Troubleshooting: What to do if You Can't Hear Anything

If you're having trouble hearing the audio output once you've created a patch, check through the list below to make sure you've got things set up correctly. Steps 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 are relevant for everyone to follow, while step 4 is only relevant if you're using certain kinds of contraptions.

1. Check that you have a SoundOut contraption in the Patcher Pane and that your contraptions are connected to it

SoundOut is a very important contraption as it represents the audio output of AudioMulch. If you don't have a SoundOut in the Patcher Pane, you will not hear any sound. When you open a new document, you will find a SoundOut contraption already in the Patcher Pane. If you need to add a new SoundOut later, drag one across from the Contraptions Palette on the left of the Patcher Pane.

However, simply having the SoundOut in the Patcher Pane will not ensure that you will hear anything. You must make sure that you connect all the other contraptions in the Patcher Pane to the SoundOut contraption. You can do this either by connecting a contraption to the SoundOut directly, or indirectly through other contraptions. If a contraption is not connected to the SoundOut via some path, you will not be able to hear it.

Note: you can only ever have one SoundOut contraption in the Patcher Pane.

2. Enable Audio

To hear sound in AudioMulch, you must make sure the Enable Audio button in the Transport toolbar is activated. When you first install AudioMulch, Enable Audio is activated.

When deactivated, the Enable Audio button looks like this: .

To activate/deactivate Enable Audio, do one of the following:
Click the Enable Audio button on the Transport toolbar Open the Control menu and choose Enable Audio

3. Turn up the volume

On contraptions

If you're using a contraption that has a volume knob on it, make sure you turn the volume up. If you're not sure how to do this, see Using Common Contraption Controls.

Some contraptions have more than one volume knob. For example Drums and Mixer contraptions have one knob for each channel, as well as a master volume knob. Make sure you turn up all the required volume knobs. You may also need to check that Mute and Solo buttons are set correctly.

On the computer/system mixer

You will also need to make sure the volume is turned up on your computer/system mixer. On Windows you can access this directly via AudioMulch.

To turn up the volume on the Windows mixer (Windows only):
Open the View menu and choose Windows Volume Control... The Windows Volume Mixer window will open.

4. Press Play if you're using clock-based contraptions

If you're using a contraption that depends on the clock, make sure you press the Play button on the Transport toolbar. To find out which contraptions depend on the clock, visit When and How to Use the Clock.

5. Check that AudioMulch is correctly configured to use your computer's audio interface

If you've followed the steps above and you still can't hear anything, do the following:
Check the AudioMulch settings in the Settings/Preferences dialog box to make sure they're configured to use the correct audio interface on the computer. To do this in Windows: open the Edit menu and choose Settings... The Settings/Preferences dialog box will open. To do this on a Macintosh: open the AudioMulch application menu and choose Preferences... The Settings/Preferences dialog box will open. Audio device settings are located on the Audio Driver, Audio Input, and Audio Output pages of the Settings/Preferences dialog box. Depending on the selected driver type you may need to check that your audio interface is selected on both the Audio Driver and Audio Output pages. Visit Settings/Preferences Dialog Box to learn more about adjusting AudioMulch's settings.

If you've followed the steps above and you still can't hear anything, do the following:

Check the AudioMulch settings in the Settings/Preferences dialog box to make sure they're configured to use the correct audio interface on the computer.

To do this in Windows: open the Edit menu and choose Settings... The Settings/Preferences dialog box will open.
To do this on a Macintosh: open the AudioMulch application menu and choose Preferences... The Settings/Preferences dialog box will open.

Audio device settings are located on the Audio Driver, Audio Input, and Audio Output pages of the Settings/Preferences dialog box. Depending on the selected driver type you may need to check that your audio interface is selected on both the Audio Driver and Audio Output pages. Visit Settings/Preferences Dialog Box to learn more about adjusting AudioMulch's settings.

6. Check for audio delay ("latency") issues

You may notice that AudioMulch's sound output is lagging or delayed. There may be an audible delay between audio input and output when processing sound, or a delay between controlling parameters/triggering events and hearing the result. To resolve these issues you need to configure your audio driver settings for low latency. Low latency settings make it possible to hear sound output without noticeable delay.

Latency problems can be resolved by:

Reducing buffer sizes and/or the number of buffers (depending on your system). For detailed information on how to tune your system to reduce latency, see Optimizing Real-Time Performance.
On Windows, we strongly recommend you use an ASIO driver. See the Audio Driver section of the Settings/Preferences Dialog Box page for information on selecting your ASIO driver. If you don't have an ASIO driver installed, please check with your audio interface manufacturer for instructions on how to install an ASIO driver.