10.1.2 (Potential) Critical Bug

Cutting a feature film on 10.1.2.

Any time I open my project at the beginning of the workday, audio clips such as sound effects, music, etc. have disappeared from the timeline.

Being a feature, I have 1000's of clips and am wondering about a timeline limit but the disappearance of previous days audio work each subsequent day has jarringly halted progress.

I need some help figuring out and remedying the situation as I would prefer to finish in FCPX rather than translate to a different NLE this late in the edit.

Any similar cases or recommendations?

Best,
Drew

Having thousands of clips in a Library is no exception, that should not be a problem.

I am not aware of any reports about similar issues, so we will need more information.

What OS are you running?
What hardware (computer, RAM, drives)?

Does this only happen with audio clips?
Do these files come from an external source? What format are they?
Are these files stored inside the Library or on an external drive?

Has this been happening since you started the project or only recently?
Do you regularly make duplicates or snapshots of your timeline?
What is the duration of your edit at this time?

Have you refreshed your FCP X preferences (launch FCP X while holding the ALT+CMD keys pressed)?

- Ronny

drewboyd wrote: Any time I open my project at the beginning of the workday, audio clips such as sound effects, music, etc. have disappeared from the timeline.

This is happening every time you open the project? Ouch.

BTW. I've done a feature length workflow in FCPX. Never saw this problem working editing over 8 month period.

Thanks for the responses guys.

What OS are you running?
What hardware (computer, RAM, drives)?

10.9.4, MacPro ('13) 64 Ram
2 Promise Pegasus - 6 bay, 8 bay
Tri-monitor setup: One ASUS 4K --- One Apple Cinema Display 2005 --- One 2012

The problem manifests only with audio clips (but other source media is 4K RED & proxies)
All audio = 48khz 16 bit .aif
All audio stored on external drives.

Has this been happening since you started the project or only recently?

Just since the 10.1.2 update.

Do you regularly make duplicates or snapshots of your timeline?

I version sequences frequently, and have tried snapshots and duplications to see if it would rectify the problem.

What is the duration of your edit at this time?

01:59:44:14
This has only been happening since 10.1.2.

Have you refreshed your FCP X preferences (launch FCP X while holding the ALT+CMD keys pressed)?

Yes

BTW. I've done a feature length workflow in FCPX. Never saw this problem working editing over 8 month period.

This has been an ongoing edit since December of 2013. No problems in 2 hour sequences up until the most recent update.

Which leads me to believe this is a 10.1.2 problem.

So this is reproducible? Every time you load the library or every time you open the project inside FCPX?

Can you contact me directly? Let me see if we can get this figured out. Email me at my username here at my company name which is onecreative and then dot net.

So this is reproducible? Every time you load the library or every time you open the project inside FCPX?

That's the frustrating part. I just restarted my machine and reopened FCPX to see if it had happened again, and all the corrections I made by reconstructing missing audio portions from earlier today are there. When I go back through the timeline other connected audio has now gone missing.

The one possibly important thing to mention is that they are all part of a storyline. Bits of foley, sound effects, or music combined into individual storylines. Incredibly frustrating as now my confidence in what remains in my edit is shaken. I could transition to editing in 20 minute reels but that is not preferred or optimal.

When I fix certain passages, audio seems to disappear elsewhere, which is why I initally asked if there was a clip limit in FCPX (which wouldn't make sense).

Can you contact me directly? Let me see if we can get this figured out. Email me at my username here at my company name which is onecreative and then dot net.

Yes, thank you for offering your time.

And just to confirm its not user error, I initially thought I had possibly trimmed a head or tail of a primary storyline clip with connected audio and had accidentally caused this, but after days of dealing with this I can assure it's not the case.

Hi Drew,

Very frustrating indeed, and I am sure this is not caused by user error.

I hope you have contacted Timothy. Keep us updated on the situation and if you need further help post back here.

- Ronny

"The one possibly important thing to mention is that they are all part of a storyline."

Actually, I've seen some odd behavior in secondary audio-only storylines as well. Nothing specific, but using the position tool to rearrange audio sometimes has unexpected results. Though possibly not what you're seeing. I've reported it, and I'd encourage you too as well. if you're using storylines as an organizational tool, I'd suggest maybe cutting with connected clips and using gap filled secondaries or a "separator" to keep them grouped together. Just record a long a silent clip which you can retime to make as long as you need and disable and minimize in the timeline. Not ideal, but better than losing work.

That is crazy. As a workaround until it gets figured out you could try to export project xml named with date and time before you close FCPX each time. That way if/when there is an issue you can just reimport and keep moving.

So the problem with connected storylines persists with my recent project timeline, and newly created projects within both a new test Library and original Library.

To work around I've just broken apart all secondary audio storylines and haven't had a problem since.

This very well could be a property of my individual Library and not a 10.1.2 wide bug, so hopefully this finds everyone else quirk-free moving forward.

It did put quite a scare in me but I have no doubt all will continue to be ironed out. Still as impressed with FCPX as ever.

Special thanks to all of you guys for responding!

Best,
Drew

Hi Drew,

Thank you for the update. Nevertheless I encourage you to report this to Apple using the Feedback page. If this can happen with your specific project it also can happen with someone else's production. And I surely can imagine it's not a pleasant thing to experience! Glad your workaround seems to solve the issue, but it's absolutely not normal.

- Ronny

Reported to Apple last week to a quick, attentive response. I've provided them with my Library bundle.

Problem with audio levels persists, mixing I've done doesn't take hold and continues to disappear. I edit now without Secondary Storylines but have attempted a few to see if the problem remains, and it has.

In addition, there is a quirk where half the time I make my Event Browser or Library Browser active, Final Cut automatically begins loading different versions of the project, which is quite time consuming.

To counter this, I have attempted to move previous project versions to a different Archive library, but now no projects will copy over.

I'm reaching the "event horizon" where the time saved by cutting on FCPX and justifying the NLE choice no longer exists. Though I stand by FCPX as the future it's becoming comparable to a post schedule on Avid, Premiere, or FCP 7.

I have 3 weeks until prepping for the full 5.1 mix at a house here in NYC and I'm truly nervous.

Drew,

Major bummer. Something sounds like it when horribly wrong, but you'll get through it I'm sure. It really sounds like something is horribly corrupted. I wonder if dividing up in reels would be helpful.

Had a recent conversation with some very attentive and knowledgable gentlemen from Apple ProApps.

Outlined my workflow and reported the few bugs I've been experiencing. They were very receptive and it was apparent how dedicated they are to making Final Cut the most professional and robust NLE of choice.

Happy to report that while as far as I can tell the audio bugs remain, editing has resumed and is faster and more responsive than ever after taking their advice on the best manner to streamline Libraries and long-form projects.

Happy cutting all!
Drew

Hi Drew,

Thank you for giving feedback on this and I can confirm that Apple is listening very attentively to what we say.

I hope all goes well with your project!

- Ronny