{"id":1720907,"date":"2022-08-11T21:52:51","date_gmt":"2022-08-11T21:52:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/sweetcare\/?post_type=articles&#038;p=1720907"},"modified":"2022-11-30T17:49:24","modified_gmt":"2022-11-30T17:49:24","slug":"pro-tools-is-playing-out-of-my-built-in-speakers-instead-of-my-interface","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/sweetcare\/articles\/pro-tools-is-playing-out-of-my-built-in-speakers-instead-of-my-interface\/","title":{"rendered":"Pro Tools is playing out of my built-in speakers instead of my interface."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If Pro Tools is playing through your computer&#8217;s built-in speakers, check your Playback Engine settings. The Playback Engine is the device that Pro Tools will use for audio and MIDI input\/output. When Pro Tools switches to the built-in speakers instead of your interface, it usually means the Playback Engine has changed and you just need to switch it back.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Solution: Pro Tools Playback Engine<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1730990 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/sweetcare\/media\/2013\/10\/PT-Playback-Engine-300x186.png\" alt=\"Pro Tools Playback Engine Window\" width=\"300\" height=\"186\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/sweetcare\/media\/2013\/10\/PT-Playback-Engine-300x186.png 300w, https:\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/sweetcare\/media\/2013\/10\/PT-Playback-Engine.png 551w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Click <strong>Setup<\/strong> and choose <strong>Playback Engine<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Select your interface from the drop down menu at the top.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The video below will show you how to set your playback engine in Pro Tools 9 and higher.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Video: Tech Tip - How to set your Pro Tools Playback Engine\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7qT_8WdjZHE?wmode=transparent&amp;rel=0&amp;feature=oembed\" width=\"620\" height=\"349\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h4>Common Causes<\/h4>\n<p>If this happens regularly, check out these common causes&#8230; and how to fix them.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>#1 Cause: Your hard drive went to sleep.\u00a0<\/strong>In order to save power, some computers will tell their hard drive(s) to go to sleep when not in use. When this happens, the operating system un-mounts audio and MIDI drivers. It&#8217;s sorta like the OS kicks everyone out before it puts the drive(s) to bed.\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Solution:<\/strong> Set your computer to never sleep using our <a href=\"#unique-identifier-MAC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mac<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/sweetcare\/articles\/pc-optimization-guide-for-windows-10\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">PC<\/a> optimization guides. <span id=\"langPage:j_id5:j_id9\"><span class=\"content\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>#2 Cause: Out-of-date drivers<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-1730991 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/sweetcare\/media\/2013\/10\/Powered-USB-Hub-300x215.png\" alt=\"Powered USB Hub\" width=\"300\" height=\"215\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/sweetcare\/media\/2013\/10\/Powered-USB-Hub-300x215.png 300w, https:\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/sweetcare\/media\/2013\/10\/Powered-USB-Hub-768x551.png 768w, https:\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/sweetcare\/media\/2013\/10\/Powered-USB-Hub.png 1014w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Solution: <\/strong>Download and Install the latest driver updates for your interface.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>#3 Cause: It got unplugged. <\/strong>Whether you&#8217;re connecting a new hard drive or another keyboard, it seems like we&#8217;re constantly plugging and unplugging devices in an ever growing pile of cable-spaghetti. Sound familiar? We&#8217;ve all been there&#8230; and most of us are still there. With that many cables in play, it&#8217;s easy to unplug the wrong one.\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Solution: <\/strong>Make sure your cable is plugged in. Follow the cable all the way from your interface to the computer -you may even want to unplug it and plug it back in.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>#4 Cause: Passive USB Hubs.\u00a0 <\/strong>Hubs are a necessity for a lot of us -especially if you&#8217;re recording on a laptop- but the reality is, they&#8217;re dividing the power and bandwidth of 1 USB port by however many ports are on the hub. With a passive hub, whatever resources were available to the port the hub is are getting distributed (and not always evenly) to each of the ports on the hub. For example: A port on a hub with 5 jacks could have 1\/5th (or less) of the power of the port on your computer. Furthermore, some hubs are so power hungry that they&#8217;ll starve devices on your computer&#8217;s other ports. Yikes!\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Solution: Ditch the hub or Power Up! <\/strong>If at all possible, ditch the hub. If that&#8217;s not an option, get a powered USB hub. In addition to the USB cable that plugs into the computer, these hubs will have a power adapter that plugs into the wall. This provides additional power to the devices in the hub.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Pro Tip:<\/strong> Connect big devices like your interface, keyboards, hard drives, etc. directly to the computer, but use the hub for smaller stuff like your computer&#8217;s mouse and keyboard.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4>Helpful Links<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/sweetcare\/articles\/tech-tip-how-to-set-your-pro-tools-playback-engine\/&quot;&quot;&quot;&quot;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tech Tip: How to set your Pro Tools Playback Engine<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/sweetcare\/articles\/pro-tools-wont-recognize-my-interface\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pro Tools won\u2019t recognize my interface!<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/sweetcare\/articles\/pro-tools-troubleshooting-guide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pro Tools Troubleshooting Guide<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/sweetcare\/articles\/how-do-i-setup-the-pro-tools-playback-engine-versions-9-and-up\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">How do I setup the Pro Tools Playback Engine (Versions 9 and up)?<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/sweetcare\/articles\/pro-tools-tells-me-that-the-current-playback-engine-does-not-support-a-sample-rate-of\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pro Tools tells me that \u201cThe current playback engine does not support a sample rate of\u2026\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[1,2,5,7],"tags":[34329,56936,52475,34739,35491,56752,34125,35423,53649,35127],"storecat":[],"itemids":[88303,70282,96533,111928,65809,11446,100363],"manufacturers":[33207],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v17.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Check out the Pro Tools is playing out of my built-in speakers instead of my interface. page at Sweetwater \u2014 the world&#039;s leading music technology and instrument retailer!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/sweetcare\/articles\/pro-tools-is-playing-out-of-my-built-in-speakers-instead-of-my-interface\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pro Tools is playing out of my built-in speakers instead of my interface. - SweetCare\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If Pro Tools is playing through your computer&#8217;s built-in speakers, check your Playback Engine settings. 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