HDX not Available as Dolby Atmos Renderer Audio Output Device

[paulo m]

Hi,
I was using HDX as the Renderer Audio Output Device, but it´s not available anymore on the Audio output device drop down and I get a driver error popup when opening the app.

That happened after I installed PT 2022.9 and updated Monterey to 12.6 (required an HDX firmware update).

I´m running Renderer 3.7.3_6028271 on an iMAC PRO 2019.

The HD Driver is installed and runs perfectly with Protools. When I open PT, set the playback engine to Dolby Audio Bridge so that the HD Driver is released, I can´t see it showing as a valid output device on the Renderer preferences.

HDX is not showing either on Audio MIDI Setup when PT is closed. But the Avid Audio Service is running on the Activity Monitor on the MAC.

Everything was running perfectly before the update. I know that now PT provides the PT Audio Bridge that can be used on the Renderer, but for the time being I prefer to still use HDX.

I uninstalled and re installed the HD driver again, but still the same.

Any ideas about what may be causing this? I suspect that PT is not properly releasing the HD Driver, but I´m not sure. Any help on how to solve this is greatly appreciated, thanks.

Best,

Paulo

[bewk]

Could be that the kext file is not loaded which would cause the HDX card to not be visible to the system. My upgrade to 2022.9 caused the driver to not load up on boot so I load it manually each time. The way to confirm it's still running is to hold "option" and click on your Apple icon in the top left corner which should prompt for "System Information" instead of "About this Mac". Navigate to "Software" and select "Extensions" and let them load. Once the scan completes, scroll the list and look for "DigiDal.kext". If it is not present the HDX Card will not be seen by the OS.

My guess is that the addition of Aux I/O has introduced some new code to the HD driver which may be just enough to stir up some growing pains. I think we're probably experiencing two separate issues but possibly related to the same problem under the hood with the driver.

What happens if you reboot, set renderer to HDX and then load PT?

There's an applet for manually loading the kext file though for addressing an issue in Big Sur. I know that's not your OS but I found this article which put me on the path to a solution at least.

Good luck,
Chris

[paulo m]

Hi Chris,

thanks for the reply. I will check the options you´ve mentioned to load the HD driver. Then I´ll check if shows up in Audio MIDI setup and is available as a valid audio output device on the Dolby Renderer.

I was not aware that one could load the HD driver manually and set it to load on boot. I also think that the Aux new features is probably the culprit here...

Will let you know, thanks!

Best,

[bewk]

Sure thing. Hopefully you can get it sorted out easily. Curious to hear how it goes.

[paulo m]

Originally Posted by bewk

Sure thing. Hopefully you can get it sorted out easily. Curious to hear how it goes.

Hi,

no luck. Installed PT 2022.10 and respective HD driver and problem persists.

HDX not showing in Audio MIDI setup with PT closed and not available for the DAPS either.

Systems info shows the Digidal.kext (wrongly labelled as 2022.9) as loaded and PT works fine with it.

Apparently PT is not properly releasing the driver when closed or when Playback engine is set to Dolby Audio Bridge or other than HDX.

[bewk]

Does HDX show up in the Audio MIDI settings as a core audio device before you launch Pro Tools? If it isn't there after a fresh start then it may have less to do with releasing the hardware from PT and rather it loading properly in the OS.

[paulo m]

Originally Posted by bewk

Does HDX show up in the Audio MIDI settings as a core audio device before you launch Pro Tools? If it isn't there after a fresh start then it may have less to do with releasing the hardware from PT and rather it loading properly in the OS.

No, it doesn´t show up, I mentioned that in the initial post. But it shows as loaded in Sys Info/Software/Extensions. You may be right, but the point is that all was fine before 2022.9.

[bewk]

Might seem like an odd question but what chassis are you using for the HDX card? Has it been power cycled since the update? Another HDX user I know had a similar situation as yours with 2022.9 and and his wasn't seen by the OS until he actually pulled the plug from the wall and rebooted.

[paulo m]

Originally Posted by bewk

Might seem like an odd question but what chassis are you using for the HDX card? Has it been power cycled since the update? Another HDX user I know had a similar situation as yours with 2022.9 and and his wasn't seen by the OS until he actually pulled the plug from the wall and rebooted.

Hi, it´s a Sonnet Echo Express 3 and it was power cycled after the card firmware update that was needed after we installed Monterey 12.6. And the plug was pulled as well. The HDX card works perfectly with PT, it´s just the HD driver core audio that doesn´t show up.

[LDS]

If you open activity monitor, can you see the Avid Audio Server running?