Audio Engine Won't Turn Back On

[Flubb]

I have been working on a project for a game I'm creating and all has been going smoothly for the most part. However, recently I got an error message related to drivers (I don't remember what it said exactly and it only came up once) and after clicking past it my project no longer plays.

Nothing pops up on the sliders during playback, I can't play anything through instruments outside of playback, and the audio engine icon is grey/off and won't turn back on under any circumstances.

Oddly enough though, I am able to export the midi and audio from the project in question to a new project and  everything plays just fine. Old projects playback perfectly with the same driver settings as well. Every project I have played as expected except for this one.

Things I've tried:

• Clicking the reset button next to the audio engine icon.
• Changing the audio devices around. Both input and output.
• Changing the Driver setting master devices and mixing latency buffer size.
• Changing the Diver/Driver mode used to WASAPI(What I normally use), ASIO, MME, and WDM.
• Saving the project as a separate copy.
• Saving the project as a .cwb file instead of a .cwp file.
• Restarting the computer.

None of which has succeeded in bringing my project back to life.

As I was able to export the midi and audio I can gain back a small amount of progress but as that doesn't transfer over my plugin settings, FX stacks, or my automation, I'm losing lots of time and the arrangements of everything that was exported out is pretty wonky as well.

So if anyone has some suggestions on getting my original project working or exporting everything in a way that saves my progress more effectively would be very appreciative.

 

P.S.: I can't publish the project to Band Lab because it is too large and has too many tracks.

[tecknot]

Hi Flubb and welcome to the Cakewalk forums.

Just one thing I can think of, what output is your Master buss set to?  It should be set to your sound card/audio interface.  After changing driver mode can change to the Master output (to none).

Kind regards,

tecknot

 

[Lord Tim]

The driver thing sounds weird but let's pass over that for a bit.

What happens if you open the project in Safe Mode by holding down SHIFT when you open the project, and saying NO to loading each plugin? Does it play with the plugins not loaded? It's possible something has gotten into a bad state that's blocking the audio engine from playing somehow.

If it plays with no plugins loaded, close it (without saving) and use a process of elimination to rule out which one it is. 32 bit plugins are the biggest culprit here, as is older DX plugins.

It's sometimes useful saving a safety copy of the project before you do any of this work, so if you're doing a process of elimination, you could delete all of your busses and save as a new project and see if it plays, or delete half of the tracks and see what it does - if it plays then you know the problem is in the second half of your project, so you can further refine by deleting half of those tracks and seeing if it works, and continue on until you find the culprit.

One thing you might be able to do is to save everything in the project as a Track Template, then starting up a new project and importing that template, and then copying in the source project's audio and MIDI files. If this is effects related, this will probably fail on the new project though, but it's worth a shot just in case the tangle is somewhere in the project topology rather than in an effect state.

There's a few other things to try, but start there and see how you go!

[Flubb]

Thank you both Tecknot and Lord Tim for your answers. I very much appreciate the timely responses.

Tecknot, I checked the output for the Master buss and sure enough, it was empty. Upon changing this the project sprung back to life.

Also, before making this change I received that same driver error previously mentioned. The error was as follows:

• "There are no audio devices for the current driver model on your system. Please go to Edit | Preferences | Audio | Playback and Recording and choose a different driver model. "

I'm not sure what the root cause of this is. Perhaps my switching back and forth between my speaker and headphone outputs is not playing nicely with my selected driver? But either way, I'm glad to have at least gained back the lost project.  Again, I very much appreciate both of your responses. I've spent most of the day dreading having to try and recreate this project so I'm very happy that is no longer necessary.

[Lord Tim]

Ah there we go, sometimes the simple answer is the right one  

What I think has happened with the driver is something else has tried to take exclusive control of it and it's shut Cakewalk out. What kind of audio interface and driver model (ASIO, WASAPI, etc.) are you using?

[mettelus]

46 minutes ago, Flubb said:

I've spent most of the day dreading having to try and recreate this project so I'm very happy that is no longer necessary.

Just FYI, you are not going to lose the project data in a situation like this. If you are concerned about a project potentially becoming corrupted, you can still save it with a new name to keep them both (keep the original, and save with a new name after a glitch).

The Edit->Preferences->Audio->Playback and Recording is good to visit any time you are changing the hardware you are working with. This forces the application to look for what you are trying to use and will let you know if it is available or not. The ASIO mode will only allow one device to be active at a time, so if you disconnect that, Cakewalk has nothing to talk to until you shift modes/select another available device.

[John Vere]

There’s a difference between built in audio on a laptop and a desktop computer. 
For many desktop on board audio systems Windows detects when you plug a jack in. Like I never plug anything in to the mike jack so it will not even show as an input device.
I guess if your computer has both a speaker and a headphone jack then that will definitely confuse Cakewalks ability to select the default output device. They may show as available in audio devices but the master bus output can only use one.
 

There is a way to add a headphone bus that solves the problem. But it can be different for each computer how this might work.  If you look to the right of your buses in console view you’ll see a divider you can pull left to show the hardware mixer.  
Laptops are different in that they have both built in mikes and speakers as well as the jacks. The headphone/ mike jack disables the speakers/ mikes so it s still the same device and therefore no problem. 

Edited August 12, 2023 by JohnnyV