I/O issues PT 2020.5 macbook Pro 2019
 

Hi,
I am having major issues trying to set up PT on my 2019 MacBook Pro 2.6 GHz 6-Core Intel Core i7, 16 GB 2667 MHz DDR4 Catalina 10.15.5, and using an M-Audio M-track MKII as my interface, I'm also using a Behringer UMX25 as a midi keyboard controller.
I'm really pretty new to Pro Tools and struggling, I've even tried following the manual!!!, so could some please breakdown the whole Setup from what Playback Engine should be.
What the I/O settings should look like from input and output allocations, bus settings. I've tried all the templates and nothing!.
I am getting severely frustrated with the whole thing. I did have PT12 on my old MacBook which worked to a point ie I could get sound in and out but always had to play around with the Hardware setup. So I know its the way I am going about stuff.
I had some tracks saved to the PT cloud which I cannot access either, but that's for another day!
Even a template that I could import would be amazing... as I have no idea where I'm going wrong.
Thanks in advance
Mark

Re: I/O issues PT 2020.5 macbook Pro 2019
 

Hi welcome to DUC.

Forget session templates they are not important now.

Forget Pro Tools cloud, work in sessions only.

Maybe it would help you if you actually explained what those major issues are. We cannot guess. What's exactly is working now? What are you stuck at exactly. Post screenshots if that helps.

Nobody here is going to step you though all you need to know to use a DAW like Pro Tools. You need to find books, classes or online tutorials to get started.

But to get you going... is the interface working at all?

You don't need a driver for your interface, so connect it. Start Pro Tools hold down the 'N' key while it's starting and when the Playback Engine dialog appears select the interface.

Then create a new empty session (File>Create New>New Session). Create a stereo audio track (Track>New) in that session. Then drag and drop a know good stereo audio file like a music wav or aiff file onto that audio track. Hit play... can you hear that in your monitors or headphones connected to the interface. Does that work?

What should things look like in Settings>IO>{Input, Output, Bus} I have no idea. If you think they don't make sense, first check you really have the right playback engine selected (Setup>Playback Engine) if they look unlike what the documentation from the interface describes, then click on and delete existing paths then click the Default button on each of those pages. But you can also create whatever name you want for IO paths, they are only symbolic meant to make things clear to you, all that matters to Pro Tools is the numeric order of those paths match what the interface IO ports are.

If the interface does not work in Pro Tools, can you play to it from iTunes? And on the other side, can Pro Tools use your Mac's audio output if you set the Playback Engine to Built-In Output or whatever the Mac audio output is called on your Mac.

As for session templates, forget them. Create an empty session add a track or two as needed and play around and work out how to use Pro Tools.

You really should find some basic tutorials on how to use Pro Tools, try looking on YouTube for tutorials using recentish (Pro Tools 11 or later) versions of Pro Tools doing whatever it is you want to do and follow that tutorial). Want to add a click track... tutorials for that. Want to work with a MIDI keyboard... tutorials for that. Want to use a keyboard VI... tutorials for that. etc.

The PDF for the Pro Tools Reference Guide is great and explains a lot. It's a big doc but very useful, especially for searching the PDF for terms/definitions/explanations. ... but it's not a getting started tutorial.