wav audio clip not playing in Final Cut Pro (unless in timeline)

Hi Al,

Thanks. I just tried this and and limiting factor is bit rate - it will play 16-bit audio in the event browser whether the container is WAV or AIFF. But does this indicate FCPX only works with audio within a 16-bit environment? This is very far from ideal for audio editing. And if so, is there a way to change that to 24-bit?

Update: Actually, the limiting factor appears to be whether the audio file is mono or stereo. I just re-checked my exported file info. So, 16-bit mono doesn't work but 16-stereo does. I haven't yet checked if 24-bit stereo files work or not.

Okay - I just tested a 24-bit stereo file, and that plays also. So the problem of audio not playing in the event browser appears to be whether the audio file is stereo or mono. If the project is stereo (the options being stereo of surround), then mono audio files will not play. This is irrespective of whether the audio container is wav or aiff, or recorded in 16-bit or 24-bit. At least this appears to show that the FCPX audio environment is 24-bit.

I would class this as a bug. Many audio clips, dialogue, foley etc are recorded in mono. It is both tedious and storage space hungry to have to convert mono clips to stereo in order to preview them in the event browser. Yes, you could drop them in and out of the timeline to listen, but that's hardly a feature I would expect in a profession video editing package. Apple really should address this.

Thanks for your input Tom. The issue I mention relates to imported mono files not playing in the event browser, but that do play in the timeline. Also, bizarrely, as I explained in my initial post, the audio meter responds as if audio is playing but there is no sound output. After converting the file to stereo, it plays in the event browser.

Here is a lesson to be learned. Never jump to conclusions too soon. I have now determined that it is only when I'm using my external audio interface (Lynx Hilo) that this whole issue occurs. If I playback audio through my internal Macbook Pro speakers it all goes away. Clearly there is some internal routing problem regarding mono output. I'm not sure where to reconfigure this: not many options in Final Cut, nor in Sound Settings. I'll dig around in Audio midi set-up and get back if I find a solution.

Stranger and stranger, said Alice: With System preferences > Sound open, I can switch my output selection between my sound card (Lynx Hilo) and my internal Macbook speakers while playing a mono clip in Event Browser. Guess what - everything works as expected: Now I hear it in my Mac speakers, and now through my sound card system. Okay - so I leave it set for the sound card as the output, close the Setting Panel. So far so good - I can still hear the clip playing though the sound card. Yay! But back in FCPX, if stop playback by pressing the spacebar and then restart it again - no sound. I'm back to the original problem.

This seems like a bug related to using an external sound card / core audio / FCPX.

Incidentally - I use this sound card extensively with Logic Pro and never have had a problem

Hi James - you've nailed it. Works perfectly now! Thanks so much for hunting that fix down. I did loads of searches but never found that.

Cheers.

Terence