Motu M4 issue - loopback audio always on?

[mrgnlit]

Hello everyone, I have an issue regarding the Motu m4 and loopback. It seems like the loopback function is always on for some reason and my system audio is always being captured as an input.

I am running OSX Mojave 10.14.6 and I have correctly (I think?) installed the optional drivers. The loopback channels appear in a daw and can be selected on and off but When I look at the system preferences sound tab, all audio gets picked up via the input meter, not just my microphones.

This became apparent when I turned on "original audio" in zoom and my students complained about an echo. I did a test recording using zoom and it did pick up all my system audio as well, not just the microphones. Is there a way to turn this off? should I have more selections when I look in the system preferences audio tab? Any help would be awesome. I really like the interface and I would love to use it for teaching.

[mikehalloran]

The only way to enable Loopback is to install the optional drivers. Core Audio does not support it.

What do you mean by always on? With the drivers installed, Loopback is always available to be engaged or not, same as selecting stereo 1–2 or 3–4 or mono 1, 2, 3 or 4. What you don't select is always on even if not selected or has no purpose.

If you wish Loopback gone, uninstall the drivers. Yes, there is a slightly longer round trip—about the same as moving your ears a foot or so further from your monitor speakers — yes, really.

Gotta love marketing departments for making RT numbers on any of the new Fast USB interfaces seem important. They're not.

[bayswater]

Is the question really about Zoom? That is, how do you select the audio source Zoom listens to? Presumably you want only one source for this application, particularly if multiple sources have the same signal.

[mikehalloran]

Is the question really about Zoom? That is, how do you select the audio source Zoom listens to? Presumably you want only one source for this application, particularly if multiple sources have the same signal.

I wouldn’t think so if a Mac but without clarification, who knows/

Loopback is required for Zoom audio on Windows only.

[mrgnlit]

The only way to enable Loopback is to install the optional drivers. Core Audio does not support it.

What do you mean by always on? With the drivers installed, Loopback is always available to be engaged or not, same as selecting stereo 1–2 or 3–4 or mono 1, 2, 3 or 4. What you don't select is always on even if not selected or has no purpose.

If you wish Loopback gone, uninstall the drivers. Yes, there is a slightly longer round trip—about the same as moving your ears a foot or so further from your monitor speakers — yes, really.

Gotta love marketing departments for making RT numbers on any of the new Fast USB interfaces seem important. They're not.

@mikehalloran thanks for the response! So what i mean by "always on" is all my system audio is being picked up by the m4 as a recording input. So when I select the motu m4 in my system audio preferences it picks up me playing audio on youtube and chrome but also my microphone audio. I think this is causing some echo problems when using original audio (echo cancelation off) in zoom. The apple audio system preferences does not have any other options other than m4 does this mean I did something wrong in the driver installation?

[mrgnlit]

Is the question really about Zoom? That is, how do you select the audio source Zoom listens to? Presumably you want only one source for this application, particularly if multiple sources have the same signal.

Yes this is kind of about zoom, but more about the system audio being picked up and recorded all on the same channel. I use OBS for some recording and I usually have all tracks split out but this just squishes them all into one lane and I can not control the levels separately. Maybe I have the driver installed wrong, it is on OSX.

[mikehalloran]

That's not your problem but, without more info, I don't know what is. Remember that Audio MIDI Setup.app and System Preferences/Sound also control audio on as Mac.

As for Zoom, you have Zoom Audio and Computer Audio.

This is now over a year old and some of the Zoom updates have changed a few things but you still want to start here. Watch the video, then download the 73 page pdf book. The video will save you time navigating the book (it did for me) as only around 20 pages apply to the Mac — which leaves about 55 or so…
http://musictechexplained.com/

[mrgnlit]

That's not your problem but, without more info, I don't know what is. Remember that Audio MIDI Setup.app and System Preferences/Sound also control audio on as Mac.

As for Zoom, you have Zoom Audio and Computer Audio.

This is now over a year old and some of the Zoom updates have changed a few things but you still want to start here. Watch the video, then download the 73 page pdf book. The video will save you time navigating the book (it did for me) as only around 20 pages apply to the Mac — which leaves about 55 or so…
http://musictechexplained.com/

@mikehalloran Hey thanks for the video, I will have to spend some more time watching that! However I think you helped me solve my problem and this might be helpful for others having this relatively simple issue. With the optional drivers installed you have all the inputs available in audio MIDI setup. For some reason Zoom does not have the ability to just pickup one of those inputs, it just takes all the sources coming from M4 which in this case includes all the loopback channels. If you want to use zoom with your M4 just mute all the loopback channels in audio MIDI setup and the issue goes away. Thanks for the tip!

[bayswater]

aha!!!

[lkanies]

Just writing in years later to say I had this same problem with my M2 on a Mac Studio running Sonoma and the os before this one (Ventura?). Everything I've read says loopback should only be available in special apps like Logic Pro, but for my machine, it was enabled all the time. I was able to fix it by muting those channels in Audio MIDI Setup.

I also posted on Audio Science Review about this, so cross-posting to my answer there in case it's helpful:

https://audiosciencereview.com/forum/in ... st-1801966

[mikehalloran]

Just writing in years later to say I had this same problem with my M2 on a Mac Studio running Sonoma and the os before this one (Ventura?). Everything I've read says loopback should only be available in special apps like Logic Pro, but for my machine, it was enabled all the time. I was able to fix it by muting those channels in Audio MIDI Setup.

I also posted on Audio Science Review about this, so cross-posting to my answer there in case it's helpful:

https://audiosciencereview.com/forum/in ... st-1801966

Thanks for updating. That "Everything I've read…" on the internet can drive us all nuts.

To clarify, if using a MOTU M2/4/6 on a Mac, Loopback is only available if the Mac drivers are installed. In this case, available=always on. An M2/4/6 over CoreAudio (no Mac drivers installed) does not support Loopback. With Windows, the drivers are not optional for functionality so Loopback is always available.

The above only applies to the MOTU M series. Neither Mackie nor M•Audio offer Mac drivers—CoreAudio only. My Mackie FxProv3 mixers always have Loopback available as channels 3/4 while my M•Audio interfaces do not support it at all.