Mac OS system sounds and MOTU 828 mk3

[aaronlyon]

I have my Sound control panel set to send Output to my MOTU 828mk3. This works for most apps (iTunes, QuickTime), which apps send output to "Main Out" as defined by Audio MIDI Setup app. But not Safari. Safari insists on sending audio out to "Analog" group, which is Analog channels 1 and 2 on my MOTU. I'm not set up to monitor these channels, so while I see the meter lights going on the 828, I don't hear anything.

How can I get Safari to send to Main Out, like all the other apps?

[etaoin]

I'm having the exact same issue with the 828 mk2 on 10.9. It worked fine on 10.8. Safari output is now going to Analog 1-2 instead of the (selected default) Main Outs. Every other app is using the defaults.

Can't tell if it's a Mavericks issue or a MOTU driver issue, or a combination of both.

[nick danger]

I haven't connected by 828mkII to this computer (running 10.9) yet, but my Microbook II is having similar weirdness since updating the OS. It won't run sound from Vimeo unless I have Sound set to an aggregate device, rather than selecting the Microbook singly. Everything else plays just fine on that setting.

[etaoin]

I'd like to add that in my case it is only Safari native sound that goes to the wrong outputs. Sound from plugins (like Flash) do go to the selected outputs.

[nick danger]

My problem is also Safari specific-- sound on Vimeo works fine in Firefox.

[teq]

Sound works in Firefox but not Chrome for me.

Going to have to pipe my headphone jack into the 828 I think.

[etaoin]

Just a quick note to say that this hasn't been resolved by the 1.6.59200 MOTU update. But it might be a Maverickt problem that MOTU can't resolve anyway.

I found that the QuickTime player is affected too. It also seems to be video related. Playing videos in iTunes also gives no sound, while music is fine. So it seems to be a problem with the QT video processing.

[etaoin]

On the above note I checked something: what if QT is outputting stereo audio with the surround flag on (so still 2 channel, but to the surround outputs instead of the stereo outputs).

My Mac is set to output 5.1 surround to analog 1-6.
Changed that to main in the audio/MIDI config speaker settings and got my sound back!

Still a bug (I think) to flag stereo as surround, but resolved for now anyway. Only problem is that I do have a surround set-up, so will need to switch back and forth now, which I didn't have to do in the past.

[aaronlyon]

My Mac is set to output 5.1 surround to analog 1-6.
Changed that to main in the audio/MIDI config speaker settings and got my sound back!

Can you detail that? I think I configured Audio/MIDI Setup for stereo out to Main1/2, but no change.

[etaoin]

Can you detail that? I think I configured Audio/MIDI Setup for stereo out to Main1/2, but no change.

In the OS X Audio/MIDI settings, audio panel, MOTU output settings, go to speaker settings. You have stereo and multi-channel there. Stereo was correctly sending to the main outs, but multi channel was sending to analog outs, even when set to stereo.

In the default setup, multichannel stereo might even go nowhere.

[aaronlyon]

crap. Now all system sounds, including iTunes, are going to Audio 1/2 instead of Main Out. I have correctly set MOTU Audio Setup, System Sound control panel, AUDIO/MIDI Setup.

Any suggestions? Time to completely reinstall drivers?

[bayswater]

The only place I check this is in MOTU Audio Setup. Make sure the Default Stereo Output and the Main Output Assign are both set to Main Out 1-2 (or whatever you names you might have assigned to these channels in the General>Channel Names>Edit ... section.

I don't bother with Audio MIDI Setup, except to make sure the 828 is actually there. Changing the default Output pair there is a waste of time -- change to Main Out, close Audio MIDI Setup, open it again, and the Output will be set back to Analog again. If you go to Configure Speakers, you'll see the Main Outs are set as the output channel, even though the Analog setting is there on the Output page.

Also don't bother with the Sound Preferences. You can just Alt click on the Sound icon in the menu bar to set the 828 as the default device, which you should only have to do if you powered up the Mac with the 828 turned off, in which case the Mac will have defaulted to the Internal ins and outs.

As long as I have the correct setting in MOTU Audio Setup, outputs from iTunes, etc work properly.

[aaronlyon]

Installed lastest MOTU audio interface software; problem solved.

Thanks!

[doublea626]

Same issue on Windows 8, when using Firefox; can't open Audio Console and intermittent bit rate switching. I'm thinking this has to do with Flash or another media program conflicting.