Firewire audio on Leopard on T61 - Problem and Solution

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I'm using my Behringer firewire interface (FCA202) on my T61 (Ricoh firewire controller) for live input and effects processing, but I can't get it to work well with my T61 when using Leopard:

- On Windows 7 on the T61, I can use it without any issue

- On Leopard on the T61, it is recognized out-of-the-box and works, but I get dropouts/clicks/pops/etc. that do not appear to be related to the latency settings and appear to be somewhat related to the CPU usage but not completely. Some audio applications work better than others, but none of them are free of this problem. And the same applications work fine under Windows 7.

After trying many different settings, I purchased a cheap cardbus-to-firewire controller, and it works great on Leopard. I was skeptical that this would solve anything, because the cardbus controller on the T61 is the same exact Ricoh controller that provides the firewire, but it is stable now (no dropouts)!

FYI the controller is called "Dynamode PCMCIA CardBus To 3-Ports 1394a FireWire Adapter." According to Windows 7, the firewire controller comes up as a VIA.