Master Bus Output is WAY Too Quiet and Audio Drops Out Since I Hit Unintended Keystrokes?

[D_Maynard]

TLDR: and Thanks in Advance
I have a project that is very nearly complete and suddenly the Master output is messed up and the audio engine is glitchy (crackles and doesn't output anything intermittently). Troubleshooting indicates problem is isolated to the Master bus. I found a workaround but I would really like to know what else I could try to make this project work properly again.

What's happening:
The Master bus is acting like it has a -26db pad on it somehow.
I'm 99.5% sure only the Master bus is wonky.
It was outputting perfectly at near unity the entire time I've been tracking and mixing, until this issue arose. 
I believe this issue correlates with trying to rename a track when I wasn't actually in the text box, but I'm not certain.
I THINK I was typing "Doctor David" but instead hit one or more random keyboard shortcuts.  (example - The Console View took over the entire screen as I typed.)
Now playback is very quiet and the audio glitches and sometimes stops working at all until I turn off the effects on the Master (Ozone 10), then it is still quiet but will play back for a while until it stops again.

Troubleshooting steps:
Master bus fader is at unity, unchanged from previous working condition, gain at unity, no muting, no weird routing.
I've confirmed that other projects play back and output correctly. This issue is only affecting this project.
I put an identical new audio track in this project and an old one and soloed it, plays fine in old, quiet in this project.
I've checked Gain and Ozone settings on the Master and all looks correct.
It plays back quiet (at -26 db peak) even with Ozone bypassed or removed from the Master bus.
Full audio export from Master bus is also way quiet.
Several other things that I can't remember that helped me isolate it to the Master bus output only.

Temporary workaround:
I created a new stereo bus and re-routed all tracks and subs to it, moved Ozone to it, and routed output to my Scarlett 2i2, effectively making it the Master.
Hey, that worked! Hoorah! Playback is at proper levels, smooth without dropouts, and export is just how it should be.

I see nothing in settings or on the Master bus that explains this behavior. I would love any direction to sort out what happened and fix the problem rather than bypass it.




 

[David Baay]

48 minutes ago, D_Maynard said:

I THINK I was typing "Doctor David" but instead hit one or more random keyboard shortcuts. 

Possibly you have 'o' bound to Offset Mode, and inadvertenty changed gain or volume of the master bus while in Offset. It'as not a default binding but the default bindings of those keys would not otherwise alter the sound of a project. The two "o"s in 'Doctor'  should have just toggled you in and back out of Offset Mode, but if you hit something in between, it could have changed the level.

[D_Maynard]

3 hours ago, David Baay said:

Possibly you have 'o' bound to Offset Mode, and inadvertenty changed gain or volume of the master bus while in Offset. It'as not a default binding but the default bindings of those keys would not otherwise alter the sound of a project. The two "o"s in 'Doctor'  should have just toggled you in and back out of Offset Mode, but if you hit something in between, it could have changed the level.

I would hug you right now if I could! Fantastic guess!

My O is not bound to offset, but offset mode WAS active (I've never used it or even knew what that button did up in the top bar). I turned off offset and "KaBlam!" Master output was back to normal when I moved everything back to it! Something is still wackadoodle with the audio engine popping and stopping, Definitely something up with the effects section. I still think it's related to my random typing, but at this point as long as my mix is what it's supposed to be and I can export, I'm happy, since it's only affecting this project and I'm very close to moving on from it.

[David Baay]

16 hours ago, D_Maynard said:

I would hug you right now if I could! Fantastic guess!

Cool. Glad to help. Regarding the audio engine problem; I can't really think of anything you could toggle on from the keyboard that would have shoot it in the foot like that. It may well be plugin-related. Any Izotope mastering plugins recently added to the project? They generally need a larger buffer to run smoothly. Beyond that, I would just check the usual suspects, starting with DPC latency:

https://www.resplendence.com/latencymon

[T Boog]

When I first started on Cakewalk, I kept asking everyone on the forum why I had such low output. It wasnt until many months later, that I asked if there was a way to control the overall track volumes after I had automated each track. That's when someone taught me about offset mode. And voila, there was my problem.

Now I love using offset mode but it's kinda like having a second mixing board hiding in the closet. You just have to get in the habit of remembering it's there/ always in line. (If u choose to use it that is)