faulty interface

[kernelxsanders]

so yesterday i went to my buddy's house who plays drums in my band, and picked up his M-audio Fast Track usb interface, (im not exactly sure as to which model fast track it is, im pretty sure its the "usb") anywho, i downloaded the driver, plugged it into my computer, downloaded the manual, and yet i still cannot get an audio signal. about once every 8 times i plug it in is when i get the "found new hardware, youre hardware is ready to be used, ect" balloon. and then it disappears and i cant find the usb drive in windows explorer. it seems to work on my buddy's computer just fine, but not mine. i even had my uber-computer geek father try to help me, but that didnt work. if anyone has any answers to how this can be fixed, please help me out! did i maybe download the wrong driver? or am i just meant to not record music? whatever it is, i really need to know how i can remedy this problem so i can use usb instead of line-in! ill send a batch of lemon poppyseed muffins to whoever can help me! incentive enough? ;]

 

[mot666]

ive got a fast track pro- its blue and grey and has two identical inputs on the front, the fast track(not pro) is black(i think?) has one mic input and one instrument input and is smaller. what version of windows are you using? in win 7 it dosnt register when you open explorer but it is in the 'hardware and sound' section in the control panel and in 'manage devices'. theres also a red circle with a white 'arrow head' when you click 'show hidden icons' (bottom right corner), if you right click on it you get two links 'open sound control panel' and 'open m audio control panel'. you have to set it up in the control panels to get sound(most likely problem) and really you need to plug speakers into it and not use your computers sound card.

my laptop reinstalls the drivers if you plug it into a different usb port. are you trying different usb ports? when you try to install drivers for a different version of windows it usually tells you they aren't compatible.

 

[kernelxsanders]

mine is the fast track usb and i use windows xp. when i plug it in, the led glows to show there is power, but my computer still wont recognize it and the signal led wont light up. however, i can get audio through headphone, though its useless because that audio wont go to my computer.

 

[mot666]

beats me. mine worked first go. go to the m-audio forums.

 

[Mesa4x12er]

I helped a friend with his Fast Track Pro not too long ago. Try disabling your soundcard and then rebooting with this. It doesn't play nice with other sound devices.

 

[kernelxsanders]

yea ill check out both of those ideas. i was messing around with it more and i was able to rig it to go to the line in, so at least now i can use a real mic with an xlr in/out instead of my lil radioshack mic. anyways, i really hope it can be fixed so i can have the best quality i can get.

 

[kernelxsanders]

btw (i know this thread is super old but i keep thinking about this) iss the audio signal from the Fast Track USB supposed to go to the computer via Line-In? because my buddy who gave it to me (who btw has not a clue about music production) said that the USB is nothing more than a power supply. but i feel like i should be getting a better tone... eventually when i get some money in my pocket, ill just pick up a toneport so i can use pod farm. but until then id like to have a better tone from the fast track, if thats possible!

 

[Strachan of D]

the usb does 2 things, sends audio back and forth from the interface ie the fast track , the interface get its power from the usb . have you tried all the usb ports on your pc

 

[kernelxsanders]

yup, downloaded the latest drivers, and still the only way i can get audio is if i plug it in through the line-in via phones output

 

[bryan_kilco]

In your DAW, are you setting the Audio Device to ASIO and not your computers internal card??!??!

 

[kernelxsanders]

theyre set to ASIO.

 

[Rhys Llewellyn]

I remember having a lot of trouble installing my old Tascam US-428.

Some hardware pieces require you to install the drivers first, then plug in the unit and allow the PC to find the drivers installed.

Sorry if that's totally obvious, but I think it's quite common for people to plug in a USB device, it asks for the drivers, you chuck in the CD and let it locate them that way. In my case, it didn't work if you do that.

 

[kernelxsanders]

well i downloaded the drivers, plugged in via usb, selected ASIO in my DAW, and no audio signal comes in. then i plugged it in via line-in, and i get audio, i just feel like i could get a better signal through the usb port instead of line-in. maybe it could just be something wrong with the interface or computer itself? idk thats my best guess at this point.

 

[bryan_kilco]

Yeah, not sure what to tell you...have you tried the M-Audio forums? You're sure you got the correct drivers for the correct interface? I have a Fast Track Pro and the only issues I've had were clicking/glitches/pops due to my Network Adapters being enabled.

Come to think of it, a buddy borrowed my Fast Track Pro a few weeks back and tried it on his little Acer (I think?) laptop and he said he couldnt really get it to work right.

Do you have any interfering devices? As far as I know, as long as you have the correct driver updates and set to ASIO, and then make sure you arm Record and set your Recording Input to "M-Audio blah blah Mono/Stereo Input 1" you should be good.

 

[kernelxsanders]

i guess all i can do now is try the m audio forums. thanks for the suggestion that i didnt even think of hahah

 

[JHA]

well i downloaded the drivers, plugged in via usb, selected ASIO in my DAW, and no audio signal comes in.

Maybe this is too obvious but did you install the drivers? If you get signal only from the line out seems like you got direct monitoring enabled somewhere. M-Audio drivers are quite picky so I would disconnect it from the PC and then run the driver setup and choose remove. Install again and only after that connect it via usb. Then you should have the mixer icon (that red circle with white triangle in it if I remember right) on your task bar where you can route the inputs to ASIO. Also press Windows+Pause to see what XP Service Pack you have and make sure you got right drivers as there is different ones for SP2 and SP3 (and they don't support XP without one or SP1).

 

[bryan_kilco]

+1 to making sure you have the exact correct driver update installed. These things are fairly simple to setup and get working, in my experience.