Audio gets cut off during playback

[it_ross]

Hello, I am asking about an issue that I have been having for months.

When I load an audio file into a clip and I hit play, the audio plays with the clip for a few seconds before it just goes silent, while the clip keeps playing. It is inconsistent in terms of where in the clip the audio stops. If I move the playhead further in the clip and play from there, the audio will play further than it did when I played from the beginning but it will still get cut off. This issue only occurs in clip view, not project view, so I can hear the entire clip if I play the whole project from the beginning. Additionally, when I scrub through the timeline, I can hear all of the audio. And finally, when I export the clip, the audio is still just fine. This issue ONLY occurs when I hit play on a clip within the Clip: Timeline view.

My sound settings are as follows: Scrub duration set to 0.10 secs, Sampling rate is 44100 Hz. The audio file used is MP3, 44.1 kHz. I originally had the sampling rate in TVPaint as 22050 Hz, and the problem was worse. It got better when I made the rate of TVPaint and the rate of the audio file match, but the problem is still present.

I am running TVPaint 11.5 Pro on a MacBook Pro (2019) running Big Sur version 11.6.4.

Thank you!

[Dean]

Hello Ross, are you using v11.5.3?
Could you post a short video of the issue or send it to me via PM so I can show it to the team, please?

[Xavier]

The audio file used is MP3, 44.1 kHz. I originally had the sampling rate in TVPaint as 22050 Hz, and the problem was worse. It got better when I made the rate of TVPaint and the rate of the audio file match, but the problem is still present.

It reminds me of some audio players, which used to stutter or sometimes stop playback when the MP3 was corrupted.
I'd suggest you to convert your audio to PCM (WAV) using an external tool.

[yadoodles96]

I'm having this same problem. I tried converting the audio to a .wav file and it's not working. Every single tvpaint file of mine has the same issue. It plays the clip, and cuts off the audio in the playback after a second or 2. But the audio is there if I scrub or export the clip. I already tried restarting my computer, updating my Mac operating system, and even re-downloaded TVPaint. What can I do to fix the playback issue?

[PaulBushArt]

I too have been having the audio clip near the ends of clips while inside clips or watching the video as a whole it clips the last 10 seconds or so. Scrubbing the playhead confirms the audio is there and rendering the finished video also contains the full audio just on playback the end of audio gets clipped. I'm using TVPaint 11.7.1 but honestly it's been happening for quite some time. I've just put up with it as it renders correctly. But it's annoying when trying to preview the animation to other people.

I am using a single WAV file for the whole project. I'm on a MacBook Pro running MacOS Ventura 13.2.1 with TVPaint 11.7.1 but again this has been happening for quite a while.

[D.T. Nethery]

This issue with the audio playback getting cut-off at the end is happening to me, too , with version 11.7 and 11.7.1.

[Dean]

Hello, does the sound behave in the same way in TVPaint whether you are playing it via the mac's speakers or headphones?
Does resetting the mac's PRAM change anything?

[D.T. Nethery]

Hello, does the sound behave in the same way in TVPaint whether you are playing it via the mac's speakers or headphones?
Does resetting the mac's PRAM change anything?

And now today when I try to test it (Mac's speakers vs. headphones) I don't get the problem occurring ! I did not reset the PRAM or anything else , but now I can't reproduce the problem. It seems to be one of those annoying bugs that comes and goes , but I don't know what triggers it.

[Dean]

Hello David, we have a theory at the office regarding the sound cache and will keep investigating.

[Matthieu]

Hi yadoodles96, hi David,

I have been trying to reproduce this issue since a few months already (an entry had been saved in our bug tracking tool). However, I have never been able to do it.
I have been receiving a few requests regarding the audio stuttering on playback however: as Dean said, we have an idea about what can be causing this. It is possible that there is a link between this problem and the sound being cut off at the end of playback.

[PaulBushArt]

I just tried unplugging the USB sound sticks and just trying playback through my MacBook Pro internal speakers and the cutoff problem persists. I then rebooted my computer and tried resetting the PRAM and that doesn't seem to have any affect unfortunately.

Thanks for looking into it. I realize it must be tough if you can't reproduce it.

Paul

[PaulBushArt]

Tried plugging in some headphones today and the audio still stops near the end of the clip when inside a clip or near the end of the last clip when watching the whole project.

Paul

[Matthieu]

Hi Paul,

Thank you for your feedback. What are you referring to when talking about "USB sound sticks"? Are all the audio dependencies you use embedded into your projects? I have tried once more to replicate this behaviour to no avail... Would you mind sharing one of the problematic audio files with us? You can contact me via private message or create a request through our website's contact form if you need to keep those files private (we will exchange via email in this case).

[melaphant3]

I have had this happen on all my files on several computers. Not a solution, but a quick little workaround trick: if you extend length of your animation to beyond the length of the audio, it should play more or all of it (like make a new layer with a loooong blank frame or something).