How I got Virus Ti plug-in working on a new Mac Pro

    In case it's of use to anyone, here's what I had to do to get my Virus Ti working in plug-in mode on my new Mac Pro (2013 cylinder).


    My problems seem to have been due to multiple causes.


    1) Make sure you're using a USB cable like the one supplied with the Virus - usually a braided see-through plastic covered cable. Standard USB cables worked for my on my 2011 MacBook, but the Mac Pro / USB3 system is more fussy.
    2) Boot the Virus fully before powering up the Mac, otherwise Virus shows activity on the plug-in, but DAW (Cubase and Ableton in my case) get no audio returned via USB. When powering down, fully power off the Virus and the Mac.
    3) Use a Thunderbolt to USB3 adapter specifically dedicated to Virus. I've got the Sonnet USB3 / eSATA adapter. I also have one Thunderbolt channel dedicated to the Sonnet adapter.
    4) 5.1.1.0 beta drivers seem to be OK for me, but the now removed 5.1.2.0 beta also seemed OK.

    Adding TI2 setup El Capitan using hub:

    • Use USB 3 hub (i'm using HooToo) and connect it to the usb 3 port on your mac (fastest usb port to faster device)
    • Connect the virus to the lower hub port (usb3 hub will split into older usb types you can tell by going into about this mac system report)
    • Power virus before lunching your daw (if you getting midi error just rescan your midi devices and try to reload the daw)
    • Wait for the system plug in to fully load
    • Depending on the daw you might need to hit stop button twice in order to be in sync
    • Tip use the digital audio out it might have a better recording time
    • Connect your audio card to it's own usb mac output
    • Tip - disable the "put hard disk to sleep" under system preferences > energy saver

    I never had too many problems using my TI Snow in plug-in mode with multichannel audio over USB (MacBook Pro 13" late 2011, OS X 10.11.2, Logic X 10.2), but started having headaches when I tried adding an Elektron Rytm running via Overbridge through an Overhub. Well, I guess it was asking for trouble . . .


    The Rytm seems remarkably unfussy – pretty much always works off the bat. But the Virus either wasn't recognised at all, or it would appear to be recognised but there was no audio, or worse all I got was distorted noise at full volume. It would occasionally work after several restarts, but obviously wasn't happy sharing the Overhub with the Rytm.


    After looking around on this forum, I ordered a Kanex Thunderbolt to eSATA + USB 3.0 Adapter. It's pretty expensive (equivalent of about $100 where I live), so I was really hoping it would work.


    Anyway, pleased to report that it seems to be working like an absolute charm. I haven't used it extensively yet, but every time I've booted up the studio, the Virus is recognised right away and sounds perfect.


    Not only that, but the Rytm still works just fine via Overhub. I have the multi-output versions of both the Virus TI and Rytm plug-ins running, and it all seems to work great together. :)


    /p