Questions & Answers

Audiobox USB and Mac -- monitoring in mono, recording in stereo?

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asked May 30, 2016 in AudioBox USB by fergieprs (160 points)
OS:  OS  X Yosemite, 10.10.5

Audiobox USB, no driver (on a Mac)

Using an Axe Fx II as guitar processor.  Feeding input 1 on the audiobox with the left channel output of the Axe Fx.  I have the audiobox set as the input and output in sound settings in the OS.

When I just play, I hear a mono sound from both speakers.  To my mind, I should only be hearing sound from the left monitor.  When I make a screen recording to test sounds, and play the recording back, I *only* hear sound coming from the left monitor.

Can't figure out what's going on, and there is no software interface to configure the Audiobox since there is technically no driver installed (it's "class compliant" -- whatever that really means -- sure would be nice to have some control over the unit).

Under my old Windows setup, I would feed the L output from the Axe Fx into input 1, and the R output into input 2.  Configure the settings appropriately, and I was able to get stereo sounds while just playing, as well as when recording.

I do not believe this to be a problem with the Axe Fx -- it's putting out exactly the signal it's supposed to -- that is, Left channel only.

Thanks for reading -- I appreciate the help!

2 Answers

0 votes
answered Jun 10, 2016 by ryanmiller13 (18,150 points)
The inputs for your interface are identical and do not correlate to a left or right signal.  It would seem that it has to be within the software that you are recording with.  It could be something as simple as your Input/Output setup in your DAW, or possibly if you are creating and recording into a stereo channel that is already set to be panned left and right.
0 votes
answered Jun 11, 2016 by fergieprs (160 points)
Thank you Ryanmiller for responding.  However, I noted in my original post that the functionality when recording using a DAW (both Logic and Garageband) work correctly.  This problem is not related to DAW settings.

When I want to just play -- not record -- I'm getting a mono-only sound, coming from both monitors.  I'm only feeding the LEFT output from the Axe Fx into the Audiobox, but I'm hearing sound from both the left and right monitor.

I should be able to feed the LEFT output into INPUT 1 on the Audiobox, and hear sound from only the left monitor.  Then, feed the RIGHT output into INPUT 2 on the Audiobox, and hear that channel only from the right monitor.

In the past, under Windows, my experience is that PreSonus installs a little control panel where you can tweak settings, but for some reason Presonus does not provide any way to adjust settings in OS X.  It's great that there's no driver needed to make the unit work in OS X, but it's quite disappointing to not have any control over the interface at all.
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