Nothing through MBOX Studio Headphones

[telaqxio]

I've followed online instructions, and tried the following (just getting started).

I can't hear anything through the headphones. I'm not recording yet, I'm just getting MBOX Studio and MBOX Control setup correctly. I think I've done everything correctly.

I should be able to hear a mic or an instrument line in through MBOX Studio using the headphones without an active session or recording a track in ProTools, right? I should be able to setup a "cue mix" in MBOX control and hear what my inputs sound like before recording a track, no?

- Inputs are Mic Channel 1 and Strat direct into Channel 2
- Selected Headphone 1 in MBOX Control. Turned up levels on inputs channel 1 and 2 in MBOX Control, as well as "Talkback"
- I have plugged a "known good" set of headphones into Headphone 1 and know that the levels are turned up.
- I have Pro-Tools configured to use AVID MBOX Studio as the playback Engine
- The provided stock purple USB C cable is connected.
- Controls are seamless between MBOX Control and MBOX Studio (the device)
- I can see the inputs registering on the individual lines when i talk into the mic or play the guitar.
- Windows 11 Output Device is "Output 1-2 (MBOX Studio)" - but none of them work, I've tried them all.

Judging from searches online, I'm not the first to have this problem. Any help is greatly appreciated!

[JFreak]

Hi. Your post was directed to manual approval, which is why publishing it took some time. Welcome to the community!

[Darryl Ramm]

The MBox Studio has an unfortunate over-reliance on it's internal hardware mixer to route its limited 8 DAW outputs it has to actual outputs. Besides just havign a limited number of DAW outputs it measn that new users both need to deal with Pro Tools I/O and the MBox Studio hardware mixer routing from the DAW returns to get stuff to work.

I would start by getting headphones to work in the MBox Studio hardware monitoring, without Pro Tools or any other DAW or app using the interface. Connect a mic to one of the inputs and use the Control app to route that audio signal to your headphones through the Mbox's internal mixer.

[telaqxio]

First, thank you both! *

I'll try that again, but had no luck unplugging from everything and trying it with just the hardware. - could it also be that it's looking for a track with record enabled in pro-tools to complete the loop-back to the hardware audio interface (eg. to mute or not to mute on a given recording enabled track), which would then allow me to hear the sound of a line in as it's being recorded. That would make sense in the "physical console" sense as I'd have to toggle playback or unmute talkback on a track to hear it through studio headphones or a cue mix. I founed this in the topic of "cue mixing" on youtube as well as (being the newb that I am) "creating a new track in pro-tools".

I am convinced these initial challenges of activation and configuration are there for character development and to test our resolve.

[Darryl Ramm]

Hardware monitoring with this box has no reliance on Pro Tools, otherwise I would not have suggested you do that without Pro Tools running. And it would not really be "hardware monitoring".

Use the meters in the Mbox Control App to see the mic signal on the input you are using and then make sure you have setup a route/mix in Mbox Control so that you see the headphone output meter also moving. If that produces no sound in your headphones and they are known to work then you have a hardware problem in the Mbox and should contact the seller or Avid support.

Just do that test as described, no DAW or audio app involved. Just to prove or disprove the basic hardware is working. (Mbox hardware mixer, headphone amp stage, headphone socket/jack/cable, headphones themselves... all of which you also rely on when using with Pro Tools or any other DAW).

Most of the problems here is likely to be users not understanding how to use Mbox Control, that's just frequently the cause of confusion with any interface with more sophisticated hardware mixer features, and here unfortunately the Mbox forces you to use that more with it's limited DAW returns. So again more reason to just start debugging using the hardware mixer. If you are stuck with using the Mixer settings then post screenshots of the Mbox Control app showing the input and output mixer pages. Post those on a photo or file sharing site and post the links here (don't post directly on DUC, it down-samples image so badly they are often useless).

[albee1952]

A longshot, but its hit me twice....turn up the headphone volume knob. Because its an encoder, it can(and does) sometimes reset to all the way down. To hear inputs without opening Pro Tools, you also need to turn them up in the Control software(check youtube for some video tutorials on this).

[telaqxio]

SOLVED - Headphone performance monitoring solved. I hit the "SOLO" button under "Mic / LIne 1" with that input selected and now I can hear mic signal through headphones in real time. "Monitoring" during performance on headphones is solved I guess.

I still haven't been able to configure pro tools to playback through the MBOX, the short sample recording i made - I will work on that independently. I'm setting the "output" on the individual track to what I beleive is the audio path for the MBOX and I'm unable to listen to the clip, though I can see that it was recorded and the meters bounce when I play it. I still want to record music despite this experience ;-)

[Darryl Ramm]

Again... it is not just "Pro Tools" you need to worry about, I've tried to point this out multiple times. You *have* to understand the hardware mixer and worry about what it is doing.

Pro Tools drives eight DAW return (aka "internal" aka "software input" signal in MBox Studio mixer speak) to the hardware mixer, you need to make sure that that DAW return you are driving hoping it goes to headphones actually has a path to the correct headphones out in the hardware mixer. You also need to be careful of if headphones are mirroring main outputs, if you are in advanced mix mode etc. Read the MBox Studio User Guide very carefully.

Use the meters in the hardware mixer/Control app to confirm that is happening. If nothing else just drive the output of a track in Pro Tools with the signal gen plugin and go find that signal in the Control mixer meters and make sure that has a path the headphone output.

As a good learning test can try driving all eight of those DAW returns (start with a few) and play with routing them in the hardware mixer.

[telaqxio]

Solved by selecting "S" (Solo) on the individual software inputs in MBOX Control while playing back my sample track from the DAW, in this case Pro-Tools. These are such rudimentary foundations they probably elude more experienced - like "of course you need to select that to hear it". Thank you again for your help. I did RTFM but I think I am internalizing it now.

[telaqxio]

Problem solved - I didn't have the Software Inputs "soloed" in MBOX Control and I now see how the audio path is enabled. The Headphone meter is bouncing and I'm hearing my recording through the MBOX Studio-connected Headphones. Appreciate this forum.