Effects Processing Oddity - No Realtime

[SuitcaseOfLizards]

I just got a new mic to experiment with vocals, and I'm seeing a VERY weird behavior on input.

Mic into mixer. Add audio input to a track. Watch the input levels on the input widget, looking good, no overs.

Decide to add reverb. Add reverb plug.. NO REVERB. In fact, looking at the output side volume and pan control IT SHOWS NO SIGNAL PASSING THROUGH!!!!! WTF, I can see the input on the left side, the record button is on,I HEAR the mic in y cans.. but NOTHING IS BEING PASSED THROUGH.

Fine, remove reverb plug, still nothing. Went ahead and recorded some trash talk for fun.. recorded perfect (one good thing, I guess). Played it back - WOW LOOK MOM, THE VOLUME PAN CONTROL SHOWS A SIGNAL!! Quick, wave a dead chicken and pray!

Tried a second track, same damn result.. nothing shows output until I record it then play it back.

Cue cursing in German, which seemed fitting.

I have zero clue why this is. Maybe a setting somewhere? Maybe reinstall? Maybe file a bug? Go DAWless?

Has anyone seen anything like this before, or have any fix suggestions? Not a showstopper, just a HUGE irritant and it makes vocals a PITA.

Waveform 12, Windows 10, ASIO, M-Audio Duo interface. No other apps running.

Help.

[dysjoint]

Click on the input icon. Do you have 'live input monitoring' turned on?

[pough]

,I HEAR the mic in y cans..

Sometimes the monitoring that you hear is within the interface, not through the DAW, so adding a reverb plugin in the DAW won't affect what you're hearing. I agree with dysjoint that it sounds like Live Input Monitoring is un-checked.

Step 1: open the Control Panel at the bottom into "Useful" mode. That makes the setting MUCH easier to find.

[Watchful]

The Insert plugin (under Waveform... Utility) can also help. I use this plugin quite a lot. Set the "send" to be your default output, and the "return" to be your input channel: you should now hear your mic through the track itself. Add reverb, etc., after the Insert plugin.

Once your track is recorded, you can delete the Insert plugin from the track.

I'd recommend, of course, that you record your tracks dry and then send them to a reverb track...just in case you don't like your reverb or want to change its setting later.

[SuitcaseOfLizards]

Click on the input icon. Do you have 'live input monitoring' turned on?

I found the issue - there was a loose nut behind the keyboard...

That fixed it! Never done this before, so I learned a new thing.

Thanks to everyone for educating a clueless wonk!

[Peter Widdicombe]

That is something you've really got to consider - is what you're LISTENING to. You may in some instances want to hear the raw input signal INCOMING or the "track-processed" for a track, or the mix for all tracks. Be aware!

This is also particularly true when using a microphone for another reason - if you have speakers rather than headphones, you MAY also be picking up other tracks and recording along with the mike track; or getting an unwanted "room echo" along with your fresh mike take.