Apple offers a Thunderbolt-to-Firewire800 adapter that allows you to connect to the RM. There's also a good chance that the NIC in your Thunderbolt equipped Macbook is AVB ready which would give you a second option to make the connection (once PreSonus works out all the quirks).

Thanks for that. Yes I have seen the adapter. Maybe I will study up on AVB and Dante. I'm pretty 'Old school' and I'm talking a lot further back than what most People call 'Old School' I have never used Fire wire, only USB, so even that is a mystery to me.
Thunderbolt does seem to me to follow on nicely from 8 track cassettes and Beta videos though. At least so far. Now I need to google 'NIC' and find out what that is. LOL. I tried reading about 'Dante' but it went way over my head. I'm just a plug and play sort of guy. Though I've always been a sucker for new tech, especially shiny new tech.

Network Interface Controller

I'm guessing I could find out in the "About this Mac" section, probably with the firmware version or some such thing?

Yes, that's it

The quick route definitely is through the Firewire adapter. AVB isn't quite there yet. But still interesting to find out if your hardware supports it as AVB allows much longer (300ft +) cables than firewire (only 15ft or so). Several places where you can read up on/discuss AVB for Mac, e.g. here.

Thanks SwitchBack
So as I understand it this whole AVB/Dante thing is all about networking multiple pieces of digital hardware?
Far from any need I will have for a long time. I am looking at this as a major step up from a small Allan & Heath Zed10FX mixer which I use live and for band practice. ( V-drums into a stereo pair channel)
My main requirement is multi tracking instead of just the stereo mix via USB.
The 16 mic pres will give more than enough to mic acoustic drums and we will have channels to spare.
Probably overkill for my needs but hey, who doesn't like a healthy bit of overkill at times.
All in all I'm pretty excited about this. Biggest problem is it will make me want to go out and buy another 15" sub for live use.
I just use one and a couple of pole mounts ( Cerwin Vega). Also some nice HK foldback.
There is another thing I am a little confused over and that is running software instruments from the Macbook along with miced instruments. Recently bought NI Komplete Ultimate and the S61 keyboard. Is it possible to run these on top of the 16 mic pres?
I have downloaded the 'Surface' software for a bit of a look and assume there are functions in it that will not appear until the mixer is attached. Looks good though.

Yes, you can use NI live in combination with the keyboard, and on top of the first 16 mixer channels. Note that Studio One Artist does not run 3rd party content by default. You'll need the plug-in upgrade or S1 Professional for that.

As for AVB/Dante, for you that's still interesting to keep an eye on. Once fully up and running it will allow full duplex interfacing with all mixer channels, for recording and for running plug-ins too. And it will remove the limitation of maximum FireWire cable length!

The cool part about Dante. Audinate is developing a software piece for Dante (Audinate is the Dante developer), called Dante Via. What Dante Via will do, is turn a pc, and anything attached to it for audio, into a Dante enabled device. So a separate PC running a daw for backing tracks will show up as a digital input to the RM 16. Pretty cool.

https://www.audinate.com/products/software/dante-via

But all in all, get yourself an RM16 and a Thundebolt to Firewire adapter, and also an iPad and a WIFI Router (must have) and those things alone will give you everything you are wanting right now!

Including playing a synth back through the RM without using up an analog channel, this because the RM16 is actually a 32 channel mixer, just that the second 16 channels must come from the computer if you want to use them.

Also be sure to get a reference mic (PRM1 from presonus) so you can run the Smaart wizard on all your speakers, makes a huge difference in live sound. I highly recommend it!

Steve

Done deal sjc. Ordered and should arrive mid next week. Have a couple of IPads (well one's my girlfriend's) and an IPhone. Sure I have a spare router sitting around but the USB one should be enough for home learning and testing.
I had seen reference to these PRM1's and as yet know nothing about 'Smaart'. Hoping to learn about this in a hands on manner. Just looked in the online store and see the PRM1s are out of stock so not even any way to find out price.
Any idea what they cost and/or when they will be available?
I'll probably go pick up one of those firewire to thunderbolt connecters today.

The usb wifi dongle that comes with the mixer is really only used to connect the mixer to a wifi router wirelessly and nothing more. I do not think you can hit the mixer with an iPad by only using the usb dongle. Personally I use an ethernet cable to go from the mixer to the wifi router just to be safe and it's an easy setup, I don't use the USB dongle at all, then I can control the mixer with the iPad by tieing to the network desribed by the router, no need for it to be connected to the internet in any way, it's just a local area network.

there are other reference mics that can be used with the Smaart wizard, I use one from DBX, it was around 100-150 US.

Good luck, happy mixing!

Steve

Thanks sjc. Seems I had misunderstood. Picked up the thunderbolt/firewire adapter yesterday and the unit is on it's way.
I will just plug it in via firewire to the Macbook for starters and have a play around with it. Can I connect an IPad to the Macbook via Wi-FI and control the RM16 that way or do I need to go through a router? (i.e.; will 'Surface' operate via firewire?)
My primary use for the RM16 is to multi track band practice sessions and my next is on Friday, although I have an audition with a second band on Wed night. Probably the day it will arrive. It would be nice to be able to turn it on on Friday. There are always those moments when someone does something really nice, and for that matter when things are going really well and someone drops some classic clanger. Always leads to one of those "if only" moments. I like the way this will enable practice sessions, recording sessions and live performances to meld into the same thing. Sort of a musical "Black Box".
I am looking forward to trying the software, both Studio 1 and Capture.
I have looked for a demo version of 'Notion' but can not see one. Does one exist? I like the idea of software and hardware that is integrated. The main reason I upgraded from 'Live8' to' Live 9' was the introduction of 'Push'. I have also recently bought 'NI Complete Ultimate' and the 'Complete Kontrol S61' for much the same reason.
I actually have no notation software atm but have used 'Sebelius' many years ago when studying music.
OH and one more thing. I have started looking into a large multi touch PC. Have seen one in a store which may do the job and another online which would probably be a bit of a dream rig.
Is there a list of minimum specs and recommended specs somewhere on this site?
Cheers and thanks for all the help.
Steve.

OK I found the specs for running 'Surface' and the cheeper 'in store' one would do the job but who doesn't want a "dream rig".
I guess this raises questions about networking and the whole Dante thing? the idea of running different components on different computers. Maybe Studio1 as a VST player and recorder on the Macbook and a touch screen to run 'Surface'?

Well the RM16 arrived today and I was delighted in the ease of set up. Just plugged it into my home internet modem/router and it fired up straight away. Even downloaded and installed the firmware update on auto pilot. My iPad connected no problems. O only had about 15 mins to play with it but that is all I needed. Just got home now and did the same with an old modem router I had in which the modem had died. Again worked fine with Macbook and IPad connecting via Wi Fi.
Now downloading S1 instruments.
I think I am going to have a lot of fun with this. Thank for the help in sorting out what I needed.

Just got home now and did the same with an old modem router I had in which the modem had died.

I would be careful with this. You probably won't have issues testing in the house, but I wouldn't trust this on a gig. ISP Modem/Routers can be problematic with UC Surface in the way that they block traffic, and drop packets. You don't have to break the bank on a dedicated router. I have been using a $30 Belkin with no issue (N300 I think) for the past year.

Yep. Will do. Might actually check back to find what people are using and cross reference to what is available. For the moment I'm very happy with how easy this was to set up. Had seen there were problems with some routers wanting to connect to the internet.
My main expense for live gigs is going to be a second sub. Using a Cerwin Vega 15" powered and 2 pole mounts so a dedicated router will be a small extra cost. My band is small and old school rock, playing small venues. This is a very big step into the brave new digital world and so far a very enjoyable one and one that seems to hold a lot of promise.
OH and btw the router in question is my old home router, replaced when the modem died, so it is for the moment a router only, which seems to be working just fine.