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Since April 1, 2025, support for Steinberg hardware is provided by YAMAHA.

macOS: AXR4T Compatibility/Known Issues using TOOLS for AXR4T V2.2.0 or newer

Updated

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Below a list of issues that may occur when using an AXR4T on macOS with the TOOLS for AXR4T V2.2.0 or later. They include the new Yamaha Steinberg Thunderbolt driver V3.0.0 which uses the recommended system extensions instead of kernel extension (kext).

For an overview of the known issues with older TOOLS versions on macOS releases older than macOS 12 Monterey, please take a look at this article.

Problem Details Solution, Workaround, Notes
Yamaha Steinberg Thunderbolt Control Panel and dspMixFX AXR may show a warning message on exit.
(Occurs only on macOS 15)

How to reproduce the problem:
1. Start Yamaha Steinberg Thunderbolt Control Panel or dspMixFx AXR.
2. Close the application.

The following symptom is observed.
- A warning message may appear that says, "The application quit unexpectedly."

 

There is no workaround.
However, this does not affect settings changed in the application, and the application will work fine if it is started again.
When using Yamaha Steinberg Thunderbolt Driver V2.x.x for Mac on a Mac with Apple silicon that is encrypted with FileVault, AXR4T is not recognized properly after updating the driver to V3.x.x.

How to reproduce the problem:
1. Install driver V3.x.x on the Mac on which Yamaha Steinberg Thunderbolt Driver V2.x.x is installed.
2. Shut down the Mac.
3. Turn on the AXR4T.
4. Start up the Mac.

The following symptoms are observed.
- The AXR4T cannot be used properly, even though the driver can be selected in applications such as Cubase.
- AXR4T is not recognized by dspMixFx AXR.
- If the Mac is shut down with the AXR4T connected, the Mac restarts.
- If the AXR4T is turned off while connected to a Mac, the Mac restarts.

Workaround:
Please deactivate FileVault once before updating the driver to V3.x.x.

To recover, please do the following.
1. Shut down your Mac.
2. Press and hold the power button until you see "Loading startup options …". Your Mac will boot into Recovery mode.
3. Click Options (gear icon), then click “Continue”.
4. In macOS Recovery, select the volume on which you installed the driver and click “Next”.
5. In macOS Recovery, choose your account and click Next. Enter the password and click “Continue”.
6. In the top menu, go to Utilities → Startup Security Utility
7. Select the system on which you installed the driver. If the disk is encrypted with FileVault, click “Unlock…”, enter the password, and then click “Unlock”.
8. Click “Security Policy…”.
9. Uncheck the option to allow user management of kernel extensions from identified developers.
10. Click “OK”.
11. Enter the password for your account and click “OK”.
12. Restart your Mac from Apple menu.
13. If you need to use kernel extensions other than Yamaha Steinberg Thunderbolt Driver for Mac, please check "Allow user management of kernel extensions from identified developers" again after the above procedure.
The name of the digital port in the audio application is not properly changed when the digital I/O mode is changed.  How to reproduce the problem:
1. Start Cubase.
2. Start dspMixFx AXR and change the digital I/O mode.

The name of the digital port in the audio application is not properly changed when the digital I/O mode is changed. This happens only when the digital I/O mode is changed, but the channel count of the digital port is not changed. (Ex. changing ADAT to AES when Fs=48kHz)

Workaround:
Restart the audio application after changing the digital I/O mode.
Alternatively, reset the ASIO driver in the application if possible.
Sample rate mismatch between Cubase and AXR4T How to reproduce the problem:
1. Save the project that Cubase runs with an audio interface except AXR4.
2. Before AXR4T connected to Mac, Set a sample rate other than a clock that Cubase project currently uses.
3. Connect AXR4T to Mac and switch an audio driver to Yamaha Steinberg Thunderbolt driver in Cubase.

Workaround:
Execute ASIO reset on Cubase.
In case that recalling the scene containing a different digital IO mode and channel link (Stereo and Mono), channel link setting in the scene data of dspMixFx AXR is not properly recalled when using AXR4 with Cubase. How to reproduce the problem:
1. Enable a Channel Link option in the dspMixFx AXR setting.
2. First, make a Scene 1 file (All channels are stereo-linked, digital IO sets to AES/EBU mode.) and next, make a Scene 2 file (All channels are mono, digital IO sets to ADAT mode.), and load a Scene 1 file again.
3. Make stereo buses for all AXR channels in the Audio Connections menu in Cubase
4. Load a Scene 2 file to dspMixFx AXR. Mono channels in the Scene 2 file are linked in stereo dspMixFx AXR.		 Workaround:
Disable Channel Link option in the dspMixFx AXR
Clock source is being reset to internal AXR4T does not keep external clock source. Clock source is being reset to internal after each restart. A solution has not been found so far. The clock source must be set to external each time after the system has been rebooted.

Garage Band 10/Ableton Live 10/11 Logic 10/Studio One 3/4/5/6 shows incorrect audio port count

 Garage Band/Live/Logic/Studio One (DAW): After the audio port count is being decreased or increased by changing the digital I/O mode on AXR4T (also via Scene Recall), the sample rate in the DAW or the number of connected AXR4Ts, audio ports might become unusable and DAW may show an incorrect amount of available audio ports. Reassign audio input/output ports in the setup of Garage Band/Live/Logic/Studio One.

Studio One 3/4/5/6, Ableton Live 10/11, Logic 10, GarageBand 10: Sample rate of AXR4T cannot be changed

 Garage Band/Live/Logic/Studio One (DAW): When the DAW is running, AXR4T sample rate cannot be changed via the AXR4T hardware setup, the AXR4T control panel (software) or an external device sending a clock as a clock master. AXR4T clock source is internal
Change sample rate in Live/Studio One first.

AXR4T clock source is external (Word Clock, ADAT, S/PDIF or AES/EBU)
1. Set the AXR4T's clock source to internal.
2. Change the sample rate in Garage Band/Live/Logic/Studio One.
3. Change the sample rate of external device (clock master).
4. Set AXR4T's clock source to the corresponding port.
Sample rate alert in Ableton Live 10/11 If an unsupported sample rate had been selected via the AXR4T hardware setup or the AXR4T control panel (software), Live will show an alert even after switching back to a supported sample. Select the Built-in Input/Output in Live and switch back to the Yamaha Steinberg Thunderbolt Driver afterward.
Audio connections get mixed up in Cubase 10/11/12 Audio ports in Cubase are getting mixed up randomly after switching between Yamaha Steinberg Thunderbolt and Yamaha Steinberg Thunderbolt (High Precision). A solution has not been found so far. Audio ports need to be re-assigned in Cubase via Audio Connections (Studio menu).
Audio MIDI Setup crashes Audio MIDI Setup may crash when the sample rate is being changed repeatedly. A solution has not been found so far.
Audio MIDI Setup shows wrong sample rate If sample rate has been changed via the AXR4T hardware setup or the AXR4T control panel (software), Audio MIDI Setup is not being updated and still shows the previous setting for Steinberg AXR4T 2TR.
Yamaha Steinberg Thunderbolt control panel is showing the correct sample rate.		 Select a different device in Audio MIDI Setup and switch back to Steinberg AXR4T 2TR afterward.

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