Rendered click not playing until other audio plays

[Pvgeldrop]

Hi everyone, new PT user here, and running into a problem that I can't seem to fix.

I imported a few .wav-files, and then created a click track. I then rendered this click track, ending up with a nice audio file. (screenshot attached)

When I start the track at the beginning, the meter on the click track indicates that the click is outputting, but there is no sound. The click doesn't become audible until the third bar, second beat, after the other wav files have started playing as well.

Just to be clear:
- The audio click does indicate it's playing back even when there's no sound (I can see the audio meter pop up every beat), but it isn't audible.
- The audio click only becomes audible when the other .wav files have started playing back at the third bar, SECOND beat
- In summary, the audio click isn't audible for the first two bars and the first beat of the third bar, THEN it comes through the speakers.

I can't for the life of me figure out what the issue is here, but hopefully somebody else has the answer for me?

Thanks in advance!

[Pvgeldrop]

I noticed that my screenshot was a bit wonky, here is a better version.

[albee1952]

Hmm, show the volume line and look for unintended automation?

[Pvgeldrop]

Alas, no, no volume automation on the click track.

This is a screenshot of the mixer during those first two bars; there should be sound, but there's not.

[Darryl Ramm]

Automation is a very good suspect. Did you look for volume automation on the master fader track? Easy way to disable all automation: go to Windows>Automation and click on the SUSPEND button, does that change anything?

Make sure what you do eventually hear is this click recording on the track you think it is. Not say you see the meter move on this track, but what you hear starting late is not coming from some other track... including not a hidden track... show all hidden tracks.

Where is your system info? See under "help us help you" up the top of each DUC web page and provide the expected info. What interface are you using?

It's hard to make anything out from the scaled down (by DUC, very annoyingly...) tiny and/or partial screenshots. If you want to post screenshots please post them to a file or photo sharing site and post the links here. Include things like the I/O assignment buttons in any mix or edit window screenshots so we have some chance of working out the routing.

As a quick test as well you can try making a test session. Do a Save Session Copy In and save that in an entirely new folder. Then open that copy you made in Pro Tools and delete all tracks except the audio track the click recording is on. Show all hidden tracks and delete them as well. Create a new master fader track. Click play. What happens?

[Pvgeldrop]

I've suspended all automation, to no effect alas.

The click I'm hearing is definitely coming from the committed click track. The only hidden track was the original click track which I committed. Removing that track makes no difference.

My system info:
- Pro Tools Artist, version 2023.12.1
- Windows 10, 22H2
- MOTU Ultralite-MK4 audio interface
- AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X
- 128GB DDR4 RAM

There is only one output defined in PT; TOSLink 1-2, the output of my MOTU device.

Saving a copy of the session and opening that has the same result; no click is audible until bar 3, beat 2.

Additional: When I solo the clicktrack audio, it doesn't play back at all.

I just tried making a whole new session, and then just create a clicktrack; the track doesn't play back at all. Again, I can see the meters moving, automation is suspended, et cetera.
When I then import an audio file into it with audio in it, THEN the click track starts becoming audible (as soon as PT hits the audio in the imported audiofile).

[Darryl Ramm]

Have you tried trashing prefs? If not do that now, see the instructions "under help us help you". Unlikely to fix this, but just always try that when troubleshooting.

It does not seem like you have any plugins in the session... esp. on master faders etc.... but check, demo plugins or plugins having licensing problems can mute the output periodically.

The behavior really seems like you have another hidden track you are listening to, but that would not happen if you deleted everything else. You can confuse things with solo if there is more complex routing going on, but for any testing here each track should output directly to the output I/O ports you are using. No sends, no auxes.

If those don't help. Zip up your test session folder and post online somewhere on a file sharing site. zip up the entire session folder with the needed audio files in it. Post online on a file sharing site and post the link here.

[Pvgeldrop]

I've zipped and uploaded the session, still haven't found anything that worked:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1E1w...ew?usp=sharing

If you could take a look at it, I'd very much appreciate it, thank you.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by Pvgeldrop

I've zipped and uploaded the session, still haven't found anything that worked:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1E1w...ew?usp=sharing

If you could take a look at it, I'd very much appreciate it, thank you.

Paul

I downloaded the session, and beside having to let Pro Tools auto relink the content files this worked flawlessly on macOS Sonoma 14.4 running Pro Tools Studio 2024.3. I could hear the audio click track from the first click And to be clear here since all the track inputs are "no input" and you are just playing back content the H/W Buffer size should not matter, it will be using the 1024 sample large disk playback buffer size the session is running are at 48kHz. So while I changed H/W buffer size from 32 samples to 1024 samples, it made no difference as expected.

Do you have another interface to test with?

Are you *absolutely sure* you do not have any effects on the DAW returns in the MOTU CueMix mixer? No limiters or noise gates etc. (I'm not sure what effects MOTU offers nowadays). Don't assume, actually check carefully as so many people manage to hurt themselves with hardware monitoring/hardware mixers. Do you see the first clicks showing up on the CueMix DAW return meters even if you don't hear them? Ideally look at the level pre-effects if the meters can show that, or remove all effects in that path. Sorry I'm just not up on CueMix.

[Darryl Ramm]

And it's not Windows vs. Mac. I just ran this thought Pro Tools Intro 2023.9 on Windows 11 and it worked fine. Heck I was running some software QA tests using virtual machines so I actually ran this in a VMware Fusion Windows 11 virtual machine on an Intel MacBook Pro (no definitely not recommenced for any sane use) and even that worked just fine, all clicks audible.