FCP 12.3 timeline issue loosing audio feedback on the timeline.

Question

Level 1

8 points

FCP 12.3 timeline issue loosing audio feedback on the timeline.

Is anyone else having final cut pro 12.3 issues with the interface while editing audio / video? I am prioritizing the audio over the video due to the audio content that I want to edit for Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.

I place the video clip in the timeline and begin editing. I am taking out breaths, lip smacks from the speaker, etc. and then adding transitions to the video to make it coincide.

Within 2 or three clips, I loose audio and the timeline does not keep up with the video. The inspector is moving the video along, but I loose all audio feedback. If I hover over the audio sources in the inspector I have audio, back to the timeline - nothing. I have to restart FCP. It does preserve the edits I have made, but it is so laborious.

I thought at first it might be a conversion issue because when I started with the update 12.3, I was midstream in a project. So I started a brand new project with FCP 12.3 and I have exactly the same results.

Exports seem to work ok from the completed projects, but as is it is almost untenable.

I did delete and reinstall FCP and I am running on a MacBook Pro M5 Pro.

Thanks in advance.

Any thoughts?

Posted on Jul 5, 2026 1:27 PM

Reply

Answer 1

BenB

Level 6

13,670 points

Jul 5, 2026 5:02 PM in response to AlertSense

Reinstalling won't help with this.

Verify your system drive has at least 15% or more free space.

If editing on an external drive, make sure it's not filled up, and is formatted APFS.

Delete all render files.

What format are the clips you're editing?

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Answer 2

terryb

Level 4

3,642 points

Jul 5, 2026 5:50 PM in response to AlertSense

Try deleting FCP Preferences/Settings. Hold option and command while launching FCP and choose Delete. Set FCP preferences/settings back to the way you like and see if the issue has been fixed.

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Answer 3

terryb

Level 4

3,642 points

Jul 7, 2026 7:50 PM in response to AlertSense

The only potential thing I see is autoupdaters. In the past, Google's keystone autoupdater software was notorious for breaking FCP often requiring a complete uninstall of Chrome and an uninstall and reinstall of FCP. I'm not sure if Google's new updater is still problematic. I do see that MS's Edge autoupdater appears to be identical and the advice here has been to remove Chrome and use something like Edge instead. Hopefully others will chime in on this.

[Loaded] com.google.GoogleUpdater.wake.plist (Google LLC - installed 2026-07-02) Command: ~/Library/Application Support/Google/GoogleUpdater/Current/GoogleUpdater.app/Contents/MacOS/GoogleUpdater --wake-all --enable-logging --vmodule=*/components/update_client/*=2,*/chrome/enterprise_companion/*=2,*/chrome/updater/*=2 [Loaded] com.microsoft.EdgeUpdater.wake.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2026-06-26) Command: ~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/EdgeUpdater/Current/EdgeUpdater.app/Contents/MacOS/EdgeUpdater --wake-all --enable-logging --vmodule=*/components/update_client/*=2,*/chrome/enterprise_companion/*=2,*/chrome/updater/*=2

Is your footage and/or FCP libraries stored on OneDrive or iCloud Drive (Desktop or Documents folder), not local?

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Answer 4

terryb

Level 4

3,642 points

Jul 13, 2026 12:08 PM in response to BenB

@BenB - Apparently iCloud Drive temporarily locks files in the sync'd folders when syncing with iCloud. I think the bigger issue is trying to edit with files you think are local but could actually be coming from iCloud. Quite a few users here have been caught out by this over the years, so it's good that FCP now prevents it.

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Answer 5

BenB

Level 6

13,670 points

Jul 24, 2026 7:11 AM in response to AlertSense

Where are these .m4a files coming from?

Do they open in QuickTime Player and playback correctly?

Try taking them in to Compressor and converting them to AIFF or WAV files.

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Answer 6

terryb

Level 4

3,642 points

Jul 5, 2026 8:47 PM in response to AlertSense

How are you monitoring the audio? Through any kind of external interface?

Please post a report from https://etrecheck.com using the "Additional text" button below in your reply. This anonymized report can help us to identify if there are any system related issues.

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Answer 7

terryb

Level 4

3,642 points

Jul 11, 2026 4:20 PM in response to AlertSense

Okay, good to rule iCloud Drive out for your storage locations. I don' think having the FCP App itself sync'd is a problem.

So according to your etrecheck report it seems at one point you had Chrome installed so possibly there's some leftover cruft. Follow the instructions at https://chromeisbad.com to completely remove any and all remnants of Chrome. It's not enough to just delete the app, there's a bunch of other software they install that needs to be removed.

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Answer 8

Jul 8, 2026 4:58 AM in response to AlertSense

Are you by any chance saving or accessing media to a location that is syncing to onedrive, or icloud?

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Answer 9

AlertSense Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 5, 2026 8:41 PM in response to AlertSense

Ok, this is interesting. I just found that once it gets in this state, if I click on the project, it seems to reset until I make another cut (or several cuts)...

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Answer 10

terryb

Level 4

3,642 points

Jul 6, 2026 6:07 PM in response to AlertSense

Did you migrate from another machine? Did you install any "cleaner" software? An etrecheck report would help us to identify potential problems.

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Answer 11

Jul 16, 2026 8:22 AM in response to AlertSense

Is there an issue with FCP editing MXF files now? After updating to 12.3 I am also unable to playback clips in the timeline, especially with audio fx applied. It drops frames after 2 seconds and I loose all audio. The only solution is to have FCP 'render' the audio effects, which takes a really long time.

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Answer 12

Jul 24, 2026 8:57 AM in response to AlertSense

Get rid of Google! ALL OF IT. You don’t need it and it is notorious for causing problem with Final Cut. Use Firefox or Safari for your web browser, not Google Chrome.

I’ll bet that once you get rid of all the Google stuff, things will work OK again.

One more thing…the word is “lose” not “loose.”

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Answer 13

terryb

Level 4

3,642 points

Jul 24, 2026 3:37 PM in response to Old_Video_Guy

@O_V_G, OP @AlertSense said earlier, "I have three browsers. Brave, Edge, and Safari." so doesn't look like he's actively using Chrome. He may have deleted Chrome.app but not all the other cruft that is installed, which is why I recommended following the instructions at https://chromeisbad.com on how to completely remove it.

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Answer 14

BenB

Level 6

13,670 points

Jul 11, 2026 5:14 AM in response to AlertSense

What percentage of your hard drive is still free space?

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Answer 15

AlertSense Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 5, 2026 8:02 PM in response to AlertSense

To follow that up, I just started a brand new new project on a m4a file with the same results. I also deleted my preference setting as recommended by someone else. Same results. My timeline gets way behind now, but I do have use of the selection tool, but no audio as I move the selection forward. I do have sound if I select the Audio Configuration (Dialogue-1) and move across, but the timeline is non-responsive to audio.

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