Clip Gain Not Exported

[Daniel Rippe]

Sometimes Clip Gain automation is ignored when exporting audio.  For me, some clips with a gain envelope are handled just fine when exporting audio, others have their gain envelope ignored.  See two attached screen shots. 

PLEASE NOTE:

The Clip Inspector Properties shows Automation Read IS CHECKED (i.e., ON).

There are NO REGION FX.   In fact, no FX whatsoever. 

There are NO sends to any buses. 

If I move this clip to any other timeline position, the Clip Gain is no longer ignored when exporting the audio, OR a different problem occurs:  The Clip Gain is treated as -INF (negative infinity) for the beginning of the clip up to the point where the envelope rises for the first time.

If I insert another blank audio track anywhere, the Clip Gain is no longer ignored when exporting the audio (on the first try).  Then after saving the .CWP file, the Clip Gain is again immediately ignored when exporting audio. 

THIS PROBLEM is EXTREMELY HARD to discover when you have many tracks and many clips.  How do you know which Clip Gain envelopes are being ignored during export and which ones are not?

I have done extensive testing and discovered that if I “Flatten Comp” for all tracks that use Clip Gain, then the export seems to include Clip Gain automation adjustments.  For now, anyway ...   until it doesn't ...

Edited March 14, 2022 by Daniel Rippe
Better screen shot

[reginaldStjohn]

I don't know why it would be ignoring the clip automation but here are a couple of questions and things to check.

- How are you exporting the audio? Make sure that your export options include the appropriate automation.

- Make sure that if this clip(s) are in a track with multiple takes that you have bounced the comped track, or as you mention, Flatten comp.

- Use track automation instead of clip automation.

[Daniel Rippe]

This is a bug in Cakewalk that needs to be fixed.   Clip Gain adjustments are ignored if you export audio to a WAV file, but not for MP3. 

I'm exporting using the Export Audio menu or icon, either one.    Yes, the export options include Clip Automation.

Use track automation instead?  If Cakewalk has Clip Automation, it should work. 

As for bouncing the comped track or Flatten comp... this is NOT necessary to get the Clip Automation included when I export to MP3, so it shouldn't be required when exporting to WAV. 

 

[Lord Tim]

Can you share a screenshot of your export settings for WAV? This is working correctly here for me.

[Xoo]

Ditoo (just checked with a noddy project and it's fine).

[Daniel Rippe]

After more extensive testing, I can now reliably reproduce this bug.  It happens when exporting WAV and MP3 audio.  I have not tested the other audio formats. 

I have a simple project with one track and one clip.  The FIRST time I export audio after opening the project, the Clip Gain is included.  The SECOND time I export, the Clip Gain is ignored.  I am doing nothing other than opening the project, then exporting the same audio twice. 

If I move the clip forward or backward in time, the next export is fine, but the one after that, again, ignores the Clip Gain.

Bouncing to Clips and/or Flattening Comp sometimes resolves this, but not always.  Even after bouncing or flattening the Clip Gain is sometimes ignored, but not always. 

Edited March 1, 2023 by Daniel Rippe
Additional information

[Lord Tim]

Yeah, I'm not seeing anything here that that suggests an incorrect setting.

I can definitely say that I've had no problems with any version of CbB with clip gains, and I assume I'm not the only one or there'd be a lot of pretty annoyed people on the forums making a lot of noise about it. 

Is it possible you could make a short section of audio and upload that with a project with clip gains in there to see if it can be reproduced on someone else's machine? It'd be good to take the environment out of the equation and narrow it down to a setting or a project or something.

It might actually be a buffer thing, or something. Could you also share a screenshot of your  Preferences > Audio > Driver Settings, and Playback and Recording  screens, and if you look in Audio > Configuration File, what value do you have in AutomationDecimationMsec? That has a big bearing on how it tracks automation.

In the mean time, try this one out: Extract this ZIP and you'll have a CWP and a Audio directory in there with a short WAV. If you open the CWP, you'll have a 4 and a bit measure long tone with a bunch of gain changes on there. See if this exports correctly for you:  https://www.dropbox.com/s/jc1tguhuqozcevm/Test Gain.zip?dl=0

Edited March 1, 2023 by Lord Tim

[Klaus]

3 hours ago, Daniel Rippe said:

After more extensive testing, I can now reliably reproduce this bug.  It happens when exporting WAV and MP3 audio.  I have not tested the other audio formats. 

I have a simple project with one track and one clip.  The FIRST time I export audio after opening the project, the Clip Gain is included.  The SECOND time I export, the Clip Gain is ignored.  I am doing nothing other than opening the project, then exporting the same audio twice. 

If I move the clip forward or backward in time, the next export is fine, but the one after that, again, ignores the Clip Gain.

Bouncing to Clips and/or Flattening Comp sometimes resolves this, but not always.  Even after bouncing or flattening the Clip Gain is sometimes ignored, but not always. 

 ^^^

That would mean not only your exports don't work as they should but also the bounce process, which is a really important and fundamantal feature.

Bouncing has less routing possibilities and user interaction than exporting, so doing some tests only with the "Bounce to Clip(s)" command on one Clip (no additional Lanes) could be helpfull.

After right-clicking the Clip and selecting "Bounce to Clip(s)" you should immediately see the applied Clip Gain in the new waveform and peak levels.
 

 

[Glenn Stanton]

are the clip automation set on the take lanes or the primary track? it may be one reason why it works consistently wih "flatten comp" applied versus the take lanes. even so, i would expect the take lanes clip automation to work correctly 🙂