Help can monitor sound but can't record or hear play back

[chlorinedream]

This is driving me crazy. Getting back into recording after a pause. Trying to reconnect all my synths into a 828mk3. Here's my problem.

I've got an Access Virus TI Snow plugged into Inputs 3&4 on the 828mk3.

Cuemix has the 3-4 fader all the way up.

Basically no matter how I route the the tracks, I can monitor what I'm playing, but then I'm either unable record it (no signal is getting recorded), or I can barely record it (very small waveform) but then not hear the playback. This is driving me nuts.


In DP:

I have the Access instrument track set to go to the Audio 1-2 out.
I have the recording track set to Audio 1-2 input and Audio 1-2 out.

What am I doing wrong?

My Audio Setup items are as follows:

Default Input Analog 1-2
Default Out Main Out 1-2
Main Out Assign Main Out 1-2

thanks

[Shooshie]

It might help if you post more about what you're using, version-wise, for DP, CueMix, and OS X.

Also, tell me this:

• • Are you recording MIDI or Audio?
  • You've got the Access plugged into inputs 3&4. Is there a track set to record/monitor from 828mk3 inputs 3&4?

Maybe everything else I've said is irrelevant, and the problem is simply that you aren't recording input channels 3&4. I was kind of hoping that I read that wrong in the beginning, but now that I think of it, I believe that may be your problem.

CueMix is there to set up live mixes for monitoring your inputs while recording or just playing around. DP works directly with the 828's available tracks. Whether you have Hardware Monitoring or Monitor Through Effects enabled in Setup/Audio will determine whether you're going through CueMix or DP's Mixing Board.

If you feed a live track to an 896mk3 output, it will sound through the speakers plugged into the 896's outputs. If it's not sounding, and yet if you can see metering activity indicating that the track is indeed playing and reaching the 896, then you have other problems. One could be that the levels in 896 are turned down too low. Another would be that an output is muted.

We're talking about a lot of variables for me to guess without seeing them all.

Shooshie

[chlorinedream]

Hi - I am recording audio from the Virus. And the record track is set to 3-4 for the Input. Still no signal.

I'm using DP 8.06 and OS 10.9.4.

It has to be something simple I'm missing. Will edit and add more detail when I get home.

[chlorinedream]

Still not working. Starting to think my system is hosed.

I confirmed that I have the Virus going into inputs 3&4 (though strangely when I open a track, it appears as 5&6 - I have no idea why. My Guitar, which is plugged into Analog 1&2 is listed as 3&4 in the software).

I have the instrument track output to Main Out 1&2 - otherwise I can't hear anything.

I have the recording track input set to 5&6 and output as Analog 1&2. Have also tried 3&4 as the input and nothing changes.

Any ideas???

[rickorick]

Shift Z will open the meter window, play your Virus and see what channels it's coming in on,
and set those channels in DP and see if they record.

[Shooshie]

If your sound unit (Virus) is plugged into 828mk3's 3&4 inputs, then you MUST use those as your track inputs. Set that first, and then start solving the next problem in the chain.

Also, you should do what Rickorick said and take a look at your meters. They'll tell you where things are coming in, where they are routing internally, and where they are going out.

• • Follow the paths from beginning to end. At some point you have to plug things into the right places to complete the path. But you have to start at the beginning. That is most likely inputs 3&4 from the 828.
  
  • First, let's simplify the procedure. Let's do all connections directly, without busses. Just use the 828 Inputs, your track, and the 828 Outputs.
  
  • Next, be sure your track is record enabled, and push the "INPUT" button. That monitors the audio in that track. If you see meters for that track starting to jump, then you've gotten the audio into that track.
  
  • Once you see meter activity, and once you see it changing to indicate that you've got audio in the track, you can move on to output.
  
  • Be sure the 828's Main Outs are plugged into your track's output. be sure your track is now play-enabled, as well as record enabled, and Input enabled. (for that matter, be sure the track itself is enabled. There is a button in the Tracks Overview window — you may have to scroll the left-section to see it — that enables or disables a track. This overrides "Play Enable," as it completely takes a track out of production (but does not erase it) and returns its resources to the computer's CPU.
  
  • Play your device from your keyboard. With all set as I've described, you should be monitoring it live, and you should be able to hear it as you play.
  
  • Check the meter again. Do you see the audio jumping in the 828's Main Out channels? If so, then you know you've got audio going clear through the DP chain and back to the 828.

At this point, if you still are not hearing audio, don't change your inputs and outputs. They're correct if you set them up as I described AND if you see meter activity all the way from input to track to output. If you see that, but you hear nothing, there are three or four possibilities I can think of.

• 1) Check to see that your amplifier or self-powered speakers are plugged into the Main Outs of the 828. That would be channels 1&2.
  2) Be sure they are turned on. (Hey, it happened to me last week. I spent half an hour before I realized my monitors weren't on, and I've been doing this for about 40 years)
  3) Check CueMix to see if channels 1&2 are muted on the Inputs, Mixes, and Outputs tabs.
  4) Check cables. Are the plugged in all the way? Are the damaged? Do they work for other things?
  5) If NOTHING seems to work, start over in another file. Do you have any old files that work? Or is this #1? If you have nothing else with which to test the audio chain, then start over from scratch and build a new file WITHOUT TEMPLATES. That means you add all your tracks and configure them from scratch. THAT usually works when all else fails.

Maybe someone else can offer something I've missed. As always, I'm doing this from memory, so maybe I'm missing something, but I don't think so.

Most of all: keep trying. Do not let this defeat you, or you will lose one of the most amazing experiences in the history of music: the ability to record, mix, and produce your own songs for listening anywhere by anyone. After you get this figured out, most of what you learn will stay put. You can do it again and again without too many obstacles. If it didn't work, you wouldn't see us here. Stay with it! Keep coming back here or call MOTU and let's get this figured out. You WILL succeed if you keep trying.

Shooshie