Released: October 19, 2023

System requirements: macOS 12 Monterey, macOS 13 Ventura, macOS 14 Sonoma


Lynx Studio Technology, Inc. is pleased to provide the next version of the macOS V2 driver.  The new driver is based on Apple’s new Audio Driver Kit model and will be the basis of all new drivers from macOS 12 Monterey onward, so it should only be installed on macOS 12 Monterey, macOS 13 Ventura or macOS 14 Sonoma, as those are the only operating systems that support the new Audio Driver Kit model.

We highly recommend using macOS 13 Ventura or macOS 14 Sonoma with this driver.

New versions of Lynx Mixer, Hilo Remote and NControl that are compatible with the new driver are included in the package installer.

Advantages of this driver from the V1 driver:

  • Easier installation since reduced security mode is not required.
  • No reboot needed after installation.
  • Fully supports computer sleep mode.
  • No “Legacy System Extension” driver warning from macOS.

This driver supports all currently shipping Lynx products with the latest firmware:

  • Lynx Hilo-TB3 & Hilo-TB
  • Lynx Aurora(n)-TB3 & Aurora(n)-TB
  • Lynx AES16e; AES16e-SRC; AES16e-50
  • Lynx E22; Lynx E44

as well as the discontinued:

  • Lynx Aurora 8-TB (classic)
  • Lynx Aurora 16-TB (classic)

Please note: If the PCI Express or Thunderbolt card does not have the latest firmware, you must update to the latest firmware before installing the new driver.  Any card shipped after 2016 should work without having to update the firmware first.

Product Firmware Date
AES16e 14.1 5/17/2016
E22/E44 2.6 3/20/2019
LT-TB 6.5 6/8/2020
LT-TB3 1.7 6/8/2020

Revision History

Version 2 Build 7   October 19, 2023

  • Changed overall buffer size from 8192 samples to 2048 samples to keep operating system timing more precise.
  • Restore defaults no longer changes the sample rate back to 44.1kHz.  It keeps the current sample rate to avoid an issue during sleep mode where macOS wakes the driver up after 15 minutes without any interaction from the user.
  • Stop now prints out statistics on the interrupt performance vs expected. Shows in nanoseconds and samples for min and max values. Use the following command in terminal to see the log:
    log show -predicate ‘senderImagePath CONTAINS “com.lynxstudio”‘ -debug -info

Version 2 Build 6   September 28, 2023

  • Driver now defaults to Payload Size of 32 (previously was 8, 16 or 32 depending on sample rate).
  • New controls in Lynx Mixer & NControl: Input Safety Offset & Output Safety Offset. Default set to Auto which is the same as it was in the previous version: Input is Payload Size and Output is Payload Size * 2.  These new controls allow the user to fine tune the latency to match the performance of the computer and project settings in use.
  • Supports E44 & E22 Rev C with the new sample rates those cards support.
  • Built and tested on macOS 14 Sonoma. Will work on Monterey, Ventura & Sonoma.
  • Package installer now automatically uninstalls any previous driver (and applications) before it installs this driver. Will prompt for “Finder” access to remove previous driver. User must press “OK”.
  • Package installer now automatically installs and starts this driver. User no longer has to press the “Install Driver” button.
  • Sleep from OS now pauses streaming audio and restarts upon wake if streaming was active.

Version 2 Build 5   October 20, 2022

  • Added support for E22 and E44 cards.
  • Added support for the entire range of sample rates for the E22 and E44 cards.

Version 2 Build 4   October 10, 2022

  • Initial release

Installation Instructions

  • Download and Unzip the file above.
  • Run the included “Uninstall Lynx Driver” application to remove the Lynx driver elements already installed on your computer.
  • Restart the computer if prompted.
  • Run the Lynx_macOS.pkg file to install the new driver and follow the prompts to install the new driver elements.
  • When the Lynx Driver Installer application launches, click the “Install” button.
  • Click “Open Security Preferences” when the following screen appears:

Screen_Shot_2021-03-04_at_1.50.04_PM.png

  • Click “Allow” in the “Security & Privacy” panel.
  • The driver will activate immediately and no reboot should be required.

Please note: On Apple Silicon based computers it is NOT necessary to boot into Recovery mode and enable “Reduced Security” to install this driver.

Known Issues with macOS Monterey

  • macOS 12 Monterey has a known bug that restarts the devices multiple times when changing sample rate.  This may result in “sluggish” behavior of a DAW application when starting playback or recording depending on how the DAW opens the device.  This bug has been fixed in macOS 13 Ventura, however Apple will not roll the fix back to Monterey.
  • macOS 12 Monterey has a known bug that allows applications to open the driver using an invalid sample rate.  This may result in files to be played back or recorded at the wrong sample rate.  Apple is working on correcting the issue.  The work around is to manually insure the sample rate selected in your DAW application exactly matches one of the allowed sample rates of your Lynx audio device.
  • When Presonus Studio One tries to set the sample rate, it will get stuck in a “reset loop” upon start of streaming.  Eventually it will start streaming, but not before a delay.  This is caused by the macOS 12 Monterey restart bug listed above.  The only solution is to upgrade to macOS 13 Ventura.
  • When iZotope RX tries to set the sample rate, it will get stuck in a “reset loop” upon start of streaming.  Eventually it will start streaming, but not before a delay.  This is caused by the macOS 12 Monterey restart bug listed above.  The only solution is to upgrade to macOS 13 Ventura.