MP3 audio on all outputs via USB

[machambers]

Forgive me if this is a known issue and I'm just unable to find it on the forum.


The issue I'm having with my Eleven Racks (have 2) is that any MP3s I play on the computer that hosts the Eleven Rack and the editor are showing up on all of the Eleven Rack outputs except the Amp outputs and FX Loop sends. If I disconnect the Eleven Rack USB cable the problem goes away. Both Eleven Racks and both Windows 10 22H2 computer show the same issue.


I discovered the issue when I added a Rane RPM 26z to use as a mixer so I could mix one Eleven Rack (via AES/EBU) with the other Eleven Rack via the analog Main outputs. With an MP3 playing but no guitar input I was getting signal on the AES/EBU into the 26z. WTF? Anyone have any ideas? Thanks

[Darryl Ramm]

And what software are you playing the mp3 with and what outputs is that sending signals to?

There is absolutely no way audio just turns up on the Eleven Rack, whatever playback software you are using has to be doing this.

[machambers]

Both VLC Player and Windows Media Player were showing the same behavior.

VLC was set to "Default", which should have been the PC line output. When the Eleven Rack was connected via USB the selection was changing to Speakers (Avid Eleven Rack) which sent the audio everywhere. The problem was compounded by my getting frustrated and plugging and unplugging connections trying to figure out what was going on; I did not check to see where Windows and VLC were sending audio.

Thank you very much for your help.

[Darryl Ramm]

Great you got it sorted out.

And the reason you saw no outputs on Amp1/Amp2 are they are not outputs directly accessible from the driver. They are internal tap points in the signal flow inside the Eleven Rack.

I am a bit worried by anybody only having two Eleven Racks. (I have three one is a spare).

[machambers]

I only have two because despite signing an NDA with Avid, they declined to provide me with schematics for the Eleven Rack for a project I had in mind.


I bought a "broken" unit to take apart while keeping the first to use. Turns out the seller never read the manual they provided and the only problem was with the user; it was set to the microphone input, not the guitar input. I sold the rack bag it came in for $40, so the second unit only cost me $40. :)


You appear to have knowledge of the internal structure of the Eleven Rack; any chance you know where I can get the schematics? I'd like to add a better output muting circuit so I don't have to worry about what order the systems are started-up/shut-down in. I can reverse engineer the outputs like I did the FX indicators for my project, but if I don't have to, so much the better.

[Darryl Ramm]

No sorry, no idea on schematics. You would hope that a company that produced such a standout and popular product with a community of such loyal users would think about just releasing schematics and similar info to help that community. No obvious economic downside, and not likely any future revenue lost, many folks who went through Avid killing the Eleven Rack are unlikely to buy any hardware from Avid ever again. And it's not like they have any Avid option for guitar processors.

OTOH there is not much hardware within the Eleven Rack to physically reverse engineer I have looked at the output board once to solve issues, so long ago I think it was a cracked PCB trace and physically damaged RCA socket, oh and a broken guitar input socket. I am not sure there is a heck of a lot of stuff you can do in the hardware beyond repair failures, the magic is all in the firmware. I did reverse engineer the MIDI command messages with their trivial CRC, to save/load rigs, but I never used it to do really do anything, I use so few configs/settings I just save settings by hand. Other folks have done more with that. I also spend more time now with Fractal products.