Can No Longer Export Audio to Mp3

[alan933]

I have been doing this for some time but now it no longer works.

I have 2 audio tracks that are about 90 seconds.

 it exports to an mp3 but when I play the mp3 it is only 3 seconds and no sound.

I can't figure out what changed and why it no longer works.

[Promidi]

What have you tried so far?  (I am assuming you have already tried several PC reboots)

I just tried an MP3 export of a current project and it worked fine  (PC configured as per signature)

[alan933]

3 hours ago, Promidi said:

What have you tried so far?  (I am assuming you have already tried several PC reboots)

I just tried an MP3 export of a current project and it worked fine  (PC configured as per signature)

I'm not sure what happened. I set the source to tracks and it exported each audio track to a separate file and those worked.

Then I changed it back to entire mix and it worked fine.

Seems like a bug to me.

[Bruno de Souza Lino]

I experienced this bug as well. Apparently, if you don't select all tracks before opening the export window, the mp3 export doesn't work.

[Promidi]

3 minutes ago, msmcleod said:

It's not a bug.  The export dialog is selection based.

To export everything you either need to:

1. Select everything; or
2. Select nothing ( CTRL + SHIFT + A  selects nothing )

This is how the export has always worked for me - it’s successful every time..  (I usually use the “Select nothing”)

If I ever get a partial export, it’s because I inadvertently selected something before the export.

[John Vere]

What a lot of people don't realize is there is a hidden options view in the What to export dialogue to the right that allows you to select the tracks from within the export dialogue. Once again Cakewalk likes to hide important things in an attempt to keep things looking simple? How many people every read the documentation or would notice a little tiny blue arrow? 

I have not bothered to use select all or select none for a long time with 100's of exports without issue. The new export features cover this.  In my screen shot only the Guitar track 6 would be exported. Simple. 

The Range selection is not about what tracks are included, it is to select the range. Entire mix will export from 1.01 to the determined end of song or track which as we all know might be way to long. You use Time Selection to top and tail the export. 

Edited May 8, 2023 by John Vere

[msmcleod]

Just a quick note regarding presets vs tasks:

Presets - these specify the filename tags, general format settings and source category.  They are meant to be global, so they don't contain any project specific information.

Tasks - these are project specific, so in addition to everything the preset contains, they also contain the checked sources under source-category, the track/bus selection, the time range, and any encoder settings (e.g. MP3 settings / tags ).   

Additionally, although tasks are project specific, you can save them as part of a project template.  Setting this up is slightly convoluted, as you need to create the tasks with audio clips present in the tracks, but then delete the audio clips when you save the template.  But this can be useful if you do several common exports types for every project.

[57Gregy]

That would be your entire mix?

[msmcleod]

6 hours ago, Bruno de Souza Lino said:

I experienced this bug as well. Apparently, if you don't select all tracks before opening the export window, the mp3 export doesn't work.

It's not a bug.  The export dialog is selection based.

To export everything you either need to:

1. Select everything; or
2. Select nothing ( CTRL + SHIFT + A  selects nothing )

The OP's screenshot shows "Track 10 Drums" selected, so none of the unselected tracks will be exported.  Also, as Track 10 is a MIDI track, no audio will be exported unless it's corresponding audio track is also selected.

The difference between selecting everything or selecting nothing is subtle:

Selection:
1.  A selection specifies both tracks and a start time/duration.  If you save this as an export task, then the task won't pick up any new tracks or change in duration (assuming you've chosen Range = Selection).
2.  When choosing Tracks or "Tracks Through Entire Mix", all tracks will be exported at the same length, i.e. the length of the selection.

No selection:
1.  No selection implies all tracks.  If you create an export task, any new tracks will automatically be picked up.
2.  No selection + Range = Entire Project will always export everything for the whole project duration
3.  When choosing Tracks or "Tracks Through Entire Mix", each track will be exported at its own specific duration.

[Bruno de Souza Lino]

3 hours ago, msmcleod said:

It's not a bug.  The export dialog is selection based.

To export everything you either need to:

1. Select everything; or
2. Select nothing ( CTRL + SHIFT + A  selects nothing )

The OP's screenshot shows "Track 10 Drums" selected, so none of the unselected tracks will be exported.  Also, as Track 10 is a MIDI track, no audio will be exported unless it's corresponding audio track is also selected.

The difference between selecting everything or selecting nothing is subtle:

Selection:
1.  A selection specifies both tracks and a start time/duration.  If you save this as an export task, then the task won't pick up any new tracks or change in duration (assuming you've chosen Range = Selection).
2.  When choosing Tracks or "Tracks Through Entire Mix", all tracks will be exported at the same length, i.e. the length of the selection.

No selection:
1.  No selection implies all tracks.  If you create an export task, any new tracks will automatically be picked up.
2.  No selection + Range = Entire Project will always export everything for the whole project duration
3.  When choosing Tracks or "Tracks Through Entire Mix", each track will be exported at its own specific duration.

It makes no sense for the "Entire Mix" preset to require you to select which tracks have to be exported or to select none at all, especially considering it's grabbing audio from the hardware outputs.

 

[msmcleod]

1 hour ago, Bruno de Souza Lino said:

It makes no sense for the "Entire Mix" preset to require you to select which tracks have to be exported or to select none at all, especially considering it's grabbing audio from the hardware outputs.

 

"Entire Mix" is the source category - which means, as you say, it's grabbing audio from the hardware outputs.

This is totally separate from what you're actually sending to the entire mix.

[Bruno de Souza Lino]

2 hours ago, msmcleod said:

"Entire Mix" is the source category - which means, as you say, it's grabbing audio from the hardware outputs.

This is totally separate from what you're actually sending to the entire mix.

What I'm actually sending to the entire mix is something I've done already...When I mixed the track. And that's what comes out of the hardware outputs.

Next thing you'll tell me is you actually have to do another mix using what you selected at the export window.

Can we return to the old audio export thing where it just worked and didn't introduce extra hurdles that make no sense?

[John Vere]

Your missing the point. You can choose entire mix but if only a few tracks are selected and some are not that is the mix.  So the old school method was select none. But as I pointed out you can do exactly that inside the export dialogue now. I've never had an issue once I learned how it all works. It wasn't that hard really.  And you can make up your own pre sets or even create tasks so there's no guesswork involved. Only thing I keep an eye on is the Range. 

[Bruno de Souza Lino]

On 5/9/2023 at 1:05 AM, John Vere said:

Your missing the point. You can choose entire mix but if only a few tracks are selected and some are not that is the mix.

Cakewalk seems to be the only DAW in the market where an Export preset called "Entire Mix" can mean something else depending on arbitrary factors like track selection. Plus, that's functionality which is duplicated in the Track Export window itself with presets and and the options. If the tracks you have selected before exporting override the presets, what's the point of even having presets in the first place?