Please help? Spidf from external preamp not sending to Protools

[jd1234]

Hey guys, hoping someone may be able to help. Its been quite a while since I have used Pro-Tools so I ran up to some problems trying to get things going.

I have Imac I am running pro tools 10 on with an MBOX pro. I am using an external preamp (A2D) that has digital SPIDF out on it so I have the Spidf cable I run from the A2D to my MBOX Pro. When I create a new track, on the specific track I open up I select "SPDIF Left-Right.L" Mono as the Input and select "Analog 1-2 (Stereo) as output. This has always worked successfully for me in the past but now I am not getting the signal from the A2D to the MBOX. I am seeing the signal bars on the A2D but not on the Pro-Tools and subsequently not hearing any sound.

Other things I made sure of:
1.)If I go to Playback Engine MBox pro is selected
2.)Its not specific to the hardware device. I tried it on my Neve & Rosetta combo, analog (Neve) to Rosetta (SPIDIF) to Mbox and its not working either.
3.)Highly Highly doubt its my SPDIF cable.
4.)if I go direct into my Mbox Pro without using a preamp it works so MBox pro is working okay, its just when I use the external preamps.

Any ideas what the issue may be? Thanks in advance for any suggestions or help. I spent all day yesterday trying to figure this out and wasting precious rare time I have off troubleshooting when I was dying to record.

[Top Jimmy]

In the hardware settings, make sure the clock source is set to S/PDIF. Make sure all of the I/O settings are good. It wouldn’t hurt to delete all of the input paths and then hit the default button to recreate them. You can do the same on the output and bus tabs too to tidy things up if they’re a mess.

[albee1952]

Agreed with James. I also recommend customizing your IO naming to suit the setup. Sure, "SPDIF Left-Right.L" works, but wouldn't it make more sense to have that as "API-1"? Back to the clocking, any time my digital sources(and I had many) did not work, it was almost always the clock setting. The other indication of a clock issue was if those sources worked, but had constant clicks and pops. Also, make doubly sure that the clock setting on the A2D matches the session(if it doesn't, it can lead to problems with pitch and speed later on).