Monitor not outputting sound with MBOX Pro

[Archalen]

Hello,

I will give some bare details to see if anybody has any off the cuff ideas and can give more details about the rig if this seems to be a more detailed issue.

I am running through an Asus Win 8.1 desktop with Pro Tools 11 and Mbox Pro. I am using a Yahama MO8 keyboard and have gotten the MIDI (virtual instrument) working where I can hear through headphones connected to the Mbox.

However, I just bought a PreSonus Eris E5 monitor and hooked it up via 1/4" to the first line output on the Mbox PRO. I can still hear the output through the headphones but the monitor is not giving any sound. It is turned on and I went through the Mbox Pro driver setup and can't find anything wrong. The correct output (Main L/R Analog 1-2) is selected as the output.

I also plugged the monitor directly to the keyboard and it is working, so it's not the cable or the monitor itself.

I have a feeling I'm missing something simple from being a noob.

Thanks for any feedback!

[albee1952]

A monitor or a pair of monitors? Start by checking the labels on the line outputs. If any are labeled MAIN or MONITOR, those would be the pair to use(I don't own an Mbox so I don't know for sure, but on my 003, outputs 1 thru 8 were NOT the default line outputs. Those called MAIN, were).

[Archalen]

Just one monitor for now. I'm getting another soon haha.

None are labeled main or monitor on the MBOX Pro, there are just two headphone outputs and 6 line outputs on the back.

[Darryl Ramm]

Simple debugging first....

Do you know for sure that the monitor and cable works? Can you connect the monitor using the same cable to something else to test it?

The cable should be an 1/4" TRS to 1/4" TRS (or XLR) balanced cable (not a instrument cable, although that would still get audio though if wired normally)

But with an Mbox 3 Pro the most likely error is incorrect setup of the output in the Driver Control panel.... especially fat fingers pushing the front panel speaker button and cycling though output pairs. You *have* to read and understand the section it the MBox 3 Pro user Guide on Output Setup in the Driver Control Panel.

You can also just test the monitor using the MBox Pro's low latency monitoring/hardware mixer and any old audio input you can get into the Mbox (analog line level from a CD player, etc), say set up a Stereo Mix for Output 1&2 in the Driver control panel .. that also shows you if the MBox 3 thinks it's putting a signal out on Output 1&2. Again all described in the User Guide.

If you are still having problems and cannot get any monitor outs to work and the headphones still do then, post clear screenshots here of your driver control panel output setup dialog screen.

[albee1952]

And, remember to pan everything to the middle as anything on the side that doesn't have the speaker will not be heard at all

[Archalen]

Fat fingers is right!

Last night I did read through the Mbox Pro User guide but I guess my brain was too fried. Read through it again this morning with a clear mind and figured out my problem after reading your post. Speaker button was sourcing to aux outputs instead of the line outputs.

Thanks for the help!

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by Archalen

Fat fingers is right!

Last night I did read through the Mbox Pro User guide but I guess my brain was too fried. Read through it again this morning with a clear mind and figured out my problem after reading your post. Speaker button was sourcing to aux outputs instead of the line outputs.

Thanks for the help!

Cool. That switch is handy and it was a nice goal to build in monitor switching to an interface like this, but I suspect that button causes a lot of grief out of the box.