Motu 16 - Pro Tools- speaker problems

Mrblue

New member
Hi, first time poster here, not sure whether this question should be in this section, so if I am wrong I apologise.

Anyway I have a sound craft desk going into a motu 16a then two sets of monitors coming out of the motu channels 1/2 3/4

In pro tools I am having difficulty switching between monitors i.e. Output 1/2 and 3/4

Sometimes both are audible, other times I can mute one speaker. Or one set will come out louder.

There must be something in the I/o I am not setting up right. I know it's vague, but I am fairly new to pro tools so any assistance would be much appreciated.

Many thanks for taking the time to read.
 
Hi,

In Protools you can go to Setup > IO and see what's what.
This can get messy because Protools will remember settings and paths from other sessions and previous hardware.

It's not a bad idea to just select all, delete, then hit default for the input and output tab. This will ensure that the I/O is accurate for the device that's chosen.

For monitor switching, there's a few ways you can go. Protools generally has one pair as master and every track sends to that pair.
The master track, if you make one, is also associated with that pair.

Switching this involves changing the output for every track which is a one click job unless you have tracks outputting to buses, then it's a mess.
It's be much easier to do the switch via Motu software, if it has its own routing, or a hardware monitor controller.

Another option is to set your default output to bus 1+2 so every new track is sent there, then use an aux track instead of a master.
That way you can switch whether that Aux goes to hardware 1+2 or hardware 3+4 in two clicks.

Honestly, I don't know why protools doesn't just have that built in to their master faders.

Hope that's useful.
 
Thanks for the reply.

I have tried setting my output to 1-2 (genelec monitors) then setting each tracks out to a bus and then switching that output between 1-2 and 3-4 (Mackie monitors). Thought never just a/b's. if I choose 3-4 I will get that with 1-2 or some other weird combo. It must be a configuration thing. I've been on Cubase for ten years so the jump to Pro Tools although overdue is very different. Simple in someways complex in others.

Let me know if it seems I am making a glaring error. I could possibly upload screenshots of my I/o setting.


Thanks
 
Hi,
From your description it sounds like some other software or routing is at play.
It's annoying that Protools master bus can't just be switched but, that aside, it's straight forward enough.
What you're describing should work just fine.

Is the MOTU software doing anything? Even if you don't use it, fire it up and make sure it's not mirroring by default or something daft.

I remember spending a stupid amount of time trying to figure out why headphone mirroring didn't work, before realising that the MOTU software was overriding and disabling it.
 
Thanks for the reply. Finally got it working.

It seems having a master bus at all is a problem when switching. So if I just use an aux as a mix bus and bounce from there it works.

So that leads me to ask how important is it to have a master fader in a session in Pro Tools?
 
I use a master fader because I don't do software A+B or anything like that,
but if you're routing all your content to one final Aux, you basically have a DIY master.

I can't think of any reason to create, or advantages of, a 'real' Master track under those circumstances.

Glad it's working for you.:)

If you haven't done it already, you can set Protools to automatically set the output for new tracks to Bus1+2, or whatever you're using. (Setup > I/O)
That would save you the trouble of changing all tracks as you create them.
 
Cheers mate

Yeah I have been on Cubase for ten years where a master track was included automatically in a session.

To have an optional user inserted master track seems very strange to me.
 
I really like pro tools, a lot of things are very easy and intuitive. Though it's still a learning curve even if being an experienced daw user. Will definitely be using these forums.
 
Please do!

There's not much ProTools activity around here, but there's a few guys who know their stuff. :)

Hopefully you won't need them too much but stick around anyway. ;)
 
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