Mbox 3 Pro Help.

[philip888]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

You would likely have gotten help if you had explained as clearly as possible what you are exactly doing and what the problem is. And included some more basic info about your setup. The long rambling conversations with yourself are not that clear or easy to follow and by making people work to unravel what is going on you are not exactly encouraging people to help you. Throw in your demanding attitude and you are just about guaranteed not to get much help with this issue.

Anyhow if it is anywhere near as urgent as you seem to want to make by all these posts then stop wasting your obviously very valuable time and just telephone Avid support.

I think I explained pretty well what I am dealing with.

I am in a pressure situation with this. Me explaining my situation here would be even more ramblings.

I have been a contributor here for a few years and have gladly help where I could.

My back is against the wall at the moment and so I would say I have not handled my self as well as I would like to have. But it is what it is.

[Darryl Ramm]

No. far too little clear info. E.g. What input are you using mic, line? Instrument? If distorted where is the input gain set to? What exact make/model monitors do you have connected? What PC or Mac platform are you on, driver and PT version etc.

The mute/dim sounds like it is working to me. The button operation is described in the manual. I recall it being pretty well written, does what is in the manual disagree with what you are seeing? I don't have either a Mbox Pro or manual in front of me right now but you should have both...

Darryl

[philip888]

Wow.

I just got rid of my 003r.

I used for the past 2 years no problems same monitors. BX8a.
System Windows 7 Ult 64 but pro tools 10.3.4
I am using the latest driver 1.0.19

I am not using a MIC line or input create a sound.

The distortion is occurring on playback as I described.

Outputs 1/2 and Underneath it says Stereo Mix 1. In this position I get a lot of distortion in the audio. Mono Button engaged or not.

As soon as I Switch to Stereo Mix 2 underneath Outputs 1/2 on the control panel the sound clears up.

This makes no sense to me. I think the unit is damaged.

[philip888]

Does anyone here use the Mbox 3 Pro? That can help me trouble shoot this thing?

[philip888]

I just bought the Mbox 3 Pro off Ebay. I think it got damaged in shipping. It is a little hard for me to explain what is going on because I am not use to the Control Panel. I am running PT 10. I just sold my 003r to get this. Never had any issues with my system before so I know it is not my system. I have tested this on my Windows 7 Ult64 setup and I have tested for this on my 10.7.2 Mac Pro setup. The driver and Control Panel on my OSX and Windows Systems exhibit the same behavior. So this is why I feel it is the unit itself. But wanted to ask because I could be doing something wrong in the Control Panel.
My Monitors are connected to Outputs 1/2____________ On the Control Panel I have selected Outputs 1/2 and underneath it says Stereo Mix 1. With these settings during playback I can see the meters showing a signal coming through but no sound. When I change the Stereo Mix setting to Stereo Mix 2 and turn the faders up on the Software Returns 1/2 then I get sound. With this configuration Outputs 1/2 and Underneath Stereo Mix 2 when I push the Mono Button the volume increases by about 6db. If I go back to Stereo Mix 1 and turn the faders down on the Software Returns I get a cracking sounds. While still on Stereo Mix 1 if I engage the Mono Button I get major distortion. To summarize I get no sound until I change to Stereo Mix 2 and turn the faders up on the Software Returns 1/2. If this sounds confusing think how I feel trying to explain it. I think the Unit is damaged.

Ever heard of anything like this before.

[serio]

in the mbox control panel go to setup>output setup
make sure the checkbox for Master Vol. is checked for the Analog Outputs 1/2 section.
if it is, or if this doesnt help, then you probably have a bad unit.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by philip888

I just bought the Mbox 3 Pro off Ebay. I think it got damaged in shipping. It is a little hard for me to explain what is going on because I am not use to the Control Panel. I am running PT 10. I just sold my 003r to get this. Never had any issues with my system before so I know it is not my system. I have tested this on my Windows 7 Ult64 setup and I have tested for this on my 10.7.2 Mac Pro setup. The driver and Control Panel on my OSX and Windows Systems exhibit the same behavior. So this is why I feel it is the unit itself. But wanted to ask because I could be doing something wrong in the Control Panel.
My Monitors are connected to Outputs 1/2____________ On the Control Panel I have selected Outputs 1/2 and underneath it says Stereo Mix 1. With these settings during playback I can see the meters showing a signal coming through but no sound. When I change the Stereo Mix setting to Stereo Mix 2 and turn the faders up on the Software Returns 1/2 then I get sound. With this configuration Outputs 1/2 and Underneath Stereo Mix 2 when I push the Mono Button the volume increases by about 6db. If I go back to Stereo Mix 1 and turn the faders down on the Software Returns I get a cracking sounds. While still on Stereo Mix 1 if I engage the Mono Button I get major distortion. To summarize I get no sound until I change to Stereo Mix 2 and turn the faders up on the Software Returns 1/2. If this sounds confusing think how I feel trying to explain it. I think the Unit is damaged.

Ever heard of anything like this before.

Yes I've heard of users completely confused by these hardware mixers. That would be the first thing to exclude here.

I'm still not at all clear if anything is really wrong, lots of what you describe I could set up a Mbox 3 Pro mixer and Pro Tools signal to do. Have you carefully read though all the mixer documentation in the user guide to understand how all this works? These mixers seem complex until you suddenly 'get it'. I always thought the flow diagram in the UI was useful--a big help in understanding what the mixer can/is doing.

Maybe posting screen shots of your mixer showing the Ouptut 1/2 and Ouptut 3/4 panels, and of the Pro Tools windows showing the output assignments. Also include shots of both the General Setup and Output Setup mixer setup screens, that will clarify pre/post fader sends and what outputs are assigned to the control room etc. If master vol is enabled on them, etc. [I just saw Serio ask the same thing...]

Things like crackling don't seem good, and I'm not getting the cause of the distortion (although again. its explainable by things like you might have the FX return cranked on some mixes and not others, or if you have a live input signals running into the Mbox), but volume increasing when mono is selected will happen if the signals are in phase, again we don't know, what signal is on each side of the L/R pair you are now summing in mono? How are you determining "6dB" louder?

Are there any inputs connected to the Mbox 3 Pro while you are doing these tests?

I hope you understand the concepts about active control room speaker pairs.

We have no idea what meters you are taking about when you say "see a signal coming though" What exact meters are you looking at. Showing that on a screen shot may help.

Do the hardware inputs direct routes to the hardware outputs work? Just say plug a mic into input 1 and input 2 and do they work as expected to the output 1 and output 2?



Darryl

[philip888]

Here is the Control Panel Default. Showing sound but nothing coming from the monitors.




Here is the set up Output section.

[philip888]

When I change the Stereo Mix setting to Stereo Mix 2 and turn the faders up on the Software Returns 1/2 then I get sound.



Here is the Output Setup Same as before.

[philip888]

With this configuration Outputs 1/2 and Underneath Stereo Mix 2 when I push the Mono Button the volume increases by about 6db.



Master Fader Before the Mono Button is Engaged.



Master Fader After Mono Button is Engaged.