Wrong inputs and incorrect error about playback engine sample-rate support.

[Mark Kieviet]

Well, it's a long question about a Alesis io26 and Presonus FP10

So I went to use 2 interfaces together in an aggregate device, no problems, except that the first interface was 26 channels and the second one 10, so the last 2 of the mic-pres on that interface were unusable.

I discovered that my Pro Tools 11 only supports 32 inputs. (That also explains why my Dante Virtual Soundcard didn't give me 64x64) So the world pretty much opened up to me and everything was better.

In the audio/midi-setup it is impossible to be losing inputs. I don't use the optical inputs from the Alesis, so I wanted to delete them. Impossible.
I tried to put the Presonus in front of the Alesis in the inputlist. No luck on that too.

Suddenly it hit me, if I run them in 96khz I lose all the SPDIF inputs, and 8 of the ADATs, cause they combine. So that makes a total of 24 inputs, 16 outputs. Pretty decent I thought so.

So step by step:
I closed Pro Tools,
Deleted the aggregate,
Opened the Alesis control panel, set the clock to 96khz internal.
Went back to my audio/midi-setup, saw the Alesis having 16 ins, 8 outs. Good.
I made a new aggregate with the Alesis as master. 24 ins, 16 outs.
Went to Pro tools, opened a session with 16 preset channels on 96khz.
Playback-engine -> aggregate.
Error: This playback-engine does not support 96khz.
I could just click OK and the error was gone, so that's pretty strange.
Walked by all the first 8 inputs. (That's the Alesis) Everything Ok.
First input from the Presonus, when the preamp was clipping, the inputlevel was around -40.
Second input: was the first patched input.
Third input: second patched input..
etc etc.

So that's all weird, and you would say, yeah that's the budget Presonus thingy, but stand alone it works "perfectly" (except for all the noise).

And I wonder why I can't even use just the last 4 converters (33,34,35,36) while the restriction is at 32 inputs. Maybe this isn't limited on maximum input paths but on the alphabetical order of the playback-engines i/o?

So what I know for certain:
Stand alone they both work as they should on 96khz.
The patch is right.
The wordclocks are right and gorgeously clocking on 96khz.
But it should have to do something with the sample-rate since I get the sample-rate error.



Please relieve me, cause I've got a killing headache of fixing this.

Thanks in advance,
Mark

Edit: this was in combination with a Macbook Pro medio 2012, 2,9 ghz i7, 16 gb ram, osx 10.8.5

[musicman691]

PT grabs the first 32 I/O - you can't pick and choose when using most interfaces. Alphabetical doesn't mean anything here. The only ones I know of (there might be others) for sure that allows you to pick and choose are the UAD Apollo interfaces. It's in their driver software. And it does it not only for PT but any other daw s/w you care to use.

The above won't necessarily cure you headache but it at least explains it. Your only solution outside of going PT-HDX if you want to use your existing I/O h/w is another recording program.

[Mark Kieviet]

@musciman691

I understand that they grab the first 32i/o, but what I don't understand is that it grabs the first 32 i/o possibilities instead of the first 32 input paths I made.
By the alpabetical order I mean that I can't put the Presonus 10 inputs as the first 10 in an aggregate because the aggregate puts it in alphabetical order.
But this is pretty much ranting at Pro Tools and OS X.

The main problem now is that they don't work together while on 92khz, while if I select 1 of the interfaces as playback-engine they do work. Don't really understand how to fix this problem.

Thanks in advance,
Mark

[albee1952]

Your best solution would be to dump both those boxes and use a setup with 32 IO, that doesn't require you to run aggregate. If you have thunderbolt, a pair of UA Apollo 16's would be a great option. Otherwise, I would look at the MOTU and RME hardware(Focusrite seems to have some issues with good drivers)

[Mark Kieviet]

@albee1952

Yeah I understand that would be the best option. But for the purposes the Apollo and other interfaces in that price-range are a really big overkill.

I've just tried this set-up with Reaper, works perfectly. But since Pro Tools 9 they focused on making Pro Tools open for every device. Than why doesn't it work? I'm not really wanting to switch from Pro Tools to Reaper as you might understand.

[Mark Kieviet]

Well okay, it's fixed now. Apparently the inputs from the Alesis completely change when you use it in 96khz. I checked the patch when using it stand alone, and it's only able to do 8 analog, 4 adat, and 2 spdifs. So my patch was messed up. So I pulled the Presonus inputs to the right ones and it was okay.

I guess the messed up order in the Presonus inputs were caused by some aggregate or samplerate glitch. Cause when rebooted and in a new session it was okay.

I think I might get an old motu2408 with 2 adat converters for the el cheapo projects.

Thanks y'all!

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by Mark Kieviet

@albee1952

Yeah I understand that would be the best option. But for the purposes the Apollo and other interfaces in that price-range are a really big overkill.

I've just tried this set-up with Reaper, works perfectly. But since Pro Tools 9 they focused on making Pro Tools open for every device. Than why doesn't it work? I'm not really wanting to switch from Pro Tools to Reaper as you might understand.

You have to understand that while PT may now be open to any device that doesn't mean it's open to everything a device can do. Avid has an artificial limit to non-HD systems and with the exception of the Apollos as I mentioned you're stuck with the first 32 I/O. Avid is fond of following it's own path and doesn't care what other daw s/w does.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by Mark Kieviet

@musciman691

I understand that they grab the first 32i/o, but what I don't understand is that it grabs the first 32 i/o possibilities instead of the first 32 input paths I made.
By the alpabetical order I mean that I can't put the Presonus 10 inputs as the first 10 in an aggregate because the aggregate puts it in alphabetical order.
But this is pretty much ranting at Pro Tools and OS X.

The main problem now is that they don't work together while on 92khz, while if I select 1 of the interfaces as playback-engine they do work. Don't really understand how to fix this problem.

Thanks in advance,
Mark

PT doesn't care about the first 32 paths you made. Sorry but you're at the mercy of both the interface maker and PT on this one.

As to how to fix it - don't work at 96KHz and accept the fact that Avid has put artificial limits on what one can use and how that gets used.