Midi M-Audio device only audible during record or playback

[davem1]

When I create a new midi track and assign a plugin (Xpand, DB33 etc) I used to be able to play away & perfect my sound settings before recording, now this works for a few minutes after starting protools and then I can only hear sound from my midi device if I hit play or record.
I can work around this my solo-ing this track and altering the sound there, its just frustrating.
Anyone having this problem ? It used to work fine! I have left my default settings as is and have not changed anything.
I'm using a new macbook pro.

[filosofem]

MIDI Thru checked?

[davem1]

yes, midi thru checked, doesnt make a diff if it is or isnt (in my case), this is really strange! I can play a track while in playback (obv not recording over existing recording for that track) and when I hit spacebar/pause I can play for a few seconds then it cuts out! Anyone any clues ?

[albee1952]

On my rig, as long as the instrument track is record-ready, I can hear the plugin VI. I seem to remember in earlier versions, being able to trigger the plugin at any time, so maybe this is a function of one of the updates(likely 8 or 8.x).

[filosofem]

Originally Posted by albee1952

On my rig, as long as the instrument track is record-ready, I can hear the plugin VI. I seem to remember in earlier versions, being able to trigger the plugin at any time, so maybe this is a function of one of the updates(likely 8 or 8.x).

'First Selected MIDI Track' is the function where simply selecting the Track Name enables MIDI communication with an inserted virtual instrument. However only Record enabled tracks can Record.

[albee1952]

Originally Posted by filosofem

'First Selected MIDI Track' is the function where simply selecting the Track Name enables MIDI communication with an inserted virtual instrument. However only Record enabled tracks can Record.

Interesting! I have that set to NONE here because if I don't, I seem to have problems getting 3 instrument tracks(with SD2, MiniGrand and DB-33 in place) to all trigger independently with my 3 midi sources(Roland kit, Motif and Ensoniq keyboards). Midi has always given my fits