MBox Help

[jaye]

I have Pro Tools LE 7.4 and Windows XP (IE 7), and I'm having an issue with my MBox not picking up sound. I may need a driver, but don't have one for the MBox (original). Could someone shead light on this for me?

[pianosound]

By "picking up sound",,, what exactly do you mean???! Are you saying it doesn't record, or doesn't play? And,,,, it sounds like you don't have the original disk that comes with that Mbox? Maybe need a little more info for the guys before anyone could be of any help,,,,,,,,,,, Mike

[jaye]

I mean, it won't record. The LED isn't indicating it's picking up any input. Playback is fine (which is weird). Please tell me what more info shall I give so I may recieve help? Also, no I do not have the original drivers for the MBox. As I stated, I now have PT LE 7.4, and when I got the MBox it was for LE 6. Would that matter? If not, what could be the issue?

[The Weed]

Are you assigning the correct input for the Track? Are you record arming the Track? What is the position of the Mix Knob? Do you have anything plugged in that you are recording from, like a microphone? If it's a mic, is it a condenser? If a condenser, is phantom power turned on?

I could continue, but I think you get the idea. We need to know what your set-up is and what you have done/tried - in detail - to be able to assist.

Cheers,

[jaye]

The issue is like this: my mic is plugged into my mixing board, and the MBox is as well. I can record using another software, but PT won't record. I've created a track (stereo). My phantom power on my mixer is on, I tried it on the MBox as well. Yes, my mic is a condensor mic. I've been doing what I've always done to record, but now it's not recording. Nothing has changed but the software upgrade.

[jaye]

Well, since no one has a clue to what I'm talking about. Why would PT playback and not record (let's start with that)?

[JMS40]

You're not really helping us out much... "doing what I've always done to record" is pretty vague.
Why a stereo track... you don't have a stereo mic do you?
Weed's questions were spot on...

Originally Posted by The Weed

Are you assigning the correct input for the Track? Are you record arming the Track? What is the position of the Mix Knob?

Take the mixer out of the equation for now.
Plug your mic into Mbox input 1.
Enable the Mbox phantom power.
Set the Mix knob at about 12 o'clock.
In Pro tools, create a MONO audio track.
Assign the input to that track to Mic/Line 1.
Record enable the track.
You should now be able to see meter activity by turning up the gain for input 1 on the Mbox.
Let us know what happens.

[Broman2999]

Just another thought...I've read where other people were wondering why their microphone wouldn't record anything when plugged in via XLR into the Mbox. If this is an MBox 2, and you are trying to use Mic input 1, make sure you don't have anything plugged in to the DI/Line inputs of Mic input 1, and likewise for input 2. That will disable the XLRs. And also another dumb thing I did was that I forgot I had something else in the signal path that wasn't power on. Check and make sure every piece of gear in the signal path is up and running.

Mic --> Mixer + Phantom Power --> Mbox.

Hope this helps.

[jaye]

Kinda difficult to do considering I have a condensor mic. Ok, looking at my software, under "Setup". What should the I/O settings look like? Under 'Preferences' what should that look like?

Keep in mind, I have an 8-channel Beringer mixing board (MBox plugged into there (ch.3+4) Mic, plugged into channel 1). Anyone?

[Broman2999]

Originally Posted by jaye

Kinda difficult to do considering I have a condensor mic. Ok, looking at my software, under "Setup". What should the I/O settings look like? Under 'Preferences' what should that look like?

If you don't have any special settings or paths created in your I/O box then just click the 'default' button in there to be sure everything is set to how it should normally work. I can't remember if there is a 'default' button in the preferences menu.

Try this for now:

Just plug your mic directly into the mbox (btw...is it an mbox2?)
Turn on the phantom power on the mbox
Create a mono track in Pro Tools
For that track's input select the input the microphone is connected to
Arm the track for recording (you should see the meter start picking up what the mic is 'hearing')
Turn your mix knob to about 12:00
Test the mic. Make sure that the pad isn't activated on the mbox, or the mic if it has one. This will help you hear it better.

This should get the mic working. If it does, then bring the mixer back into the equation....

Originally Posted by jaye

Keep in mind, I have an 8-channel Beringer mixing board (MBox plugged into there (ch.3+4) Mic, plugged into channel 1). Anyone?

Now when you say this, do you literally have the mbox going into the mixer, or do you have the mixer going into the mbox?

The way that's worded doesn't sound like the signal flow is right. It should be:

Condenser Mic -->Mixer (turn on48v) out from mixer--> mbox (input to mbox) -->Then send your 'monitor outs' on your mbox through you mixer if that's where you have your monitors hooked up, otherwise just send the monitor outs straight to the monitors.

Once that signal flow is straightened out follow the same instructions above in pro tools about creating a mono track and setting its input and arming it to record.