mbox2 periodic crackling and distortion

[grafic]

Crackling and digital distortion coming from mbox outputs (speakers and headphones) on playback of audio and/or midi. (also appears on all mac system sounds too). Starts off as crackling on peaks only then after a minute or so all playback becomes totally distorted.

Problem occurs after about 15 minutes of use.

I then have to quit PT and unplug the mbox... plug it in again and restart PT.

Crackling disappears but this time only for 4 or 5 minutes.... and on it goes...

The noise does not record when doing a bounce to disk... it appears to be a monitoring problem only.


Problem was present with pt 10.2 as well
Playback engine is mbox2 (doesn't seem to like using aggregate I/O)

Have tried:
Changing usb ports for mbox (have tried all combinations of mbox, hd and ilok)
Changed usb cable for mbox
Installed and re installed mbox drivers (V9)
Changed hardware buffer to 1024 (from 512)
Using 4, 1 and 16 host processors.. (currently set to 4)
PT Clean uninstall and subsequent install.


My conclusion at the moment is that maybe my mbox2 is dying.

Anyone have any ideas?

Macbook pro (2012)
2.3 GHz Intel Core i7
16GB Ram
OSX 10.8.1 Mountain Lion
PT 10.3
Mbox2 (Using Mbox_2_Driver_v90_69594)
WD USB3 HD (1Tb with 2 500Gb partitions)
Using passive usb hub for mbox2 and ilok
(Macbook pro only has usb3 ports)


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[Blank Frank]

Have you tried plugging the mbox straight into the computers usb port, not a hub? Are you sure the mbox is still supported in mountain lion? Have you deleted pref's etc, if you go to http://www.jcdeshaies.com/ and download their ProTools Prefs & Database Helper makes life easier. I have an Mbox 2 (which I would rate as one of the crappiest interfaces I've ever owned } which I stopped using thankfully a long time ago, I had nothing but problems with it. so if yours is dying might be a good opportunity to get a decent interface.
Hope this helps

[grafic]

Now on OSX 10.8.2 - still no change.

Originally Posted by Blank Frank

Have you tried plugging the mbox straight into the computers usb port, not a hub?

Yes. Have tried in both ports. Makes no difference at all.

Originally Posted by Blank Frank

Are you sure the mbox is still supported in mountain lion?

Mbox2 still appears on the list

Originally Posted by Blank Frank

Have you deleted pref's etc, if you go to http://www.jcdeshaies.com/ and download their ProTools Prefs & Database Helper makes life easier.

Not sure what prefs I should be deleting here.

Originally Posted by Blank Frank

I have an Mbox 2 (which I would rate as one of the crappiest interfaces I've ever owned } which I stopped using thankfully a long time ago, I had nothing but problems with it. so if yours is dying might be a good opportunity to get a decent interface.

Thinking about an mbox3... or is that still in the same league as the mbox2?
Can't seem to find the hardware only though without having to buy PT again.

Any other suggestions? low budget... need one midi in, and one or two XLRs for mics, headphones and speakers and that's about it.

[CGPdrummondSono]

Your mbox 2 is not dying.

I have the same problem with my student's Macbook pro. The mbox 2 is not compatible with USB 3.0 port. So, all you need is an active USB 2.0 hub external power supply and it'll work.

Here's a thread about that issue: http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t...x+2+distortion

[kattskralle]

i know what's wrong with your set up.
MOUNTAIN LION.
the 9.0 drivers are not compatible with osx 10.8.

I know this because i have the exact same problem.

if someone finds a working driver please post it somewhere. i've been searching the web til death

edit: i see you also have a new mac which have usb 3.0 ports. I aswell have usb 3.0 ports on my macbook air. Could be incompatibility with the usb standard aswell but it's probably the driver...

[grafic]

Originally Posted by CGPdrummondSono

The mbox 2 is not compatible with USB 3.0 port. So, all you need is an active USB 2.0 hub external power supply and it'll work.

Exactly.
Thank you CGPdrummondSono
Problem completely solved... and all for under €20

Mbox doesn't like the USB3 ports and giving it a powered usb2 hub seems to work perfectly. (still on the mbox v9 drivers)

Thanks again for the solution

[hugoantonio]

I had problems with an MBox 2 Mini - Mac Book Pro mid 2012 configuration and solved it with feedserotonin's post here. It worked for me since I did it.

[ncnmusic]

For those having trouble with the driver:
You have to change your security settings to allow the driver to download properly.

To workaround this issue you can temporarily change a preference as follows:
Choose System Preferences from the Apple Menu
Click Security & Privacy
If the pref is locked, click the Lock (lower left) and enter your admin password to unlock it
In the General tab, set Allow applications downloaded from to Anywhere
Click Allow From Anywhere
Try running the installer again
After installation, go back to the Security & Privacy pref and set it back to Mac App Store and Identified Developers

[[email protected]]

I can confirm that my Mbox 2 (Pro Tools 10.3.2) is currently working on iMac 27" (late 2012) via my usb 2.0 (4port) hub. The hub has an option for power but it is not connected. On the same hub i have my external optical drive, Ilok key, and my Midisport.

Just a quick note of where the usb from the hub is connected to the iMac.

Looking @ iMac from the rear my hub is connected to the Last port to the right.

[idearden]

MBox 2, upgrading from PT 8.0.3 to PT 10.3, at the same time as upgrading from a 2005 iMac to a new 27" iMac with Mountain Lion. Crazy brave, lots of problems, esp with plug-ins, but it appears that the bulk of the problem was the USB 3.0 port issue. Kept getting the CPU error message even though the iMac has the latest i7 processor with 24 Gb RAM. Plus there was crackling, dropouts, & distortion.

I found this thread, plugged the MBox 2 into a powered USB 2.0 hub, and all my problems dissappeared!! I now wonder whether the USB problem was causing the initial problem I had, which was that PT 10.3 would not finish it's start up routine (spinning wheel of death) until I took every single plug-in out of the plug-in folder, including the PT plug-ins!!

After I switched the USB cord to the 2.0 hub, the start up routine started to behave itself, although I did sytematically go through and upgrade everything.

Two weeks of my life that I will never recover, but it was an interesting learning experience!!