BR: Waveform 12 / Master Track Non-functional

[MasonAtom]

The master track on all of my projects is non-responsive. Audio playback works perfectly fine but there is no signal in the master level meter. I know where the master track is in the mixer and in the tracking page, but it doesn't show any audio going through it during playback (which I can hear), and non of the fader or pan controls yield any change in audio. If I put plug-ins on it, nothing happens. It's there... just... not doing anything. This is incredibly frustrating to me.

My recording setup is archaic, so it might be an issue with that.

2009 iMac quad core i7 / 12 GB RAM / OS 10.13.16.
Audio interface is a MOTU 828mkIII Firewire

Any thoughts on how to address this?

[Watchful]

Are you seeing any activity in the master bus down at the bottom of your screen? The master bus and master track are basically 1:1 in terms of visual activity.

[MasonAtom]

Nope, not seeing anything.

There is no activity in any of the 3 master locations (bottom right, master track, and in the mixer). The audio plays perfectly fine but the meter shows no audio go through it and the fader/pans/plug-ins do nothing to the audio. So I have no idea where I am in terms of the overall track volume/clipping/dynamics.

Frustrating.

[Watchful]

And I'm guessing this is v12 by the existence of the master track.

I'd suspect something basic was up, here...like some track that feeds into them was muted, or the master track was muted...but you're *hearing* music play normally, which means that isn't the case.

Any chance you could post a screen shot of the master track and master bus? Not such much the mixer, as that just replicates what you see on the other two. I'm curious if there's any plugins or anything there that could be causing an issue.

[MasonAtom]

Yes, V12

What's the best way to post a picture or video here?

[Peter Widdicombe]

"the audio plays perfectly fine"... How to you know? If you're hearing it, what is the destination of each track? Are you sending it to the master stereo, or out to the various interfaces on the MOTU ?

[MasonAtom]

I know it plays perfect fine because I've been mixing using WF12 for two weeks. The audio is completely bypassing the Master track when I use my MOTU interface. I am using headphones (assigned to Main Out 1-2 in Motu Audio Setup App).

Update: the issue is with my MOTU interface as far as I can tell. I just took a test project and used the iMac's default output for audio and the Master track works when I use the speakers on my iMac. I've played around with the MOTU but I haven't been able to find a setting that gets the Master to work when I'm using it.

[MasonAtom]

Also, I'm limited to using headphones now because I am in the middle of a move and my monitors are at my old house still.

[MasonAtom]

SOLVED

OK, I'm an idiot. It was a routing issue with the MOTU software. I had the default output set for my external monitors but I don't have them with me. Did some re-routing and all is well now.

[Watchful]

Wow, thanks for the update because I haven't ever seen or heard about anything like this!

[MasonAtom]

Yeah, it was baffling. Honestly, while I like the quality fo the MOTU 828mkIII, I hate the software that came with it. Not user friendly at all - very confusing and not intuitive to set up. I had a Mackie interface before this and I also own a Focusrite interface and the setup and software is a breeze to use compared to the MOTU stuff.

[Watchful]

Duly noted; always been a fan of MOTU's Dante stuff, but glad you got this sorted out so you can get back to having some serious fun.