MBOX Pro 3 Stability (PT 12 & Windows 10)

[rmoat]

I'm trying to decide whether it's time to move on from the AVID Mbox Pro 3. I really like the interface, but have not enjoyed the issues that have cropped up since PT 12.4.

I don't know if it's a combination of Firewire, AVID Mbox Drivers (Year 2014, no updates, and yet became Windows 10 Qualified?), or if anything after PT 12.4 had issues.

Basically I'll create a big project, save it, and then when I come back to it I have issues. Lately, I'll open up a project and it will play, but there is no sound coming out of the interface.
I'll switch the H/W buffer from 512 to 1024, or vice versa and I'll either hear the music, or it will play with a bit of static (if it does this, I'll switch the H/W buffer again, and then it will play and sound normally).

Sometimes when I switch the H/W buffer from 512 to 1024, or vice-versa it will also take at least 5 minutes while Pro Tools sits there and acts like it is frozen.
Then I'll have to save the project again, reboot the computer, open it back up and it sounds okay.

Perhaps it is my system specs, or on-board firewire.

Specs:

Windows 10 Pro
Intel Core i7-3770K
16 GB RAM
AVID MBOX 3 Pro + Pro Tools 12.7.1 + Vienna Ensemble Pro 6
2 x 1 TB Samsung SSD

[JoelG]

Have you done all the optimisations Avid recommends? Do you have the Mbox set as your default audio device in Control Panel, Sounds (both playback and record) - If so, right click on the Mbox and "Disable" it there.

Joel

[rmoat]

Hi JoelG,

Thank you for your reply! I'll check out the Windows 10 optimizations guide from AVID's site, and make sure that they're all applied.

However, you are correct, it is set as the default audio device. It didn't occur to me that that could cause an issue. I'll disable the device within the sounds control panel.

Originally Posted by JoelG

Have you done all the optimisations Avid recommends? Do you have the Mbox set as your default audio device in Control Panel, Sounds (both playback and record) - If so, right click on the Mbox and "Disable" it there.

Joel

[JoelG]

That definitely causes some issues, especially if your sample rate in your session isn't the same as Windows playback.

I usually connect my speakers/monitors to my sound card, and use an output from my interface to my soundcard so I hear everything.

Joel

[rmoat]

This is perfect. Thank you. I don't recall exactly when my Mbox became the default sound device in windows (It may have been when I installed Windows 10, which could have possibly matched with the time I started experiencing issues). Since I don't use that PC much for anything else, I never changed the default sound device back to my PCIe sound blaster card.

Originally Posted by JoelG

That definitely causes some issues, especially if your sample rate in your session isn't the same as Windows playback.

I usually connect my speakers/monitors to my sound card, and use an output from my interface to my soundcard so I hear everything.

Joel