Pro Tools playback muting periodically!

[http960430]

Hello,

I just moved my system workflow from mac to pc. After I set up Pro Tools and loaded my previous sessions to test it out, I noticed that whenever I playback my session, the sound would not happen periodically.

So when I click spacebar to play the song, it would play back with no problem. But after few seconds (depends on the session, one I tested first was 15 seconds ish and another was like around 9 to 10 seconds) I could see the master fader meter dropping down to -inf and no sound would come out from the speaker for a short amount like 1 second, and then the sound comes back. No other individual track meters were dropped down, only master fader did. This happens in continuous cycle for same period of time as I counted.

Would it be some kind of settings I messed up with my PT or would it be just a glitch from playback machines (my Apollo) or such?

[Darryl Ramm]

Are any faders moving? If so this is caused by automation on some track, or maybe it's automation on a plugin. If so turn off automation or delete the bad automation. If you have no idea about automation, the Pro Tools Reference Guide contains all you need to know, as I expect do tutorial videos on YouTube and similar. You can try disabling all plugins (hold down shift while opening a session from the File menu).

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by http960430

I could see the master fader meter dropping down to -inf and no sound would come out from the speaker for a short amount like 1 second, and then the sound comes back

Hi, welcome to the community.

Darryl already pointed out that you have automation going on on the master fader. If you do not know how to fix it and do not have time to learn (you should) you can create another empty master fader and drop your plugins there, then delete the old master fader.

[Darryl Ramm]

Oh nice suggestion.

[Ben Jenssen]

Or perhaps a plugin that turned into demo in the mac/pc transition, and is muting?

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by Ben Jenssen

Or perhaps a plugin that turned into demo in the mac/pc transition, and is muting?

Possible, but in this case OP said master fader was jumping

[Darryl Ramm]

Ah he said the master fader *meter* was jumping... I misread that as well at first.

Demo plugin is a great thing to check out.

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

master fader *meter* was jumping

Oh yea, can see it now

[Macsearcher]

This will happen when your buffer is too low.
Drove me nuts when this used to happen as there's no other indication that the system is laggng.

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by Macsearcher

This will happen when your buffer is too low.
Drove me nuts when this used to happen as there's no other indication that the system is laggng.

Take the tick out of the "ignore errors while playback" box and you will notice when it is too low.