Bounce to disk weirdness DP 5 - Help!

[deedlemusic]

Hey there -- Has anyone else run across this problem? Often when I bounce a mix to disk I lose audio - entire sections of the audio just disappear! You can see it in the soundbites on the bounced track. I've checked all my routing/bussing -- everything is fine there. I've tried bouncing AIF, WAV, SD II, whatever -- it still happens. When I restart the computer the problem goes away.

Any ideas on what's going on? This is a huge creepy weirdness that I never - ever - had in DP 3.1. I'd appreciate any assistance!

Thanks -
deedle

[Frodo]

When I restart the computer the problem goes away.

Deedle, this is pretty serious. I would call MOTU about this.

It might be a RAM issue, if clearing the buffers via restart corrects the problem. That's not to say that there's something wrong with your RAM, but there may be an issue with how DP5 talks to RAM. This is a tough one.

Just for safety, run a disk utility to make sure all other common file-related issues are not part of the equation-- then call MOTU.

[deedlemusic]

Just spoke with a Motu tech. They've heard about this problem. They don't have a solution. Does anyone have a good workaround for this? I can't stand the thought of having to reboot my computer every time I want to bounce a mix.

Thanks,
deedle

[Tinoo]

My solution : record the output of your master track to a new stereo audio track.

Drawbacks : it's realtime, and a pain in the arse cause then you have 24 bit SDII files to merge into one and then convert to WAV if that's the format you're wanting to have with the problems of dithering and limiting (unless there's a better way ?). Also I guess if your CPU is fighting to read the project you might have problems recording it...
Advantages : it's realtime (some people complain about offline mixdowns being somewhat different than what they hear - I'm one of those, at least when I was using Cubase).

[deedlemusic]

Has anyone heard of this happening in 4.6? Now I'm considering going backwards to that version.

deedle

[Tinoo]

In addition to my last post, once you've recorded your audio mixdown to a new track : select it (assign it to free output) and then use bounce to disk, it works fine for it since there's no aux, just one audio track.

[beppe]

Hi deedle, try to uncheck "Pre-fill buffers for Quick Start" in the Configure Studio Settings window. If is Already unchecked, check and uncheck it. (this, in any project which have the problem)...

Beppe

[deedlemusic]

Thanks, I'll try these ideas and report back. I saw the issue with Auxes in the other thread, but that's not the problem I'm experiencing. It can happen even where there are no auxes being used.

deedle

[phmurphy]

I read about your problem and think it's the same as what's happening to me. I have whole tracks that bounce to disc ignores. Nothing different about those tracks - just a few of them - but nothing I can figure out will make them bounce. I've tried bouncing just those tracks and no audio. Odd, though - the file size would indicate there's something there, but no audio. Tried playing them in different apps - nothing. Is MOTU planning on fixing this soon? This could be a real problem. Other than that, I like 5.01 fine. Seems less buggy that 4.xx.

[echostudios]

I'm having the same problem. Tracks will just stop then start, cut out for a second or the whole song. It seems really random. A project will bounce fine today and not tomorrow. Vocals will cut out today and yesterday the drums were cutting out. Weird stuff.

[deedlemusic]

Please contact Motu and let them know you're having the same issue. I spoke with tech support last week and they said they'd heard about the problem but had no fix for it yet. The more people that report the problem, the faster they'll get it fixed. If they don't get on top of this one pretty quick, I'm dumping DP 5.

[TOD]

Same problem here w/ BTD and it's inconsistent. I will check my prefill buffers and also restart. I run Root machine daily and cleared my undo history and unused soundbites.

But I have 6-10 aux busses and about 42 stereo tracks on a dual G5 2.7

[tiguersound]

Same problem here. I have a track that refuses to bounce with the other tracks - just silence where the track should be in the bounce. I'm having to record in real time to another track. What a hassle.

[martian]

I had this today - 15 secs AWOL in the middle of a 9 min segment... definitely not a routing issue as it actually cut off a clip mid flow I think....

[Jim]

I spoke with tech support last week and they said they'd heard about the problem but had no fix for it yet.

This is infuriating. No doubt the people at MOTU monitor this list, and for them to say, "We've heard about it" is about as irresponsible and lazy as can be.

What they should have said is, "We are well aware of this productivity halting bug in our software, and we are deeply concerned that our loyal customers can't use this build of software, for which they paid good money, in a professional environment. We are working full-time around the clock and none of our affected employees are taking a minute off until we fix this problem."

That would have been an appropriate response. So, until MOTU get off their collective lard asses and fix this bug, I suggest you do a Save As Digital Performer 4.6 of your project, and then launch 4.6, and do your bounces there, where it works reliably. Or, just don't use 5.x at all.