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MOTU 828es on Mac Studio M2 Max

Can anyone please let me know if they were successful getting their MOTU 828es running via Thunderbolt on their Apple Silicon Mac? My new Mac Studio M2 Max is not seeing the unit even though I have the latest drivers installed.

Posted on Jun 17, 2023 7:52 AM

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Posted on Jun 10, 2024 11:29 PM

Got it working after I failed at every attempt, when first starting with a system migration from an Intel based Mac running the same macOS. Moved from a 2017 4.2GHz i7 iMac to a current M2 Max 12 core Mac Studio.


Didn't matter what I did or removed with the original build from the Intel Mac migration. Had to start from scratch. Installed Ventura after a drive erase. Set up a user account with no cloud anything, as simple as possible. Then updated Ventura.


Rebooted in recovery mode to set "Reduced Security" with the "Allow user management of kernel extensions from identified developers" option checked.


Rebooted and installed the latest MOTU (April 2024) audio driver for the 828es, following MOTU's instructions. Allowed the system extension and rebooted. Works just fine, USB and Thunderbolt.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jun 10, 2024 11:29 PM in response to burkek1960

Got it working after I failed at every attempt, when first starting with a system migration from an Intel based Mac running the same macOS. Moved from a 2017 4.2GHz i7 iMac to a current M2 Max 12 core Mac Studio.


Didn't matter what I did or removed with the original build from the Intel Mac migration. Had to start from scratch. Installed Ventura after a drive erase. Set up a user account with no cloud anything, as simple as possible. Then updated Ventura.


Rebooted in recovery mode to set "Reduced Security" with the "Allow user management of kernel extensions from identified developers" option checked.


Rebooted and installed the latest MOTU (April 2024) audio driver for the 828es, following MOTU's instructions. Allowed the system extension and rebooted. Works just fine, USB and Thunderbolt.

Jun 18, 2023 7:42 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Sure did. The audio device does not show up in the listing. It does work via USB though does not show up in the Thunderbolt/USB section of MOTU Discovery. It does show in the "All devices" section though. The downside is that the USB method does not provide a volume control in the menu bar on a Mac. Thunderbolt does. As well, it only shows up as "Audio Out" in the Mac's sound panel rather than 828es as it did with Thunderbolt on my Macbook Pro. With Thunderbolt, it does show up as a connected Thunderbolt device in the "System Information" panel on the Mac, but the Mac is not presenting the device in the sound menu. Oddly, when installing the drivers, in Privacy and Security there is no option to "Allow" the driver to load. I've completely eliminated the drivers and extensions, disabled System Integrity Protection, allowed installs from any developer, rebooted, reinstalled the drivers and still no message in Privacy and Security. I think this is the crux of the situation. I doubt the latest MOTU drivers are M2 Max/Ultra compatible. Or there's some incompatibility with Ventura 13.4.

MOTU 828es on Mac Studio M2 Max

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