Focusrite 18i20 S/PDIF not appearing in Cakewalk

[jesse g]

Hey all, 

I reset my Focusrite 18i20 because I am stupid. 

Now after setting it back up,  I am unable to have S/PDIF appear within the Cakewalk input drives section.   Besides resetting the Focusrite, what am I doing wrong?  All of the inputs and outputs are showing in the input and output drivers section except for the S/PDIF.

Any help is welcome.  

[Gswitz]

https://help.cakewalk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360034727773-Unable-to-Select-Audio-Device-Missing-Device

 

Or ask scook? 

[Starship Krupa]

1 hour ago, jesse g said:

I reset my Focusrite 18i20 because I am stupid. 

Now after setting it back up,  I am unable to have S/PDIF appear within the Cakewalk input drives section.   Besides resetting the Focusrite, what am I doing wrong?  All of the inputs and outputs are showing in the input and output drivers section except for the S/PDIF.

You are not stupid, at least resetting your audio interface is not a marker of stupidity. I don't fully subscribe to "if it ain't broke don't fix it," although it's not good to fiddle about with these things when the thing we are fiddling with is in the critical path.

All you need to do is take some deep breaths and make sure you have the latest version of Focusrite Mix Control. Then open it up and make sure that all outputs are set to "DAW" (unless you use it for system sounds, then things get a little different) and also the correct number you like to use in the DAW. I don't get fancy with the Saffire Pro, I just number them from the top down.

I'm pretty sure that when you run Mix Control, the S/PDIF I/O will either be set to a number you aren't expecting or it isn't set to any DAW input at all.

Focusrite Mix Control is notorious for being hard to get one's head around, but if you just stick to the routing panel and realize that what you're doing is assigning the Focusrite's hardware outs to corresponding outs in your OS and DAW like a patchbay that's usually all you need. Here's how my routing is set up. Mix control also sees "DAW 1 and DAW 2" as my OS' main outputs, so I have that assigned to my Cambridge Audio digital system. But if I didn't assign those to anything, they wouldn't show up as available to the DAW/ASIO driver or the OS.

Edited April 15, 2023 by Starship Krupa

[Gswitz]

My interface has a 'total reset' choice. 

I am not sure how many times that has repaired it from hopelessly damaged.  I'm always sure I broke the hardware, some mic was so hot it melted something, then I reset and poof the transistors heal. It is magic! 

[OutrageProductions]

@Starship Krupa is on the right path by using the devices specified control panel. 

Over the years with several different Firewire and USB devices from the likes of MOTU and M-Audio, if I reset or trashed the CP settings for the I/O I'd lose both sets of  my Surround ouputs and be left scratching my head. Lesson learned the hard way. I have since always saved an export of the settings in a safe place.

Once all 8 (+) channels of ADAT light pipe or S/Pdif are opened and bussed in the device they should show up in CbB. [And... in my experience... they like to run at 48k better than 44.1k]

Edited April 15, 2023 by OutrageProductions

[jesse g]

Thanks for the assistance everyone.

So I have the S/PDIF selected in Focusrite Control as shown here.  (This is just a picture from the Internet)

I have everything on the left hand side of the window from Monitor Outputs all the way down to SPDIF to "Custom Mix".  This is how I set it up when I first purchased the device and it has worked fine until I reset it yesterday.

I then went back in and set everything on the left hand side of the window from Monitor Outputs all the way down to SPDIF to "Playback DAW" and again that didn't work.

 

(Banging my head against the wall) 

Here is the kicker, when I change the Driver Mode to WASSAPI,   S/PIDIF then appears under devices.  I then go back and change it back to ASIO and  it is no longer there.

Edited April 15, 2023 by jesse g

[jesse g]

I was going to use S/PDIF to switch over my Lexicon MX200 hardware reverb unit from Analog to digital so I could free up a set of channels when I use the reverb with Cakewalk's External Insert.   Oh Well, I guess I will keep patching it in the patch bay when I need it.

Thanks.

[Grem]

On 4/15/2023 at 9:49 AM, jesse g said:

has worked fine until I reset it yesterday

Did you go back into Windows sound properties and see what the defaults are? Maybe they were changed when you reset.

 

On 4/15/2023 at 9:49 AM, jesse g said:

 

Here is the kicker, when I change the Driver Mode to WASSAPI,   S/PIDIF then appears under devices.  I then go back and change it back to ASIO and  it is no longer there.

This is what is puzzling... why is this happening?

Next suggestion is to uninstall/reinstall Focusrite drivers and see if that changes it back to the way it was..

[jesse g]

2 hours ago, Grem said:

This is what is puzzling... why is this happening?

Next suggestion is to uninstall/reinstall Focusrite drivers and see if that changes it back to the way it was..

Thanks Grem,

I will try that and let you know.  This Focusrite 18i20 hates me, 😭

[Grem]

9 hours ago, jesse g said:

This Focusrite 18i20 hates me

No... not you!??

[Michael Parson-McNamara]

I'm having a hard time getting my 18i20 v1 or rather the Mix Control set up so I can reamp CbB tracks through my pedalboard and/or my Katana 100 MKII (a gift from Otto Laven!). So after reading SK/Eric's comment, I think I should take his advice and retackle it. Thanks!

[mettelus]

Quick note on the above, I still use an older Saffire and File->"Restore Factory Defaults" in MixControl does not overwrite settings saved to the hardware. In fact, the workaround for the v3.7 bug from way back when is to do that, and then File->"Load From Hardware" to properly initiate the unit for me. Once you have Mixes and Routings set up to your liking, saving your preferred "master copy of settings" to hardware (in addition to your PC) is convenient. I missed this thread on its first pass, but the OP may have been able to restore from the HW if it had ever been saved to it.

Edited May 20, 2023 by mettelus

[jesse g]

On 5/20/2023 at 5:36 PM, mettelus said:

Quick note on the above, I still use an older Saffire and File->"Restore Factory Defaults" in MixControl does not overwrite settings saved to the hardware. In fact, the workaround for the v3.7 bug from way back when is to do that, and then File->"Load From Hardware" to properly initiate the unit for me. Once you have Mixes and Routings set up to your liking, saving your preferred "master copy of settings" to hardware (in addition to your PC) is convenient. I missed this thread on its first pass, but the OP may have been able to restore from the HW if it had ever been saved to it.

+1

I reset the 18i20 again and restored from a previous backup and the SPDIF began to show again in CbB,   The problem was resolved  about a week  after I wrote the initial post.

Thanks  everyone for the assistance.