ProTools now ignores all inputs, even midi, when other things respond
 

Brand new setup on Mac:

Mac Studio
MBox Studio
Superior Drummer 3 (SD3)
Ventura (latest)

I'm still setting up over the past week, but...

PT and SD3 standalone both responded to midi drum set until today. Now, only the latter responds to midi (hits on drum set). For both, clicking on a drum with a mouse produces a sound.

Today I tried plugging in my guitar via an Aphex 207D preamp that is plugged via SPDIF into the MBox Studio. Also tried input 1 on MBox Studio front. PT ignores both. However, the MBox hardware reacts to both, as does the MBox Control software.

So basically, PT ignores all inputs while the MBox hardware and software react to both. I've rebooted everything several times. I've checked PT Setup/Hardware and Playback Engine, and I/O, restoring to default where able. I deleted the track with SD3 and recreated it and added the plugin. I unplugged and re-plugged things. No change.

It's dead, Jim. And I'm stumped. PT is now playback-only software. Would greatly appreciate any input. The only remaining steps are draining the other half of the wine bottle I'm going through and uninstalling/reinstalling ProTools, which I consider drastic.

Any ideas?

Re: ProTools now ignores all inputs, even midi, when other things respond
 

Have you setup you're I/O in PT?

Re: ProTools now ignores all inputs, even midi, when other things respond
 

Lots of possibly separate things going on here.

MIDI is more a labyrinth so leave for later.

Uninstalling and reinstalling Pro Tools is almost certainly a waste of time. I have no idea why folks want to keep doing that.

Mmm reacts, ignores, is dead? You do know it's not alive/sentiment right? Try to describe stuff technically, so others can understand what is happening.

Pro Tools hardware "reacts" to both *exactly* how? It runs away scared? What are you seeing *exactly*?

Pro Tools "ignores" the inputs? Maybe you should talk to it more nicely? Again this is not sentient software, just describe what *exactly* you are seeing.

Since most problems are user errors you need to describe what you are doing in detail so others have any chance of helping.

Has any (non-MIDI) input ever worked in this setup?

What exact guitar and pickup?

You are on a modern Mac, have you enabled Mic Input for Pro Tools in macOS preferences?

Is track input monitoring selected?

Are you monitoring the guitar though an amp sim plugin? Are you using LLM?--that will disable the plugin and the levels will be very low.

You see the correct input IO labels on the track? And selected the S/PDIF one? Check you are using an audio not instrument track. Does the track meter move even so slightly? DI/Preamp gain checked/turned up? Does the track have a valid output? (Can you hear audio in that same session from other prerecorded tracks on that output?).

I have never seen a Mbox Studio but is your S/PDIF signal input actually routed to the DAW? Spend time reading the mixer documentation if unsure.

Still stuck keep simplifying:

Use the guitar or a mic connected to the Mbox analog ins directly (DI or Mic input respectively).
Open Pro Tools.
Double check sure the Mbox is selected as the playback engine.
Go to Setup > IO Default the Input, Output and Bus pages.
Create a new empty session.
Create one audio track, no plugins, nothing else.
Make sure the track input monitor is armed
Try with that (for a guitar, make sure DI/preamp gain is turned up, DI levels will be very low but you should see the track meter move)

Still stuck test with a different interface, maybe the Mac's internal IO through an aggregate device. I have no idea what input the Mac Studio provides but hopefully there is a mic somewhere.

Re: ProTools now ignores all inputs, even midi, when other things respond
 

And for after when you get audio input working.

Common problems with MIDI inputs:

MIDI Input "all" or correct input not selected
Midi Through not checked
Track not record armed
Using a MIDI or audio track when an Instrument track was needed
Not having a VI plugin inserted on the track

Enable the virtual instrument view in the mix or edit window and confirm you have the correct input selected, and that the track is seeing midi events (the small meter moves).

Still stuck:

Test with a different VI, like Mini Grand.

Check you can drive the VI using Windows>MIDI Keyboard

Things not working then go to more serious troubleshooting (vs check for user mistakes) with stuff like: trash prefs, test from a newly created admin account etc.

There have been occasional VI bugs where VIs do not produce output.

Re: ProTools now ignores all inputs, even midi, when other things respond
 

And in addition to Darryl's sage advice, be aware that a commonly-known PT "feature" is that it forgets MIDI routing fairly predictably. When it had been working with SD3 and then doesn't, view the MIDI assignments and be sure they haven't gone on vacation (greyed out). Reassign them to put them back to work.:D

Re: ProTools now ignores all inputs, even midi, when other things respond
 

The answer has proven to be, for lack of a better word, a "corrupt" instrument track that would not respond to midi. There was nothing about it that suggested anything wrong with it other than it not responding. What I mean is that I thought maybe some settings were off, like channel assignments, etc. Nope. Something unknown about the track was causing it.

Re: ProTools now ignores all inputs, even midi, when other things respond
 

I'm having the same issue with Mac OS 10.12.6 and PT Ultimate 2019.12. Only fix so far is to make a new instrument track, copy midi, drag instrument. When I drag the instrument back to the original track, it woks again until I close and reopen the session.

Where are midi assignments?

Thanks!

Best...H

Re: ProTools now ignores all inputs, even midi, when other things respond
 

Are you checking the midi routing in the 'Instrument' section in mixer/edit view? View menu - 'instrument'.

Re: ProTools now ignores all inputs, even midi, when other things respond
 

That worked - for some reason it's disconnecting after closing and reopening. THANKS!

Best...H

Re: ProTools now ignores all inputs, even midi, when other things respond
 

The exact symptoms Bob mentioned above. Has hit many users, almost certainly a straight up bug in Pro Tools that needs to be fixed.