Doktor Avalanche 
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New BETA driver Saffire Pro users
This beta has been out for a month now... http://beta.focusrite.com/ If you install it please remember to remove the Windows legacy firewire driver if you are running it (no longer recommended by Focusrite). You also need to reboot even though it does not prompt for it (in my case it did not install the driver correctly until it was done). You may wish to consider saving your settings, clearing your settings, doing a hardware reset and reloading your settings, then save to hardware.... to clear out any...... gunk.... Try as hard as I may, I find it impossible to get Everett to drop out with the Mix Control Firewire latency set to short and ASIO set to 64 with a PRO 40. Please let me know how you get on and what you find stable. Remember this is a beta. Thanks,. p.s. Just wrote to Focusrite asking them about their Windows 10 plans and testing.
post edited by Doktor Avalanche - 2015/06/01 12:35:11
Sonar Platinum(64 bit),Win 8.1(64 bit),Saffire Pro 40(Firewire),Mix Control = 3.6,Firewire=VIA,Dell Studio XPS 8100(Intel Core i7 CPU 2.93 Ghz/16 Gb),2 x 1TB SSD (Samsung EVO 850),GeForce GTX 460,Yamaha DGX-505 keyboard,Roland A-300PRO,Roland SPD-30 V2,FD-8,Triggera Krigg,Shure SM7B,Yamaha HS5. Rap Pro,Maschine Studio+Komplete 9 Ultimate+Kontrol Z1,Addictive Keys,Waves Silver,Izotope Nectar elements,Overloud Bundle,Geist,Acronis True Image 2015.
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Doktor Avalanche
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Re: New BETA driver Saffire Pro users
2015/06/01 13:28:35
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If anybody tries this could they confirm that their firmware is still on 2761 in Help-About? (Pro40).
Thanks..
Sonar Platinum(64 bit),Win 8.1(64 bit),Saffire Pro 40(Firewire),Mix Control = 3.6,Firewire=VIA,Dell Studio XPS 8100(Intel Core i7 CPU 2.93 Ghz/16 Gb),2 x 1TB SSD (Samsung EVO 850),GeForce GTX 460,Yamaha DGX-505 keyboard,Roland A-300PRO,Roland SPD-30 V2,FD-8,Triggera Krigg,Shure SM7B,Yamaha HS5. Rap Pro,Maschine Studio+Komplete 9 Ultimate+Kontrol Z1,Addictive Keys,Waves Silver,Izotope Nectar elements,Overloud Bundle,Geist,Acronis True Image 2015.
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arachnaut
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Re: New BETA driver Saffire Pro users
2015/06/01 13:37:08
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The update worked fine for me (Pro14), I also took the Scarlett Solo beta update and applied that to my laptop. Both seem to work fine. The Pro14 firmware is as follows:  I have Firewire latency set to Medium and latency set to 512. I've had it like this for a long time and never tried to change it. Earlier drivers didn't like the Short latency setting and I never bothered to go back and re-test this.
post edited by arachnaut - 2015/06/01 13:46:07
- Jim Hurley - SONAR Platinum - x64 - Windows 10 Pro ASUS P8P67 PRO Rev 3.0; Core i7-2600K@4.4GHz; 16 GB G.SKILL Ripjaws X; GeForce GT 740; Saffire Pro14 MixControl 3.7; Axiom 61 64-Bit audio, SR: 48kHz, ASIO 256 samples latency, Rec/Play I/O Buffers 512k, Total Round Trip Latency 13 ms, Pow-r 3 dither
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Doktor Avalanche
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Re: New BETA driver Saffire Pro users
2015/06/01 13:40:09
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Thanks Arachnaut, identical for me apart from HardwareID and the Pro version understandably.
So just drivers and no firmware update this time...
Cheers!
Sonar Platinum(64 bit),Win 8.1(64 bit),Saffire Pro 40(Firewire),Mix Control = 3.6,Firewire=VIA,Dell Studio XPS 8100(Intel Core i7 CPU 2.93 Ghz/16 Gb),2 x 1TB SSD (Samsung EVO 850),GeForce GTX 460,Yamaha DGX-505 keyboard,Roland A-300PRO,Roland SPD-30 V2,FD-8,Triggera Krigg,Shure SM7B,Yamaha HS5. Rap Pro,Maschine Studio+Komplete 9 Ultimate+Kontrol Z1,Addictive Keys,Waves Silver,Izotope Nectar elements,Overloud Bundle,Geist,Acronis True Image 2015.
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arachnaut
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Re: New BETA driver Saffire Pro users
2015/06/01 13:42:25
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I just edited my previous post to add a comment about latency as you just posted.
- Jim Hurley - SONAR Platinum - x64 - Windows 10 Pro ASUS P8P67 PRO Rev 3.0; Core i7-2600K@4.4GHz; 16 GB G.SKILL Ripjaws X; GeForce GT 740; Saffire Pro14 MixControl 3.7; Axiom 61 64-Bit audio, SR: 48kHz, ASIO 256 samples latency, Rec/Play I/O Buffers 512k, Total Round Trip Latency 13 ms, Pow-r 3 dither
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bitflipper
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Re: New BETA driver Saffire Pro users
2015/06/01 16:21:23
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Any information on what's changed? Does it appear you're able to achieve lower latency without dropouts? I just need a reason to replace what ain't broke.
 All else is in doubt, so this is the truth I cling to. My Stuff
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arachnaut
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Re: New BETA driver Saffire Pro users
2015/06/01 16:59:00
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bitflipper
Any information on what's changed? Does it appear you're able to achieve lower latency without dropouts? I just need a reason to replace what ain't broke.
The main thing I noted was: - Stability fixes for all Saffire models
- Jim Hurley - SONAR Platinum - x64 - Windows 10 Pro ASUS P8P67 PRO Rev 3.0; Core i7-2600K@4.4GHz; 16 GB G.SKILL Ripjaws X; GeForce GT 740; Saffire Pro14 MixControl 3.7; Axiom 61 64-Bit audio, SR: 48kHz, ASIO 256 samples latency, Rec/Play I/O Buffers 512k, Total Round Trip Latency 13 ms, Pow-r 3 dither
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mettelus
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Re: New BETA driver Saffire Pro users
2015/06/01 18:08:08
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bitflipper
Any information on what's changed? Does it appear you're able to achieve lower latency without dropouts? I just need a reason to replace what ain't broke.
I am in the "not broke" boat, and Focusrite is very upfront about this being beta. I have enough dynamic variables on my plate already.
ASUS ROG Maximus X Hero (Wi-Fi AC), i7-8700k, 16GB RAM, GTX-1070Ti, Win 10 Pro, Saffire PRO 24 DSP, A-300 PRO, plus numerous gadgets and gizmos that make or manipulate sound in some way.
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Doktor Avalanche
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Re: New BETA driver Saffire Pro users
2015/06/01 20:05:04
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bitflipper
Any information on what's changed? Does it appear you're able to achieve lower latency without dropouts? I just need a reason to replace what ain't broke.
Yes... it definitely appears....  I'm running lower latency now. arachnaut
The main thing I noted was:
- Stability fixes for all Saffire models
For me less clicks and pops, well that's my perception. And no more dropouts every now and then (well not yet anyway)... I'm testing as Focusrite requires, that is without firewire legacy drivers, and in my case the VIA drivers supplied with Windows... Then again you could blame Everett for this improvement as well.... I will be rolling back to Dorchester soon however for reasons off topic. Ta.
post edited by Doktor Avalanche - 2015/06/01 20:12:14
Sonar Platinum(64 bit),Win 8.1(64 bit),Saffire Pro 40(Firewire),Mix Control = 3.6,Firewire=VIA,Dell Studio XPS 8100(Intel Core i7 CPU 2.93 Ghz/16 Gb),2 x 1TB SSD (Samsung EVO 850),GeForce GTX 460,Yamaha DGX-505 keyboard,Roland A-300PRO,Roland SPD-30 V2,FD-8,Triggera Krigg,Shure SM7B,Yamaha HS5. Rap Pro,Maschine Studio+Komplete 9 Ultimate+Kontrol Z1,Addictive Keys,Waves Silver,Izotope Nectar elements,Overloud Bundle,Geist,Acronis True Image 2015.
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bitflipper
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Re: New BETA driver Saffire Pro users
2015/06/01 20:07:59
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"stability fixes" sounds good, but could they be any more vague?
I've only been running this Focusrite interface since January, but to date it's never burped once.
Its MOTU predecessor, OTOH, regularly took unauthorized breaks from duty and had to be rebooted.
All else is in doubt, so this is the truth I cling to. My Stuff
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Doktor Avalanche
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Re: New BETA driver Saffire Pro users
2015/06/01 20:16:19
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Regardless, I think it's not that risky as there is no firmware upgrade, you can always roll back....
Sonar Platinum(64 bit),Win 8.1(64 bit),Saffire Pro 40(Firewire),Mix Control = 3.6,Firewire=VIA,Dell Studio XPS 8100(Intel Core i7 CPU 2.93 Ghz/16 Gb),2 x 1TB SSD (Samsung EVO 850),GeForce GTX 460,Yamaha DGX-505 keyboard,Roland A-300PRO,Roland SPD-30 V2,FD-8,Triggera Krigg,Shure SM7B,Yamaha HS5. Rap Pro,Maschine Studio+Komplete 9 Ultimate+Kontrol Z1,Addictive Keys,Waves Silver,Izotope Nectar elements,Overloud Bundle,Geist,Acronis True Image 2015.
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arachnaut
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Re: New BETA driver Saffire Pro users
2015/06/01 22:17:40
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My own feeling is this. I make a backup image of the system - it takes about 15-20 minutes. Try some new stuff. If it works - keep it. If not, restore old image. That takes about 20 minutes. So it only takes about an hour to try something risky. I am not usually of the mind 'that if it ain't broke...' because you never know when something will break due to all the constant updates we get. I am a hobbyist, so this is just fun for me, it's not a business. Anyway, I used an older project that I made to test system performance. The project has 20 tracks, each running a very CPU intensive performance in Maschine 2. Each track is running a different performance and each one uses a lot of effects on the sounds. The output is nonsensical, because the performances are random, but I can tell if there are dropouts, etc. The following shows the latest results with the new Focusrite drivers, Sonar Everest, and all the latest 'soon-to-be-Win 10' stuff. I have Kaspersky 2015 running and all the networking stuff. If I had to, I could disable a lot of services and features, but I don't have to do that. You can see the 8 cores are all reasonably well distributed. The CPU is running at 4.3 gHz on most cores and the temperature is 70C - about as high as I ever see it. Latency is fine. I let this run for a while and then load LatencyMon and grab this picture: (You can right-click, load in new tab to see it full-sized)  It's not any slower than in the past, that's for sure. Maybe a bit faster. I should throw in a few instances of Kaleidoscope to stress it some more. During all this, mouse and Windowing performance is fine with no sluggishness.
post edited by arachnaut - 2015/06/01 22:24:38
- Jim Hurley - SONAR Platinum - x64 - Windows 10 Pro ASUS P8P67 PRO Rev 3.0; Core i7-2600K@4.4GHz; 16 GB G.SKILL Ripjaws X; GeForce GT 740; Saffire Pro14 MixControl 3.7; Axiom 61 64-Bit audio, SR: 48kHz, ASIO 256 samples latency, Rec/Play I/O Buffers 512k, Total Round Trip Latency 13 ms, Pow-r 3 dither
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arachnaut
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Re: New BETA driver Saffire Pro users
2015/06/01 22:36:08
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I found an older latency test from Sonar X2 and Windows 7, but the same hardware. Win 8 is much better than Win 7 for this sort of thing: 
- Jim Hurley - SONAR Platinum - x64 - Windows 10 Pro ASUS P8P67 PRO Rev 3.0; Core i7-2600K@4.4GHz; 16 GB G.SKILL Ripjaws X; GeForce GT 740; Saffire Pro14 MixControl 3.7; Axiom 61 64-Bit audio, SR: 48kHz, ASIO 256 samples latency, Rec/Play I/O Buffers 512k, Total Round Trip Latency 13 ms, Pow-r 3 dither
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Doktor Avalanche
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Re: New BETA driver Saffire Pro users
2015/06/02 00:25:40
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So I'm back on medium firewire latency and 128 for ASIO. Can anybody do better than that?
I do note the Saffire appears optimized for 48/24 from loopback tests.
Sonar Platinum(64 bit),Win 8.1(64 bit),Saffire Pro 40(Firewire),Mix Control = 3.6,Firewire=VIA,Dell Studio XPS 8100(Intel Core i7 CPU 2.93 Ghz/16 Gb),2 x 1TB SSD (Samsung EVO 850),GeForce GTX 460,Yamaha DGX-505 keyboard,Roland A-300PRO,Roland SPD-30 V2,FD-8,Triggera Krigg,Shure SM7B,Yamaha HS5. Rap Pro,Maschine Studio+Komplete 9 Ultimate+Kontrol Z1,Addictive Keys,Waves Silver,Izotope Nectar elements,Overloud Bundle,Geist,Acronis True Image 2015.
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arachnaut
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Re: New BETA driver Saffire Pro users
2015/06/02 02:39:52
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I've settled on 512 samples because I use so many high CPU effects.
In particular Kaleidoscope needs a pretty large buffer.
There were a few other initializations settings I tweaked:
DropoutMsec=500
ExtraPluginBufs=2048
MinimizeDriverStateChanges=3
- Jim Hurley - SONAR Platinum - x64 - Windows 10 Pro ASUS P8P67 PRO Rev 3.0; Core i7-2600K@4.4GHz; 16 GB G.SKILL Ripjaws X; GeForce GT 740; Saffire Pro14 MixControl 3.7; Axiom 61 64-Bit audio, SR: 48kHz, ASIO 256 samples latency, Rec/Play I/O Buffers 512k, Total Round Trip Latency 13 ms, Pow-r 3 dither
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Doktor Avalanche
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Re: New BETA driver Saffire Pro users
2015/06/02 07:17:14
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All interesting stuff thanks... Reply from Focusrite today... Thank you for your email to Focusrite Technical Support UK. We are currently working on drivers for Windows 10.Please register your email address on our beta testing website. The address is:http://beta.focusrite.com
Sonar Platinum(64 bit),Win 8.1(64 bit),Saffire Pro 40(Firewire),Mix Control = 3.6,Firewire=VIA,Dell Studio XPS 8100(Intel Core i7 CPU 2.93 Ghz/16 Gb),2 x 1TB SSD (Samsung EVO 850),GeForce GTX 460,Yamaha DGX-505 keyboard,Roland A-300PRO,Roland SPD-30 V2,FD-8,Triggera Krigg,Shure SM7B,Yamaha HS5. Rap Pro,Maschine Studio+Komplete 9 Ultimate+Kontrol Z1,Addictive Keys,Waves Silver,Izotope Nectar elements,Overloud Bundle,Geist,Acronis True Image 2015.
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Doktor Avalanche
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Re: New BETA driver Saffire Pro users
2015/06/02 14:55:29
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@arachnaut...
On latency montior I notice wdf01000.sys on your screenshots.
For me the DPC goes up about 2000 a second. It more or less stops if I turn off the Saffire ... Is that your experience?
Sonar Platinum(64 bit),Win 8.1(64 bit),Saffire Pro 40(Firewire),Mix Control = 3.6,Firewire=VIA,Dell Studio XPS 8100(Intel Core i7 CPU 2.93 Ghz/16 Gb),2 x 1TB SSD (Samsung EVO 850),GeForce GTX 460,Yamaha DGX-505 keyboard,Roland A-300PRO,Roland SPD-30 V2,FD-8,Triggera Krigg,Shure SM7B,Yamaha HS5. Rap Pro,Maschine Studio+Komplete 9 Ultimate+Kontrol Z1,Addictive Keys,Waves Silver,Izotope Nectar elements,Overloud Bundle,Geist,Acronis True Image 2015.
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