No signal in Pro Tools with S/PDIF & 11R

[synergyscott]

I decided to make Eleven Rack my main interface in my home studio, and I want to use an outside audio source using S/PDIF into 11R, then audio out to my monitors. Audio is playing fine through my headphones, but I cannot get Pro Tools to see it. I like to record outside audio onto tracks, but Pro Tools is not seeing a signal.

My old 002 could just press a button for 7/8 and then you could just allow Pro Tools input tracks to see 7 & 8 just fine, but on Eleven Rack, all the track input configurations I've tried in Pro Tools aren't working for me. I see that you can go into Pro Tools' "Setup" menu and adjust your Hardware setting to S/PDIF, which I have tried. All the I/O is set to default. What am I missing here?

[nst7]

Are you not able to create a track with Spidf selected as the input?

A stereo track will show Spidf L+R. A mono track will show Spidf L or R. Which is similar to how it is on the 002, etc.

[synergyscott]

Yes, that's what I tried, but then I get an error message: "The input could not be made active because the input path is currently not available." So then I go into I/O settings and check the 2 channels for S/PDIF on Digital channels 5 & 6 and drag the check-boxes over to the active section, then un-check to make inactive what was in 5 & 6 before. So my stereo track shows SPDIF L&R as the input, and output is Analog 1&2. Should be fine, but still no signal...

[synergyscott]

I see now that the USB cable is the main player now (the one that connects the 11R to the computer). I unplugged the S/PDIF and the music kept playing, even though my Sound Preferences listed the S/PDIF. Arrrgh!

I get guitar tracks sounding with signal meters, but not the streaming audio.

[synergyscott]

Any clues to my predicament?

[Darryl Ramm]

Not much at all to go on here. How about a clear high level description of what you are actually doing and what exactly is connected to what, with what cables, to what exact ports etc.

And answer clearly the following questions...

What "audio is playing out the headphones"? Audio previously recorded into Pro Tools or digital audio from the S/PDIF input or what?

What exact OS version?

What exact version of Pro Tools?

Where are the headphones connected? To the Eleven Rack headphone jack or the computer?

What is selected as the Pro Tools playback engine?

Are you on a Mac trying to use aggregate IO?

What "sound preferences"? Windows OS sound preferences? What are you trying to do exactly by messing around with those settings?

Did you install the latest Eleven Rack driver for your OS?

What is this mysterious S/PDIF source feeding the Eleven Rack? At what sample rate?

Are you connecting the external S/PDIF source to the Eleven Rack S/PDIF coaxial input or to another input on your PC or Mac?

Does the Eleven Rack GUI control panel show up in Pro Tools? (handy for configuring things... like...)

Is the Eleven Rack set to S/PDIF or AES/EBU digital input?

--- ----

But bascially...

The Pro Tools Setup>playback engine should be set to Eleven Rack (not aggregate IO etc.).

The Pro Tools session sample rate should be set at the same sample rate as the S/PDIF inbound signal.

In Pro Tools Setup>Hardware you needs to make sure the clock source is set to S/PDIF (not AES/EBU), that will set the input to S/PDIF as well.

And if the IO is still not working then default the IO (in Setup>IO hit the "Default" button on each tab and then reselect the S/PDIF input for the track). ... that's a common cause of input path errors.


Darryl

[synergyscott]

Thank you very much Daryl. I have only now had time to crawl behind the desk to get accurate info.

It turns out that what I thought was a S/PDIF cable is not that, just a D/A converter analog Left and Right RCA. I thought the Left channel defaulted to SpDIF digital but apparently not.

I am trying to run streaming audio or iTunes out of my computer into 11R. But since no one does RCA in any format since my old 002 which I still have, I am scrambling to find a solution. I have an expensive "Music Cable" from Synergistic Research, which is an all-in-one USB->D/AC->RCA analog out. I'm just going to have to get a pair of female RCA-XLR male adaptors. Or see if I can convert the RCA's into a USB connection at their factory.

So now I am looking at the USB side of the equation on my old Mac AND my new iMac. Eleven Rack comes with the USB 2.0 cable, and I get streaming audio from that via Sound Preferences on my iMac (running OS X 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard), and Pro Tools 8. Sound is coming through my speakers, but how do I get it into a track in Pro Tools? I don't see any I/O options for USB in. I've looked at the owner's manual for 11R and cannot locate anything. Does it just have to be S/PDIF (or AES/EBU) OR not use USB and go with two mono channels in XLR for streaming audio?

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by synergyscott

Thank you very much Daryl. I have only now had time to crawl behind the desk to get accurate info.

It turns out that what I thought was a S/PDIF cable is not that, just a D/A converter analog Left and Right RCA. I thought the Left channel defaulted to SpDIF digital but apparently not.

I am trying to run streaming audio or iTunes out of my computer into 11R. But since no one does RCA in any format since my old 002 which I still have, I am scrambling to find a solution. I have an expensive "Music Cable" from Synergistic Research, which is an all-in-one USB->D/AC->RCA analog out. I'm just going to have to get a pair of female RCA-XLR male adaptors. Or see if I can convert the RCA's into a USB connection at their factory.

So now I am looking at the USB side of the equation on my old Mac AND my new iMac. Eleven Rack comes with the USB 2.0 cable, and I get streaming audio from that via Sound Preferences on my iMac (running OS X 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard), and Pro Tools 8. Sound is coming through my speakers, but how do I get it into a track in Pro Tools? I don't see any I/O options for USB in. I've looked at the owner's manual for 11R and cannot locate anything. Does it just have to be S/PDIF (or AES/EBU) OR not use USB and go with two mono channels in XLR for streaming audio?

While not recommended, a standard audio/analog RCA cable will often work OK as a digital coaxial S/PDIF cable especially over short runs.

It sounds like you are really stuck getting started, and from your questions it seems you are pretty confused about some basic things. USB is not an IO interface that shows up in Pro Tools, just like Firewire is not an IO port shown for a 002. USB is the bus that connects the computer to the audio interface (and its IO ports).

You cannot use sound output from your Mac to your Eleven Rack at the same time as Pro Tools is using the Eleven Rack. Its best to not have the Eleven Rack pointed at by anything in OS X audio/midi preferences.

Presumably you have the Pro Tools 8.0.x (what version exactly?) installed on the Mac that came with the Eleven Rack. Right? It should just start up and be using the Eleven Rack. You've got powered monitors/speakers connected to the XLR Main Outputs of the Eleven Rack right?

I suspect you need to sit back, open up the documentation again that came with your Eleven Rack, including the "Eleven Rack and Pro Tools" document that has useful getting started tutorials in it. That is a different manual than what you may be looking at. See http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/User_Guide/en358799


If you have content in iTunes why are you not just importing that directly into Pro Tools? In iTunes Command-click on a audio track and select "show in finder". Just drag and drop that file onto an audio track (typically you need a stereo track) in Pro Tools. If you are on two separate Macs then just connect them with a network or use a USB flash stick to move the audio file between computers.

if you have problems with this let us know in as much detail as you can what you try and what does not work. Especially if you can refer to things in the documentation/tutorials you are tryign that dont' work let us know exactly what page/manual version you are following.

[synergyscott]

Thank you again Daryl. You are correct, I am having trouble with some noob topics. :) Good questions, and my answers in bold.

*
While not recommended, a standard audio/analog RCA cable will often work OK as a digital coaxial S/PDIF cable especially over short runs.

It sounds like you are really stuck getting started, and from your questions it seems you are pretty confused about some basic things. USB is not an IO interface that shows up in Pro Tools, just like Firewire is not an IO port shown for a 002. USB is the bus that connects the computer to the audio interface (and its IO ports).

You cannot use sound output from your Mac to your Eleven Rack at the same time as Pro Tools is using the Eleven Rack. Its best to not have the Eleven Rack pointed at by anything in OS X audio/midi preferences.
*
If USB is not an input, and if I can not feed streaming audio AND guitar signal into Eleven Rack simultaneously, then it is pointless for me to proceed using 11R as my main preamp/interface. And yet again, need to purchase another product from AVID, but this time I will probably buy a Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 since AVID keeps changing the target.

Presumably you have the Pro Tools 8.0.x (what version exactly?) installed on the Mac that came with the Eleven Rack. Right?
* Yes, Pro Tools 8.0.5 that came with 11R.

It should just start up and be using the Eleven Rack. You've got powered monitors/speakers connected to the XLR Main Outputs of the Eleven Rack right?
* Yes, correct.

I suspect you need to sit back, open up the documentation again that came with your Eleven Rack, including the "Eleven Rack and Pro Tools" document that has useful getting started tutorials in it. That is a different manual than what you may be looking at. See http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/User_Guide/en358799
* I have looked at the owner's manual but I can look at the user database as you suggest.
I have had 11R running into my Digi 002 for years, running just fine. Now that I bought a new iMac, the 002 is obsolete, so I thought I could substitute the 11R since it claims to be a preamp/processor, but as I say if it can only manage one thing at a time then it is limited for what I want it to do.

If you have content in iTunes why are you not just importing that directly into Pro Tools? In iTunes Command-click on a audio track and select "show in finder". Just drag and drop that file onto an audio track (typically you need a stereo track) in Pro Tools.
* What I want is to run streaming audio from iTunes radio and jam along with it. I don't want to import and all that mess. Just jam.

If you are on two separate Macs then just connect them with a network or use a USB flash stick to move the audio file between computers.
* Hmmm, that network idea sounds very interesting and a possible solution. How would I do this?

if you have problems with this let us know in as much detail as you can what you try and what does not work. Especially if you can refer to things in the documentation/tutorials you are trying that don't work let us know exactly what page/manual version you are following.

Thanks again Daryl, very helpful and much appreciated. Have a good day.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by synergyscott

If USB is not an input, and if I can not feed streaming audio AND guitar signal into Eleven Rack simultaneously, then it is pointless for me to proceed using 11R as my main preamp/interface. And yet again, need to purchase another product from AVID, but this time I will probably buy a Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 since AVID keeps changing the target.

USB is not an input, but you should be able to get S/PDIF input working, which is all you had on the 002.

I have had 11R running into my Digi 002 for years, running just fine. Now that I bought a new iMac, the 002 is obsolete, so I thought I could substitute the 11R since it claims to be a preamp/processor, but as I say if it can only manage one thing at a time then it is limited for what I want it to do.

Overall the Eleven Rack is just as a capable as a 002, but with fewer analog inputs, both have S/PDIF inputs and outputs. However the Eleven rack does not have the direct/alt-src monitor feature the 002 has. Is that what you were doing with analog inputs on the 002? If so that's pure analog and nothing to do with S/PDIF so I'm still confused by what you've done in the past and are trying to do now. If you just want to do direct monitoring like that of the iTunes output, why not just play on the iMac speakers and crank up the volume or use headphones directly connected to the Mac?

Hmmm, that network idea sounds very interesting and a possible solution. How would I do this?

My network comment does not apply to you unless you want to move audio files between computers, but you say you don't want to do this and want to stream content over the Internet.

You have been able to do exactly this before with the 002 and iTunes streaming content? For the 002 you had an optical TOSLINK connection to the 002. For the Eleven Rack you have a S/PDIF TOSLINK to coaxial adapter?

Darryl