Always hear left channel even when panned hard right on input

[Doug Steinschneider]

Here is the setup:

Cakewalk latest version
Bass plugged into Channel 1 on Axe I/O
Axe I/O Monitor knob rolled all the right to DAW
Axe I/O Headphone volume at 12 noon

In the Axe I/O interface Control Panel I have Direct Monitor set to Mono.

I always hear the bass in the left channel even when I pan the input in Cakewalk hard right.

I've toggled the interleave button to Stereo on both input track and Bus (tried toggling mono but didn't help)

No matter what I do I hear the bass in the left channel

I think its an issue where the Axe I/O is passing the Direct Out left channel all the time even when the Monitor knob is all the right to full DAW sound. 

Mentioning here in case someone says something like "you need to use a mono track for the bass" or some other setting I haven't seen yet. 

Thanks in advance for any input on this 

[David Baay]

Are you appying Reverb or any other stereo FX via sends? If so you'll need to right-click the Send Pan and enable 'Follow Track Pan' if that's what you want.

 

[John Vere]

When you use an audio interface direct monitoring that is exactly what the name implies. You will hear the inputs directly. 
Then the DAW playback come back and depending on the interfaces system and controls you mix the DAW playback in with the input signal. 
Every interface handles this differently and you will need to read the owner’s manual for proper instructions. 

Cakewalk’s level and pan controls have zero to do with input signals. 

Even if you have input echo on while tracking. 

I advise against using input echo and prefer to use direct monitoring if the interface has proper controls to use. Some don’t. 
The most common system is a blend control on the front panel. 
Some interfaces use a software mixer which I have grown to dislike. I prefer the hardware controls. 

[Doug Steinschneider]

I finally figured it out - I read Sweetwater's advice page on the Axe I/O. They didn't have the below steps in their guide but I found the solution just poking around in the tabs after choosing "Additional Properties" for the Input in Windows. 

Windows - Open Sound Settings.
Click on Device Properties under the Input section.
Click Additional Properties
The old Windows Sound properties box pops up
Choose the Input Tab
Uncheck "Listen to Device"

Edited March 17 by Doug Steinschneider

[Doug Steinschneider]

1 hour ago, John Vere said:

I advise against using input echo and prefer to use direct monitoring if the interface has proper controls to use. Some don’t. 
The most common system is a blend control on the front panel. 
Some interfaces use a software mixer which I have grown to dislike. I prefer the hardware controls. 

The Axe I/O Solo (and standard model) have a Monitor Knob - all the way left is all direct monitor - all the way right is all DAW monitor. I agree about just listening to the instrument direct while playing along with the recorded tracks.  

[John Vere]

I don’t understand why you unchecked that box. That basically will disable playback? 
So if it has a blend control then you simply put it near the middle to equally hear input and DAW playback mixed together. To get the exact mix you want you either move it a little to the left or the right. 

. I have at least 4 interfaces that work that way going all the way back to my 2007 M audio Fast Track pro. 

[Doug Steinschneider]

On 3/17/2024 at 10:20 PM, John Vere said:

I don’t understand why you unchecked that box. That basically will disable playback? 

Hi John,

Actually that checkbox causes WIndows Sound subsystem to route the sound to the speakers even though ASIO is already handling sound for Windows.

So, you get this signal, and it's late because it's not your excellent ASIO low latency audio, so it sounds like an echo, and it only comes out the left channel because the Axe I/O guitar input is Windows channel 1 (Left).