Ventura Hack for FireWire Core Aud… | Apple Developer Forums

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Hi all,

Apple dropping on-going development for FireWire devices that were supported with the Core Audio driver standard is a catastrophe for a lot of struggling musicians who need to both keep up to date on security updates that come with new OS releases, and continue to utilise their hard earned investments in very expensive and still pristine audio devices that have been reduced to e-waste by Apple's seemingly tone-deaf ignorance in the cries for on-going support.

I have one of said audio devices, and I'd like to keep using it while keeping my 2019 Intel Mac Book Pro up to date with the latest security updates and OS features.

Probably not the first time you gurus have had someone make the logical leap leading to a request for something like this, but I was wondering if it might be somehow possible of shoe-horning the code used in previous versions of Mac OS that allowed the Mac to speak with the audio features of such devices to run inside the Ventura version of the OS.

Would it possible? Would it involve a lot of work? I don't think I'd be the only person willing to pay for a third party application or utility that restored this functionality.

There has to be 100's of thousands of people who would be happy to spare some cash to stop their multi-thousand dollar investment in gear to be so thoughtlessly resigned to the scrap heap.

Any comments or layman-friendly explanations as to why this couldn’t happen would be gratefully received!

Thanks,

em

14k

Posted by

emihatov

Reply

same for me, it is a shame to trash useful hardware for questionable features, I cannot see any reason why not support fw audio devices anymore. I still like the Ventura upgrade but I have to downgrade because of this and then what, buy new audio device or look elsewhere for support?

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pgour
I was unable to get this fix/hack to install. System would not grant permission even though I disabled security mode. I am desperate for a fix. Any ideas?

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BurgerPalaceAudio
I will add, I am a professional Voice Actor with studio equipment that has required endless cables and adapters to accommodate new Mac upgrades but this is a real kick in the pants. I hope MAC places a real fix in the OS because this is the livelihood of many studio owners.

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BurgerPalaceAudio

Accepted Reply

Same here, really not happy with Apple on this one. Planned obsolescence on perfectly working hardware

Posted by

EuroGuybrush

Does anyone know how to copy AppleFWAudio.kext to Exrtensions?

—
andyzha1

Replies

I also would like CoreAudio over Firewire to be .. Restored!

How is removing perfectly working code that many depend on .. helping Apple users or .. Apple?

I went back to Monterey because of this!!

Posted by

mobileExplorer

I'm thinking of doing the same. Either that or buying another computer (windows?) specifically for the purpose of being able to continue to use my expensive hardware. Very frustrating, and tone-deaf on Apple's behalf. So far, no one has come back to me on many different forums to explain why this had to happen. What the reason was to remove something that worked fine in previous versions of the OS, but now have been deliberately removed.

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emihatov

Same here, really not happy with Apple on this one. Planned obsolescence on perfectly working hardware

Posted by

EuroGuybrush

Does anyone know how to copy AppleFWAudio.kext to Exrtensions?

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andyzha1

I figured it out. It's a hack, but it works. I have an Onyx 1620i Firewire Recording Mixer running perfectly with Ventura!

AppleFWAudio.kext was removed from Ventura. I took a Mac that still has Monterey, took AppleFWAudio.kext, and modified it slightly so it would install on Ventura. The installation process is the same as installing any third party kernel extension, so you'll have to grant permission in System Settings once prompted.

I made an installer package to make this easier for everybody else. I think for this to work, you must disable SIP first.

The google drive link below is a download of the installer package I made. I suggest using the free Suspicious Package application developed by Mothers Ruin Software to inspect this installer package, so you know that it does what I'm telling you it does.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1J5k3lndFmebPOnjlIOY7CEvinSV1xfX0/view?usp=share_link

Posted by

matt9

Why can't I install it successfully? I have disabled SIP, thank you！

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andyzha1
I already installed it， but it doesn´t work. I can see I have a FireWire equipment in my MAC, but it cannot recognise to be as sound equipment. What should I do. Thanks

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andyzha1
Matt, Thank-you so very much for your work with this. I thank my lucky stars that there are decent people like you who go to this kind of trouble to help others with things like this. Do you have a way I can gift you a coffee or something?

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emihatov

Does anyone know how to copy AppleFWAudio.kext to Exrtensions?

Posted by

andyzha1

What a fantastic piece of re-programming. Well done Matt9. Thank you very much! **

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DDD32

I subscribe to this in the idea that maybe some Apple people see it. Is there a more known request/pool/petition that I can contribute to?

Regarding matt9's hack, well, we all really appreciate it man. Does it work for everybody that tried it? I'm thinking about upgrading to Ventura to try this also, I have a perfectly working RME Fireface 400 interface. But not sure how an eventual downgrade would work or if I would need to actually reinstall everything from scratch..

Posted by

jazzmanro

RME Fireface 400 works fine with my iMac on Ventura but the Onyx 820i disappeared from the list of available sound cards... Had the onyx going through the RME for years with Onyx firewire into RME / RME out on one Firewire into Mac with thunderbolt adapter.

Used them as individual sound cards and as aggregate device with both mapped with this connection

Seems firewire does work but not with all devices

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mattsounduk

Works 100% with my Mackie Onyx 1640i. Wonderful! SIP needs to stay disabled for it to work, so there's a risk there, but one I'm happy to take.

Posted by

emihatov

Works great with Mac mini m1, Ventura 13.2

Posted by

MehGtr

If you have any familiarity with the 'underground collective who builds Mac clones using regular PC parts' - you may have heard of an app called Kext Wizard. It's used to do just exactly this sort of thing (properly install kexts & then rebuilds permissions).

Posted by

DBProductions

Indeed, we should start a petition to demand that Apple maintain backward compatibility with FireWire. Because not only audio devices use this protocol. Thank you for this patch that gives hope.

Posted by

NoSpy

I am in the same boat... Maybe Apple is more sensitive for security risks. And this decision does introduce a risk caused by an Apple decision. Very often a seemingly more secure, but in reality more complicated technology completely removes security in the real world. People need to get work done, if security measures are in the way, they bypass them. This is a perfect example, it should be reported as a security flaw! Maybe they are willing to listen to that aspect...

Posted by

TjShredder

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254322119

send Apple a request in the hope that they will listen https://www.apple.com/feedback/macos.html

Posted by

SF00

Hoping Apple will reply, or even notice, a few requests among the millions received daily, may be a tad optimistic. However, how would we go about creating petition, or some kind of group poll, that they might react too? What would be the best format to accomplish this in?

Posted by

Featherlightstudio

Unfortunately doesn't work with my Motu Traveler v1 on M2 pro Mac mini. I tried installing with Kext Wizard and pacifist after disabling SIP and it never shows up after multiple restarts and accepting extensions in system settings.

Any extra advice on how to get this working is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Posted by

mattdopamine

Hi @matt9 thanks for the link and the hack but it is not installing properly on Ventura 13.2.1 on my macbook pro M2. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Posted by

ftico

Finally got it working on M1 (Ventura).

In recovery mode enabled Startup Security Utility > Security Policy... Allow user management of kernel extensions...
Installed AppleFWAudioVentura.pkg which basically installs AppleFWAudio.kext to the "/Library/Extensions"
Now my device is visible under Audio Midi Setup and any DAW
Maestro 2 (for Apogee Duet Firewire) still doesn't see device, even that I have working duetDaemon (running as Intel)

Posted by

SooperSergDev

@matt9 how can i rollback the installer? I've installed it in Sonoma, but it doesn't work for my Apogee Duet 1 FW. I'd like to roll back any config changes. Thanks,

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teknomuzik
@matt9 nevermind, managed to do it. the new AppleFWAudio.kext managed to make the Duet visible for the OS but either was not recognized by the Maestro 2 software, or when it was, it was not outputting any audio. Also made the OS boot time a bit slower. I'm thinking going back to Catalina until something more reliable pops up, if ever... btw i'm on a macmini6,2

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teknomuzik