Pro Tools 12 and Rode NT-USB Microphone? (Help)

[spooner_von_nobody]

Hello all,

This is my first post here and I hope to not enrage the more knowledgeable users by asking simple questions however I do need assistance.

A few days ago I downloaded Pro Tools 12 and installed it, process was fairly smooth. Now that I am beginning to tinker a bit I thought I'd do a test recording, or at least try to get my Rode NT-USB microphone to work with PT, to which I have had no success. Generally speaking I am not the most tech savvy person however I get by but this is beyond my ability so I am looking for guidance. I did utilize the forum search tool, looking for both threads and posts with any associated or related terms (i.e. USB mic, USB microphone, etc., etc.) to no avail. The search results were often nonexistent, unrelated or in regard to Mac (I am Windows based). Simply put, I haven't had much success searching this forum or other suggested resources (Google the DUC, Knowledgebase, etc.). I took to YouTube as well for several hours however almost all of the videos pertaining to PT and a USB microphone were directed to Mac users and were older videos.

Troubleshooting: First I wanted to be sure the mic was operational. I successfully made several voice recordings with the Voice Recorder in Windows. My microphone too is being recognized by Windows a recording device, as it should. One YouTube video suggested ASIO4ALL be installed, which I did. ASIO4ALL recognizes my mic but still no luck on figuring how to get my Rode NT-USB to work in PT, even after referring to the ASIO4ALL instruction manual. Should I uninstall ASIO4ALL? After establishing that my mic is operational and several hours of trying to get PT to recognize my mic I stopped trouble shooting at that point for I assumed I was simply not well versed in using PT and that was the cause of the problem.

I'm very much a 'figure it out on my own' sorta guy but after spending 8+ hours banging my head against the wall (figuratively and literally) I came to the painful conclusion I needed some help.

I'm hoping this is a relatively easy fix for some of the more knowledgeable users. Similarly, if there is a relevant thread, post, website, video, etc. that I've overlooked please feel free to lay it on me and I will give it a good study. Also, my brother is quite tech savvy however he is 1,000 miles away. As such, if there are step-by-step directions on remedying this I can enlist him to assist me (as opposed to bugging anybody on this forum further).

Other info: I have a VGA to HDMI converter I utilize. This is a USB-based converter that allows me to use my TV as a computer monitor. Both my keyboard and mouse are USB.

I've tried to be as thorough as possible in regard to actions taken thus far. Below is my system info. In closing, they say the Lord looks after fools and drunkards - surely one of which must apply to me with my decision to dive head first into PT12.

Thanks again in advance for any assistance and my apologies for the newbie issues.

ps. If there is a 'Pro Tools for Dummies' type book or material that any of the experienced users recommend I'd be interested, that is material that will help me get 'up to speed' if you will.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
System Details:

HP Desktop Computer 800 G1-SFF Intel Core i7 4th Gen 4770 (3.40 GHz, 64-bit quad-core) 16 GB DDR3 RAM, 2 TB HDD, Windows 10 Pro 64-Bit --- Pro Tools 2018.4 (digital download)

[cwsand]

Hi, What do you have selected in the Playback Engine?


Help Us Help You

[spooner_von_nobody]

ASIO4ALL v2 is selected for the playback engine, per this:

http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/e...s-and-ASIO4ALL

I went through the process linked above to no avail. Avid has directed me to the ASIO forums, to contact the microphones manufacturer, etc., etc.

I downloaded Reaper just to see if any/all DAW's had the same issue of not recognizing my USB mic. Reaper recognized my USB mic immediately without any issue what so ever and was ready to record as soon as the program opened.

Anywho, I digress... any suggestions to get PT to work?

And I do appreciate your response.

[Darryl Ramm]

It must be USB Microphone problem week? With all the posts here. I feel sorry for all the folks frustrated with their USB Microphone issues, but I cannot emphasize this enough, you folks need to start asking for advice before buying crap and inflicting all this pain on yourself. USB microphones are a pretty poor, inflexible choice for people wanting to do serious work. Especially with Pro Tools. There are much better choices of low-end interfaces (with real ASIO drivers) and separate analog mics. Depending on what you want to do (e.g. mix music, track multiple mics, record instruments, etc.) you may well be better off giving up and getting started with different hardware.

But back to actually helping you now...

What do you mean by not working? The mic does not show up as an input option for an audio track? You don’t see an input signal/meter move on that track? You don’t hear anything while recording? When playing back? You need to say exactly what is going on. “Not working” is a useless description.

It might be you are just stumped by basic Pro Tools operation, we can’t tell for sure. How much have you used Pro Tools before?

Pro Tools and some other pro audio apps want ASIO audio devices. Your microphone does not have ASIO drivers so you need to hope you can get by with using ASIO4ALL to wrap the WDM drivers and fake out ASIO. But you should be able to get this to work. Make sure Windows or other apps do *not* have that usb mic selected for anything (as mic input or audio output)—Pro Tools needs to be the only thing trying to use the interface. Make sure The ASIO4ALL setup panel is seeing the USB Mic/has it selected (see the ASIO4ALL documentation) then select that ASIO4ALL device as the playback engine in Pro Tools and you should be set.

But that assumes you know how to then use Pro Tools. If you do not then start with very basic tutorials on YouTube etc. (any version of Pro Tools, but ideally after 9, should be OK). And start by creating an empty session and adding a single stereo audio (not instrument, not midi) track and dragging and dropping a known good mp3 or similar file from your computer onto that track... if the USB mic playback engine is setup properly that sound will play out the headphone port on the USB mic... not you computer speakers. Get this working first before worrying about the mic input.

If you have problems post screen shots of the ASIO4ALL setup screen, Pro Tools Setup>playback engine page, and Setup>IO input, output and bus pages, and the Pro Tools mix window showing the tracks in the session with the input and output IO selectors for the track(s) visible. The screenshots need to be legible enough for us to read the text. And describe exactly what is and is not working as you expect in detail. Ideally if you can post a link to the YouTube tutorial you are following and clearly describe where things fail for you in following that.

[spookybuk]

"USB microphones are a pretty poor, inflexible choice for people wanting to do serious work"

What you actually mean is that "Pro Tools and Windows" are a "pretty poor, inflexible choice for people wanting to do serious work", right?

Because I just bought a Roland Hansonic and it also cannot be used as an USB input.

This isn't only about USB mics, but rather USB inputs.

USB is the universal standard for digital connectivity and I don't think questioning the quality of the current USB mics as any kind of substitute for being able to use USB devices on Pro Tools in 2019.

Even if the USB mic was the worst possible equipment, we should still be able to use them. The fact that this hasn't been solved so far has nothing to do with the quality of USB mic.