output audio not always working on external speakers

[nearnshaw]

I've run into a pretty weird problem both with Usine Hollyhock 1 and 2:
I build something that works great when I run it through my laptop speakers, also when I plug in my external Thonet & Vander reasonably large speakers via the audio output jack in my laptop, but... when I plugged in a set a set of speakers in a bar, using the same Mac laptop and the same output jack, running the same Usine project, only SOME of my instruments sounded through them, others were completely muted.

This is really confusing, and I actually ran into this in the middle of a live performance and it was quite embarassing. I then had the same happen with another USB speaker that I tried to plug in.

I went over this a million times, and I can't figure out why only some of the racks are producing sound.
- The audio output was well set up to the external speakers, if I didn't it would be very weird that some of my instruments did sound.
- I wasn't accidentally muting any racks or anything dumb like that, if I unplugged the out cable from the audio jack, everything sounded well through my laptop speakers.
- This is not a panning thing, all of the sound outputs were panned to the center.
- It's not an equalizing thing, the sounds that did sound were not distorted or gated at all.

Any thoughts/theories as to why this could be happening???

Thanks!

[fractalist]

the weirdest part is that some instruments do sound and others don't.
when you plug your speaker, do you use a different sound card (external instead of internal for instance)

[nearnshaw]

My laptop has only one soundcard, and I don't own an external one. I do pick a different output device in the audio tab of the setup menu

What I note is that if I select either of the patche's audio output elements in the flow, the audio occasionally hits some peaks and reaches the max:




After reaching the max, the bar turns from green to red and stays red...
As I've said, in my mac laptop and on the speakers I have at home, this has never been an issue and everything sounds perfectly fine anyway. However, could this be a problem on some external speakers and cause a particular instrument to be completely muted (yet not others that sound simultaneously)? Why? How could I prevent this from happening again?
It still feels like an odd unlikely explanation, I'm more inclined to think it must be something else.

[nay-seven]

nothing to do with external speakers here if you use only the internal soundcard.
when you say instrument, you mean plug ins ..?
no easy to investigate without your patch/workspace
but try to add a volume/mute audio module before your audio out and down the volume

ps: I've edited your post to see the picture