How to route master audio to PC output, NOT interface?

[tascamview]

hello,

i've recently got the trial of ableton live 9, and i've connected my EIE Pro audio interface to route audio IN to ableton from my synths etc. , and it's working fine.

However, when playing back audio FROM ableton, I can't actually hear it through my PC, but rather I have to plug my headphones into my audio interface. This is annoying, as if I can't hear my synths post-effects without it screwing up (as i'm hearing the input, and then the 40ms output latency ). Also, it's annoying to keep swapping my headphones over from the interface out back to my PC if i'm watching a video or something.

The thing is, on the Master channel, the only options for outputs are my audio interface outs; is there some way I can select it to just to to my PC audio? And then I can just plug my headphones into my PC?

Thanks in advance!

[jestermgee]

Live only works with one Audio device at a time.

If you really need to do it the way you are doing it why not just take the output of one interface and feed that into the input of the other so you can pipe audio that way?

Sounds like you need better audio routing solutions or a mixer.

[tascamview]

Thanks for the reply.

I think you've misunderstood what i'm saying... I only have ONE audio interface, i'm just trying to hear Ableton through my PC instead of the same interface.

I know this is possible, because I achieved it a few nights ago but I don't know how I did it.

I had a digital piano > interface > ableton,
with the track monitoring ON. I could hear the piano through my headphones that were plugged into my PC, not the interface - so it must be possible somehow.

[jestermgee]

Nope, I understood. I think possibly you are not understanding.

You have the "EIE Pro audio interface" plugged into your PC.

You say that you have your headphones plugged into your PC normally so I assume you mean you are just plugging them into your headphone jack on the front of your PC? That part hasn't been clarified.

The front headphone jack doesn't create sound from spiritual energy, it connects to an internal audio interface in your PC. The on-board sound of the motherboard which is an audio interface in itself and would show up as a completely separate audio device in Windows.

When you go to Lives Preferences then to Audio you will see that you can set what device, audio outputs and inputs Live will use. There is only the ability to select 1 audio device so if you have audio coming IN from your external hardware on the EIE then your audio output must also be from that device.

I know this is possible, because I achieved it a few nights ago but I don't know how I did it.

No idea either. All I can say is from the aspect of Live, it can only handle 1 audio interface at a time so if the headphone jack you are speaking of does not somehow connect to the IEI interface (either physically or with some kind of 3rd party software routing) you will not get any sound to appear from there if you have your audio interface selected as the IEI device.

Keep in mind though that when you say you were recording your synths IN to the IEI device, were you sending Audio or MIDI to it? Because if you are sending MIDI into the IEI you could select to send audio out of your windows audio. Possibly that is what you had happening before.

[tascamview]

Yes, by 'headphones plugged in' I mean the audio jack on my laptop.

And no, I have not been sending MIDI - only audio. Very confused as to how I managed to get it working the other night...


At any rate, thank you very much for your explanation.

[Stromkraft]

Live only works with one Audio device at a time.

It's very possible to have one audio interface for inputs and another for outputs. How good this will work is another thing, but I've done this successfully.

In macOS at least, maybe in Windows as well with some tool, you can compound interfaces.

[jestermgee]

Live only works with one Audio device at a time.

It's very possible to have one audio interface for inputs and another for outputs. How good this will work is another thing, but I've done this successfully.

In macOS at least, maybe in Windows as well with some tool, you can compound interfaces.

Can you select multiple interfaces to work with within Live?

I'm not saying it cannot be done, Even hinted at methods on how it CAN be done, but staying within topic, AFAIK in Live you have just 1 interface to work with so to do it requires some kind of routing or 3rd party software outside of Live so nothing specifically to do with Live.

[Stromkraft]

Can you select multiple interfaces to work with within Live?

I'm not saying it cannot be done, Even hinted at methods on how it CAN be done, but staying within topic, AFAIK in Live you have just 1 interface to work with so to do it requires some kind of routing or 3rd party software outside of Live so nothing specifically to do with Live.

I'd be surprised if having one interface for inputs and one for outputs was a macOS only feature, so until I've come up against any limitation I regard that as very possible to do in vanilla Live.

Compound interfaces in macOS is something you set up in the native Audio/MIDI settings app. Basically you give your compounded interface a new name and then you set that as the audio interface in Live.

In macOS then you don't need any third party software to be able to do this. What makes this possible is CoreAudio, I think.

However, there can be mismatch or timing issues with having different interfaces, so it may work out fine or it may not. When I tried it I didn't have any issues at all.

[jestermgee]

Since you use the MacOS it's not a Live feature, it's a 3rd party feature. All I was saying is it's NOT possible within LIVE.

I know you love your Mac but you really don't have to argue every point every one makes here. We don't even know if the OP uses a Mac but since you have this area covered I'll leave this for you to help the OP the rest of the way.

[Stromkraft]

Since you use the MacOS it's not a Live feature, it's a 3rd party feature. All I was saying is it's NOT possible within LIVE.

But having one interface for inputs and another for outputs is indeed very possible within Live! How could I've been more clear on that?

You don't need a compound interface in this case, only Live preference settings. That's why there is an Audio Input Device and an Audio Output Device there. See? Not everyone looks there, so this needed to be pointed out.

Why do you feel personally attacked when all I do is adding some information? I didn't contradict you really, as you can't set up 2 input or output interfaces directly in Live. I just added some more nuanced and relevant information for future readers. I don't see how that is a problem.

[jestermgee]

Well, please explain how it is possible with some screen shots for the OP then, Because I cannot see any way to set more than a single interface.

[jestermgee]

Ill do it myself:

https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/artic ... es-in-Live

So it's a Mac OS thing, not a Live thing or it would be possible in Windows. Just as I said.

Done!

[Stromkraft]

Ill do it myself:

https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/artic ... es-in-Live

So it's a Mac OS thing, not a Live thing or it would be possible in Windows. Just as I said.

Done!

Thanks for adding back the relevant nuance to mine! My apologies. I actually had no idea this setting depended on CoreAudio as this was within Live. Been a while since I used Live in Windows (2 years ago I think).

Here's how it can look:

[jestermgee]

Ah, thanks for that.

See I had no idea that was even possible in MacOS because i'm a Windows user, very handy, but as you said (and Ableton say in their documentation) it's not going to be the best in terms of performance because of the need to manage real-time audio over 2 different hardwares.

I really wish Windows had a better audio system for things like this.

[tascamview]

Thank you both for your help.

Guess it's not possible as i'm using windows... ah well, might have to invest in a better hardware audio routing setup....