Mac External Keyboard and Mouse not working

[DougHarrison]

I recently obtained an entry level position in a pose house and bought a 20" AOC Monitor and a usb mac keyboard to accommodate my 12" macbook pro to help the flow of work on pro tools LE 8.0.4. Everything works fine until i start up pro tools. One of two things happens, either the mouse and keyboard completely freeze and stop working, or just the keyboard stops working. but as soon as pro tools closes, everything is fine. This has become extremely frustrating to me because a search on google for this issue of course brings thousands of pages of instrumental keyboard issues.

Any help would be much appreciated, thanks.

[albee1952]

What interface are you using? Maybe you need to change some USB ports? Disconnect the PT interface and see if you can get the mouse/keyboard to work first, then add the interface.

[Park Seward]

Describe how the keyboard, mouse, external drive and PT are hooked up.

What OS?

[DougHarrison]

My Mac Book Pro is Running 10.6.4

My USB keyboard is plugged into the Mac Book Pro's one of the two USB ports, the Mini and mouse are plugged into the keyboard's USB ports. I have the interface plugged into the keyboard because my SFX Libraries are on my external USB hard drive and the Mac Book does not see it for some reason when it is plugged into the keyboards USB port.

[Dism]

Originally Posted by DougHarrison

My Mac Book Pro is Running 10.6.4

My USB keyboard is plugged into the Mac Book Pro's one of the two USB ports, the Mini and mouse are plugged into the keyboard's USB ports. I have the interface plugged into the keyboard because my SFX Libraries are on my external USB hard drive and the Mac Book does not see it for some reason when it is plugged into the keyboards USB port.

Oh boy...

Never plug any audio interface into a hub. On a keyboard, or otherwise. Only ever plug it directly into your Macbook.

Never use USB drives for anything with audio. Especially Pro Tools. Only thing USB drives are good for is transferring or backing up. Otherwise, leave it unplugged.

As a requirement for Pro Tools, you need a secondary drive for your sessions. This must be FireWire or eSata. Never USB. Sample libraries can go on your internal drive, but never on the same drive as your sessions. Ideally, you want them on a third FireWire or eSata drive.

Don't use the USB ports on your keyboard for anything other than a mouse, or small, low data, low power devices. iLoks go well in the other USB port. Don't try to run anything that needs power, or uses a lot of data, otherwise you are asking for problems.

[Park Seward]

All good advice from Dism.

[DougHarrison]

Originally Posted by Dism

As a requirement for Pro Tools, you need a secondary drive for your sessions. This must be FireWire or eSata. Never USB. Sample libraries can go on your internal drive, but never on the same drive as your sessions. Ideally, you want them on a third FireWire or eSata drive.

Thanks for the help, the only thing i dont understand is how am i running pro tools without a secondary drive, if its a requirement?

[Griffin23]

Its not required to use the software its just best, its recomended.

Doesnt mean it wont work its just means if something goes wrong or doesnt work you cant blame anyone.

[Dism]

Originally Posted by Griffin23

Its not required to use the software its just best, its recomended.

Doesnt mean it wont work its just means if something goes wrong or doesnt work you cant blame anyone.

It's a system requirement. It's listed.

Just because a computer doesn't meet all the requirements doesn't mean a program won't necessarily run... but it won't run well. Running sessions from the system drive creates an inevitable chockpoint. If you want the software to run at it's full potential, you need to fulfill the requirements. Speaking from experience, here.