Windows and firewire audio interfaces

Question

I have a new MBP I'm getting set up with windows, and everything has gone fine but I'm stuck trying to get my Presonus Firebox audio interface to work. I've been poking around and it seems to be a pretty wide spread problem, so I thought I would consolidate some information and hopefully get a few recommendations.
My basic problem is that the Firebox seems to install fine, but is not useable by any application (ASIO reports the error "No sound device is connected to the PC." when selecting the Firebox). I've done the usual tests, and the device works fine in OS X, in Windows on different computers, etc. Only issue is in Windows running under boot camp.
The problem doesn't seem confined to a specific windows version (personally tried XP SP2 and SP3, seen reports of Vista).
The problem doesn't seem confined to a specific audio interface. In addition to my Firebox, I've seen reports for
Edirol FA-101
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1528317&tstart=0
Presonus Firestudio
M-Audio ProFire 26
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7254908&#7254908
Tascam Fw1082
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7274776&#7274776
The problem does not seem to be about the firewire chipset (I've seen reports of problems with some chipsets, but my MBP is several days old with the TI chipset, which as far as I know has no known problems).
The primary app I use that's critical needs ASIO drivers, so I installed ASIO4ALL and that works fine -- it's not a long-term solution, but I can run with it for a little while. Right now I'm primarily interested in understanding what the variables are, i.e., are there any interfaces known to work with my config of hardware, or is there anyone using my config that's running one of these 'problem' interfaces without problems? I've got the 15" MBP at 2.6, with 4 GB of main memory and 512 MB of video.
thanks much,
eric

Answer 1

Also please have some sympathy for the Apple programmers.
This has been an extremely frustrating experience, and it's started me off on the mac platform feeling pretty negatively toward apple. I get that boot camp is a collision of independent companies where no one really has full responsibility, and I don't fault apple for bad drivers (including some REALLY bad drivers, like the broadcom wireless, which I think is dubious to even claim that it works). I have two basic issues with apple: I wish they would have acknowledged the existing problems on the front page of the support, and provided links (making sure everyone knows up front you should try turning off wireless would resolve a number of complaints here). Also, for us laptop users, I have issues with being dependent on apple for drivers (i.e. for the nvidia card). Not knowing if a problem is fixed by a recent driver, and not having access to that driver, is very frustrating. There's the same problem with PC vendors, but at least they have market pressure to keep drivers up to date; Apple has a monopoly on machines that run OS X.
How do you like that Tascam unit?
Now that I've had it a little while, I'm very impressed. What I don't like:
* The largish form factor and ridiculous big knob and buttons that I find worthless.
What I'm ambivalent on:
* The sound quality -- at first I thought it wasn't very good, but I suspect I was being subtly influenced by the fact that I think it's hideously ugly. Now, with it at home and integrated, it sounds pretty good, the output at least is approaching the firebox/828mkII range. Don't know about the preamps, that's hard to say without A/Bing but they are at least decent. Overall I have no complaints at all with the sound quality, certainly not enough for me to pull out another device and really try and compare.
What I like:
* The drivers are multiclient, letting multiple audio apps run simultaneously -- not sure how common that is, half the interfaces I've owned can do that and half can't.
* Fully bus-powered. The firebox has a problem where, on the new MBP, you need to have the power supply plugged in when first starting up; it's nice to not deal with that.
* And then a couple small things that are obvious from the pictures: The knobs are reasonably spaced (the firebox and some motu's are way too close together); dual headphone jacks is nice; independent volume and gain controls on everything is nice (my old 828mkII had a single encoder for both volume and main outs, which drove me nuts).
Overall, for the price you can get them at now (US$135), I think it's a really, really good deal.