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Old 07-23-2018, 10:32 AM   #1
jimbobbley
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Default Dual laptop / dual RME setup - one laptop fine, the other stops communicating with sc

Hi all



I run 2 x Macbook Pros (15" early 2013 versions) side by side, into 2 separate RME Fireface UC units, to perform live. Both soundcard outputs are fed into a Radial SW8 and if the A laptop fails, in theory B is running at the same time and can take over the audio output.

Both laptops are the exact same spec, exact same Reaper version, RME drivers, plugins, projects (everything is mirrored from one to the other), so in theory there is no difference between the two.

At two separate shows this weekend the B laptop stopped talking to the soundcard properly as it would no longer start playback or trigger any samples. It had been working fine, then was not; no obvious reason for it, nothing had been moved or hit or unplugged or changed.

I use Reaper (and RME) because of its exceptional stability and reliability in a live environment so am slightly unnerved that this has happened after over a year of gigging. The only thing that seemed to get Reaper talking to the soundcard again - even though I could still see in the Audio I/O window that it thought it was connected, and the RME driver / Fireface Totalmix thing was still running - was doing a hard reset, which is not ideal when trying to run a live show.

Has anyone had experience of this? What could it be? If it were a driver issue I'd have thought I'd get it on both machines... I don't believe it's a hardware issue either as both units are in good condition and housed securely in a well-mounted rack, transported in a shockmounted case.

I'm going to replace all the USB cables in case it's as something as simple as that.. no power was lost at any point either.

tech specs:

Mac OS Sierra 10.12.5
Reaper v5.52 64 bit (I generally don't upgrade to the latest of anything while running a software / system combo I know to be stable, which was the case up until now)
RME Totalmix v1.4
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Old 07-23-2018, 11:09 AM   #2
serr
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If the system drives are a 1:1 clone along with identical hardware as noted, I'd swap out the USB cable first. A connection glitch could lead to the audio interface disconnecting.

That Radial SW8 is detecting audio (like a gate). There's no connection to any logic monitoring that could complicate the issue so it's unlikely to be that.

You didn't describe how you manage both the RME interface and your built-in interface (sound card). Unless you meant to say your "RME interface" instead of your "sound card"? But if the two setups are identical and the system drives are 1:1 clones of each other (and you specifically only even manage one machine and then clone the other from it to force the issue) then that should be a moot point.

The common logic board failure on that model MBP is a graphics circuit failure (not the GPU - different chip with design and solder issues). The symptoms usually include the screen turning off and/or kernel panics. Audio interface disconnecting doesn't sound related.

Question:
Did you try re-selecting the interface or aggregate in Reaper Preferences/Audio/Device before restarting the machine? (Select it again from the dropdown device menu - even though it looks still selected - and then click apply.) Are you saying that didn't work and you had to reboot or did you not try that?
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Old 07-23-2018, 12:11 PM   #3
jimbobbley
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Hey - thanks for the reply. Sounds like maybe USB is the issue then and would be the easiest (and cheapest) thing to fix.

Re your Qs:

Sorry, yes, the RME Fireface interface is the soundcard and there is one Fireface per machine.

I can't honestly remember if I pressed 'Apply' or just 'OK' once I'd opened the Audio I/O to check that it was still 'seeing' the RME - once I saw that it was I think it's more likely I pressed 'OK'. I did try to restart Reaper first though, which should force it to look again for the SC, and it still showed the same problem - the only thing that made it look for it properly, and see it again, was a full restart.
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