Cannot get soundcard input signal but mac mic input works fine

[crallen]

Hi all, my system -

MacBook Air M1 2020.
OS Big Sur

REW v5.19

Issue - as of recently REW let's me select my soundcard (so far tried Prism Sound Lyra 2, Sound Devices USB Pre 2 and UA Apollo) as the 'input device' but does not offer it as an 'input' (screenshot attached illustrating this) and therefore i cannot select which input channel nor recieve any mic input signal whatsoever.

REW does allow me to select the Mac's inbuilt mic without any issues.

I have been using REW without issues for months until very recently. The only change I can think of i made recently was a System Update for OS X Big Sur version 11.4.

I have tried deleting and updating REW, the beta versions and installed Java with a little success. Some fresh REW installs did suceed to see and use the Soundcard inputs once, then immediately stopped working again.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[John Mulcahy]

You need to run the latest V5.20 builds for 10.15 onwards. "Microphone" is just a generic name the Java runtime uses that means an audio input, everything in the inputs list is an input on the selected input device.

 

[John Mulcahy]

As a PS, check in Audio Midi Setup to make sure the format and channel count configured for the device matches what you want.

 

[crallen]

Thanks John. Unfortunately no joy there either. Installed latest REW V5.20, it does let me select the soundcard and the input, however there is still no input signal registering when I "check levels". Additionally it appears the Mac's mic is now no longer providing input. I have allowed access via OS X permissions as normal.

Soundcard definitely working fine, can record into DAW no problems.

 

[DanDan]

Does the MacBook Air have a Line Input?

 

[crallen]

I don’t believe so but the sound card does which I can try

 

[John Mulcahy]

it appears the Mac's mic is now no longer providing input. I have allowed access via OS X permissions as normal.

There have been a few reports of that, it seems somehow related to the latest version of the installer. You can try RC11 from the History tab of the macOS downloads, that may fix the mic access.

 

[crallen]

Does the MacBook Air have a Line Input?

tried the soundcard’s line input but same issue.

any other reports of this issue with other users?

 

[vic20]

Almost the same problem for me. The difference is that I cannot even authorize REW to use the mic, because it does not appear in the sound system preferences...

 

[John Mulcahy]

The macOS V5.20 RC12d build should fix REW not appearing in the mic privacy permissions list.

 

[crallen]

Thanks I’ll try that.

is there anything else I can do or try to troubleshoot my main issue? What would be the next steps?

 

[LW24dB]

I'm having the exact same issue, FWIW

 

[John Mulcahy]

Installers built before RC12 used a legacy mode for handling the security application entitlements that Apple enforce. With those builds there should be a prompt to permit mic access when REW first tries to read data from it after startup. From RC12 onwards the application is signed using Apple's current requirements, which includes the entitlements in the code signature. It may be worth running the REW uninstaller from Applications/REW (keep the log files and preferences, no need to remove those) then reinstall RC12d.