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Using a Presonus Quantum Thunderbolt 2 Audio Interface...HELP

CDT

Joined
Jun 21, 2017
Messages
10
Motherboard
Gigabyte Z170X-Ultra Gaming (F22 Bios Update)
CPU
i7 6700 Skylake
Graphics
ATI Radeon RX 580 8Gb
I have successfully gotten my Hackintosh up and running... I have a Focusrite Claret 8pre Thunderbot ONE interface that works on my Sierra installation AND when I boot into windows... HOWEVER, I also have a Presonus Quantum Thunderbolt 2 interface that I can only get to work in Windows... I installed the Presonus drivers in both windows and Mac, but I just cannot get the Sierra side of things to "see" the Quantum interface. As I said, it works find in Windows from dual boot, and the Focusrite works on BOTH windows and the Sierra install... I have tried so many things i am misremembering what I did and when... So, any help or experienced peeps helping would be MUCH appreciated.

On the Presonus website I guess someone had asked if the interface would work on a "non-mac hardware spec machine" (i.e., a Hackintosh) and they basically took the 5th on it, saying that they only supported Mac specific machines, but, what else are they gonna say?

Any help or suggestions would be MUCH appreciated. Thanks. Let me know if I need to post any details of my install etc.
Cam
 
Even though I am probably not going to be able to contribute much to a solution, I would like to say that I am interested in a solution for this as well. I have a Gigabyte Z270-UD5 build with a passively cooled i7 7700, which I intend to use for making music. I specifically chose a board with Thunderbolt 3 for connecting an audio interface. I haven't decided on which audio interface to get, but it is probably going to be either the Focusrite Claret 8pre or the Presonus Quantum. I will probably try both on both Windows and Mac OS and see which configuration gives me the lowest latency without audio dropouts.

@CDT: Are you using a TB3 to TB adapter? If so which one?
 
I am using the Apple TB3 to TB adapter. I got a response from Presonus themselves on my FB page when I asked if that was an appropriate adapter for the Quantum (and they said absolutely). The Focusrite works fine in Windows and Mac using the adapter on my build, and I get decent low latency. The Quantum works on my Windows boot but NOT on my Mac OS side of my build... The latency in windows is lower as reported by Studio One when I am in windows, but that is NOT a reflection of any real world recording and playback situations.

Both the 8pre and Quantum are low latency period. And the 8pre sounds GREAT... The Quantum sounds as good though.

I suspect that the reason I cannot get the device to be recognized in Mac is because Presonus has a Thunderbolt Driver that you have to install (and I did), but it still didn't recognize in my Mac OS when I rebooted. And infact, after I installed the Presonus drivers, I had to go back and reinstall some boot options using CLOVER to get my GeForce GTI 1050 to stay on the nVidia driver....

I have tried all sorts of things to get the Quantum to be recognized, but to no avail. So, at this point, all I can offer is that I got the 8pre going on my Hackintosh ok, I think because they don't use any special Thunderbolt drivers... Not so for the Quantum... If you are wanting mac OS specifically (which I would prefer) then at least my experience suggests you get the 8pre...

There are features on the Quantum that I like, and I am a Presonus user (specifically Studio One), so I am thinking I may just scrap the whole Hackintosh and install Windows and go that route... Don't want to, but may have to if I want to keep the Quantum...

Cam
 
Hey Cam - did you get any further with your Quantum on the Hackintosh? I've been eyeing the Quantum 2, and if it will only perform on my windows drive, then it's a no-go

Oscar
 
I just picked up a Quantum and wished I read this thread...

I am going to try a few things to see if I can get it to recognize, but in a response from persons, it looks like their Mac drivers are digitally signed...So there might be particular Mac hardware id numbers it looks for that are not present in mackintosh parts.

If there was a kext file that looked for this stuff we could potentially fake the search of matching id's or whatever.

EDIT: UPDATE :

I checked the quantum on two computers:
• Asus Z97-AR with TB 2 PCIE card -- Result : NO GO
• Gigabyte Z170X-Gaming 7 -- Result : NO GO

So to me this means that the drivers look for digitally signed hardware. I don't think any TB settings in UEFI will help us here.

returning the Quantum to get the Focusrite Clarett 8 PreX 2U unit. So far that seems to run okay with hack's.
 
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Does anyone have new info on this? I just got a quantum and it isn't recognized. Hope I don't have to sell it
 
I have enabled TB on my Asus Z270 Prime A, and am about to write a guide on this. If you are a bit desperate you can google 'enabling Asus Thunderbolt EX3'. For the Asus boards it is a three step process. You first must enable almost all the TB options in the BIOS and connect to the bottom PCIE slot with the header cable. Then using Windows, install a series of .INF files from one of their zip packages in sequence, install the Asus TB tool, reboot, pull cable/shutdown for 30 secs and then restart back into Windows. Then run the Asus TB tool, and once that is confirmed running with the card detected, install the firmware update software. Once that is completed you reboot and that should allow your system to see the drives, but the TB support for oprom and some other settings must be disable for OSX to see the drive (and it must be connected at boot time).

For the Gigabyte boards you could perhaps try the methods listed here > https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...3-test-build-ga-z170x-ud5-th-i5-6600k.199242/
 
thanks–I have the z170 so I'll check that thread–glad you got it working!
 
yeah tb2 was working fine with my apollo quad, this must be a presonus issue and as they aren't willing to help looks like I will also have to jump over to focusrite or rme, etc.
 
I got the startech adapter, now the PC side is recognizing the quantum but not the osx side. I guess I'll go to the other thread but the guy who built the hack said not to change anything. I'm obviously clueless in this arena–haven't owned a pc since 2005
 
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