Roland Quad Capture driver update puzzle

[JapanAxe]

I record with Reaper on a mid-2014 21.5in iMac. I recently upgraded the OS to Mojave (from an OS older than Sierra). At first I thought my audio interface (Roland Quad Capture) had come through this working fine, but apparently not - it outputs audio no problem, and monitors an incoming signal, but the analog inputs (channels 1 and 2) do not reach Reaper, and neither do the internal digital ones (channels 5 and 6). I haven't tried the SPDIF inputs 3/4, but  I rarely record from this. The level meters in the Quad Capture Control Panel app reflect what is going on in the interface, but when I arm a track in Reaper and select the appropriate input channel, the meters stay dark and no audio is recorded.

Since discovering this, I have uninstalled the old drivers and installed the latest version (1.5.4 - said to be suitable for 10.13 High Sierra and 10.14 Mojave), meticulously following Roland's instructions about removing all the other USB cables first, allowing a re-start, and only connecting the interface after the drivers are loaded. Despite this, still no audio into Reaper.

There is a known issue about allowing downloaded apps, but my privacy settings permit this and no corresponding warnings came up during installation.

I have selected Quad Capture as the input and output device in Audio MIDI Setup, and all its 6 channels come up as available sources on the IN button on each track in Reaper. I have been through the Device and Recording dialog boxes in Preferences>Audio, but I can't see anything to suggest why Reaper isn't 'seeing' the Quad Capture.

Can anyone please suggest any settings I may have missed?

Thanks.

[songofthewind]

Do you have GarageBand installed on your Mac? If so, does the Roland show the same behaviour?

[JapanAxe]

14 minutes ago, songofthewind said:

Do you have GarageBand installed on your Mac? If so, does the Roland show the same behaviour?

Good idea, will try that, although I really don't get on with GarageBand!

[songofthewind]

Me neithers, but if it helps you to diagnose your issue...

[JapanAxe]

I also have Sagantech Metro, so I could try getting audio into that.

 

EDIT: scrub that, I only ever used it for MIDI, no point learning the software now!

Edited November 14, 2018 by JapanAxe

[JapanAxe]

I tried GarageBand and no audio is reaching it from the Quad Capture either.

I also noticed that when Reaper is loading up, the phrase [audio device closed] appears in the menu bar at the top of the window. I have tried unchecking the box in Preferences > Audio that says 'Close audio device when stopped and application is inactive' but no difference.

I've also been into System Preferences > Sound > Input and the level meter shows whatever signal is present at the Quad Capture inputs.

With the appropriate inputs and outputs selected, I can record from the built-in mic into the Voice Memo app (and play it back), but not into Reaper or Garageband. Now I'm thoroughly confused!

EDIT: After updating to Mojave I also installed CleanMyMac X (as recommended by @ped) - could that program have enthusiastically deleted something that I actually needed?

Edited November 14, 2018 by JapanAxe

[songofthewind]

CleanMyMac seems to be kosher.

I just downloaded the current version of Reaper, and it recognises my Apogee Duet okay. I am stumped, sorry I can't help. Have you tried Roland?

[JapanAxe]

7 hours ago, songofthewind said:

CleanMyMac seems to be kosher.

I just downloaded the current version of Reaper, and it recognises my Apogee Duet okay. I am stumped, sorry I can't help. Have you tried Roland?

No I haven’t, obvious now you mention it!

[BigRedX]

I would suggest that your update to Mojave might be the culprit, as the drivers may no longer be compatible. Has the interface worked at all since the update?

Unless you absolutely require the capabilities of Mojave for something else I suggest that you go back to your previous version of Mac OS.

[songofthewind]

Check with Roland re Mojave compatibility, or look in App Store updates to see if anything has flagged up re the Roland.

[JapanAxe]

 

2 hours ago, songofthewind said:

Check with Roland re Mojave compatibility, or look in App Store updates to see if anything has flagged up re the Roland.

 

7 hours ago, BigRedX said:

I would suggest that your update to Mojave might be the culprit, as the drivers may no longer be compatible. Has the interface worked at all since the update?

Unless you absolutely require the capabilities of Mojave for something else I suggest that you go back to your previous version of Mac OS.

According to Roland's website, the driver for High Sierra also works under Mojave. It works partially, to the extent of sending audio from Mac via Quad Capture to powered monitors, but not for passing audio from QC to Reaper (or GarageBand). I have just performed a re-install of Mojave (in case CleanMyMac had erased something it didn't oughta), and as I write I am re-installing the Quad Capture drivers. Will also check the App Store as suggested, but previous googling of the topic has returned nothing useful.

If this doesn't work I will restore to the previous OS. If that works I may still try updating to High Sierra, as I had some iTunes issues caused by me trying to roll back to an older, less annoying version of iTunes!

 

[JapanAxe]

I restored my iMac to Mavericks from Time Machine and Reaper is now working as it should. I just don't think the audio stuff got on well with Mojave, as demonstrated by the odd things going on with recording from the built-in mic. I've also restored the documents I generated in the last couple of weeks, again using Time Machine. Happy(-ish) days!

I contacted a friend who works for an Apple reseller, and he reckoned that (1) Mojave is quite new so not everything works with it yet, and (2) best avoid anything that claims to clean a Mac! Not sure about (2)...

I'm doing another backup now and will use the computer as it is for a day or two before trying an update to High Sierra (which is still available in the App Store).

Thanks to all who chipped in with advice. 

[BigRedX]

As I suspected. IMO Mojave is still far too new for anything other than beta testers and early adaptors with no "mission critical" requirements for their computer. I have never understood the need to update at the first opportunity especially something like the OS.

My advice is always to wait until the .4 update by which time Apple will have eliminated the worst bugs in the OS and software writers will have had time to come up with workable updates to their applications and drivers.

I never update the OS on any of my Macs unless I need to run a newer version of a program that requires a newer version of the OS, and even then I'll only update to the oldest stable version of the OS that supports the newer program.

HTH.

[JapanAxe]

9 hours ago, BigRedX said:

As I suspected. IMO Mojave is still far too new for anything other than beta testers and early adaptors with no "mission critical" requirements for their computer. I have never understood the need to update at the first opportunity especially something like the OS.

My advice is always to wait until the .4 update by which time Apple will have eliminated the worst bugs in the OS and software writers will have had time to come up with workable updates to their applications and drivers.

I never update the OS on any of my Macs unless I need to run a newer version of a program that requires a newer version of the OS, and even then I'll only update to the oldest stable version of the OS that supports the newer program.

HTH.

Personally I didn't update at the first opportunity, I have been on Mavericks since I got this Mac in 2014! I actually didn't realise how new Mojave was, but there were factors that pointed towards an update, and that's what happened. Still intending to try High Sierra, as it should fix my self-inflicted iTunes issues (as Mojave did, to be fair) and allow me to run more up-to-date versions of some other software.

[JapanAxe]

Updated to High Sierra (not without difficulty - needed a 3rd-party app to bypass the App Store's insistence that I already had it) and all is good, Quad Capture works as it should. So definitely Mojave's fault. Shame, I liked the 'dark' mode...

All is well with the world, at least until the next tech-related crisis. Or Brexit.

[songofthewind]

https://www.roland.com/global/support/by_product/quad-capture/updates_drivers/53d8a307-a8ae-4f9b-9a59-a1adb8c67012/

[JapanAxe]

31 minutes ago, songofthewind said:

https://www.roland.com/global/support/by_product/quad-capture/updates_drivers/53d8a307-a8ae-4f9b-9a59-a1adb8c67012/

Yes, I have visited that page several times in the last few days!

[songofthewind]

No joy with that then, I assume!

Have you tried renewing permissions, or resetting SMC by turning the Mac off, pulling out mains plug, waiting for 10 seconds or other magic interval, replugging and finally switching on?

[JapanAxe]

16 minutes ago, songofthewind said:

No joy with that then, I assume!

Have you tried renewing permissions, or resetting SMC by turning the Mac off, pulling out mains plug, waiting for 10 seconds or other magic interval, replugging and finally switching on?

If you look a few posts up the page you'll see I sorted it by restoring to Mavericks. I've then updated to High Sierra and it still works fine.

Roland reckons their 10.13 driver works for 10.14 too but it clearly doesn't. There are issues with audio routing within Mojave, but as @BigRedX and my Mac expert friend both pointed out, that is still quite a new OS.

[Sibob]

Probably worth bearing in mind that all hardware developers will have access to new OS's for development way before they're released, so it's always a bit strange to me when a company isn't quite on the ball when it comes to full release (unless Apple changes something significant).
The trick is to Google and see if their are other Quad Capture users having issues with Mojave, if not, could still be some strange localised behaviour on your machine.....that's when their technical support should be able to step up and troubleshoot with you.
If it is a Mojave issue, I would expect Roland to acknowledge that.

Si

[JapanAxe]

1 hour ago, Sibob said:

Probably worth bearing in mind that all hardware developers will have access to new OS's for development way before they're released, so it's always a bit strange to me when a company isn't quite on the ball when it comes to full release (unless Apple changes something significant).
The trick is to Google and see if their are other Quad Capture users having issues with Mojave, if not, could still be some strange localised behaviour on your machine.....that's when their technical support should be able to step up and troubleshoot with you.
If it is a Mojave issue, I would expect Roland to acknowledge that.

Si

I did a lot of googling, believe me! I'm happy enough with High Sierra for now anyway

[BigRedX]

IMO there is zero reason to upgrade to Mojave unless you have another piece of mission-critical software that absolutely requires it.

[JapanAxe]

29 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

IMO there is zero reason to upgrade to Mojave unless you have another piece of mission-critical software that absolutely requires it.

I concur!

[songofthewind]

But but but I like the sand dune that changes from day to night. Although I don't have it as my desktop.

In any case my Apogee Duet works fine under 10.14.1.

[Als]

https://support.apple.com/en-ph/HT209175

 

This worked for me. Unfortunately, it's not as smooth as when my Mac was running High Sierra. I used to be able to add effects to the insert slots of my DAW and use the DAW's monitor function to hear the effects added as I  play in ineal-time to with no latency issues. Now, I get almost 2 seconds of latency.

Will have to figure that part out but at least I got it recording for now. I really can't go back to HS as I did not create a Time Machine backup. I did a clean install of Mojave and dedicated a week to install all the softwares I use for music production. Not sure if it's a problem with the UA-55 not communicating well with Mojave or Mojave not being able to translate UA-55's signals well.