshooting proces is therefore to launch the DADDriverSetup app and go to About. This will show whether system extensions are allowed or not, as in this example.