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Volume outputted by AudioBox USB varies wildly when connected to certain PA mixers?

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asked Aug 12, 2019 in AudioBox USB by emiska (120 points)
Hi there,

I have an issue in which the volume of the audio coming out of my AudioBox USB will vary wildly when connected to certain PA mixers, becoming very loud or very quiet many times within the course of a single song.

More details on my setup:

-I’m running Mac OSX 10.9.5 on a mid-2009 MacBook Pro
-according to the Presonus website, the AudioBox USB is class compliant, so it does not require the use of a driver

-when performing my music, I have my AudioBox USB connected to my computer running Ableton Live 9.7.7, with the AudioBox selected as both the input and the output of audio in Ableton

-my bass guitar is connected to one of the inputs on the front of the AudioBox, which feeds it into an audio track in Ableton

-I have Ableton Push connected directly to my computer via USB in order to control Ableton Live during my performance.

-the L/R outputs on the back of my AudioBox USB connect via mixer cable to the PA mixer.

-the gist: some audio (my bass guitar) comes into my computer via the AudioBox, and some audio is generated inside my computer with Ableton live, but all audio comes out again through the AudioBox, which then connects to a PA mixer.

I should emphasize: most of the time I have no problem with this setup. But every so often, when connected to certain mixers, the volume which the AudioBox is outputting will fluctuate wildly many times within the course of one song. Not just the volume of my bass, but also the volume of the synths or drums that I play on Ableton Push.

My main theories are that I might use a different type of cable to connect the AudioBox to the interface, or that it simply has something to do with the interface being a USB interface, as I’ve heard that Firewire is more stable. Unfortunately, the two times when the problem has occurred were in a live show setting where I wasn’t able to stick around to thoroughly investigate the problem and experiment with all possible solutions.

Has anyone experienced anything similar to this? Any tips would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

-Ethan
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