Routing Pro Tools Output To Multiple Mbox 2 Pro Outputs

[Jan Polet]

Hi there,

I'm looking for info about how to route a Pro Tools output to multiple outputs of an Mbox 2 Pro.
The reference guide describes how to do that with a 96 I/O, but the pop-up menu that's been talked about is not available with the Mbox 2 Pro.

The Mbox 2 should also support I/O routing and mapping. I just don't seem to be able to find out how.

Can anyone help?

Best regards,

Jan Polet

[albee1952]

try going to the I/O setup tab and enabling the extra outputs. Then they should be available from either the mix or edit windows.

[Jan Polet]

Mmmm. I guess the reply I posted a few days ago didn't go through.

All the inputs and outputs of the Mbox 2 Pro are available in Pro Tools, so that's not the problem.
I wasnt to route one Pro Tools output to several hardware outputs.

I want to use the setting to also enable more than one output for Windows XP itself.
I'm used to creating these setting through the audio interface's software mixer.
The Mbox 2 Pro doesn't have a software mixer and all settings are supposed to be created through Pro Tools.

How do I set things up so that I have several Mbox 2 Pro outputs generating the same signal from Windows?

Does anybody know?

Hope to hear from someone soon.

Jan

[sean shannon]

PTLE only "supports" one interface at a time. In other words, ya can't do that. One of the many intentional limitations built into the PTLE system.

[Jan Polet]

Thanks Sean.

I don't understand. I'm using just one device, the Mbox 2 Pro.
I would still think that it should be possible to map one Pro Tools output to several hardware outputs of the same Mbox 2 Pro.

I can do that with a Echo Gina and with an M-AUDIO FireWire 410 as well.
Of course both those audio interfaces have software mixers for all sorts of settings and routing features.

I've put a lot of time in chosing the right interface. Most of them were crap. My winner was de Echo Audiofire 4.
Then I decided I really wanted to work with Pro Tools, which left me with only two brands, M-Audio and Digidesign. M-Audio has a lot of features but the audio itself is crap, so I went with the Mbox 2 Pro.
I can't belive the routing features are less than other interfaces.

Can someone please confirm this is really the case?

Again, I only want to route one signal to more than one output, in Pro Tools AND in Windows XP.

I can't imagine why that should be a problem.

Hope to hear from someone soon.

Kind regards,

Jan Polet

[The Weed]

I think I know what you want to do, although your terminology is confusing me. I believe what you want to do, at least with Pro Tools, is route the output from a TRACK to multiple outputs, ie Analog 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the Mbox 2 Pro. If this is indeed what you want to do, in EDIT View, NOT Mixer View, Windows Start Key plus click on the Output Selector for the track, then go to Interface as usual and choose your output. The dialogue will close. Repeat the Windows Start Key plus click on the Output Selector for the track then go to Interface selection as usual as often as desired. This way you should be able to route the TRACK output to as many outputs as you have or you assign. In the Mix View you can use either the Windows Start Key option as above or Right Click on the Output Selector on the Channel Strip. Right Click will not work in Edit View, only the Windows Start Key modifier will work. To remove assigned Outputs, just repeat the process you used to assign them and click to remove. This assignment process will not work with Master Faders, at least not in the experimenting I've done. To remove your assignments and reassign the TRACK output to a single output, say Analog 1-2, open the Interface dialogue normally, get to the output assignment dialogue, then Windows Start Key plus click on the new assignment, Analog 1-2 in this example. All previous output assignments should be removed and the only output assignment for the track should be Analog 1-2.

As to what you mean by doing the same thing for XP, I don't know what you mean. Pro Tools only plays through it's own hardware interface, not the computer's soundcard. XP can use the Digidesign interface for Windows sounds and other programs when Pro Tools is closed, but as far as I know, that's only 2 channel capable.

[Jan Polet]

Okay, the problem has little to do with Pro Tools, 'cause from within the application you can prety much route signal anywhere you want.
The problem has to do with the Mbox 2 Pro and especially the lak of a sofware mixer / driver.
Because there is no driver, all the settings and also signal routing has to be done with Pro Tools.

I want to be able to listen to a second pair of speakers and for that purpose I need to be able to feed the audio signal from Windows to a second amp.
With a lot of audio interface with multiple inputs and outputs, you can map an input to several or all outputs. This however does not seem to be the case with the Mbox 2 Pro.

I'ms hoping someone can shed more light on this.

Jan

[Jan Polet]

@ The Weed:

Thanks a lot for taking the time to reply.
Although I'm trying to route an output and not a single track to several hardware outputs, what you suggested may come in very handy.
The Windows Start Key plus click on the Output Selector works great.
A right Click on the Output Selector on the Channel Strip in Mix view doesn't though.

Thanks again.

Jan

[The Weed]

I don't know of any way to assign the physical outputs of the Mbox or any Digidesign LE interface to another physical output of the same device. For what you want to do you would need a mixing board. For just monitoring routing purposes, many of us use the Mackie Big Knob, Presonus Central Station or Samson C-Control.

You could assign all tracks to Analog 1-2 and Analog 3-4, then take a 2 Quarter Jack into 1 Mini Jack line out of Analog 3-4 into your Windows Sound Card. That would give you the stereo output of your mix into your computer speakers through Analog 3-4 and the regular Analog 1-2 out to your DAW speakers. You wouldn't be able to use the Master Fader for Analog 1-2 and 3-4 at the same time.

The alternative would be, if you have Monitor Outs and Line Outs - I'm not familiar with the Mbox 2 Pro - to do the same as above, but with all tracks assigned to Analog 1-2 out. This would still give you signal to your DAW speakers using the Monitor Out and your Windows soundcard using Line 1-2 out.

Cheers,