Mic input issue to Pro Tools with DM-3200 and IF/FW/DMMKII

[Steve NVS]

The system has been running great for months. I left on vacation, came back and turned things on but no audio communication between the DM-3200 and Pro Tools 12. HUI works fine. I confirmed that the FW connections are working. I checked all the settings on the DM-3200 Routing menus and now I'm getting audio output from Pro Tools through the DM-3200 to the headphones and studio monitors. That's a start. (Apparently some of the menu settings spontaneously went away.)

But I still have no microphone audio getting to Pro Tools. I have a mic plugged into channel 16. I set a PT track input to channel 16 and arm record. When I speak into the mic I can see a blinking little red light labeled OV/Status on channel 16 of the DM-3200. So audio is clearly coming into the Tascam, but no audio is appearing on the PT track. I believe the Input Routing is correct on the Tascam. And I believe the PT hardware/playback engine/IO Setup are all correct. Images of the routing menus are attached.

Any helpful guidance is appreciated.
Steve

 

[G Stee]

The same thing happen to me. Instead of using output 1-16 on pro tools. Select buss 1-16 and see if you are getting a signal. I now set my ouput to buss during recording and output 1-16 during playback

 

[Steve NVS]

Ok G Stee, you're saying the issue is in Pro Tools? (The audio output from Pro Tools to the Tascam is working fine.) When you say "Select Buss 1-16" do you mean in the PT IO Setup or within a PT session? And is that Buss IN or Buss Out? And surely you don't change settings everytime you go from recording to playback? I'm a little confused what you're saying. Hope I can get it.
Steve

 

[cmaffia]

I like to send my M/L directly to the DAW.

 

[G Stee]

Open up a session in pro tools, create a audio track, use 1-16 as your input, select buss 1-16 as your output. Arm track and see if you are receiving a signal. Record a track, change the output to your desired output 1-16. This worked for me when I had the same problem that you reported

 

[Steve NVS]

Ok, cmaffia, You nailed it, problem solved. THANKS. I remember doing this direct M/L routing before but had not documented it. I will now document all the routing carefully, in case I need to correct the setting in the future.

I don't know why my settings went away. My only guess is that I've been turning off power to the mixer without doing an official Shift-CTRL-ALT shut down. I will make that my habit from now on for extra insurance.

Steve

 

[G Stee]

I do not believe if that will correct your problem. Please let me know if it does

 

[Steve NVS]

It did correct the problem 100%.

Just to be clear, no audio signal was showing up in Pro Tools. I could tell the DM-3200 was getting a signal because of the blinking red light over the fader. But the signal was not being routed to the Firewire interface and Pro Tools. The direct routing of the M/L (Mike/Line) signal that was suggested by cmaffia was exactly what I had before. (The only disadvantage of this direct routing is that you can't use the DM-3200 built-in effects such as compressors, etc. But I just want to record a clean signal anyway, so no problem.)

If you're having to send your channel signal through an internal PT bus to hear it, it sounds like a strange setup in your PT Session itself, or PT Setup menus, or possibly the DM-3200 routing.

Steve

 

[G Stee]

I will try it and see. I was having the same problem as you aftermy system locked up. I could see the signal and hear thesound, but the channel was was not present when set for recording. It originally worked fine. I still feel that I get a clearer recording using buss as the output

 

[Steve NVS]

Here are the four routing screens for the DM-3200. The second input screen is channel 17/18 as a return from PT to the mixer stereo output. (Maybe you're already doing that?) The third and fourth screen are the M/L inputs direct to Firewire and PT. You might need to refresh your PT setup menus.

 

[G Stee]

will get it a try

 

[cmaffia]

When you power off improperly, there's a message telling you so on the next boot-up and you're given the choice of loading your settings from either internal memory or the CF card. Depending on which action you take, you can inadvertently overwrite your preferred settings. Sounds like this happened and you loaded a factory default setting instead which was then updated to your CF card.