Mbox 3 Pro Midi Malfunction

[ArtyMorty]

Hello, I’m a new PT10 user.

Since 2008 I’ve been using Logic Pro 9 with a Duet and Axiom 25 on a 2GHz 7,1 Imac Core 2 Duo with 4 GB RAM and Snow Leopard 10.6.8. I have an Axiom 25 for VI’s - that also triggers an Electribe ESMKII via Midi OUT port (Midi CLK). I’ve used this Imac for audio only and have had no issues.

Recently, I purchased PT 10 (stand alone) and an Mbox 3 Pro (regular.) I uninstalled my Duet’s software and ran “repair disk permissions”. Then I installed the latest Mbox Pro 3rd gen driver and PT10. I updated to PT10.1 and optimized my system according to the manual. I ran “repair disk permissions” again.

I connected my Electribe’s midi I/O to my Mbox Pro, then connected my Electribe’s outputs to inputs 3&4 of the Mbox Pro and pressed the “line” and “-10” switches. Finally, I plugged my bass guitar and microphone to inputs 1&2.

I fired up PT and turned on LLM. I created a new stereo track using inputs 3&4. When pressing the play button on my Electribe - audio came in and I could hear everything just fine with no latency. However, once I pressed the spacebar, my Mbox Pro did not trigger my Electribe correctly. Instead, my Electribe began to playback intermittently and continued to do this even after I pressed the spacebar again to stop. Sometimes it wouldn’t trigger my Electribe at all, then after 30 seconds or so, the Electribe would just start playing on its own and I'd have to manually stop it.

I decided to fire up Logic Pro 9 and had the same exact problems. I also created a new VI track while in Logic and attempted to play the keys on my Axiom 25. There was a 2 or 3 second delay between the time I pressed a key and the notes sounded - plus they had a very long sustain. Even the transport controls of my Axiom had a delayed reaction.

So, I unplugged my Mbox Pro and tried using the onboard sound and all of my problems went away - I reconnected my Electribe to my Axiom and everything triggered just fine in PT10 and Logic without any delays using (CLK) or Vi’s.

Thinking this was an issue with hardware I decided to return my Mbox Pro to Guitar Center and ordered another one online. I received the new one but still have the same problems. I’ve tried to uninstall and reinstall the Mbox Pro 3rd gen drivers and I’ve even used the older driver with the same results. Every time I load “Audio Midi Setup” I notice “grayed out” duplicates of the “Mbox Pro” icon. If I click on “Rescan MIDI” a new “grayed out” icon appears each time.

This is only an issue with Vi’s and midi (CLK) - I have no problems arming tracks and recording my bass or vocals in either DAW - regardless of the buffer settings.

I've noticed other posts with some of these same problems but no solutions to the midi problems regarding the duplicate "Mbox Pro" icon, lagging Axiom 25, and triggering anomaly of external drum modules.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[ArtyMorty]

Ok. I have fixed the "Midi Out" triggering problem to my Drum Machine in Pro Tools by selecting the right choices within "Midi beat clock". I still have the issue of the "grayed out" duplicate "Mbox Pro" icons in the AMS but it doesn't seem to be affecting my Imac's performance. I guess I'll just have to go in there every few days and delete the duplicates. Other than that - as a new user - I like Pro Tools 10 and the Mbox Pro 3rd gen. Now I have to make more room in my brain for all of these shortcuts!

[nedorama]

Having the exact same issues, except it's keeping me from being able to use external MIDI synths - I have to reattach them to a "new" mbox every time I open Pro Tools. Please fix!

FYI doesn't affect USB synths or internal VI's - only MIDI-connected ones or the iPad ProRemote .

[ArtyMorty]

Here are some of the things that I've tried so far to no avail:

1.) Go to Users > “your user name” > Library > Preferences and trash DAE Prefs, DigiSetup.OSX, and Pro Tools prefs. Trash all of the Digidesign Databases folders on the root of every mounted drive.

To trash the AMS preferences go to Users/ "Name of logged in user"/Library/Preferences/ByHost
Locate the file com.apple.MIDI.xxxxxxxxxxxx.plist and throw this in the trash, empty the trash and restart the computer. Note the xxxxxxxxxxxx are going to be a combination of letters and numbers and this is normal.

Use the Apple disk utility to repair disk permissions.

If that doesn't work, create a new account.

2.) Open System Preferences from the Apple Menu
Open Accounts
Unlock the lock
Click the plus sign above the lock
Change account type over to 'Administrator'
Name the account 'Pro Tools' (can be anything)
Click create account
Close System Preferences
Choose 'Log Out' from the Apple Menu
Log into the new account and open Pro Tools to see if problem solved.

If that doesn't work try this:

3.) Placing a copy of the driver plug-in for your interface in the user's MIDI Driver folder as well. So you would want to go to Mac HD/Library/Audio/MIDI Drivers and copy the Avid Mbox Pro MIDI Driver.plugin and paste it into Mac HD/Users/Your User Name/Library/Audio/MIDI Drivers. You may need to remove the original driver plug-in from Mac HD/Library/Audio/MIDI Drivers as well.

I was also recomended to remove all but the Avid Mbox Pro Driver plug-in from both my user and system's MIDI driver folders and both of mine have an EmagicUSBMIDIDriver.plugin from my Logic install.


One thing that I noticed upon trying option #3 - was that the regular "solid" "Mbox Pro" icon will not show up in the AMS Midi window if the Avid Mbox Pro MIDI.plugin is in both folders at the same time. Even clicking on "Rescan Midi" does nothing. But if I remove the file from either folder, then the icon reappears and so does its duplicates - when clicking on "Resacn Midi".

[ArtyMorty]

I should also note that if I still try to use my Axiom's transport buttons while using Logic Pro - I still get that horrible MIDI lag when either playing the Keys or using the "MIDI OUT" from either the Mbox Pro or the Axiom. As long as I don't use my transport buttons and just use the Keys then all is fine in Pro Tools or Logic. I have yet to assign my Axiom's transport buttons to Pro Tools to see if the lag issue is only related to Logic.

[NJ Soul]

Originally Posted by ArtyMorty

Ok. I have fixed the "Midi Out" triggering problem to my Drum Machine in Pro Tools by selecting the right choices within "Midi beat clock". I still have the issue of the "grayed out" duplicate "Mbox Pro" icons in the AMS but it doesn't seem to be affecting my Imac's performance. I guess I'll just have to go in there every few days and delete the duplicates. Other than that - as a new user - I like Pro Tools 10 and the Mbox Pro 3rd gen. Now I have to make more room in my brain for all of these shortcuts!

I have this same exact problem. I use an m-audio axiom pro 61 and an mbox 3 pro. Every time I relaunch audio midi settings, there is a duplicate greyed out mbox pro icon. This makes it impossible to control outboard midi gear/synths via ams. I hate having to reload the connections every friggin time.

There is no problem with the axiom pro 61. This happened to me in snow leopard, and i just did a fresh install of mountain lion (10.8). The problem persists despite being a brand new installation. All i installed was the mbox 3 pro driver (driver 1.0.16, mbox pro firmware 1.0.3). Nothing else. The axiom pro 61 is a class compliant controller, so i had only to plug it in.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

[nedorama]

I suggest avid fixes this. It's a known issue that hasn't been addressed for over 6 months and neither firmware nor Pro Tools updates have fixed this.

[nedorama]

There is a suggestion to fix this in the Ideascale - if others are having this issue, I suggest logging in and voting to fix it. thanks.

http://protools.ideascale.com/a/dtd/...en/105922-3779