Crossfade not working

[izthewiz]

mac OS 12.6.2
M1 iMac 2021
Pro Tools 2022.12.0
Subscription

Hi all,

I have been a Pro Tool user since the days of Digidesign, and I am struggling to perform a simple crossfade between a dual mono (stereo) waveform. Command + F, which normally is the keyboard shortcut for create fade does nothing, despite keyboard focus enabled in edit view. The keyboard shortcuts menu has command + F as 'create fades', and under the focus column the checkbox is ticked. When this is ticked I then get this error message when using the command + F shortcut "That command could not be run at this time".

Has something changed with all these recent updates? Simple fades can be applied to the top and tails of waveforms, but if a break is made in the waveform for editing/processing purposes, I can't apply a crossfade.

Any suggestions?

[huzzam]

If you use the smart tool in the bottom corner where the two clips meet, are you able to create a crossfade that way? Have you confirmed that there aren't already fades on the clips (very small ones can hide; zoom way in to check)?

[its2loud]

Originally Posted by izthewiz

mac OS 12.6.2
M1 MacBook Air 2021
Pro Tools 2022.12.0
Subscription

Hi all,

I have been a Pro Tool user since the days of Digidesign, and I am struggling to perform a simple crossfade between a dual mono (stereo) waveform. Command + F, which normally is the keyboard shortcut for create fade does nothing, despite keyboard focus enabled in edit view. The keyboard shortcuts menu has command + F as 'create fades', and under the focus column the checkbox is ticked. When this is ticked I then get this error message when using the command + F shortcut "That command could not be run at this time".

Has something changed with all these recent updates? Simple fades can be applied to the top and tails of waveforms, but if a break is made in the waveform for editing/processing purposes, I can't apply a crossfade.

Any suggestions?

Are you making a selection when using Command+F or just placing your cursor at a point in the clip? With command+F you need to make a selection for where you want the face to occur. If it’s a cross fade then the selection needs to be across the clip boundaries.

When keyboard focus is turned on, you do not use Command+F anymore. You use the keyboard letters for the type of fade you want on the clip. In this case, just placing the cursor where you want the fade to begin or end works and pressing the appropriate letter D for fade in, G for fade out, and F for cross fade (selection still needs to be made for this one) will do the trick.

Huzzam makes a good point that if you have auto create fades when editing turned on the micro fades will keep you from creating cross fades across an edit or clip break.

[izthewiz]

Originally Posted by huzzam

If you use the smart tool in the bottom corner where the two clips meet, are you able to create a crossfade that way? Have you confirmed that there aren't already fades on the clips (very small ones can hide; zoom way in to check)?

There are no small fades on any of the clips, they are normally just rendered/processed clips from Izotope RX.

[izthewiz]

Originally Posted by its2loud

Are you making a selection when using Command+F or just placing your cursor at a point in the clip? With command+F you need to make a selection for where you want the face to occur. If it’s a cross fade then the selection needs to be across the clip boundaries.

When keyboard focus is turned on, you do not use Command+F anymore. You use the keyboard letters for the type of fade you want on the clip. In this case, just placing the cursor where you want the fade to begin or end works and pressing the appropriate letter D for fade in, G for fade out, and F for cross fade (selection still needs to be made for this one) will do the trick.

Huzzam makes a good point that if you have auto create fades when editing turned on the micro fades will keep you from creating cross fades across an edit or clip break.

There are no small fades creates on these clips, they're just usually rendered clips from Izotope RX. Where is the preferences option to auto create fade? Is it preserve fades when editing?

Obviously making a small selection over the clips for the crossfade, normally command + F will bring up the crossfade window to create the type of crossfade.

Now interestingly, I just opened up the same session and it appears to be working as normal. Command + F triggers the crossfade menu, and just F auto creates a crossfade. Tested on both a stereo audio track, and dual mono. Worth mentioning that in this particular session I am only recording/editing/processing a stereo input in dual mono, with both tracks hard panned left/right and grouped for editing purposes. For testing purposes I just imported a stereo audio file, 16/44.1.

Other useful information to note, the session is 24-bit / 96 KHz AIFF interleaved.

Do you think there may be a conflict somewhere between mac OS and compatible audio plug-ins?

[Bob L]

Originally Posted by izthewiz

There are no small fades creates on these clips, they're just usually rendered clips from Izotope RX.

Do the RX rendered files have overlaps (padded heads and tails)? If not, no crossfades.

[originalscottyg]

Originally Posted by Bob L

Do the RX rendered files have overlaps (padded heads and tails)? If not, no crossfades.

This is the most likely culprit. AudioSuite processing rendered with no handles: set to Entire Selection instead of Clip By Clip. RX connect is the worst because it always defaults to Entire Selection, even when saved in Window Configs, etc., whereas other plugins, even pother RX plugins, will remember the Clip By Clip state.

[izthewiz]

Originally Posted by originalscottyg

This is the most likely culprit. AudioSuite processing rendered with no handles: set to Entire Selection instead of Clip By Clip. RX connect is the worst because it always defaults to Entire Selection, even when saved in Window Configs, etc., whereas other plugins, even pother RX plugins, will remember the Clip By Clip state.

I'll do some testing and report back. Thanks for the advice.

[izthewiz]

Okay so finally had time to do some testing on this.

The session is a simple 24-bit / 96 KHz with two audio channels hard panned left/right. These two audio channels are allocated to a group for the benefit of editing. The two channels are routed to a stereo sub mix, and the sub mix is then feeding master. Minimal plug-ins except for a stereo meter and some bus processing, nothing crazy. This is the same session I've been using for years generally without issue.

Just did a sample record for a few seconds, added a break in the audio and used the fade shortcut. No issue. Sent the full clip with no added break to Izotope RX 9 audio editor via RX Connect (default audio-suite preferences are create individual files / entire selection). Performed minimal processing in RX 9 audio editor, and sent back to Pro Tools for rendering. Applied a break in the audio, crossfade works.

Added one break in the audio, then sent each of the two clips to RX 9 audio editor via RX Connect using the exact same audio-suite parameters. Performed minimal processing in RX 9 audio editor, and sent back to Pro Tools for rendering. Tried adding a crossfade between these two rendered clips, did not work! So this appears to be the cause and problem.

Izotope RX 9 audio editor does not have any option in preferences regarding fades, so I will keep testing and also reach out to Izotope regarding this. It's most likely an audio-suite parameter causing a conflict.

Thanks for the advice guys!

[BScout]

You have to have overlap to crossfade.
When you render/send via Connect, you need to have 2s (or something) set at the bottom of RX Connect; if you are cutting a file and then sending each side to RX, when you render each returned clip, there is then no overlap. The rendered files end at the boundaries.
That means there is nothing to crossfade.