Beatbox was working via Scarlett 8i88 Aud.Int, now not wroking at all

CC-Thornley wrote on 12/28/2022, 11:29 PM

I've found this incredibly frustrating. Bought Magix Music Maker 2023 premium via the Humble Bundle a week ago. Most of that time I have spent searching the forums, youtube, etc, trying to solve issues.

The latest issue:
I just this morning created a drum beat, recorded two instruments over it. All this via Scarlett interface. Went and had a cup of tea. Came back 30mins later and NOTHING is working.

Tried changing to the ASIO driver. Tried the Direct Sound options. Tried changing between 16-bit and 24-bit on the Wave Driver, with Scarlett selected. Nothing. This was working fine 30mins ago.

I have closed program, re-opened. Restored settings. Restarted PC. Fully shut down PC, restarted. Checked all drivers, all current.

What am I doing wrong? This was working 30mins ago, now it just isn't, at all. I don't know what i did. I certainly didn't change anything before it decided to not work. Over the last week or so my time with MMM has been literally 90% trying to find answers to problems. I don't know what to do.

Comments

SP. wrote on 12/29/2022, 4:41 AM

@CC-Thornley Make sure you only use the Focusrite ASIO driver. Check if the problems also occur in a new project.

emmrecs wrote on 12/29/2022, 5:10 AM

@CC-Thornley

In addition to what @SP. has written (with which I fully agree); unfortunately,it is not unknown for those Focusrite drivers to be "less than optimal". It may be that you will eventually need to uninstall them, reboot the computer and then reinstall them. (I base this suggestion on information read in the forums of other DAW software!)

HTH

Jeff
Forum Moderator

SP. wrote on 12/29/2022, 5:22 AM

If my Focusrite driver stops working I change the sample rate in the driver settings to another one and then back to the one I used. This will reset the driver and usually work fine after doing this. It also works to unplug the interface from the computer, then reboot the computer, then plug the interface back in. In my case this was necessary with older, broken driver versions.

Two or three years ago there was a really problematic driver which caused a guaranteed blue screen if I used Guitar Pro normally and then proceeded to reboot or shutdown my computer at a later time. This went away after I switched to a beta version of a newer Focusrite driver. I don't have any problems since then, except sometimes needing to change the sample rate.

CC-Thornley wrote on 12/30/2022, 5:43 AM

Hi, thanks for your responses. Unfortunately, no solution. Let me address the replies:

1. SP: There is no "Focusrite ASIO" option. In the top tool bar, next to the little house icon, there is a cog. I click on that cog and it takes me to the "Program Settings" pop-up. I hit the middle tab, marked "Audio/MIDI," and have the following options from bottom to top:

ASIO Driver. This gives me 3 options in a drop down menu - None; Magix Low Latency 2016; and Music Maker ASIO. I cannot use any of these to record with my audio interface. I can use these when using the beatbox....sometimes.

Direct Sound
This defaults to the "Primary Sound Driver," which doesn't work well at all. I can select from three other options, including the Scarlett. None of these options work well, and won't record.

Wave Driver
This give me four options, including Scarlett. It also gives me two options for driver communication: 24 bit and 16 bit. The scarlett + 16 bit option is the setting that usually allows me to record. To solve the problem I had when I posted this I tried literally every possible setting and combination possible.

I gave up on that project, and started a new one, and this worked for about one hour, now it won't record at all no matter what I do.

2. emmrecs (Jeff)
Tried that.

So today I tried working on a whole new project. I'm basically just playing with the program trying to learn it so start new programs all the time. Last night, after writing this message, I walked away from it and came back an hour or two later, and it was working. But after 10 minutes or so, it started acting really weird. A lot of issues, so many I couldn't keep track. But I noticed that when i start the program on my desktop it also opens a "home page." About every few minutes when working on my project I kept getting a pop message saying I could not save the work. I didn't know why this was happening, as i wasn't trying to save my work. I suspect it was the auto-save feature. When I tried to manually save my work it said i didn't have permission. I tried the usual routine, power cycling, reboots etc etc and I noticed that I was not logged in to the home page anymore. It had just booted me half way into the project, which is why I couldn't save. Maybe?

The same thing happened to me tonight, although I didn't get the "cannot save" message. I just noticed that I had been logged out for some reason, but I was still logged in on the program. I also discovered that even though I had bought and registered the program, and never used the free version, the program had defaulted to the free program. I had to re-register my product code. Anyway, I think that is fixed now, but I am now having a recurring issue.

It appears I can only record a maximum of two tracks. After that the program just bugs out and becomes unusable. I am using the focusrite scarlett as my audio interface. You say these are no good? Or just no good with Magix? I have never had an issue with my interface before. what do you suggest I use? It is likely that I will only use the beatbox feature and the effects and pug-ins and create my own loops as I am a musician and hate using pre-made loops. But I am sensing this is not the best use for this program since it freaks out so much. For example, today I made a beat using the beat box. Then I recorded a bass line and turned that into a loop, then recorded a rhythm track with banjo. SO far so good. I only had to restart the program twice. LOL!! But when I tried to add another track, the program just would not have it.

Should I use another program to write loops and import them into the Music Maker? I just can't see this program as being in anyway functional in the long term if this is going to be the pattern. Perhaps I am just using it incorrectly? I don't know.

3. SP
Yep, tried that. Here's a weird quirk I discovered. When the program starts freaking out and refusing to record I have to open the settings, both in the top tool bar and the one in the bottom, editor part. The settings will remain the same, but I have to simply open the pop-up and click my mouse anywhere inside it, and it will work, for a short while. I discovered this doing exactly as you said, by changing my sample rate, and discovered that I only had to merely open the settings menu up! So weird. I suspect that I am being booted from behind the scenes and because the program is so online focused this is happening every few minutes. I have no idea though. As I mentioned, there are just SO MANY ISSUES happening and so many malfunctions. I just have no idea where to even begin. When you're on a creative roll you just want to get on with it and not have to stop to document every crazy thing it does because you don't want to lose that workflow, but as of now, I ain't got no flow! The program is an unusable mess.

emmrecs wrote on 12/30/2022, 6:04 AM

@CC-Thornley

There is no "Focusrite ASIO" option

Inevitable question then: are you certain you have actually installed the appropriate Focusrite driver? Assuming this is your actual interface (and not the model number you originally gave) have you downloaded and installed the Focusrite Control software listed there? I'm almost certain it includes the necessary ASIO driver.

Jeff

CC-Thornley wrote on 1/6/2023, 4:13 AM

Hi Emmrecs

Sorry for the late reply. New Years, Family stuff etc....

That was the fix. Apparently the drivers hadn't been properly installed, so I did them again via the link, now it shows up, and I can record a lot easier, however, there is still a number of other issues.

The one I am facing right now is that when I turn the program on, it doesn't log me in. When it does log me in, it opens the free version. I have to manually log in every time, and re-enter my product key. It's extremely frustrating.

Another issue I may make a separate post about - I cannot create my own loops from recorded instruments.

Here's what I do:

I open a track, select "AUDIO REC" from the red button between "mute" and "FX."

I record some music from my instrument, then listen back and select the part I want to turn into a loop. If I recorded, say 23 bars, find 4 that I want to loop, for eg.

I then go to "Edit" > "Object" > "Loop Range" > "Set User Defined loop" I define the range by using the yellow beat measure banner thing over the 4 bars I want.

Then I try to stretch out the 4 bar loop, but all it does is reveal the same recording I just did, it doesn't create a loop at all. I actually have to copy and paste the object and repeatedly paste it over and over again. Unlike with the beatbox loops, I can stretch the object out and it simply loops the bars I selected.

As far as I know I have followed all the instructions to the letter, but it will not allow me to create my own loops out of my own recorded music. It will do it with MIDI or beatbox. I don't know why this doesn't work for me or what I am doing wrong. I am currently working on a work-around, which really I shouldn't have to and it defeats the purpose of me buying the program. But what I am doing tonight is recording a loop in Audacity, exporting as a WAV, and importing into the MMM file I am trying to create. I will let you know how it goes, but surely it shouldn't have to be like this? Surely the whole point of the Music Maker program is to be able to create my own loops? I mean, that IS what it repeatedly says on all the advertising propaganda??

Another issue I am having is random crashes. They are much less frequent since repairing the drivers, but they still occur. When they do, I have tried restarting the PC and/or the program, and find that I am logged out again, and have to re-enter all above mentioned stuff. I don't know why I should have to do this EVERY TIME I open the program. It feels broken to me that I have to do that.