Pro Tools Installation and Zoom L-20

[jszabo]

Hi,

For about a year, I’ve been using Pro Tools Studio 2024.10 on Win 11 with Zoom L-20 hardware. I recently purchased a new PC (Sandra report below) and installed Pro Tools on it. Pro Tools worked for a couple of days, but then it stopped recognizing my Zoom L-20 hardware.

Installation of other, unrelated software may be the culprit. After I installed Pro Tools, I installed MS Office 2021 and Visual Studio 2022. Outlook (Classic) was a hassle. I never did get it to work, and during the course of my efforts, I changed the port settings for Send and Receive. I finally gave up; then the next day, I noticed Pro Tools wasn’t working any more.

I tried uninstalling/reinstalling the Zoom L-20 driver, then completely uninstalling Outlook and Visual Studio. None of those things helped, so any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Joe


Sandra Computer Overview

ID
Host Name : DellTowerPlus
Workgroup : WORKGROUP

Computer
Model : Dell Tower Plus EBT2250 Dell Desktops
Serial Number : 7L8****
Chassis : Dell Desktop
Mainboard : Dell 02D3NT
Serial Number : /7L8RV94/VN6************
BIOS : Dell 1.5.2 04/29/2025
Intel Management Engine (ME) : 19.0.5.1948
TPM - Trusted Platform Module : Nuvoton NPCT75x 2.0 2020 (24PCR 64Ses 7Obj)

System Memory
Total Memory : 63.5GB DDR5

Processors
Processor : Intel(R) Core(TM) Ultra 9 285K (12M 48c 5.68GHz + 4.58GHz, 3.8GHz IMC, 8x 3MB + 4x 4MB L2, 36MB L3)
Socket/Slot : FC BGA1338

Chipset
Memory Controller : Dell PCI standard host CPU bridge 100MHz, 64GB DDR5 5.6GHz

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Micron MTC16C2085S1UC56BD1 32GB DDR5 PC5-44800U DDR5-5600
Memory Module : Micron MTC16C2085S1UC56BD1 32GB DDR5 PC5-44800U DDR5-5600

Video System
Monitor/Panel : LG ULTRAWIDE
(2560x1080, 34.1")
Video Adapter : Intel(R) Graphics (576S 64C SM6.7 2GHz, 4MB L2, 128MB, PCIe 2.0 x1)

Graphics Processor
OpenCL : Intel(R) Graphics (576S 64C SM3.0 2GHz, 4MB L2, 33.6GB)
D3D 11 : Intel(R) Graphics (576S 64C SM12.1 2GHz, 4MB L2, 128MB)
OpenGL : Intel(R) Graphics (576S 64C SM4.60 2GHz, 4MB L2, 1GB)

Storage Devices
Disk : NVMe PC SN740 NVMe WD 1TB (1TB, NVMe)
Disk : NVMe WD_BLACK SN850X 2000GB (2TB, NVMe)

Logical Storage Devices
OS (C:) : 933GB (NTFS, 4kB) @ NVMe PC SN740 NVMe WD 1TB (1TB, NVMe)
WINRETOOLS : 990MB (NTFS, 4kB) @ NVMe PC SN740 NVMe WD 1TB (1TB, NVMe)
Image : 18GB (NTFS, 4kB) @ NVMe PC SN740 NVMe WD 1TB (1TB, NVMe)
DELLSUPPORT : 1GB (NTFS, 4kB) @ NVMe PC SN740 NVMe WD 1TB (1TB, NVMe)
Data (D:) : 2TB (NTFS, 4kB) @ NVMe WD_BLACK SN850X 2000GB (2TB, NVMe)
ESP : 380MB (FAT32, 4kB) @ NVMe PC SN740 NVMe WD 1TB (1TB, NVMe)

Storage System
Storage Pool : Primordial (2.75TB)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller : Dell PCI standard ISA bridge
LPC Hub Controller : Dell PCI standard ISA bridge
Audio Device : Dell High Definition Audio Controller
Audio Codec : Realtek Semi 1220
Disk Controller : Dell Volume Management Device NVMe RAID Controller Intel Corporation
Disk Controller : Dell 7ECE
Disk Controller : Dell 7ECF
Disk Controller : Dell PCI standard RAM Controller
USB Controller : Dell Meteor Lake-P Thunderbolt 4 USB Controller
USB Controller : Dell Meteor Lake-P Thunderbolt 4 NHI #0
USB Controller : Dell Intel(R) USB 3.20 eXtensible Host Controller - 1.20 (Microsoft)

Printers and Faxes
Printer : Send to Microsoft OneNote 16 Driver (1200x1200, Colour)
Printer : Microsoft Print To PDF (600x600, Colour)
Printer : Brother HL-L2300D series (600x600, USB)

Biometrics
Voice : Analog NUI Voice Virtual Sensor (Voice)

Network Services
Network Adapter : Killer E3100G 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet Controller (Ethernet, 1Gbps)
Wireless Adapter : Intel(R) Wi-Fi 7 BE200 320MHz

Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows 11 Professional 10.0.26100
Platform Compliance : x64

Virtual Machine
Hypervisor : Microsoft HyperV 10.0.26100.4351

[jszabo]

Hi,

Did I start this thread in the correct place? If not, please let me know.

An update ...

I tried launching Pro Tools from my old PC, and discovered it, too, had stopped recognizing my Zoom L-20 hardware. Aargh! I can’t figure this out. And I have no access to Pro Tools … really missing it and my sessions in progress.

Windows sees the L-20. I just downloaded/installed Reaper, and it sees the L-20. Why can’t Pro Tools see it?

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Joe

[junkgear]

Some audio devices will not work when shared between Windows and PT. Go into your Windows sound settings and set the Zoom so that Windows does not use it as a sound device.
Reboot your system then hold down the N key while PT loads until the Playback Engine dialog is displayed. Now select the Zoom interface and see if it works.

You may have to default your I/O settings too

[jszabo]

Thanks, Will. I’ll try those steps.

Meanwhile, I should share the results of Murphy’s (a tech at Sweetwater) work yesterday. He connected remotely and spent about an hour trying to fix Pro Tools on the new PC. He ultimately uninstalled/reinstalled both the L-20 driver and Pro Tools. He wasn't able to fully solve the problem, and he finally stopped working on it so he could check with Avid about the case before getting back to me on Thursday.

What seems significant is that Murphy got Pro Tools to partially recognize the L-20 driver. That is, in the Playback Engine dialog, the option “Line (ZOOM L-20 Driver)” is now available for both the “Input Device” and “Output Device” prompts. Strangely, it’s not available for the “Playback Engine” prompt—as it always was before. Therefore, Pro Tools still isn’t working for now. But at least there seems to be some progress.

I do want to give a shout-out to Murphy and Sweetwater. He provided an amazing, in-depth level of support. Along with his remote connection, he remained on the phone the entire hour or so while he worked on the problem. If all the Sweetwater techs are like that … very impressive for this day and age.

Joe

[jszabo]

Update …

I tried the steps in your first paragraph. In the Playback Engine dialog now, “Line (ZOOM L-20 Driver)” is no longer available for any of the prompts—“Playback Engine”, “Input Device”, or “Output Device”.

I’m not sure what you mean by defaulting the IO settings, but I'm hopeful that patiently going through these steps will eventually resolve the issue.

Again, thanks!

[junkgear]

Make sure you have the Mode switch on the back of the L-20 set to Audio Interface and the Class Complient switch set to Off.

If they were not set that way, set them and cycle the power on the L-20. Then try launching PT again and hopefully it will show up in the list of playback devices.

What sample rate are you using? I thought there was a limit on the L-20 where you had to keep it below 96 kHz when using it as an audio interface.

[jszabo]

Will,

Thanks for thinking about those settings! Mode was already set to “Audio Interface”. Sample Rate was 44.1. However, Class Compliant was set to “On”; I changed it to “Off”, launched PT, and … THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

I have no idea why that switch was “On”. I haven’t adjusted anything on the L-20's back-panel since I set it up—at least a year ago. I must’ve accidently bumped it when I was swapping USB cables from the old PC to the new one. Knowing that the switch was set incorrectly, I now understand why PT wouldn’t run on either the old PC or the new one.

After moving that switch to “Off”, PT worked immediately on the old PC. On the new PC, PT launched and allowed me to select “Line (ZOOM L-20 Driver)” from the Playback Engine dialog. I still need to install plugins and tinker with some settings, but the situation appears VERY promising now.

Again, thank you for your diligence and patience!!!

Joe