Just installed OSX10.8.5 -- Sound problem!!

Hi all...

I've just done a largely successful installation of Mountain Lion. I've only had a brief time to play with it so far but the one problem i have found is with my sound. Its not a major problem - more of an annoyance, but i'd prefer it to be sorted. I shall explain...

I have an external soundcard (Apogee Duet) which i use for audio projects in Logic and such. Its a superb bit of kit and i never had any issues with it in Snow Leopard. Its attached to a pair of external studio monitors which i use in preference to the Mac's internal speakers. All has worked well previously - i could control the volume either from the knob on the soundcard or (more often) from the volume up/down buttons on the keyboard. Occasionally i would also use my mouse to change the volume settings on the top left of the screen on the little bar thingy.

In the past with Snow Leopard everything worked seamlessly - i could use either approach to change the volume and it would adjust all the others at the same time. However, since installing Mountain Lion, i can only adjust the volume using the knob on the soundcard. Pressing the up/down on the keyboard does bring up the little volume display and beeps (the beep that should get louder/quieter as you adjust) but the beep stays the same volume even though the bar moves up or down. Its a little long winded to explain unfortunately!

Basically, the external soundcard no longer seems to be working in harmony with the Mac. Anything i can do here?

How does the external card hook into the Mac? USB? Have you checked all the settings in System Preferences and Sound?

Its a FireWire connection.

I've checked the settings - obviously i have the option to use either the internal soundcard or the Apogee Duet. Something i forgot to mention which may help diagnose the issue: if i select to have the Duet as output then the volume can be controlled with the Duet but not the Mac. If i select 'internal' then the usual keyboard/mouse volume controls work. Whereas before i didn't need to choose one, it just did which ever i picked.

Sounds like Apple changed something from 10.6 to the newer OS's. Will do some searching around and see what I can find. I would try it here with my external card but so far it's lost in the move to where I am now living. I hope it's found soon in storage.

Awesome, thanks i really appreciate that

A-ha! After having a bit of a mooch around the net and seeing a few other people with similar problems with their Duet since upgrading to ML, i've come across this page where someone appears to have found a rather simple fix.

I'm at work at the moment, so i can't try it for myself yet, but this is the first thing i'll be doing when i get home. Probably before i even take my coat off!

Although as i haven't had chance to try it yet, any other advice is still welcome!

Keep us posted! that looks like it just might do it for you! Thanks for sharing.

Well i tried the above solution and it didn't quite work. Opened the Maestro software and nothing would register that i had clicked on it - tried clicking different tabs/buttons/etc and nothing. Then i noticed i had Maestro 1.x.x (i forget exactly which version) and the website i linked to above mentioned Maestro 2. So i got myself onto Google, found this here page, and downloaded the latest software and, hey presto, it works as normal now!

I've not had chance to test all of the ins/outs of the device or test it with Logic, but the volume control issue i had has now been fixed, so hopefully everything else will run smoothly...

Thanks SO MUCH for sharing this with our community! Someone down the line will see your solution and not pull out all their hair trying to fix it! GOOD JOB!

I hope you stick around the forums!!