Headphones in and out requires Pro Tools restart
 

On my old laptop I could swap between headphones in and out no problem.
Now Pro Tools is seeing the headphones as a separate interface / playback engine. If I unplug them I'm prompted to restart Pro Tools. This is a pain. Is there any way around this?

Re: Headphones in and out requires Pro Tools restart
 

Funny, I just tried this (2015 MBPro 11,3, Catalina, PT 20.5.0) with "Built-In Audio" and also with "ProTools Aggregate" as playback engines. If I pull the phones while the track is playing I get a CPU overload error. Clear it and I'm back to the MBPro's speakers. Plug the phones back in and CPU error again. Clear it and the phones are back on. Seems I can make the switch when the track is not playing without that hiccup.

You're not using your Quartet with the new machine?

Re: Headphones in and out requires Pro Tools restart
 

JJ what Simon is talking about is the new dual output audio capability introduced in 2018 and later MacBook Pro and some other Macs. Since you have a 2015 MacBook Pro you won't be affected by this, you never see "External Headphone" appearing and disappearing when a headphone is connected/removed.

Re: Headphones in and out requires Pro Tools restart
 

Simon, this has bugged me as well.

(for others with older Macs: If you pick External Headphones as the playback engine it goes away when the headphones are unplugged and Pro Tools needs to restart. If you aggregate MacBook Pro Speakers and External Headphones, you get an "... device has changed" error and need to restart Pro Tools.)

There are three workarounds I know of:

1. Give up and use an external interface with its own monitors. Will at least let you unplug headphones, but kinda useless if you really want the MacBook Pro Speakers/want to be as compact as possible.

2. You can just leave a headphone extension/adapter plugged into the headphone socket... the Mac is just detecting the physical presence of the plug to enable that External Headphone output... or just remove your headphones from your head and leave them plugged in. However that complicates your Pro Tools IO setup as you now have to allow for both the External Headphones and MacBook Pro Speakers for monitoring and switch between them (or manually mute the MacBook Pro Speakers output). (BTW look for short 3.5mm male to 3.5 mm female cables used for phone adapters etc. Lots of choices out there, including this.. https://www.amazon.com/Seadream-Newe.../dp/B01D2E54H4. I wonder if the right anlge plug and red color would remind you not to unplug it? :-))


3. You can also use audio routing software like Rogue Amoeba Loopback to forward a virtual audio path to both MacBook Pro Speakers and External Headphones. This saves needing to set up two monitoring paths in Pro Tools. You just get a Loopback notification popup when the headphones are unplugged but Pro Tools keeps on rocking, clueless to what is going on.

Several downsides of Loopback or similar for this. It is yet another things to manage and sometimes involves dicking around. Your MacBook Pro touch bar volume slider may not control the device volume you want.... when using headphones you likely will need to silence the MacBook Pro Speakers by turning off the MacBook Pro Speaker monitor in the Loopback UI. And you may have to mess around with getting clock rates to match Pro Tools sessions.

I wish Apple had just provided the ability to switch to legacy single output behavior.

Re: Headphones in and out requires Pro Tools restart
 

Cheers Darryl,

Very comprehensive. Hmm. I guess I will have a play with the rogue amoeba stuff. I was going to anyway.

I can't see how the new behaviour is an improvement for users

Headphones in and out requires Pro Tools restart
 

Great info here! I was in this situation today but working in 96k. That brought on even more issues with how apple implemented the DAC on the newer ones. I used to have an older 2012 MacBook Pro and there was no issues like on the 2019 one I am using now.

Just doing some basic editing with no interface. Now on the quest for some tiny usb dac with a headphone out like the Apogee Groove. That would solve the problem.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Re: Headphones in and out requires Pro Tools restart
 

Yep I thought about am Audioquest Dragonfly DAC...or maybe the Apple USB-C to 3.5mm adapter when wanting to be really portable. But if you forget and unplug that DAC with the headphone you have the same problem. And the Firefly needs a USB-C to USB-A adapter and the Apple adapters don't inspire me with robustness. And I expect the Firefly to sound better (and support more clock rates).

Re: Headphones in and out requires Pro Tools restart
 

Just got my new MBP 2021. Had a 2012 MBP. Is this.... actually still a thing? This is insane! Every time I remove or insert headphones, it needs to close and reopen the session 2 times in order to switch between headphones and speakers? I'm speechless. Never saw this problem coming. I guess because... it makes absolutely no sense at all!! :confused: So is the best "solution" still to use Amoeba Loopback? Otherwise, no real solution? Just restart the session? So friggin' weird.
Needing to connect an interface is not a solution.

Re: Headphones in and out requires Pro Tools restart
 

Somewhat infuriating isn't it. :mad: Rogue Omega Loopback is still a good option (personally it's pretty handy so not bad to have on any Mac). Or glue/duct tape in the headphone jack and/or cut your hands off so you don't unplug them.... would like to slap somebody at Apple for this silliness.

Re: Headphones in and out requires Pro Tools restart
 

It’s interesting that sound on the MBP system playback auto switches between headphone and speaker, but ProTools doesn’t see this? :confused:
Does Loopback auto switch?