I/O, etc., settings messed up!

[Mr Wright]

Hi folks,

I'm new to PT and Mac issues.

I had everything working fine until I accidentally messed something up recently (I've no idea what I've done).

I'm simply trying to record some MIDI using my MIDI keyboard, but...

Now my track i/o is only giving me a buses for input options and I'm totally confused about input and output and playback engine, etc. I think I've messed up some settings in both my PT and my Mac and as I'm not sure if PT is communicating properly with my Mac sound... probably something relatively straight forward, but I can't figure out what it is.

Is anyone PLEASE able to help me before I pull my hair out?

Thanks!

[Darryl Ramm]

Hi Welcome to DUC.

First check that the Setup>Playback Engine is set to the correct audio interface. Don't assume you have to check Pro Tools will change this on you when least expecting it, because it hates you.

Then in each of the Setup>IO>{Input, Output, Bus} pages select all the I/O paths by clicking on them with the mouse, click the Delete button, then click the Default button. That will restore the I/O Default settings. You must Default the bus page since that controls what users think of as "outputs".

All this is worth reading about in the Reference Guide and playing around with. All this I/O stuff can be a pain to get started with but is one of the niceness thing about Pro Tools (cough, well not the hardware insert stuff, that's hot garbage that needs a compete rewrite). In serious sessions/studios users will create lovely I/O settings that give useful meaningful names to different I/O ports that make doing stuff so lovely. All the I/O setting stuff takes some getting used to, but it's all just names for user convenience, you can change to whatever you want. And I encourage you to mess around with this in test sessions, deleting, renaming, creating your own I/O paths.

[Mr Wright]

Hi Daryl,

Thanks for your response.

I'm actually not using an audio interface at the moment, just USB from my MIDI keyboard straight into the Mac.

What should be coming up as an option in set up > i/o? And why do I only have buses coming up for the track input?

There is Pro Tools aggregate, or my Macbook speakers / mic, etc... coming up as options in set up > i/o.

None of these come up in the track input, but the track output is just Mac book speakers.


Thanks.

[Darryl Ramm]

You are always using an audio interface. Pro Tools will not run without one at least one that provides some outputs.

That might be the built in audio on your mac, it might be audio interface capability built into your interface. etc.

The options for interfaces are shown in Setup>Playback Engine, that is where you start. Select what you want to use (like Macbook Speakers) and then go and do what I described for Defaulting the I/O. That *will* set up the correct I/O for you.

[Mr Wright]

Thanks, Daryl, but honestly, I think the "default" going back to an incorrect option...

I've done all this before and had it working for months... It wasn't difficult, so please understand that I'm going through the basics and nothing is working.

The problems came either when I was dicking about with some mixing software that I don't understand to check my headphones frequency response (that I don't understand) and then someone sent me a Pro Tools session to add to that had completely different set up and I remember being confused and deleting something then...

My Pro Tools now will not communicate with my Mac and the real problem is I have no understanding of what i/o options mean... I'm just clicking on anything at the moment.

There is no sound and no recording or playback from my M-Audio MIDI keyboard (although it says connected)...

Here are a few screenshots... something is misaligned or missing in my system and I have no one to help me with this specific problem. Thanks.

[Mr Wright]

Actually, sorry, I'm cancelling my PT subscription... I've just tried Logic Pro and it worked instantly. Obviously, PT is too fussy and technical for me....

[Darryl Ramm]

The basic I/O setup will be correct if you pick the interface you want to use and then default everything as I said. That's the basic first thing you needed to do.

If after doing that you had some other problem that could be sorted out.

MIDI keyboards don't produce sound, they produce MIDI events, the VIs turn those events into sound. The output I/O of an instrument track in the simplest case is just set to the MacBook Speakers or whatever output you want to use once you have that setup/defaulted correctly. The input is not used. I/O settings deal with audio signals and physical audio connections, they have *nothing* to do with routing MIDI events or connecting MIDI keyboards Pro Tools or individual VIs. That's all handled elsewhere.

There are lots of ways that MIDI and virtual instruments might still not work as expected. The VI not be getting MIDI events from your keyboard, etc. Might not be in the needed record arm or MIDI thru modes. It's best to follow a tutorial on how to do that (like a basic tutorial on YouTube about how to work with VIs), just trying random stuff is not a good way to learn.

Logic Pro has a much cleaner less confusing environment for working with MIDI and VIs, (that's after all how that DAW got started) and has a much better out of box experience for new users. OTOH it's nowhere near as nice for audio recording.

[Mr Wright]

Yes, I'm now trying Logic Pro. I don't need the hassle that comes with PT.

Thanks for your help.

[tope d]

Originally Posted by Mr Wright

Thanks, Daryl, but honestly, I think the "default" going back to an incorrect option...

I've done all this before and had it working for months... It wasn't difficult, so please understand that I'm going through the basics and nothing is working.

The problems came either when I was dicking about with some mixing software that I don't understand to check my headphones frequency response (that I don't understand) and then someone sent me a Pro Tools session to add to that had completely different set up and I remember being confused and deleting something then...

My Pro Tools now will not communicate with my Mac and the real problem is I have no understanding of what i/o options mean... I'm just clicking on anything at the moment.

There is no sound and no recording or playback from my M-Audio MIDI keyboard (although it says connected)...

Here are a few screenshots... something is misaligned or missing in my system and I have no one to help me with this specific problem. Thanks.

Hi there!

Your setup is correct. Just make sure you're on a stereo instrument track with your virtual instrument is loaded and the track is in record enabled mode.
Please feel free to bump this thread if ever you decide to try Pro Tools again. There is a totally free version available, just need to register at https://www.facebook.com/groups/protoolsintro