Troubleshooting Audio & Hardware Issues (Screenshots Needed)

If you need help troubleshooting an audio issue, a few screenshots can really help. It's great to provide these as attachments on our contact form when you email us, or perhaps we may have requested them in order to help sort out an issue. 

On Mac, to take a screenshot, you hold down shift command 4 and then you can use your mouse to drag around the screen to create the screenshot. 

On Windows, you can use the PrtScn button on your keyboard to create the screenshot.

1. Software Type and Version Details

For MainStage 3, go to MainStage > About MainStage in the menus and take a screenshot:

For Ableton Live, go to Live > About Live in the menus and take a screenshot:

For Logic Pro, go to Logic Pro > About Logic Pro in the menus and take a screenshot:

2. Audio and Midi Preferences

It's helpful to see a screenshot of both Audio and Midi Preferences, this shows us how you are sending the sound out to your speakers, and how you have your midi setup. It also shows us the buffer setting in your software which is helpful. 

In MainStage you'll go to MainStage > Preferences > Audio and take a screenshot:

You'll also want to click on "Advanced Settings" so we can see where your buffer is set:

In Ableton Live, you'll choose Live > Preferences and then choose Audio on the left side of the screen.

Then, click on Midi and take a screenshot of that screen:

For Logic, you'll choose Logic Pro > Preferences > Audio in the menus, and take this screenshot:

3. Computer Specs

It's helpful to know details about your computer including OS version, RAM, Processing Power, free Hard Drive space. You can either just let us know those things, or take a screenshot. For Mac, you would click on the Apple in the upper left of the screen and choose "About This Mac" and send the Overview and Storage screenshots below:

For Windows you'll want to click on the Windows Start button, then click on Settings (the gear icon). In the Settings menu, click on System. Scroll down and click on About. On this screen, you should see specs for your processor, Memory (RAM), and other system info, including Windows version.

4. Hardware Information

If you are having issues with a keyboard, midi controller, audio interface or other hardware, it's helpful to know information about your setup so please let us know as much details as you can and what you've tried so far.

Hardware often needs updated drivers so if you are having trouble connecting your gear to your computer, first consult the company's website and user guide to make sure you have updated drivers. 

Here are some different ways to connect your computer, keyboard, audio interface, and DI box:

Click here to learn more about why you might want to use an audio interface instead of the built in output (speakers) from your computer. 

If you need help and you haven't reached out yet, click here to send us an email.