Merge Soundbites results in blank audio file.

[David Polich]

This is a problem that has been happening with increased frequency, and I can't figure it out.

I'll do a"Merge Soundbites" on a track with multiple punch ins and outs, and the result is a blank audio file. As the attached pic illustrates. The track labeled "Tele Rhythm Gtr" is blank.

Anyone else have any idea on this?

[bayswater]

The only thing that occurs to me is that it looks like a soundbite that hasn’t yet had the waveform image created, rather than one that is blank.

[mikehalloran]

This is a problem that has been happening with increased frequency, and I can't figure it out.

I'll do a"Merge Soundbites" on a track with multiple punch ins and outs, and the result is a blank audio file. As the attached pic illustrates. The track labeled "Tele Rhythm Gtr" is blank.

Anyone else have any idea on this?

The only thing that occurs to me is that it looks like a soundbite that hasn’t yet had the waveform image created, rather than one that is blank.

I recently did this on a 22 minute track comprised of 25 soundbites. I had made a copy before processing, so I opened the copy for testing just now. With no plug-ins or other processing, the Merge alone took 30 seconds. Just for kicks, I added some plugs and a convo reverb and watched the processing time go up to 3 minutes depending on what I wanted done.

[stubbsonic]

As suggested above, the merge generates a new audiofile, and DP insists that it must complete various processes (like beat detection, creating overview, etc.). That's probably why you see a thick bar and no waveform overview (yet). Perhaps you can look at the Studio/Background Processing to see what DP's up to in the background.

[mikehalloran]

As suggested above, the merge generates a new audiofile, and DP insists that it must complete various processes (like beat detection, creating overview, etc.). That's probably why you see a thick bar and no waveform overview (yet). Perhaps you can look at the Studio/Background Processing to see what DP's up to in the background.

Here is the Preference/Setting to check to make the Background Processing window visible when working. It disappears when done.

[David Polich]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. Unfortunately, I am indeed waiting for the background processing to finish, ands verify that it has completely finished. Then I do a "select unused soundbites" in the soundbite window, and delete them, since usually I don't need them anymore. The merged waveform looks fine and plays back. I close the project and quit DP, then I re-start DP and open the project and...I see the blank white line where the merged audio used to be. In the soundbites window, I see the name of the merged file, but there is a question mark on the name..the audio is simply gone, and I have no idea where it went.

My friend Waxman thinks DP is putting the audio file in some other project folder or some weird other location on my drive.

Addendum...if I do not delete the unused soundbites that were left over after the merge, then I don't have this issue.

I think it's a bug.

[HCMarkus]

Could well be a bug... you gonna' report to MOTU Dave?

I should add, however, that this bug strikes me as sorta' like Professor Steele's recent quest to eliminate muted MIDI notes. If the fix is a painless as simply not deleting the files that sourced the bounce, might just keep 'em around.

PS: I think I'm related to "What, me worry?" Alfred E. Neuman.

[bayswater]

Looks like DP can’t find the necessary files to properly show and use the sound file. If you export it after the merge, then import it back in, does the imported version work OK? That would at least isolate the possible bug to the merge process.

[stubbsonic]

Merge creates a new file, but perhaps DP is somehow mis-flagging it as "unused" -- then you are deleting it.

You could test by sorting your soundbites by creation time (so that the new merged file will be at the bottom) then choose select unused and see if the newly merged track (at the bottom of the list) is now selected, then shift-click on it to deselect it.

Of course, DP shouldn't be flagging it as unused.

[mikehalloran]

Open the Activity Monitor and have the window visible. Does anything turn red when this happens? If so, something is interfering and it is possible to drill down and find the culprit.

[EMRR]

I was having the problem of mergers files missing after deleting unused soundbites about 2 years back, earlier version of DP11 and what seemed key was that files were on an external drive that apparently wasn't finished doing it's thing. I started dragging copies of the files to be deleted off elsewhere before deleting, closing/reopening to be sure it was really there before I ditched the orig. I moved to a newer remote MBP with larger internal and the problem went away.....though changing app windows while merging big blocks of data will crash DP, which was never a problem before.

It's a cute idea to never delete unused files, but wildly impractical when cutting 4-5 hours of 40 live audio tracks on a regular basis, you need to merge down and purge when it's 100GB per session.

[HCMarkus]

It's a cute idea to never delete unused files, but wildly impractical when cutting 4-5 hours of 40 live audio tracks on a regular basis, you need to merge down and purge when it's 100GB per session.

I'm typically dealing with songs, not 4-5 hour recordings. Score is mostly VIs, so not too big. As such, I never delete anything. Projects get big, but storage is cheap and clients are extremely valuable.

BackBlaze is nice for off site; unlimited storage for a single computer. Local goes to spinners when moved off SSD.

My wife still thinks I'm cute, too.

[EMRR]

Great....but the prevalence of fear around here about using "select unused soundbites/delete" is strong, and strange to me. "Don't do that" gets used here all the time as an indirect and unhelpful answer to a different problem; that's a band-aid rather than a solution. I've been using it reliably (outside of the one circumstance of slow external main capture drive) on a daily basis since 2006. If you've dragged off a safety copy before using it, by all means use it. If it F's up, drag it back from the safety and rebuild. If that's not the solution to the OP problem, then we know to look elsewhere.

[HCMarkus]

Great....but the prevalence of fear around here about using "select unused soundbites/delete" is strong, and strange to me.

I have no problem with it; I just don't bother with it.