Studio Monitors with Final Cut at DVinfo.net

Tyler Coscia · October 18th, 2010, 01:46 PM

This could be tough, so I'll try my best to lay it out well.

I have some Samson Resolv A8 Active Studio Monitor Speakers that I want to use when editing on FCP. I hooked the speakers to an Alessis Multi Mix 16 USB mixer with 1/4'' RCA cable. Now the speakers work fine for itunes, online video etc. but will not work for final cut pro. I have been doing research for the last hour, but must not be hitting the right keywords. I have messed with all the input and output settings within the AV settings and system settings, with no result. Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Bill Davis · October 18th, 2010, 02:17 PM

Tyler,

In the traditional FCP system, the audio is tapped off the firewire stream at the point of a digital tape deck or other device that had a Firewire to analog converter built in.

If you're NOT using any firewire device in your workflow, you need to find somewhere else where you can tap the audio flow from FCP. You can tap the stream in ways OTHER than by jacking into the SOUND port on your computer. One inexpensive choice is to get a simple USB audio I/O device such as those sold by Griffin and M-audio. These run as little as $20 and will allow you to set your machine audio input/output to the device under the FCP System Settings options (a USB device option will ONLY show up as a choice if the computer detects the device is attached.)

Hope this helps.

Tyler Coscia · October 18th, 2010, 02:47 PM

Thanks, I found an interface that was RCA to USB, going directly to the computer and it worked, I guess the Mixer is the problem despite being USB. I appreciate the help.

Andrew Stone · October 18th, 2010, 08:42 PM

Tyler just in case you want to go back to your orginal USB Mixer approach, you would have to launch your Audio MIDI Setup Utility, found in the utilites folder and select your mixer as the default output audio interface. In Final Cut, you would go into the System Settings and select the A/V Devices tab and then either select "Default" if you have selected the mixer as your default in Audio MIDI Setup or directly select your mixer in the dropdown ilst in the AV Devices tab. At that point you would be good to go.

If you have running audio from a music app like Logic or Ableton Live or Video Editing Apps it is always best to go into Audio MIDI Setup and assign your audio interface from there. Apple makes sure that iTunes plays nice with easy setup of Audio connections. When the apps get more sophisticated and the expectation is for a semi pro to a pro audio interface, the app relies on settings from Audio MIDI Setup.

October 18th, 2010, 01:46 PM	#1
Tyler Coscia New Boot Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Tampa FL Posts: 7	Studio Monitors with Final Cut This could be tough, so I'll try my best to lay it out well. I have some Samson Resolv A8 Active Studio Monitor Speakers that I want to use when editing on FCP. I hooked the speakers to an Alessis Multi Mix 16 USB mixer with 1/4'' RCA cable. Now the speakers work fine for itunes, online video etc. but will not work for final cut pro. I have been doing research for the last hour, but must not be hitting the right keywords. I have messed with all the input and output settings within the AV settings and system settings, with no result. Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

October 18th, 2010, 02:17 PM	#2
Bill Davis Trustee Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Scottsdale, AZ 85260 Posts: 1,538	Tyler, In the traditional FCP system, the audio is tapped off the firewire stream at the point of a digital tape deck or other device that had a Firewire to analog converter built in. If you're NOT using any firewire device in your workflow, you need to find somewhere else where you can tap the audio flow from FCP. You can tap the stream in ways OTHER than by jacking into the SOUND port on your computer. One inexpensive choice is to get a simple USB audio I/O device such as those sold by Griffin and M-audio. These run as little as $20 and will allow you to set your machine audio input/output to the device under the FCP System Settings options (a USB device option will ONLY show up as a choice if the computer detects the device is attached.) Hope this helps. __________________ Classroom editing instructor? Check out www.starteditingnow.com Turnkey editor training content including licensed training footage for classroom use.

October 18th, 2010, 02:47 PM	#3
Tyler Coscia New Boot Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Tampa FL Posts: 7	Thanks, I found an interface that was RCA to USB, going directly to the computer and it worked, I guess the Mixer is the problem despite being USB. I appreciate the help.

October 18th, 2010, 08:42 PM	#4
Andrew Stone Major Player Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Vancouver, Canada Posts: 975	Tyler just in case you want to go back to your orginal USB Mixer approach, you would have to launch your Audio MIDI Setup Utility, found in the utilites folder and select your mixer as the default output audio interface. In Final Cut, you would go into the System Settings and select the A/V Devices tab and then either select "Default" if you have selected the mixer as your default in Audio MIDI Setup or directly select your mixer in the dropdown ilst in the AV Devices tab. At that point you would be good to go. If you have running audio from a music app like Logic or Ableton Live or Video Editing Apps it is always best to go into Audio MIDI Setup and assign your audio interface from there. Apple makes sure that iTunes plays nice with easy setup of Audio connections. When the apps get more sophisticated and the expectation is for a semi pro to a pro audio interface, the app relies on settings from Audio MIDI Setup.