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The M-Audio M-Track MKII is a powerful 2 channel interface that gives you access to instant plug & play recording on your computer. This guide walks through how to make sure that your M-Track MKII is set up properly on your system as well as how to get started recording audio tracks with the included Ableton Live Lite software.
Audio interfaces can be thought of as the centerpiece of any studio. They are what links your DAW to all your instruments, mics, speakers and headphones. Read this article to learn how to resolve audio interface issues like no sound, USB ports not working, or your output device not showing up. How to Set Up a Native Instruments Audio Interface with Ableton Live. On Mac: Select Komplete Audio 6 (6 In, 6 Out) as your Audio Input Device and Audio.
Contents
Connecting the M-Track MKII and Confirming the Driver Installation
Connect the M-Track MKII to your computer via USB. The M-Track MKII is a class compliant device, which means it requires no download or installation of special drivers that are not already found on your computer. On a Windows PC, a dialog will open in the bottom right hand corner of your screen indicating that the driver is automatically installing. When it is done it will indicate that your device is installed and ready to use. You will not see this on a Mac, however the drivers are still installed automatically.
Although the M-Track MKII is a class-compliant device, there are is a low-latency driver available for Windows that may improve the performance of the unit. The driver is available for download from the Drivers & Updates page on the M-Audio webiste.
- M-Audio - Drivers & Updates
Properly Adjusting your System's Sound Settings
Windows
The M-Track MKII should now be ready to use on your computer, but in some cases it may be necessary to tweak your system's sound settings. While this will more than likely not be required, it is a good idea to familiarize yourself with how the device is setup with your PC or Mac.
- On a PC, click on the Start Menu, and choose Control Panel. From the Control Panel, choose Hardware and Sound and/or Sound. You should now see your playback devices.As pictured above, the M-Track MKII should be set as your default playback device. If not, right click it and choose Set as Default Device. This should be reflected under the Recording tab as well.
- With the M-Track MKII highlighted in the recording devices tab, click on the Properties button. This will bring up a new set of options. Click the Levels tab. In Windows 7 you will need to adjust the recording level. It will default to 100 but you will need to drag the slider down until it is set at 4. You will not have to make this adjustment in Windows Vista.
- Click OK and you should be all set.
Mac
On a Mac you can access your sound settings from the System Preferences. You should not have to change any settings. Your input and output should look as pictured below.
Getting Started With Ableton Live Lite by Recording an Audio Track
Open up Ableton Live Lite. If you need help installing or authorizing your software, please refer to Ableton's handy guide.
- Once Ableton is open go to Options > Preferences. On a Mac this will be Live > Preferences.
- In the Preferences window, click on the Audio tab. For the Driver Type, select MME/Direct X and then the M-Track MKII as your Audio Input and Audio Output devices. On a Mac you will choose CoreAudio instead of MME/Direct X.
Alternatively, if you have chosen to use the additional M-Track ASIO driver for windows, select ASIO for Driver Type and select M-Track ASIO as your Audio Device.
You can now exit out of this window. - Go to View and select In/Out. This will bring up the input and output options of any audio tracks you've created.
- On your audio track, set your Audio From to Ext. In and set the input to be either input 1, 2, or 1 & 2 (if you have a stereo signal plugged into both inputs of the M-Track II). Clicking on the Record Ready button will arm the track and enable you to monitor your incoming audio.
- At the top of the screen, pressing Record and then Play will begin your recording!
? - When you're finished you can press stop to end the recording.
Further Technical Support
![Interface Interface](/uploads/1/2/6/3/126335662/635341937.png)
Whether you are a customer or dealer, if you already own an M-Audio product, or if you just have pre-sales questions, the M-Audio technical support team is available to help!
Visit the link below to connect with any of the following support options: online community support, phone support, email support.
In many DAWs including Logic Pro and Live, you can only choose a single input and output device when using Apple's Core Audio. Because of this, it makes for a bit of a challenge when the need for more inputs/outputs arrises. In this article, I'll show you how to create a virtual device that you can select from in your DAW as you would any physical interface. That single device contains all the audio devices in your studio combined.
In addition to your main audio interface, there are many devices today that have built-in audio interfaces like microphones, iPad interfaces, synthesizers, and guitar cable/interfaces. You might have an extra audio interface you no longer use. Getting all these working together into your DAW can be challenging, but worth it. Let's take a look at how to combine these types of devices together into a single device for use in your DAW (Core Audio users only).
1. Open Audio MIDI Setup
AMS (Audio MIDI Setup) is a built-in Apple application found in your Mac's Utilities folder. This application is updated with OS X and cannot be updated any other way. Basically, if you’re running an old version of OS X, you’re running an old AMS. To use the most current version, you'll need to be on the latest OS X (currently 10.11.4). All the functionality shown in this article is available on older Mac OS/AMS versions, but if you're experiencing difficulties with AMS, I'd suggest updating to the latest OS. As its name implies, there really are two sides to Audio MIDI Setup. Audio and MIDI. We'll only be dealing with the audio page. You can access the Audio Devices window (if it's closed) by choosing it from AMS's Window menu. Along the left side you'll see your various devices listed.
2. Create the Aggregate Device
At the very bottom left corner you'll see a small plus button. Press that and choose to create a new 'Aggregate Device'. This new virtual device appears in the list along with all your other devices. Once created, double-click it to give it a meaningful name (so it's easy to spot when switching between audio inputs/devices in your DAW). From the display area on the right, you can configure AMS. Choose any or all of the devices you want as part of your one monster interface, but pay attention to the order in which you select them. Take a photo of the 'sub-devices' display area, or write down which devices are going where and to what inputs/outputs. You'll need this when configuring your input/output labels in your DAW (if it has the capability of doing that as Logic Pro does).
3. Clock Source and Drift Control
All devices that convert data from analog to digital and back, have what is called a word clock. Some of these devices can sync their word clock (flow of data) between other devices to eliminate clicks/pops and artifacts. If any of your devices can send word clock, you'll see one of several types of digital connectors on the back. If all of your devices have word clock connectors, cable them together in the physical world and set one as the master and the other(s) as slave. My Apogee Quartet interface for example has one of these ports, but my iPad interface and my JX-03 synth I'm wanting to combine do not. Since I won't be able to tie these guys together physically, I'll need to use AMS's built-in 'Drift Control.' Choose the most reliable device from the Clock Source drop-down menu. In the example image below I chose my Apogee Quartet since Apogee are known for a very stable word clock. When you do this, AMS automatically checks off the Drift Control buttons for the other devices to follow the main selected clock source. They're not actually synching in the way a physical word clock connector would, but AMS regulates the data and will correct the 'drift' of the other slave devices.
4. Select Device in Your DAW
Once created, your new virtual device will be selectable via the DAW's interface setup window. Simply select it as you would any single audio interface. You can now choose from any of the inputs/outputs on your DAW tracks as you normally would, but with more choices now! In my setup for example, I can choose inputs 13/14 when I want to record my Roland JX-03 desktop synth.
5. Configure Your I/O Labels (Logic Pro)
Not all DAWs can do this, but in Logic Pro for example, you can name the various ins and outs via the Mix menu under 'I/O Labels.' AMS does actually have the ability to name the specific channels (you can single click the specific channels in AMS and name away), but that data doesn't seem to carry over yet. Either reference the photo/paper you wrote down your AMS setup on and start writing them in. Enter in the long and short names and the 'user' buttons will enable. Once configured, you can easily select from any input/output menu in Logic and you'll see your custom names!
6. Tips to Remember
Ableton Audio Driver
Check AMS periodically before opening your DAW to make sure all your sub-devices are enabled in the created Aggregate Device. Making sure all devices are plugged in/on before powering on your Mac can help assure they will be available. If one or more devices is not available in AMS, try powering them on, and watch in AMS to see if they come up. If one or more does not, you may have to reselect the device within the Aggregate Device before opening your DAW. Not entirely sure technically why this happens, but it does on occasion. If they end up in the wrong order, then the labels you set in your DAW will not match up… simply uncheck all sub-devices, and re-check them in the correct order. If the devices have different sample rate ceilings, stay at a rate that all the devices can do.