PTLE 6.4 - CAN'T BOUNCE TO DISK! ...help...

[yakmatter]

i've been having the same problem. here's a very long transcription of my communications with digi tech support. it might prove helpful. i, personally, do not think that the problem is fully resolved. i am awaiting a response from digidesign.


MY SUPPORT REQUEST
-------------------

Please give a concise description of the problem:
i was bouncing stems to disk. after having completed 5 or 6 bounces (without changing my settings or installing any other software/hardware) all of the sudden the bounces stopped showing up in the finder. the bounce completes without any error, but no audio shows up in the directory i bounced to.

Actions required to reproduce the problem:
bounce to disk, any source, .aiff or .wav, mono or multiple mono, 16bit, 44.1kHz. this is all from a 16bit, 44.1kHz .wav session.

Troubleshooting already attempted:
i have tried bouncing in multiple formats, to multiple drives, the same problem persists. when i select 'import after bounce' --sometimes i will get the error 'Could not complete the "Bounce to Disk..." command because: Assertion in "FF_AudioProperty.cpp", line 33. i have trashed my protools prefs, trashed my digi databases, and performed 'repair disk permissions' in the disk utility.


DIGIDESIGN'S RESPONSE
--------------------

Hello,

Thank you for contacting Digidesign Technical Support.

Is this on one session ore all sessions?

The assertion error refers to a corruption in the session, a track, an
audio file, or a fade file. Looks the like the error "thinks" this is
related to a fade file. I would locate the fade file folder for the
session and trash it. Then empty the trash and re-open the session. It
will rebuild the fades, and may solve the error.

If it does not, you may be dealing with a corrupt session. Create a New
Session, use the File>Import Tracks command to transfer the tracks into the
new session file and see if the behavior persists.

This could also be related to a corrupt audio file. If that is the case
when importing tracks, import half the session in a new session called 1A,
and import into another new session called 1B. See which side is having
problems. You can then keep splitting this session up to narrow down to a
particular track or audio file.

In addition:
-Check the integrity of your drives with Disk Warrior or any other such
utility. Repair any and all corrupted catalogs and/or BTree Directories.


MY RESPONSE TO THE ABOVE
-------------------------

it is happening on multiple sessions ...but not all sessions. though some are different versions of the same session, some are completely unrelated sessions. i have tried throwing away the fade files, which does not seem to help.

protools writes a file where i tell it to. if i immediately go to that file and click on it, i get no preview playback bar in the finder. ...and soon the file disappears completely. mind you, i only get the assertion error if i check 'convert after bounce' ...during the conversion process. otherwise, the bounce occurs without error, but no file is created.

(A TEMPORARY SOLUTION)

i just discovered that if i select a significant length beyond the time which i want to bounce, the file will stay in the finder and preview properly. by adding, a 'buffer' of silence at the end of the selected regions to be bounced, the problem is mysteriously solved. this also enables a successful bounce without the assertion error when 'convert after bounce' is selected.


could this still be a problem with corrupt audio? or a corrupt session?


--------------------------

if anybody has any insights [digi?] it would be nice to hear them.


---
g5 dual 2ghz
002 rack
protools le 6.4
osx 10.3.3

[cookachoo2002]

This is interesting. Thank you for posting that dialogue Yak.

When you say, "a significant length beyond the time which (you) want to bounce", could you be more specific? Do you mean and extra Minute? 10 seconds? 10 minutes?

Thanks

[DigiTechSupt]

Hi,

What happens if you select exactly the length you want to bounce? It could be the selection is making the difference. This error is usually seen when a session or its audio files have been moved from one volume to another. Drag and drop the session document and all necessary audio files to a separate volume, then render the original materials inaccessible by unmounting the volume(s) that they reside on. Launch the new session copy. The key thing is to work without the original drive mounted. Try moving it so your system drive an unmounting your external drives as a test.

Thanks,

Digidesign Tech Support

[The Mink]

Hey y'all. I'm the one who posted this, and I may have figured it out:

It seems that it won't let me bounce IF I HAVE A 'REWIRE' APPLICATION RUNNING THROUGH PT. For example, if I actually record my Reason track onto a PT track and than shut Reason off, IT WORKS. If I try to do it with Reaon going simultaneously, I get the Assertion Error.

But I never had this problem in 6.3... mind you, that was a TDM system...

And this is not a G5 issue. I'm on a 17" powerbook G4.
Any thoughts?....

[yakmatter]

...interesting theory, rewire. i WAS running reason adapted via re-wire in all of my problem sessions. however, i just tried removing the insert and the problem still persists for me.

for mr. achoo:
i had a problem with a 0.4 second selection, so i extended it to 0.9 seconds.
i had a problem with a 12 second selection, so i extended it to 15 seconds.
both did the trick.

for mr. digi:
>What happens if you select exactly the length you want to bounce?
that is exactly when the problem seems to occur. the workaround seems to be when i make a larger selection.

for mr. mink:
sorry, i didn't mean to hijack your thread...

[MadMachinery]

Same here for me- doesn't matter if I'm running ReWire or ANY plugs. I've tried everything including disabling MIDI- no luck. The only workaround so far is to select space at the end of the bounce- and even that relies on length. Sometimes choosing 1 bar doesn't work, sometimes it does.

I've had yet another thing happen- instead of the file disappearing like it has been, it stays but is 4k in size and contains no data.

[The Mink]

Looks like a proper bug. And a doozy at that.

[tele_player]

Looks like a proper bug. And a doozy at that.

Reminiscent of the bounce to disk bug that appeared on Windows in 6.1, remained in 6.1.1, and looks mostly fixed in 6.4. Of course. It wasn't properly acknowledged, or mentioned in any release notes as having been fixed. It plaqued many users for 8 months.

[Muxlow]

Same exact problem here. Will report what I find, if anything.

[Muxlow]

It seems like a problem that is exclusive to G5's. But Slim, you've set a new level for my discouragement by stating you had it on your TiBook.

This is not exclusive to G5s....