Question about sound interfaces

[RandB]

Hi,

I've been away for a while, not doing much multi-track production work lately. But this morning, I just upgraded my old Pro Tools installation and am now running 2020.5.0 on a Mac.

I have a bit of a connundrum. First let me state that I am *NOT* a musician. I use Pro Tools mostly for radio production -- producing radio commercials and such, and for producing my voiceover demos. So my needs are very minor compared to what this program is capable of doing.

I am presently using two different audio interfaces. I use one for playback and for feeding a mixer that in turn feeds my speakers. And I use a second audio interface as a mic pre-amp. I really don't use it for anything else.

I don't need to hear playback in my headphones while I'm voicing anything, because I'm always just recording dry voice and then bringing it into whatever production I'm doing.

But I do need to record voice tracks using this second interface.

But I can't seem to find a way to have Pro Tools RECORD from one interface (my mic) and PLAY BACK audio into the other interface.

Am I missing something? Or is this simply not possible?

Think of it as being something similar to recording voice with a USB mic (which is how my sound interface that I'm using as a mic preamp connects to the computer, but it could just as easily be a USB mic) while using a different USB device as a PLAYBACK sound interface.

Can this simply not be done in Pro Tools? Or am I missing something?

[Darryl Ramm]

This is not something you typically do in Pro Tools. Just not a good idea. You may be able to do this by creating an aggregate IO device on your Mac, but that tends to destabilize things, and Avid only officially supports aggregating an interface with the Macs built-in output. How well this works is very dependent on the interface drivers, and ideally you can externally lock the interface clocks together.

You don't give any details of your interfaces. A better way of expanding stuff like this is to say use an ADAT preamp (might be an interface with ADAT out) and connect that into an interface with ADAT In. other interfaces support chaining together done at their driver level, like UAD Thunderbolt products.

If you have low end interfaces today you can just try aggregation... there should be lots of tutorials on how to set that up using the Macs Audio MIDI setup on YouTube. But for this type of work if you really have a USB podcaster style mic ?? or similar?? I expect you are much better off ditching that and getting a nice analog mic and using that into the mic input on even a modest standard interface and using that single interface.

[RandB]

Clocks? LOL! Not really applicable here.

The interfaces are consumer or prosumer-grade.

The interface I'm using for playback/output is an M-Audio M-Track device. It's about 3 years old, give or take.

The interface I'm using as a mic preamp (and nothing else) is a Scarlett 2i2.

I'm using these two devices because of some real estate issues I have with where I can put them physically here in my room. The M-Audio device has a decidedly longer USB cable connecting it to my Mac, and it runs just fine with it that way. While the Scarlett only has about a 3 or 4 foot cable and could not possibly sit back behind me where the M-Audio device is. I would have to run cables to it, which would unacceptably clutter up my desk and force me to buy a bunch of new cables, which I don't want to do.

Like I said, I have no need to have to HEAR playback of what's on the other tracks when I record the VO. I'm recording it dry. And if I have to, I'll keep recording it in another application. But it would be nice to do everything inside of Pro Tools if I can.

[Darryl Ramm]

Answer is easy: sort out your cabling silliness and use one interface as the Avid Gods intended.

[RandB]

Thanks for trivializing my issue. I've been doing this stuff for 50 years, probably longer than you've been alive. If I were as dismissive of others as you've been toward me, I wouldn't have had the success I've enjoyed. I had a simple question. There are ways you could have answered it without being a jerk.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by RandB

Thanks for trivializing my issue. I've been doing this stuff for 50 years, probably longer than you've been alive. If I were as dismissive of others as you've been toward me, I wouldn't have had the success I've enjoyed. I had a simple question. There are ways you could have answered it without being a jerk.

I gave you some good options if you want to look at them. Trivializing? You are on here asking to make stuff more complex because you can't extend a USB cable or mic cable? Grow a brain.

[RandB]

I stand by what I said and my characterization of you. I think anyone who reads this thread can plainly see you were unnecessarily dismissive. Have a good day, sir. You should consider being less presumptuous and far less condescending in your future interactions. It's also plain to see if one merely goes back and looks at your posting history, all you ever do here is berate and act in a condescending way toward others. I absolutely stand by my characterization of you. Jerk.

[albee1952]

Back to the original point, I see using 2 interfaces as over-complicating things. I also view the Focusrite as likely being a much better unit than the M-Audio and with that in mind, I would remove the M-Audio box. re USB cables, you can certainly get a longer cable(at least 10-12' should be fine(I run a 12' cable on my Presonus Studio 1810c and it works dandy.

[RandB]

Yes, I understand that to many, this setup seems complicated. But it's actually quite simple. In the application I typically run to record voiceover (Twisted Wave), I can simply select one audio interface for input (the 2i2) and a different one (the M-Audio) for output.

What I think no one here is factoring in is that there are certain workflow models that you are simply not considering. In addition to my audio work, I also do a considerable amount of video production. It all happens here in the same work space. (I work from home, and this is a spare bedroom that I've converted into a studio/editing suite, which is certainly not all that unusual.) One of the video projects I work on is a sports program that I shoot and produce. Once I've got the footage edited, I then watch it and record play-by-play. By having the mic on a separate device, I'm able to avoid all the problems associated with sending signal in on the same device from which I'm monitoring signal out -- latency and the whole issue of ONLY RECORDING my voice and not sending the ambient sports audio back in at the same time. (The video editing ap, while professional in nature, is not as sophisticated at handling such a mundane audio chore as recording dry voice on one track while not sending the audio back in. It's an otherwise very simple setup, and I like keeping it that way. I could, of course, do the mix-minus in a mixer, like my Mackie. But it kind of defeats the whole purpose of having the mic routed direct into the computer from the pre-amp instead of going through an analog mixer.)

But moreover this discussion raises a whole 'nother issue: Because by Pro Tools not allowing me to record through one device while sending playback out through another one, this also means that if I were wanting to use a USB mic, Pro Tools simply would not support it. Am I understanding that right? That in the year 2020, Pro Tools will not support the use of a USB mic? (Not that I'm using one, mind you. But with all the popular USB mics that are out there, you mean to tell me you can't use one with Pro Tools while sending playback audio out through another interface?) That's very 1995 of Pro Tools.

[Ben Jenssen]

I think you might solve your issues with a simple but powerful little application called Soundsource:
https://rogueamoeba.com/soundsource/
I use it myself, and it's a super easy, stable and efficient little menu bar item that lets you control almost every aspect of how your mac handles audio. It has a trial version, and it's cheap. If you're on windows, you might find something similar, I don't know.

It would let you use only your Focusrite interface, which is far superior to the MAudio in my opinion, and set ins and outs settings for the individual applications. You can even use AU plugins. It integrates perfectly fine with PT2020. Just get a longer cable for the focusrite.