No Green/Red Lights in Audio Mixer Bus Window

Hello Hauptwerk Experts,

I've configured a Motu 24ao as an audio device in Hauptwerk 7 and set up a two pairs of speakers as two separate mixer buses in the Audio Mixer window for mixer preset 1. I also created a mixer bus group and checked the two mixer buses created previously. Using the Rank Routing window, I routed all ranks to this mixer bus group. The mixer preset is set to "1".

I am getting red/green lights in the Rank Routing window when I draw stop(s) and play some notes. I also get red/green lights in the Audio Mixer Bus Groups window next to my mixer bus group mentioned above. (I'm using the St. Anne's sample set.)

I am not getting red/green lights in the Audio Mixer window (and no sound from my speakers either) next to the two mixer buses I've configured. I've reviewed the configurations several times, started from a complete reset Hauptwerk configuation a few times, rebooted the PC, etc. The setup seems straightforward -- I'm using "Example 4", for multi-channel audio, in the manual as that seems to be closest to what I hope to achieve, eventually.

Any ideas on what I'm missing? Thanks in advance!

[mdyde]

Hello redbeard,

Welcome to the forum.

With St. Anne's loaded: on the "General settings | General mixer" screen, for each of the relevant two primary buses, please first check that:

1. They have device channels selected ("Audio output (device) channel(s): Channels" setting).
2. Their blue virtual activity LEDs are lit, which should indicate that something is routed to them *and* that their audio output is configured to go somewhere (e.g. that they have audio output device channels).

Also:

- On the "Organ settings | Rank voicing and surround/3D panning screen", check that the ranks still have their "Perspective mix: source persp to output persp 1" adjustments turned up (e.g. to their defaults, which are 100%).
- On the "Audio, MIDI and Performance" large control panel ("View | Large ... control panels"), check that the 'Audio' level meter shows some activity as you play the ranks. (The green and red LEDs on the Mixer screen only light if *non-silent* audio is being routed through them.)

Are all of those true?

Thanks for the help, but I'm still unable to get any output or activity to show up in my Audio Mixer window. Blue lights are lit next to the two mixer buses that I've defined. Each mixer bus is pointed to a separate stereo output configuration in the "Audio output (device) channel(s)" menu and nothing is checked in the "Sends: to master mix buses" section.

I checked that all ranks are at 100% for "Perspective mix: source persp to output persp 1".

When I draw some stops and play notes on the St. Anne console (via clicking the mouse), I get some green bars in the Polyphony meter, but nothing shows up in the Audio meter in the "Audio, MIDI and Performance" control panel.

A screenshot showing the current configuration: https://photos.app.goo.gl/AB89Wf6KDuuj2eXy7 This screen was captured immediately after playing a few notes.

[mdyde]

Thanks, redbeard.

The configuration in your screenshot looks fine to in terms as far as can be seen from it, i.e.:

- Rank routing settings are fine (ranks routed to group 10).
- Mixer settings are fine (primary buses 10 has device channels 1/2 selected, with no sends).
- Mixer preset is fine (=1, corresponding to your settings on the Audio Mixer screen and groups screen).

The only two things that can't be seen from the screenshot are:

1. Whether group 10 contains primary buses 10 and 11. Please double-check that. (Group 10's red LED is lit, so evidently it contains at least one bus, but the screenshot doesn't show which.)

2. Whether the ranks have "Perspective mix: source persp to output persp 1" turned up on the voicing/panning screen, but you've already checked that anyway.

For good measure, as a sanity check, I set up your configuration exactly as you have it in Hauptwerk v7, and it does indeed work perfectly for me.

If 1 above (buses 10 and 11 in group 10) doesn't solve it, please try:

- Exit Hauptwerk.

- Re-launch it via a previously-unused one of the four "Hauptwerk (alt config N)" desktop shortcuts (so that all settings are at defaults).

- When prompted, selected your MOTU 24ao's ASIO driver as the audio output device., but leave all other settings at their defaults. (All audio will be routed to channels 1 and 2 on the selected device by default.)

- Load St. Anne's, draw some stops, and click on some keys.

Do you then hear audio through the MOTU (device channels 1 and 2)? The aim is to try to verify whether your MOTU device is actually working properly. (For example, if the driver isn't actually calling Hauptwerk to calculate chunks of audio then neither the audio level meter in Hauptwerk, nor the green and red LEDs on the mixer, would show signal.)

Thanks for the support. I'm pretty sure the problem is in the USB connection to the 24ao. The connection extends about 20 meters over a USB extender which uses ethernet cable. The ethernet cable connection is fine, however others have reported problems using this particular USB extender with audio interfaces. I'll have to test some other USB extenders to get the 24ao connected reliably with the PC.

[mdyde]

Thanks, redbeard.

Hope you manage to resolve it easily.

An alternative to USB over distance might be a second MOTU USB AVB interface attached USB to the PC, then AVB ethernet to the 24Ao. MOTU supports the PC using channels on both devices. I haven't tried it (I'm using ADATs to combine interfaces).

An alternative to USB over distance might be a second MOTU USB AVB interface attached USB to the PC, then AVB ethernet to the 24Ao. MOTU supports the PC using channels on both devices.

That's the exact solution I use instead of a long USB connection. I use a MOTU UltraLite AvB directly at the computer connected with a short USB cable and a very long AvB Internet connection to the 24Ao (which is 35+ metres away). It works flawlessly and the two interfaces drive 15 pairs of stereo speakers.