? Source of Mystery Blue-Line Volume Automation

[Mount Royal]

I rely quite heavily on VCA volume automation to control grouped tracks. When VCA Volume Automation controls a group in which a given track resides, that track's volume automation is written with the traditional Black line, with the VCA Volume automation impacting that track rendering as a Blue Line in the Volume Automation lane.

In a large current session, I have mystery volume automation showing as a blue line over a dozen or so tracks. The blue line is nutso huge sawtooth volume swings over certain timeline sections. No VCA controlling those tracks shows volume sawtooths, and there is no Trim Volume sawtooths in either the audio tracks affected, or in any VCA.

It's as though there is a hidden VCA that applies to the affected tracks, and that the VCA has sawtooth volume automation.

When I display only VCA Masters in the track window and observes the VCA tracks, there is now sawtooth movement. What gives here, please?

John Caldwell

[Drew Mazurek]

Composite Playlist.

View menu/Automation/Composite Playlist

Pg. 1105 of ref manual.

[Mount Royal]

Thanks Drew. The Blue Line automation, crazy as it appeared, disappeared when the VCA channels that controlled those tracks was deleted. Even it retrospect, neither the VCA's Volume or Volume Trim automation explained the radical Blue Line data.

Thanks very much.

John Caldwell

[Drew Mazurek]

Originally Posted by Mount Royal

Thanks Drew. The Blue Line automation, crazy as it appeared, disappeared when the VCA channels that controlled those tracks was deleted. Even it retrospect, neither the VCA's Volume or Volume Trim automation explained the radical Blue Line data.

Thanks very much.

John Caldwell

The pref for what happens to Trim automation does explain it. When a VCA is removed, its automation data is Coalesced and the blue line goes away.

Go through the manual, it'll all make sense once you play around with it a bit.

[Mount Royal]

Get that. What didn't make sense is that the VCA's automation was quite modest in its volume shifts. The Blue Line was crazy saw tooth that went from negative infinity to positive 8. We have the option of Coalescing VCA automation, or not, at the time of deleting the VCA track, or leaving the VCA in place by Right Clicking the VCA. I use those features heavily.

Thanks for your kind assistance, Drew.

John-