Soundflower with Pro Tools

Chris Rolfe's icon

I don't own Pro Tools myself, but an end user has asked, is there a way to route audio/MIDI from a MaxMSP 5.1 standalone to Pro Tools via Soundflower?

Are there any alternatives (Rewire? Hardware interface patching?)

I found several threads stating that PT doesn't recognize CoreAudio drivers, but another one or two seemed to suggest that an Aggregate Device (M-Audio + Soundflower) or other method worked.

Any hints would be hugely appreciated.

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Here are instructions I found that seem to suggest that an Aggregate Device could be used:

1. Download and install Soundflower.
2. In Audio/MIDI Setup, make an Aggregate Device consisting of your audio interface (Mbox 2 Pro, for example) and Soundflower (2 ch).
3. In Mac > System Preferences > Sound, set "Output" to Soundflower (2 ch). This forces the System audio to Soundflower.
4. In PT, set the Playback Engine to the Aggregate Device you made.
5. In PT > Setup > I/O > Input, rename the inputs if necessary to make them easier to find when selecting inputs on an Audio or Aux Track. Clicking "Default" may help.
6. In PT, create and Audio or Aux Track,and select the Soundflower input.
7. Play the source, record-enable the track in PT, and you should hear the audio.
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Cheers,
Chris

roger.carruthers's icon

I don't know about Soundflower, but Rewire works OK and is pretty straightforward to set up, provided your standalone has the driver included.
Sometimes PT doesn't recognise your Rewire device straight away, but there is a fairly simple fix - see https://cycling74.com/forums/ad_rewire-problems-with-standalone-application

Do the newer, hardware independent versions of PT (i.e. 9 and 10) still suffer from the Core Audio issues that plagued to older versions?
Cheers
Roger

Chris Rolfe's icon

Thanks for the Rewire tip, Roger.

I've asked for more information from the user. Could be older or bundled software. I'll bump the thread when I hear back (for the sake of posterity).

I'd still be interested to hear from anyone successfully using Pro Tools (any version, hardware) and Soundflower.

Chris

davehuntaudio@btinter's icon

Hi,

I've certainly had audio out of ProTools 9 via Soundflower. Haven't tried audio in via Soundflower, but it should work. earlier versions of ProTools won't work, 10 should.

Ciao,

Dave

Chris Rolfe's icon

@Dave, thanks for the reply.

My informant confirms that Pro Tools 8 (with Digi 002) doesn't recognize the Soundflower driver. I've recommended he try Rewire.

metropical's icon

I have tried this method with PT9 and UA Apollo. It results in feedback.
Any update on this?