Want to move to Windows 8 - Concerned about drivers for my Mackie 1200f

I have the same question about the Mackie 400F (the even lesser-known or supported precursor to the 1200F).  As far as I know, there are separate FW drivers for the 400F and 1200F; i.e. they don't work with each other.  Also, the Mackie website lists a 400F driver for Win 7 but not 8 (I'm still on Vista so have no experience with the 7 driver); for the 1200F there's only a Vista driver.  So if you're using it with Win 7 and it works, maybe it will work with Win 8, and maybe the 400F driver will work with Win 8 too (even though the website says it's for "Win 7 ONLY").  Or maybe we'll upgrade the OS and have a non-functioning audio interface.  
 
What driver version are you using for Win 7?  Looks like the latest 1200F driver is version 4.6.0.
 
ld

I agree about the Onyx FW boxes being underrated and under supported.  The 400F was pretty much abandoned as soon as it was released.  They contracted the FW driver out and couldn't fix it when it didn't work with OSX.  I had to buy a MOTU interface to replace it, but in the end kept it because of the pre's.  It was worth the $700 just for the 4 pre's which are better than anything I've used besides my UA 6176 - crazy, surprisingly good.  (Interestingly, the box says something like "preamp with Firewire" as opposed to "audio interface", suggesting it was designed as a killer preamp box, with FW thrown in for good measure.)  And the converters in it sound really nice too.  But I won't be buying anything with a driver from Mackie again.  I would say "nothing" from them again, to protest their jackleg customer support on principle, but they're sadly not exceptional from what I can tell.  It's the name of the game for so many prosumer companies - release stuff before it's really ready, hype/market it, then move on to the next thing.  Customer/product support costs money, doesn't make money (that seems to be their short-sighted view anyway).
 
Back on topic, still would like to hear if anyone has any experience with either of these boxes and Win 8...
ld

I'm late to this thread but maybe a couple of you are still watching and waiting. I'm one of the handful of Mackie 1200F users and have been running it for many years under WinXP. The last official driver and control panel on the Windows side is 4.6.something. It was released for Vista but not updated for Win7. Do I understand correctly that this driver for the 1200F works with Windows 7?
 
They did release a Windows 7 driver for the 400F. but decided not to spend the money for a Win7 driver for the 1200F because they sold so few 1200Fs (though quite a decent lot of 400Fs). The 1200F and 400F use the same driver and control panel for Vista (version 4.6), though, at least for the 1200F, there's a firmware update that goes along with the driver update from the last XP driver, version 3.2.8
 
I have a computer with Vista and a Firewire interface. I'd like to try the 1200F with that computer and some software that requires at least a dual core CPU and all of my WinXP computers are Pentium 4s. But since the Vista computer isn't my main audio computer, when I get bored playing with the Mixbus software, I'd like to be able to move the 1200F back to the XP computer.
 
So here's my conundrum. I asked Mackie if the firmware upgrade that goes with the Vista driver would "break" it for working with the XP driver and control panel. They believed that it would still work but that it might be a little buggy. They don't support that configuration, and there's no official record of having tested it.
 
I'd like if anyone here has tried a Vista updated 1200F under Windows XP and can report how well it works, or doesn't. I'm willing to be a guinea pig, but I'd like to be able to "downgrade" it back to its present firmware if I find problems with the new firmware and the XP driver. Mackie doesn't have a stand-alone utility to read and save the existing firmware so that it can be re-installed. I'm sure one exists (they are, too) but, again, they don't support the interface any longer, not even for old friends like me, so they can't be of any further help.
 
My next step is to try to find someone cooperative at Echo, since they did the drivers for the 1200F, and see if they can either send me a flash loader or tell me where to go to get it, but I don't have a lot of hope for it. This forum is the only place where I've found any 1200F users, so I thought I'd inquire here first.
 
 

smallstonefan
I have the driver working fine in 64bit Windows 7, but I haven't had the guts to move to Windows 8. Sorry I can't be of more help.

Thanks. My Win7 setup is 32-bit but since my 1200F is working with 32-bit XP and yours is working with 64-bit Win7, there's a pretty good chance that it'll work under 32-bit Win7.
 
As for Windows 8, well, Mackie is pretty adamant that they don't really know anything about the 1200F beyond the last update for Vista, and that they don't have the time or resources to dig back into their old software stuff to see if they can find the flash memory loaded program that would allow me to "downgrade" to the earlier firmware version in case I'm not happy with how it works under XP with the new firmware. They were pretty encouraging, but they were also clear that they had never tested the new firmware under either XP or Win7 and that they had no intent on doing so, or supporting a downgrade if I wanted one. And this is from folks at Mackie who I consider friends, so I guess that's all they have to say and do for us.
 
   -  Mike

solaceten
I have a Onyx400f too
Will soon be upgrading to Win7 from XP - Curious to know did you use the Win 7 driver on the mackie site, or the vista driver?

 
I don't see any reason to use the Vista driver with Windows 7 when there's a Windows 7 driver (the last gasp for the F series). However, the Vista installer includes a firmware update to the 400F and I don't know if the Win7 installer includes the same update. You might want to e-mail Mackie Tech Support about this.

Would also love to know if anyone knows of a linux driver.

No, nobody's written one, not Mackie, not Echo, not some smart Linux user who has a 400F (or a 1200F for that matter). The FFADO Project (Free Firewire Audio Driver Organization) for Linux reports it as "Unknown" which means that someone things it's important enough to put on the "someone should write a driver for this" but nobody has done it yet. The problem is that without some documentation for an existing driver it's nearly impossible to reverse engineer a driver from the hardware. And before you rag on Mackie for not releasing the driver documentation for a product that's no longer supported, understand that Mackie didn't write the driver, Echo did. It's Echo's intellectual property, and I wouldn't be surprised if some of what's in that driver is still part of some of their current products, or that a competitor would like to get hold of it. That's the way it goes with Software. It may be possible that some day an audio I/O driver for Linux might appear, but the real value of the Mackie Fs is with the built-in mixer and control panel, and nobody's going to write Linux software for that.
 
If you want to use a Mackie Firewire device with Linux, the original Onyx mixer with the Firewire option is "fully supported." But the i series isn't.
 

smallstonefan
Just an update - I finally took the plunge and moved to Windows 8.1 this week. 
 
I am very happy to report my Mackie drivers seem to be working just fine. The touch is so much better in win 8 than 7 I am now going to sell my Mackie Control Universal Pro. :)

What driver are you using? The 4.6 Vista version which includes a firmware update? (SetupOnyxFSeries_4.6.exe on the Mackie web site)?  I've been skittish about doing that update because the primary computer that I use the 400F with is still running Windows XP and will continue to do so until it decays into a pile of rust. Mackie never tested it with XP and doesn't want to bother. They said it might work. I suppose I could just use the 1200F with one of the Vista or Win7 computers.
 

The only exception is my Frontier Tranzport, I had to install it in a Vista compatibility mode (it does not have Win 7 specific drivers, only XP and Vista).
 
I just thought I'd mention, I have two Frontier Tranzport's both working on Windows 7 64bit - I did not have to load anything on my systems, just plugged them in and they both worked perfectly!
I just keep my fingers crossed that both my Tranzports's keep working - I find them indispensable and why they stopped making them I'll never know!
Nigel
 

Hi Tony,
I believe I'm running the drivers from here:
http://www.mackie.com/products/1200f/downloads.html
 
Also, I heard bad things about firewire connectors on the motherboard, so I went with a Texas Instruments chip PCI card firewire and I've never had any problems. As for cables, I don't think I'm using anything special - probably the firewire cable that came with the Mackie. Good news too - it works perfectly in Windows 8.1 as well as Windows 7! :)
 
I hope this helps...

I had it working great on Windows 7 64bit. Make sure your firewire port is enabled in the BIOS; it is possible to disable the on-board firewire. 

You're welcome. I'm sorry I can't be of more help. If you know the mackie is good then I would suspect the firewire port on your motherboard is disabled or not compatible.
 
Looking in my Device Manager, my firewire card is listed as the following:
 
Texas Instruments 1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller
 
I think the key here is the 1394 firewire chip...

Let me know how it goes for you...

Bennett - I was going to post mine on ebay this week since I moved to a UA Apollo! I have a TI firewire card and cable to go with it. PM me if you're interested...

Hi Bennett,
 
I just PMd you - I suggest you delete your phone number from your post... :)