Popup: "Audio Interface not found". "quite or continue ?" BUT: My AI is there (solved, in that sense)

Hello @GP crew,
(sorry, long text, trying to give the necessary information)

i run now repeatedly into the same problem:
Starting GP, do i get a pop up, saying ( as posted in the title):
“Audio Interface not found”. …“quite or continue ?”…as the context options to select.
BUT: my (second) audio interface is on and running ! (and my first one is anyway on)
( my GIGs are mostly set to my second interface / a presonus Quantum2626, TB3 connection ( directly to M1mac) )

now: if i click “continue”, is the next popup saying:
“Gig Performer cannot run without an audio interface. Please install… (etc.)”
( incl. a OK button. …clicking it will exit GPs startup)

means: i´m unable to start GP at all ! since the same cycle would continue then again,
ie. me trying to start GP again, the same cycle goes on…

so far was it then “in this situation so”:
i need to reboot my computer, and things work again. GP in this case.
I “then” can start GP, usually. Had no fail after a reboot.

Just: i work, i do other things, firefox is on, many tabs open.
i need to shut down everything to reboot.

Thats on a M1mac with BigSur.
This setup worked since ever fine !
I have this problem since a 2-3 weeks maybe. maybe 4.
But its not allways so. Usually would GP run fine !
same conditions usually. Means: if something more is open, is it allways the same things.
Mostly: firefox with several tabs. Sometimes: some more audio apps like wavelab, live11, or similar.

During the last months, since the time i have my second AI,. i sometimes forgot to power on my 2nd AI ( the one, set to GP), …clicking then “continue” on the popup - after powering on my AI- would GP just start fine. There was never a problem, even if my AI was off at first.

Something must have changed.

The only thing i could figure out is:
i installed: “sound Source” from rogue amoeba ( same brand as loopback)
Sound source is an app, hacking itself into the path between apps, and your Audio interfaces.
and it allows to load VSTs. means i can for example load VSTs to tame down the audio from YT or Firefox/Netflix ( to tame down Bass etc).
its main purpose is to re-route the audio ( there is a similarity in that, to loopback / i have loopback,…never had a problem …)

what can i do ?
What should i do ?
is this thinkable that this “Soundsource” app is creating this problem ?

its not live on stage use ofcourse. Its studio/home use.
but its a problem, it prohibits me to use GP “inbetween other tasks”

How looks your audio options window?

Bildschirmfoto 2022-01-17 um 16.14.14

My settings are correct: (edited for spelling)
it looks like:

That particular message pops up if GP cannot find ANY audio interface with some outputs so my suspicion is that whatever you installed is intercepting the audio and produces ZERO output channels. GP cannot work if you don’t have anything to output to.

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Ok, i see.
So my guss, respectivly my fear, that htis app could cause the issue becomes more weight.
thanks for the input !

I thought this can only happen for non multi-client ASIO driver on Win, but coudln’t occur on Mac where the audio drivers are de facto multi-client? :thinking:

I have no idea how or why this happened on @Funky40 computer. I just stated the reason why the message shows up. How it got to that point I couldn’t reall tell. I suspect that it’s a software thing. There are “System-Wide” audio drivers for the mac that can intercept audio so that’s the only thing I can think of, but Rogue Amoeba guys are fairly competent so I’d be very surprised if their software did something like that unless it is a misconfiguration/user error somehow

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To tell the truth I suspected an hardware failure, but difficult to be sure. On my RME, I have a “connection to host” LED which lights up only when the USB connection with the host is working properly. I remember of an USB cable issue where my audio interface was not found; the “host” LED was Off, which was a clue…

This may or may not be relevant to the issue.

Sometimes on my mid 2012 MBP, closing a Firefox youtube tab will somehow ‘unlatch’ the Quantum 2626 driver, which will stop passing sound. The Audio Midi Setup window shows it as having 0in/0out at this point.
A hard reset, usually disconnecting/reconnecting the TB cable, or when that doesn’t work, power cycling the Q2626, or when it’s being particularly stubborn, power cycling the Macbook does the trick.
Now using Brave Browser for Youtube / streaming. No issues. (Safari spins the fans up too much so won’t use that.)

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these RogueAmoeba apps seem to interact quite under the hood with the audio engine of the mac, based on scripting.
They run a own thing called ACE. …a sort of ausio engine, respectivly a intreconnection something.
Its in fact quite funny, if not strange what they do.
they somehow strange part is, that it all works, without any crashes. lol
This specific App, “soundsource” creates an access to all audio interfaces, without any need to create aggregated devices. it allows to reroute programms to other audio-interfaces/outputs. its in fact very handy.
But i´m very cautious of which apps i connect with it.
I keep everything out, and use it only for firefox / my browser, for multimedia, like YT, SC, Netflix.
It has also some simple plugin-host functionality built in which is my main reason to use it.
So i can tame down the audio of multimedia content quite easily with my professional plugins ( EQ, compression)
so, i´m really quite cautious,…and GP4 and others are NOT made accesible to that app.

my quantum 2626 works perfectly fine.
The whole situation had never lead me to think it is anything hardware

1 Like

yes, VERY much related ! thanks for posting !

i will have a look at the ausio/midi setings dialog the next time it happens.
Also, your post takes the “sole weight” off of the “soundsource” app.
so, the whole interaction between firefox and the quantum drivers plus “Soundsource” could be in fact the problem, it seems.

also: never heard of the Browser.
I definitlxy will give it a try ! sounds good waht i read there on their page !
much thanks for that tip

I wouldn’t characterise it as a ‘strong’ recommendation. I downloaded a few, tested Brave first (for alphabetical reasons) and it worked. I only use it for Youtube, iPlayer and such.

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tl;dr:
the source of the problem IS identified now:
must be that “Sound source” app from rogue amoeba.
it seems to create a problem with their own ACE driver.
( which, i guess, is a under the hood script, connecting directly to the macs audio engine,
and tapping it, inbetween the macs audio engine, and the audio interfaces, allowing for “any” crossconnections)

my post here, was written bevore the above, with some more details:
ok, i just had that “issue” again, and can report:
The audio-midi setup (in my mac) is NOT showing ANY audio interface !
they are all gonne. Its a blank pop up window now.

while this Rogue amoeba “source Audio” thing has still access to any of them and would show me these.
Guess there IS something wrong with that application.

next step: i started “Loopback”, also from rogue amoeba.
Its also could NOT detect any audio interface, BUT:
gave me a feedback, saying the “ACE” driver is defective ( thats their “under the hood” Audio driver thing, that connects or works with the macs under the hood audio engine. wording it out as a computer noob )…and “loopb ack” asked if i want to repair that ACE driver ?
ohh yeah, i cliked “repair”.
and guess what ? …in my macs audio-midi setup are all audio interfaces again shown,
AND: i can start GP4 again.

gonna report this to rogue amoeba the next days.
I´d supspect, their apps all use the same ACE driver.
( i have also audio hijack. thats all very handy tools, on a mac )

OK, so the source of the problem is identified in my opinion !

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wait, that opens up also a workaround:
start loopback, wait for it to fail, …and it asking to repair the ACE driver, haha

ok, there is more to say:
i run now two GP4 instances, and one GP3.
open and closing Firefox IS definitly part of that whole “issue”.

Its not just the “soundSource” app alone.
And GP3 is more picky and quits the audio connection quicker.

Let’s please understand that GP is not “quitting any audio connections”.

You clearly stated that your computer’s Audio-MIDI Setup app is not showing any audio interfaces when this happens - how do you suppose GP would be doing anything here?

Also … there should be zero difference in this regard between GP3/GP4 so most likely any observations that led you to believe otherwise are most likely coincidental.

Please contact Roque Amoeba with this issue - there may be some interesting combination of software/hardware on your computer that they may be interested in and is doing this.

(edit: ok, i sugest this then:
read this post please @djogon, / then delete this thread ! thats ok for me.)

vs. quote:
unfortunately do i have to disagree on this with you.
I understand that you are one of the GP makers, and as such also a professional in code engeneering, and have a deep inside understanding of all this.
I am the contrary.

but i had two instances of GP4 open, and one instance of GP3 .
GP3 “lost” its conecction to the audio, the GP4 instances did not.
and i played with one GP4 insstance afterwards, and it sounded…
yes, that was a surprise. ( i might have to change that in the future, and load only GP4).

I see the point, i see your concern with my wording,…
just, i´m not a native english, and not used to this type of pickyness on the wordings that happens here, since the release of GP4. Again: i can see exactly where your concerns are coming from :wink:

So, i suggest the following:
delete this thread !
my problem as such is here solved in that sense.
the community helped me as far as it was possible. Great community !
its in fact unlikely that other folks will step into same problems.
So, this thread is no longer needed anyway, i´d say. :wink:

Why are you mixing GP3 and GP4?

better overview for me, when dealing with different GP instances.
a thing of organisation.
going complex is all new to me. i´m still to find my best workflow.
for example that a specific GP instance would remember whoch GIGs have been used with it.

so it was just a thought that occoured to me to use a GP3 isntance for that very specific task,
which is: to only load BCs Connect, and this GP instance only be there as kind of a intercommunication relais on my mac.
this specific GP3 instance is then set to use “Blackhole” as its audio driver.
so, the whole audio driver setup, per GP instance is here my point of concern.

i do audio inbetwen other tasks on my mac,
its sometimes just a 10-15 minutes jamm.
quick acess to everything that i need to load IS here a point. :wink:

edit: right now: 3 instances of GP, plus wavelab, plus all that intrecommunciation.
one GP instance, the GP3, dealing with wavelab , …send-receive…and my main gP4 instance on the other side.
(which aloows me to keep my audio settings allways same everywhere /new workflow / looks good so far)