In June we interviewed FFADO developers about the state of Firewire audio interfaces support on Linux. Today some of the plans became reality with the announcement of FFADO 2.1.0.

The new version summarizes development efforts of the past two years. It comes with way better support for the new Firewire stack in Linux, codenamed juju. It also has lower CPU usage and more stable streaming, finally supports freewheel mode in JACK and ships with udev rules to provide users with access to audio interfaces out of box.

What about newer gear? FFADO 2.1.0 introduces major improvements to DICE-based interfaces, with 34 newer models added to the list of supported devices made by Alesis, FlexRadio Systems, Focusrite, Lexicon, DnR, M-Audio, Presonus, TCAT, TC Electronic, Weiss Engineering Ltd. (As a Focusrite user myself I wholeheartedly approve of it.)

There are good news to everyone waiting for Fireface support on Linux as well: both RME Fireface 400 and Fireface 800 are now usable, albeit without MIDI I/O for now. There's also experimental support for several more MOTU devices, as well as FCA-202, Mackie Onyx i, M-Audio Ozonic, Phonic HelixBoard 24 Universal, Tascam IF-FW/DM, Yahama GO46.

For detailed list of changes please have a look at the release notes.