No Playback Sound in Cubase 11

[kformeck]

I finally bought some monitors and now I'm struggling to set the Axe-FX II MKII as my audio interface. I can hear myself record but I cannot hear anything when I play back the recorded audio unless I set 'Main Input Source' to USB.

Here's my current setup:

Guitar -> Axe-FX via Input 1 - L/Mono -> Output 1 Left & Right (via 2 XLR cables) -> KRK Rokit Monitors

Then I hooked up the Axe-FX to my iMac running MacOS Big Sur 11.1 using a USB cable.

I attached images of my Cubase setup to this post to make things easier to debug. If more setup info is needed, please feel free to ask.

Axe-FX I/O Setup:

Main Input Source - Analog (In 1)
Word Clock - Auto
SPDIF/AES Select - SPDIF
Input 1 Left Select - Rear
Input 1 Mode - Stereo
Input 2 Mode - Stereo
Output 1 Mode - Stereo
Output 1 Boost/Pad - 0 dB
Output 1 Phase - Normal
Output 2 Mode - Stereo
Output 2 Boost/Pad - 0 dB
Output 2 Phase - Normal
Output 2 Echo - None
USB/Digi Out Source - Output 1
USB Buffer Size - 64
USB Return Level - -60.00

I'm pretty new to this so I'm sure there's something simple that I missed. But at this point, I'm a little lost. I feel like I've tried everything and no matter what I do, I can't get playback to work without changing 'Main Input Source' to USB. It works but is pretty inconvenient to have to change that every time I want to hear what I just recorded.

More info on what I'm trying to accomplish: I'm trying to record a DI signal so I can reamp it later. With the way I have it set up now, the dry track is being recorded properly and while I record, I can hear myself just fine and the signal is wet which is exactly what I want. But then I also want the ability to play back the dry signal through the Axe-FX so I can hear it wet through my monitors.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

 

[GlennO]

I believe the problem is you need to turn up your USB return level.

 

[kformeck]

Thank you so much, that fixed the issue!

Now I have another issue, when I set 'USB Return Level' to -6.00, I hear the audio but it cuts out frequently, almost like it's clipping. Do I have my levels set wrong?

Also, I only hear the dry signal when I play it back. Is that just nature of my setup? I can still set 'Main Input Source' to USB to hear the wet signal back but ideally I'd like to hear the wet signal without having to change that parameter every time.

 

[GlennO]

Now I have another issue, when I set 'USB Return Level' to -6.00, I hear the audio but it cuts out frequently, almost like it's clipping. Do I have my levels set wrong?

It's hard to say what the problem is without more details. Clipping and cutting out are usually quite different from each other.

Also, I only hear the dry signal when I play it back. Is that just nature of my setup? I can still set 'Main Input Source' to USB to hear the wet signal back but ideally I'd like to hear the wet signal without having to change that parameter every time.

You should record your wet signal in addition to the DI. Normally, unless you are re-amping, play the wet signal and mute the DI. I recommend recording the wet and DI into channels of a single track. That way you can edit your audio and the DI and wet stay locked together. The Mix6to2 plugin is very handy for this purpose.

 

[mr_fender]

The Axe II only has 4 In and 2 Out over USB. You can't send both the DI and the mix playback audio back to the Axe II at the same time. There aren't enough channels for that.

You have to set Main Input Source to USB, play your DI track back on USB Out 1 or 2, and record the results on a new track via USB IN 1 and 2. Once that's done, you set Main Input Source back to Analog and then you can play back the whole mix and hear the reamp in the context of the mix.

You have to change the parameter every time you record or playback when doing reamping on the II via USB. That's why some folks use an external interface to be able to reamp in the mix.

You may need to turn up the USB Buffer Size parameter in the I/O menu to get rid of the cutting out.

 

[GlennO]

I recommend recording the wet and DI into channels of a single track

In case you're not sure how to do that, that means you need to create an input bus in your Audio Connections that combines DI and wet channels. I have 2 of them defined, one for mono wet and another for stereo wet.

 

[kformeck]

@GlennO I think I understand what you mean. I have inputs, 'Dry In' which uses input 3 and 'Wet In' which uses input 1. Then I created two different tracks, 'Dry Guitar' which uses 'Dry In' and 'Wet Guitar' which uses 'Wet In'. This seems to work as expected. I'll have to play around with Mix6to2 when I get a chance; unfortunately I'll have to upgrade Cubase from Elements to Pro for that plug-in.

I'm still have issues with the playback 'cutting out' though. I increased the buffer size as suggested by @mr_fender from 64 to 2048 just to see if that was the issue but it doesn't seem to make much of a difference.

 

[mr_fender]

Unplug and reconnect the USB cable after you make a change to the USB Buffer Size parameter. I believe the connection has to be reset for it to take effect.

 

[kformeck]

That did the trick! After reconnecting the USB cable and raising the buffer size, the cutting out is now gone. Thank you all so much, I really appreciate your help. I lost way too many hours getting this thing working and who knows how much more time I would've wasted if I didn't post this thread. Thanks again!!