Zoom LiveTrak L-20 Audio Interface Mode w/ Mac - SOLVED

[Berus]

Hi all,

First, thanks to all who tried to assist me over the past few days with this issue. It's finally solved.

So, for anyone with a Mac who's struggling with the L-20 in Audio Interface mode, and having the L-20 show up in Sound input/output settings on your Mac, but getting NO SOUND... here's what worked for me:

USB mode set to CLASS COMPLIANT. This is referenced two places in the manual as being the correct setting for Macs, but the note under the Troubleshooting section contradicts this and tells you to turn the Class Compliant switch off - it doesn't clarify whether this is for both PC and Mac, or just for PC. If you have a Mac, you DO want Class Compliant ON.

USB 1-2/3-4 buttons turned on and lit.

NO PLUGS in those channel inputs! (This is what got me - if you have plugs in those, it will override the Mac's USB input.)

Audio in/out on Mac's Sound settings set to LiveTrak L-20 (not "Virtual L-20")

No messages/warnings in Privacy/Security tab notifying you about a blocked permission for Zoom drivers.

Latest Zoom drivers installed.

USB plug going directly into Mac (not a USB Hub), using a USB A to USB C adaptor (because there are no USB A ports on newer Macs, because... Apple.)

Latest firmware update (Note: in my case, my firmware was V. 1.23, while the latest version at Zoom's website was only V. 1.14 - attempting to "update" back down to this version gave me an error, so I had to stay with V. 1.23. If your firmware version is higher than the version available for download at the Zoom site, then you're OK - don't try to update to an older (lower) version number.

Hope this helps someone!

[Wonks]

Congratulations on finding the solution!

These things really should be made crystal clear in the manuals.

[flute700loop]

Hey thank you. I hope this works for me, just ordered a usb - c adapter and a usb - c midi cable.

Quick question. How did you figure out that USB hub wouldn’t work and you had to go direct to the Mac USB - port? I can’t find anything on this except for your post! Thank you !!

[Berus]

Hi and sorry to be so slow getting back to you.

So, how did I find out the hub wouldn't work? Honestly, trial and error. A LOT of trial and error, during which I was not feeling patient, but forced myself to stick with it. My USB C/Thunderbolt hub is a Plugable (brand). Fairly expensive. This is the one that was supposed to work when others wouldn't. But, the Zoom wasn't having it. I assumed that, because my Apollo Twin X was cool with the Plugable hub, the Zoom probably would be too. Wrong assumption.

What I wish is that Apple would ease up on the whole "beauty of the clean industrial design" ethic just enough to PUT ENOUGH BLOODY CONNECTIONS on its devices. I have a MacBook Pro with 4 USB-C/Thunderbolt ports, and It's just not enough, given that one is going to the power plug. The whole plug/port issue is the ONLY place where I find myself really, really envying PC users.

Basically, this experience taught me the following: When something in my music production signal chain isn't working correctly - try taking it out of a hub and plugging it directly into the Mac. Do that before you spend 1-10 hours pulling your hair out with menus/settings/firmware, etc.

Hope this helps!

[MarkOne]

I’m pretty sure there’s something about the M series architecture and the USB subsystem that’s just more fussy about what it will talk to. I’ve noticed a few cases like yours reported here and there.

When I swapped from my 2012 MBP to an M1 the icon control surface was unrecognised about 50% of the time, I literally had to power cycle it and suddenly it was there.

I suspect, because USB C is more than a simple serial bus and there is a handshake process going on, some low level firmware process is not managing this properly.

But the effected use cases are few and far between, so probably not very high up Apples bug fix list.

[Christopher N Conley]

How do you get the "LiveTrak L-20" to be a choice for audio output instead of virtual?

For the life of me I cannot get output to speakers or headphones.

Currently, I cannot get any output audio from my LiveTrak L-20 through speakers or headphones.
To my knowledge, all connections are correct. USB channels are on, class compliant and audio interface also on.

Here are my system specs :

System Specs:
Macbook 2019 2.4 GHz 8-core Intel Core i9
Intel UHD Graphics 630 1536 MB, 64 GB 2667 MHz DDR4
OSX: Ventura 13.6.3
Logic version: 10.8.1

Zoom LiveTrak L-20
firmware:
System: 1.23
Boot: 1.12
Subsystem: 1.03

Any assistance would be appreciated.

[finjam]

My issue was a little different, on my 2021 Macbook Pro M1 I was getting digital noise during playback from Cubase Pro 13 (sounded like a ring modulator), tracking was fine.

At the direction of Zoom's support I tried different USB hubs, an adapter, and then a USB-B to USB-C cable to go directly to the computer, none of that worked. They wanted me to try a different computer

I then dug into troubleshooting and found that playing audio from the Music app and Logic Pro was fine, but as soon as I launched Cubase the audio would go bad in those apps.

I made sure the L-20 and the apps were in 48k, then I tried 44.1, but ultimately when I turned on Class Compliant the trouble stopped! I too read that Class Compliant was supposed to be off.

[StrangelEdweirdo]

Hi all, I have a similar issue but none of the solutions I've read here have solved it for me. I reached out to Zoom support and their response was literally "Can you try dragging all the faders down so the lights clear and then dragging them back up?"

I will try this next time I'm at my rehearsal space, but...I don't imagine that's going to actually be the solution. Hopefully one of you can help!

I'm using the LiveTrak L-20 in my home studio and can't seem to get my computer audio to play through my studio monitors.

We have a live setup for my band with everyone miked and running through the LiveTrak, then the Main Outputs go to a PA system for in-room amplification.

I use the LiveTrak's "Device" output to feed the signal to my 2021 Apple M1 Max MacBook pro via a USB-B to USB-C cable for recording in Logic. I've got the Class Compliant mode set the way it should be for a Mac.

I have the USB audio set to play from stereo track 19/20, and a dedicated mix being sent to Monitor Outputs A and B. Monitor Outputs A and B each go to a Yamaha HS5 5-inch Powered Studio Monitor via a 1/4" to Male XLR cable. I control the volume of the studio monitors via the Monitor Output volume controls.

The USB 3-4 button is engaged for stereo track 19/20, and when I'm playing back recordings in Logic I have no issue hearing the audio through the studio monitors, so I know it can't be a problem with the connections or monitor output routing.

But when I set my MacBook's Sound Settings to have my computer audio output be "LiveTrak L-20 (USB)," I get no sound. I have no idea why. I've been troubleshooting and trying to figure it out (including following the advice on this thread) but nothing has resolved this issue.

I have the latest driver downloaded (macOS 10.14 ~ 15) and as directed via this thread I've made sure that the output option on my MacBook's Sound Settings says USB and not Virtual. Still no computer audio.

Does it have something to do with the M1 Max chip in my MacBook? Any help would be greatly appreciated. It's frustrating not being able to use my studio monitors to play back audio except in Logic. Sometimes we want to listen to old recordings from Dropbox, reference something in a YouTube video, etc., and it'd be nice to have that sound come through the Yamaha monitors.