Audio midi setup 5.1 function greyed out

seems it has been disabled for use by airport express to stream 5.1 audio by way of pcm ; is there some way to OVERRIDE the default stereo speaker selection so i can use the 5.1 digital output as currently it only plays stereo .....

kinda confusing to me ....that XBMC website is really a nice cross platform fix to wipe the hard drive and create a home theatre media center (htmc) seems i to me i cannot do what i want without going thru a bunch of hoops - i seemingly have a crippled mac pro that cannot play back 5.1 audio music digitally and as another poster suggested i could always buy a third party audio card that i think could be broken in the next os update /new 10.7 (lion) coming later this year ....i'm kinda frustrated because to me audio of any codec should be able to be at least played back on a $3000.00 machine for comparison i have an old windows box running ubuntu 10.0.4 doing very nice analog 5.1 surround sound that computer cost me $200.00 6 years ago; but i digress my amplifier/receiver can play digital audio 5.1 from my stand alone blu-ray player so i know it is not my amplifiers output it all seems to lead back to the macpro...dolby dts -thru imovie is said to work - but all i wanna do is listen to audio thru the digital out put on the back of the machine ........

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Audio MIDI Setup Issue -- "Thru" checkbox greyed out

I received my new PowerBook (DL Superdrive) last week and transferred my files from my old PB (the final 1GHz Titanium model) over the weekend. On my TiBook, I used to plug an analogue radio into the Line In port and Apple Pro speakers (via an iFire) into the Headphones port. I then ticked the "Thru" checkbox alongside the M(aster) Volume Slider in the Audio Input section of Audio MIDI Setup (even in Tiger, once I worked out where the checkbox was -- see <http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=740942>) to listen to the radio through the external speakers and control output volume using the keyboard's volume & mute keys.
Audio MIDI Setup on the new Powerbook has some differences, however, including:
1. In the Audio Input section, the M(aster) Volume Slider IS NOT greyed out, but the "Thru" checkbox on this line IS greyed out., and the 1 & 2 Volume Sliders ARE also greyed out.
2. Clock Source is "Internal Clock" rather than [greyed out] "Default".
The first of these differences has left me unable to set up my audio as I used to. Instead, I've had to run a non-Apple audio application, LineIn, in order to achieve the same result. The trouble with this is that I've also experienced the audio stuttering loop described in <http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302978>, possibly as a result of this app running.
Two questions: First, does anyone have any idea how to get Audio MIDI Setup running on the new Powerbook as it did (does) on the TiBook, so that I can dispense with LineIn?
Second, do any of the other Powerbook owners with the audio stuttering problem have similar issues with Audio MIDI Setup -- is it a common factor/symptom/cause?
PB G4 15" 1.67GHz DL SuperDrive Mac OS X (10.4.4)

The audio stuttering issue was resolved by an OS X update shortly after I posted this message, but I never did resolve the other issue, and continue to use LineIn to this day (now on a MacBook Pro C2D.

Imac mid june 2011 ..connected toslink to optical to my hometheatre and yest io only get stereo sound..audio midi setup 5.1 is greyed out ? help ?new to mac

guys after a long time...i finally shifted to mac ...a long time windows user...so far the experience is been good..
ok here is my first problem with this setup
in india its a pain to get a toslink to mini adapter ...finally i found one and connected the mini end to headphone jack behind my imac...
(imac 21.5 mid june 2011) and optical end to my hometheatre ...
in audio midi setup the multichannel option is set to stereo 2ch 16 bit..
perian is installed and set to use dolby prologic..
i only get stereo sound from itunes,vlc or movist or even xbmc and boxee...tried them all configured the audio to use 5.1 but no luck,
questions
why is 5.1 greyed out ?in audio midi setup ?
i am using my mac to create multimedia content and knowing how the sounds created will be heard helps me a lot..
i have invested a lot (3 years savings in this mac) and i wouyld very much appreciate all your help..
i also purchased a griffin hdmi port which connects to my tv but the audio is still stereo..
finally got a toslink http://www.amazon.com/3-5MM-TOSLINK-FIBER-OPTIC-TOSLINK-mini-Toslink/dp/B00006LV F3 this one ...still only stereo...
any help would be greatly appreciated .....

Hello John, I figured it was a signal issue. All the speakers fire and the sound is great. I was running the speakers thru a Dell PC with a Creative X-Fi Elite Pro, THX Certified, 7.1 soundcard using a fiber optic from the Mac Pro to the Z906's, it worked great until the Dell died!!! When I bought the soundcard from Creative I also bought the GigaWorks S750, THX Certified, 700 watt, 7.1 speaker system, used the speakers for 11 years and then the woofer/amp said "I QUIT" Creative quit making the speaker system and the sound card. The satellite speakers from the Creative GigaWorks speaker system still sound great (rated at 78 watt each) and are a little better speaker than the one's that came with the Z906 and the wattage from the 906 is sufficient to drive the satellites without any distortion. Thank you for addressing my issue, you confirmed what I suspected all along, just needed to hear it from someone with the same setup.
One last question, I purchased a Diamond Multimedia USB Soundcard, can't use the fiber optic(not supported by Mac) but the green, tan and black RCA's plug in and produces adequetly. When you plug your 906's into the Mac Pro using the fiber optic how do you set your speaker configuration? When I plug into the mac pro with fiber optic the 'Audio Midi Setup' does not seem to see the 5.1 configuration. Any thoughts there?
Carl

How do I get my Built-in Mic to work in Audio MIDI setup, grayed out 1

My iMac is over a month old, and the first week I had it I tried to talk on Skype with a friend. My mic wouldn't work, and after making an Apple Care appointment with a local Mac store last weekend, we found out that the iMac DOES hear me, Dictation works with my voice, but for some reason Skype won't pick me up. Another program I sometimes use is Livestream Procaster, and neither pick up audio from me, oddly though they do pick up finger tapping on the desk, which is no further away from the computer than I myself am.
I Googled this issue with Skype and I found this page:
http://community.skype.com/t5/Mac/Apple-IMAC-Internal-Microphone/td-p/305172
It shows a screen capture using Audio MIDI Setup, and I opened mine to make sure everything was in order, but my CH: 1 & 2 are both grayed out, so I can't adjust them at all.
I have a screen capture of my window as well:
And I did check to make sure that my Interal Mic is selected in Skype, Livestream Procaster, and even my iMac's System Preferences. I wonder if it has something to do with this Audio MIDI Setup. I don't actually know, but from searching for solutions, this is the only thing that doesn't seem to match up with suggestions I've found online.
Thanks guys for any help.

I'm talking with a friend, and he says I'm muffled, and he can't understand me but can hear that I'm talking. When I turn on dictation to record what I'm saying he says I come through crystal clear.
The problem is I don't know if this is a Mac issue or a Skype issue. I was going to go to Skype, but when I found that page that I linked to above, that's what lead me to believe it's a Mac issue again because I can't get my Audio MIDI Setup to match the suggestion made by the user in that link.

Audio Midi Setup - Configure to enable line-in "thru"

Hello,
I have an external audio device connected to my iMac via the line-in interface. I would like to be able to listen to this device without having to start an audio editing application.
I noticed in the "Audio MIDI Setup" under the "Audio Devices" tab, there are checkboxes at the bottom for "Volume Slider" for Mute and Thru.
I have read on various forums that you can click "Thru" and the line-in audio will passthru so you can hear it with your speakers. The only problem is those checkboxes are greyed out.
Is there a way to check the "Thru" option? Why is it greyed out for the Channel "Master"? Is there a way to force this by adding an item in the plist file for the coreaudio setup?
If you can open up an application and hear the "line in" audio, then why can't you enable it by default so the line-in is always playing through?
Thanks in advance for any responses.
-Rich
iMac G5 20" Mac OS X (10.4.7)

I think the "Thru" button is for external audio devices that have a hardware play-through option.
To listen to line in, use LineIn from:
<http://rogueamoeba.com/freebies/>

MacBook Audio/Midi setup crashes in Midi

Hello all,
I have a MacBook C2D and a Korg Microkontrol connected via USB. The MacBook sees the MicroKontrol, but only as midi in and out instead of 5 midi ports it should have. When I click on the Microkontrol icon, Audio Midi setup crashes.
I would like to use the 5 ports - any ideas? I run Ableton Live and it sees all 5 ports and uses them.
thanks,
dustspec

Thanks for that Bob - The article was very helpful but I am still crashing. I'll have another look at the logs and see if I can find the problem.
My MOTU Ultralite is coming up greyed out in the midi devices section so maybe that is part of it?
dustspec

I need to upgrade my 10.5.1 os on my G4/1.25 (I'm having some audio-midi setup problems), but it's a machine that is not connected to the internet. Do I have any options? Thanks!

Friends,
I'm having some audio-midi setup problems on my G4/1.25/10.5.1 machine. I'm thinking that a routine OS upgrade might help. However, this machine is not connected to the internet. Are there any alternate methods for upgrading system software? Thanks in advance!

OK, what you should do is download the updates on another machine and burn them to a disc. Start at this link http://support.apple.com/downloads/#leopard for downloads and find, among other things, the 10.5.8 combo updater that works on PPC machines, plus security, QuickTime and other updates. Going from 10.5.1 to 10.5.8, there will probably be a bunch of things that you should install. Being off the internet with the machine, you can't have Software Update sort it out, so something might get missed, unfortunately.
My suggestion is this: if it looks like you might need a download, get it onto that disc.

Kawai CN41 electric piano will not show up in Audio MIDI Setup.

Hello,
I have a Kawai CN41 Piano that I would like to connect to my Macbook via USB to control some midi functions in Logic Express (incredible software by the way...)
The Manual that came with the piano says that it should just work. But for maximum clarification, I'll retype what the manual says.
"The CN41 piano can be connected with a personal computer with a USB cable for excahanging MIDI data. You need a USB Driver installed in your computer.
[For Windows XP/ME users]
A standard USB driver is already installed in your computer. You don't need to install a new driver.
[For Windows 2000/98SE users]
You need to install the desigated driver in your computer. Visit the KAWAI website at http:/www.kawai.co.jp/english/Download1.html and download the program.
[For Macintosh users]
Macintosh OSX automatically recognizes our USB interface. No Special driver is needed. Older Macintosh OS are not supported by us. If you have an older Macintosh OS, please us an appropriate MIDI interface and MIDI cables when connecting the CN41 piano to a macintosh computer.
NOTE:
When both MIDI jacks and USB port are connected, USB has priority.
When connecting USB cable to the CN41 piano, first connect the USB cable and then turn the power of the CN41 piano on.
It may take some time to start communication when the CN41 piano is connected to the computer via USB. When USB communication is unstable with connection via hub, connect the USB cable directly to the USB port of the computer.
Turning the power of CN41 piano on/off or disconnecting the USB cable while the follwing actions may cause unstable communication.
while installing USB driver
while booting up the computer
while MIDI application is working
while communicating with the computer
while the computer is in energy saver mode
* If you have any problem with USB communication, consult the instruction manual of your computer and check your computer setup.
* The USB-MIDI conversion board TID10000934 used in the CN41 piano is approved to show the USB logo. The USB logo can be used only for the product which is approved by USB-IF (USB Implements Fourm Inc.) test.
* Windows is registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
* Macintosh is registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc."
So when i follow the directions just like the manual says the only thing that happens is my mouse stops working for about 30 to 45 seconds. After it starts working, nothing whatsoever in the department of MIDI. It won't even show up in the Audio MIDI Setup application. Also, I'm not 100% positive about this, but I don't think it's showing up in the System Profiler as well.
I've tried pushing the rescan button in Audio MIDI Setup, nothing.
I've repeated everything with a different usb cable with no improvement.
And I even contacted Kawai Technical Support. The guy I talked to via email said that he wasn't a mac guy but he'd ask his friends who were if they had any problems, his friends told him that everything was working fine for them. Then he told me to go and buy a USB-MIDI interface and plug it into the traditional MIDI ports on the CN41 and see if that would work. (I really don't want to do that, one of the reasons I bought this piano is the midi-straight-to-computer-via-usb-cable-connection connection. Buying a little usb interface would defeat the point. Although, I'll probably buy one down the road eventually. I would just like it to work.)
This piano is really nice, It has keys that feel like the real thing and using it to write some tracks in Logic Express would be a delight if it would work. If I could, I would take this issue to the Apple store in Salt Lake City, but I'm thinking that I would also have to take the piano and its kinda big. I'm using a Macbook running OS X Leopard 10.5.4 with a 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 2 Gigs of ram. I also run a Line 6 Toneport UX2, I'm not sure if there could be any Hardware conflicts, but I'm not much of a computer guy so I figured I'd just let you know as much as I can.
Aside from this thing with the piano, OSX has worked beautifully! I will never buy a Windows running machine again. And the few times when I'm forced to use one, (Work and stuff) I get really cranky.
Thank you for your time,
Jon Worms
P.S. I'm more than willing to scan the manual and email it for you upon request, I tried to find a link to it somewhere with no luck. But you know, thats just my luck. :P

Hey Rob, Thanks for responding!
As far as I can see there is not. The piano does have 3 usb ports on it though. 2 A size ports to go to Kawai approved devices, such as a hard drive for recording directly to portable memory. These plugs are labeled USB to Device. Then it has one B size plug that is Labeled USB to Host. The manual says that this is the one to connect to the computer.
USB Controls do exist though. But manual states that they are for when you plug in a small hard drive/flash drive. The controls allow you to create new folders and move recordings around on a flash drive. And without a hard drive plugged into one of the A size ports I don't get anything but an error message.
Tomorrow I'm going to try and get it to work on a windows box. Maybe i'll have a little luck.
Thanks for your help.

How can I get my audio input and output devices back? I have no sound and cannot see any of the devices in Audio MIDI Setup..??

Hi, I tried to set up a new output audio device on my mac that would have multiple outputs (iBox Twist speaker and my internal speaker) but when I went to click onto one of the iBox Twist (there were 2 options available: iBox Twist and iBox Twist Stereo), Audio MIDI Setup crashed and when I finally got that back open, I found that there were no audio input or output devices to be found. My sound is working, as when I turn on my iMac, the starting sound still plays, however the volume control in the menu bar is no longer a black colour, but grey and when I try to change the sound on my keyboard it does not change. This already happened to me once, and after 3 hours I managed to fix it very simply (switching off Mac, unplugging power cord, leaving for 15 seconds, plug power cord back in and switch Mac back on, holding Alt, Cmd, P and R keys until you hear the Starting Up sound twice) however this same technique that fixed it once before is not working this time and I am still stuck without sound. I have tried Repair Permissions, rebooting in Safe Mode, Hardware Test and checking for Software Updates. Has anyone else had this problem and managed to fix it?
Thanks in advance for any help anyone can give me!

In case anyone has had the same problem as me, I have just managed to fix this by doing the following:
Switch off Mac
Switch back on in Safe Mode (Hit power button, then hold Shift key until a loading bar appears at the bottom of the screen).
Switch off Mac again
Remove power cord and wait 15 seconds
Plug power cord back in and hold down the keys alt, cmd, p, r all at the same time until you hear Starting chime for a second time and hopefully your audio will back.

IMac won't recognise USB MIDI keyboard in Audio MIDI Setup

I upgraded earlier in the week from a G4 eMac to a new Intel iMac. All appeared well until I tried to use my Evolution MK-361 USB midi keyboard from inside Logic. No midi events were coming through the system.
After some fiddling around I found the Audio MIDI Setup utility and the keyboard is not listed as a device in there. However, if I open System Profiler and select the USB information I can see that the keyboard is connected. According to the E-Magic web site this model of keyboard is class compliant and so shouldn't need a driver installed.
Originally I had the keyboard plugged into a USB hub. I've tried restarting the machine, restarting the machine with the cable plugged into different USB ports and different USB cables plugged into different USB ports. I've also downloaded all the latest OS / firmware / application updates and installed them.
I reconnected the keyboard to my old eMac and it shows up on there so I know it's not a fault in the keyboard itself.
The only other bits of gear connected to the machine are a Lacie external hard drive and my Saffire but these are firewire device so I wouldn't expect them to cause a problem (they certainly didn't on the eMac).
If anyone has any ideas I would seriously appreciate the help. As you can imagine I'm pretty gutted having forked out a grand for the machine.
Cheers
Jon
iMac (Intel) Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Hi Jon
So much for plug and play
Yeah, it's great isn't it?
I emailed M-Audio tech support about it and apparently it's a known problem in 10.4.8 and they're waiting for a fix from Apple. I guess I'll just have to keep my eyes peeled for OS updates and go rummaging under the stairs for a midi cable instead.
Ho hum.
Jon

I can't check mute or thru in audio midi setup!

Hi all!
I'm new so thanks for checking out my post. My issue is in regards to a problem with my audio preferences. I can't check "mute" or "thru" on my audio preferences (in audio/midi setup) for the line in and internal mic. I think they are leading to problems in logic with audio being recorded as bleed.
Core Audio will not allow line in to be turned down past -4.00 db. This leading to all kinds of problems. Thanks for any thought!

Many audio audio input devices do not support Mute or Thru. Any recording applications should have ways of selecting the audio inputs to use, other than just reducing the levels of unwanted inputs.

Premiere Pro CS6 does not recognize USB PnP Sound device connected to iMac OSX even when activated in Audio MIDI setup. The iMac(i-7 processor,16 GB) is working with this USB device without any problem

Premiere Pro CS6 does not recognize the USB PnP Sound device in order to produce a commentary sound track. The USB device has been activated on the iMac OSX by using the Audio-MIDI-setup and is working correctly with the iMac. When opening > presets >audio hardware I can only select between >standard >out integrated > digital input integrated >microphone integrated. USB PnP is not indicated at this place.
With the built-in microphone of the iMac I can produce the commentary sound track, but I would prefer a stand alone version for better quality.
Your help is highly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Annemarie!

I'm using a Logitech Webcam Pro 9000 (which has a microphone on the side). I have several other devices plugged into separate USB slots: a keyboard, a mouse, my iPhone, and a Roland keyboard midi controller.
I've considered that maybe the webcam/mic combo is the culprit. If USB doesn't work at a constant speed, that could very well be causing the issue! The sound begins to lag badly sometimes when it's working properly, so that there's a multisecond delay between speaking and hearing my voice repeated back over the mic which is another sign that something is wrong. I've also caught it making a strange electronic sound during its "hang" time once it stops taking sound input correctly.
Maybe I should try to use line-in and forgo USB altogether then. I think I'd need a preamp and some sort of converter for that since the Mac Mini lacks a powered mic jack. I'm only a newbie musician so I've never set up such a system but it might be a better solution in the long run.
I'll check to see if it hangs before or after my computer enters suspend mode, that's a good suggestion too. Thank you for your help!

Audio MIDI Setup not remembering settings on startup

On a Macbook 1,1 Intel Core Duo 2 GHz, SMC Version 1.4f12, OS X 10.4.8, Aggregate Device @ 2ch-24bit/96000.0 Hz:
The Audio MIDI Setup does not remember the 'Default Output' as 'Aggregate Device' and although 'Aggregate Device' is shown in the Properties For: field, only the 'Audio Input' area is shown.
Changing or re-selecting the Sample Rate under 'Format:' results in 'Aggregate Device' appearing in the 'Default Output:' field and the 'Audio Output' area showing the configuration.
I have to perform these steps every time I startup. I had the same behavior on my previous MacBook with identical specs but a different build week.
Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but Apple has absolutely no way to e-mail technical support queries unless you purchase that 'feature'? You have to call them with each 'bug' or technical difficulty?
Thanks!
Matt

Ah, Ok. Turns out the issue I described only occurs when there's an optical digital cable plugged into the output at startup.
Unplugging it and restarting does not return Audio MIDI Setup to it's previous behavior. Deleting the second of those two files you mentioned then performing the steps I first reported and then restarting without the optical digital cable inserted returns things to 'normal' and after numerous reboots continues to work as normal.
So, if I ever start up the MacBook with the digital optical cable inserted I will have to delete the .plist file if I want the proper behavior to return. Seems like a bug to me...
Thanks!

10.6.2 USB headphones problem + puzzling Audio Midi Setup workaround

After updating to 10.6.2, my Logitech USB headphones started behaving strangely -- on two separate machines (a 2006 MacBook and a 2009 Mac Pro), so it's not a fault with the computer.
Symptoms:
1. no sound in Skype
2. no sound in YouTube
3. sound, but low volume levels in iTunes when volume is at highest setting
Audio output from the headphone jack and internal speaker remained normal, with no problems.
I knew enough to fiddle with Audio Midi Setup, and discovered the following. The problems described above remained whenever the volume controls for channels 1 and 2 were equal.
The minute the volume controls were set to different levels for the two channels, sound reappeared -- and the greater the disparity, the louder the overall volume coming to both ears. For example setting channel 1 to 0.83 value/-1.00 dB and channel 2 to 1.00 value/3.00 dB produces an adequate volume level overall (though I suppose it is coming at the cost of an actual inequality between the two stereo channels).
Am I correct to assume that I have uncovered a bug here? I had no such problems before 10.6.1.
Unfortunately, I don't have a second pair of USB headphones to test whether that makes a difference.

Update to my own message: It's not necessary to go to Audio Midi Setup to see the effect. In the Sound preference pane as well, setting the balance dead center causes the sound to go to zero, but unbalancing it in favor of either the left or right brings the sound back -- the more unbalanced, the louder.
Furthermore, the balance control does not actually reduce the volume to either ear when moved to the left or the right. That is, with balance all the way to the left, I get louder volume...out of both ears.
No such problem when playing through the regular headphone jack.

USB mic/Audio MIDI setup help.

I'm going crazy and have spent two+ hours today trying to resolve what should be a simple issue, especially since I had it working at one time...
I'm looking to set up my USB mic in Logic (MXL USB.007, if it matters). First, in going to my System Prefs > Sound, I can see that it is indeed registering sound. Simple.
So I go to Audio MIDI Setup, as I've seen on the boards. Though the mic automatically shows up as "USB Audio Codec", I'm following the process to create an aggregate device (as shown here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1215). Since after doing this, it's not working, my newbie Logic 101 question is, then, what is the correct setup I'm looking for? My choices are USB Audio Codec In and Out, and Built-In Input, Output and Microphone (I'm assuming I should use USB Audio Codec In and Built-In Output).
After this I've gone to Logic's Audio Pref's and changed it to the Aggregate Device, but the mic produces no sound and the audio track monitor doesn't move.
I'm completely frustrated and would be very appreciative of some help. Thanks.

Okay, after much hair pulling, it had to do with my Bus setting on the track. (sigh) What do I know...I'm a singer-songwriter, not a producer.

Audio midi setup 5.1 function greyed out

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