Eleven Rack and System Audio

[Breasal09]

Hi All,

I've searched for answers and tried everything I can think of but can't get it to work. My problem is getting any sound from my macbook pro to come out through the 11r. Everything seems to be fine except for hearing anything. The 11r is updated to software 1.2 and the firmware is 2.00.1. I'm on Mavericks 10.9. This is separate from Pro Tools. It is showing as connected and streaming at whatever sample rate I set it to but still no sound. Even Pro Tools will recognize it but no sound. I can hear my guitar through it so I know it is working.

My Macbook is a 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo for reference. Late 2009 I believe. I've even tried it on an early 2008 Macbook Pro updated to Mavericks and it is the same, no sound.

I've tried different USB cables. I do have the 11r sending digital out to an amp, however this does work as I can play my guitar just fine.

Is there something I'm missing? Any ideas would be much appreciated!

Thanks.

[Benoni]

Have you done the system optimizations? Do you have things ON like Sleep/hibernate? These usually need to be OFF.

Have you tried re-booting the computer?

[Darryl Ramm]

Has this Eleven Rack ever worked for you as an interface on any computer?

The most common problem like this is caused by users not following the Pro Tools install/optimization instructions and not disabling Power Management and or manually suspending/sleeping/closing the laptop lid while the Eleven Rack is connected and powered on (it does not need to being used, just connected and powered on). This will hang up the driver until the system is restarted.

When the Eleven Rack (or other Avid interfaces) are connected and powered up you cannot sleep or suspend the system or allow it to do so itself.

Power off the Eleven Rack. Reboot the MBP and Power on the Eleven Rack. Try again, does it work now?

If not then try USB the usual debugging. Remove all unneeded USB devices, reboot the Mac. Try every USB port on the MBP, try different USB cables (yes even if this one works for other things).

Is the Main Volume on the Eleven Rack turned up? (yes that does get people).

[Breasal09]

I have tried restarting many times. I just tried a different USB cable with no luck in different USB ports, nothing else attached to the computer. I went through all the system optimizations again and restarted, even tried a new user account with no luck. Again, the computer is seeing the interface and even says streaming audio when I try to play something, but again no sound.

The volume won't effect it as I am sending spdif to a separate amp. Even still I did check the volume and it is up and I also tried bypassing the amp and going analog. Nothing.

The 11r did work pre Mavericks just fine. I've been using Mavericks for too long now to roll back unfortunately.

I'm stumped at this point.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by Breasal09

The volume won't effect it as I am sending spdif to a separate amp. Even still I did check the volume and it is up and I also tried bypassing the amp and going analog. Nothing.

Oh well then debug the S/PDIF as a possible issue.

Do the output meters in the Eleven Rack (in the rig chain on the display) show anything happening?

Plug in headphones and try that. Make sure the headphone and main volumes are turned up.

This setup should all work fine. I have it running here.

Try uninstalling the driver. Download a new copy from avid.com, reboot and install again (with the Eleven Rack disconnected). Then try connecting the Eleven Rack.

[christophersad]

i havent used maverick,but i had a similar problem the 1st time i connected to a mac and it was (silly but true) just the sound device setting on lion wrong......try if you havent

[Breasal09]

So I did try uninstalling the driver and installing a new copy from Avid. Nothing. Tried headphones making sure the volumes were up and nothing. Even tried reinstalling Mavericks. Did a SMC reset and nothing. The system audio is selected as 11r.

The meters are showing signal but only from the guitar. Nothing from the computer is getting to the 11r. However the computer does see it and shows it as connected. I can even select it in Pro Tools but still nothing.

The next step is to call Avid I guess as I am out of ideas.

Thanks for all the help!

[Breasal09]

So I did try one last thing. I have a Zoom H4n recorder as well, which can be used as an audio interface. The Zoom works perfectly. Anything I send from the computer to it comes through. It also worked with Pro Tools just fine as I was able to record enable a track and have input.

I guess the last thing to try is a factory reset of the 11r itself. Hope it works. I think by my reasoning I have tried every troubleshooting scenario possible. All signs are pointing to the 11r having some issue.

If anyone disagrees let me know! Thanks again everyone.

[Darryl Ramm]

So just to be clear on those meters you scrolled though all the options available using the rotary knob and picked "I/O USB MainOut" that's the meter you should see interface playback on. You'll see stuff as well on other meters depending on how things are set up.

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Since you are sending digital out, you do have the Eleven Rack digital output set to "Mirror Analog" or "DAW right? Not that will explain your headphones not working

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Doing a memory reset on the Eleven Rack is an good idea. (you will lose any rig settings inside the Eleven Rack when you do that). AN dthen go bakc and resetn teh digital output correctly etc. All those settings will get reset to default.

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I cannot think of anything else to try. Almost every other similar problem is just caused by the drivers hanging when the computer sleeps/suspends or in a very few cases bad USB cables or really screwed up driver installs. Obviously if you had access to/could borrow another Eleven Rack that would make debugging easier.

How old id this unit? Any chance it is still under warranty or you still have any complementary ASCs to pay for a support call?

The other thing to think about is that the cost of a repair, if it is nor under warranty, is likely a large part of the price of a used Eleven Rack, or a new Eleven Rack that somebody has unbundled Pro Tools 11 from. You may be better off buying one of those. And keeping the current unit to use stand-alone.

[Breasal09]

Actually I didn't see any meters on the USB MainOut.

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It is set to Mirror Analog.

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I did the reset and set the unit back up. Didn't fix the problem unfortunately.

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The unit is probably 3 years old at this point, so out of warranty and I don't have any ASC's for a support call.

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Something that did work however is hooking the 11r up to an old Windows laptop. Everything works and I can see the meters for USB MainOut receiving. It's very odd, because the Mac sees the unit. I can even change the sample rate from the Mac control panel and hear the digital clicks of the change happening. Not only that, but when I set it to 96kHz it shows 96kHz on the amp coming in digitally.

I may see if I can roll back to Mountain Lion. Troubleshooting takes forever sometimes!

Thanks for the ideas and help Darryl, I appreciate it.

Eric