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audio file do not play on macbook pro using MOTU hardware

Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2015 7:09 pm
by hazardman
just noticed that magic, on my MBP (13" 2012), is unable to play any audio files when using my MOTU ulralite-mk3 hybrid as the main audio interface...when i load an audio clip, be it mp3 or *.wav or aiff, and hit play on the transport there is no sound and the song position line does not move...

in system preferences>audio if i select "internal speakers" instead of the MOTU card as the "sound output device" , magic is able to play the file without problems...so, would this be more of a hardware driver issue that Magic wont be able to address? (i am on the latest firmware and drivers)...

anyone else having similar experiences using an external audio card as the primary output on their MBP?..

Re: audio file do not play on macbook pro using MOTU hardwar

Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2015 9:13 pm
by Magic
You might want to try setting the output sample rate to 44100 or 48000. You'll need to go into the "Audio MIDI Setup" app to do so.

Other than that I'm not really sure. It could be a bug in Magic, but we've tested lots of sound cards and they've all seemed to work so far. Magic uses the standard CoreAudio functionality on Macs that all other apps use, so there shouldn't be anything hardware-specific that prevents certain audio devices from working.

Re: audio file do not play on macbook pro using MOTU hardwar

Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2015 11:32 pm
by hazardman
i had it at 44.1 so i changed it to 48K as per your suggestion...however, when i launched magic, i saw in the control panel for the MOTU that, on it's own, the sample rate changed [back] to 44.1 and i still wasn't able to play the audio file using the MOTU as the output source...looks like magic is forcing my MBP to use the 44.1khz sample rate?

i tried switching to 96k, and the display on the ultralite confirmed 96, but it reverted back to 44.1 again when i launched magic...

thinking perhaps it's a driver issue with the MOTU i launched itunes for the first time and successfully played the same files through the MOTU interface....so, there's something afoot between magic and the ultralite, humm....

overall this isn't a big deal for me as i'm doing all of my authoring on a PC, and that i'm using magic only for it's graphic's engine on my MBP, but i'm sure this may be a concern to some user who are only OSX based with perhaps this particular piece of hardware...

also, i did notice in system preference>audio that the mute button of the ultralite's wasn't "tick-able"...don't know if that means anything...

also noticed in the audio devices app that the MOTU is being reported as 24bit which i can't seem to change, anywhere...is magic's player only 16bit thus creating a conflict?..

Re: audio file do not play on macbook pro using MOTU hardwar

Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2015 5:52 pm
by Magic
Ok, thanks for that info. I'll have a deeper look. Magic shouldn't be forcing 44100 if something else is selected.
also noticed in the audio devices app that the MOTU is being reported as 24bit which i can't seem to change, anywhere...is magic's player only 16bit thus creating a conflict?
24-bit should be ok. I don't think that's the issue but I'll double-check.

Re: audio file do not play on macbook pro using MOTU hardwar

Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2015 8:17 am
by Syd
I can reproduce this - Yosemite & Creative Sound Blaster X-FI Surround 5.1 Pro (stuck at 48khz) Magic unable to open audio output device.

Magic v1.53

Re: audio file do not play on macbook pro using MOTU hardwar

Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2015 6:59 pm
by Magic
Ah, thanks for that. I'll definitely investigate then. Hazardman, are you also running Yosemite?

Re: audio file do not play on macbook pro using MOTU hardwar

Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2015 1:02 am
by hazardman
10.9.3 mavericks...

Re: audio file do not play on macbook pro using MOTU hardwar

Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2015 5:33 pm
by Magic
Ok, thanks. I think I've found the problem. Hopefully I'll have a fix in the next release.

Re: audio file do not play on macbook pro using MOTU hardwar

Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2015 1:39 am
by hazardman
still the same playback issue with the new beta 1.54b...however, magic no longer overrides the sample rate set in the external sound card...