Mbox Mini output issue...

[wyattt]

So I thought that my mbox mini was broken a year or so ago because I got it back from a friend and when I record or playback, I only get audio from the left output (same with headphones), but... today I got it back out again and plugged it in.

I have a new macbook pro running OSX 10.7.2 and I have been making some videos and wanted to use it to capture better audio for my gear videos. I tested it out using itunes as well as watching a movie through VLC and quicktime and I have both outputs working again. So I thought, maybe the problem was with my old macs.

I opened up iMovie (I don't have a version of protools compatible with my new macbook pro) and recorded a test video and used a SM57 plugged into input one and only got the left channel output. I just now switched the mic to the channel two input and now I only hear in the right channel output. I don't think I ever had to record in stereo before to utilize both the left and right outputs. I used to own a 002 and I never had a problem with that. I should also note that on the imovie audio meters, only one side of the meter goes up (shows signal coming out) depending on which input I recorded audio from. I believe in PT (I had 7.4) the master out would show signal output on both left and right but only left would actually be coming out.

The last time I recorded, I believe I ran a stereo line out from a large mixer into the inputs of the mbox mini and only got the left channel in both the headphones and the outputs on the back.

Has anyone encountered this or know of something I am doing wrong? I looked at my audio/midi setup and it won't let me change any settings. I also found that I don't need the core audio manager program. I just go into the audio and select what in/out I want to utilize. I can't recall if I had to do this with my older macs, but I do know I had to use the digi core audio manager for my 002 if I wanted to use it outside of protools. I thought this was a hardware problem, but I'm hoping someone might know what the issue is so I can use this thing again.

[GregV]

Without having a DAW (like PT) that is utilizing the MBox, 1 and 2 become Left and Right. The MBox is simply replacing your Mac's built in Headphones/Mic connections.

When using a DAW, you record to a Mono track, and that track is panned Center... but on its own, 1 = L and 2 = R.

[wyattt]

Thanks. I will check it out again as soon as I get to use a DAW. One last thing that I JUST discovered was that the headphones out is still not working right. I checked to see if by chance the outs on the mini were playing in mono by testing it against a mp3 where I know there is some extreme panning and it plays out to my monitors in stereo, but the headphone output only plays the left output no matter which pair of headphones I use. I wonder if a solder joint or something is going on internally. It's been so long since I used it, I can't recall if I ever used monitors when I discovered the problem or was using headphones.