Issues with merged clips in CS 5.5

[Vince Becquiot]

Hi Matthew,

Try deleting your media cache folder. The location is set in your preferences.

Vince Becquiot

Kaptis Studios
San Francisco – Bay Area

[Matthew Barrett]

Hi Vince,

Just tried deleting the media cache folder and I’m still having the same issue. Out of curiosity I took the files I was merging and nested them as a sub-clip sequence, saved and restarted premiere, and the problem was not present. So it seems to have something to do with the way Premiere is handling specifically merged files (or specifically these merged files), but what that is exactly I’m not sure yet.

Thanks for your help.

-m

[Matthew Barrett]

Tried using the Clip > Audio Options > Breakout to Mono to separate the stereo track instead of the Modify > Audio Channels > Mono Track Format, and it’s not killing the audio for the merged clips after saving and restarting premiere. My guess is that Premiere was having trouble indexing the audio files after a restart using the latter method, but as the former names the new files separately and links them to the master clip it must be able to keep track of the data.

…or something.

Anyway, thanks again for your help. I’ve got me some resyncing to do.

-m

[Douglas Morse]

After cutting an hours worth of material, I notice I have the same problem. When I reopen premiere, I briefly see the waveform on the second track, then Premiere just flat lines it. I’m certainly very upset about this bug and I can’t figure out how to fix it.

This is happening with the second audio track on every merged clips — and these clips were originally stereo and converted to mono at some point in my process. And help and advice appreciated.

[Douglas Morse]

If I use the sync command, the clips seem to be fine. Why do I need to merge them then?

Also according to Adobe

Merged Clips limitations

Full audio channel mapping control in the merged clip is not supported.

Merged clip audio results in mono track audio only.

Final Cut Pro XML and AAF interchange formats are not supported.

Auto-sync using audio waveforms, free-run timecode, time-of-day timecode, AUX timecode, or separate audio timecode is not supported.

Reveal in Adobe Bridge is not supported.

Once created, the merged clip cannot be re-synchronized, or adjusted. You must make a new merged clip.

Adjusting contents of a merged clip is not supported. However, if a particular component clip is deleted, the merged clip may be relinked.

Merged clips or parts of previously merged clips cannt be used to remerge or make a new merged clip. Only component clips may be used to create a merged clip.

[Pierre Conti]

Has anyone found a solution to that problem?
Once merged, PP turned off and on, one of the two merged audio shows no waveform, no sound.
So basically I can’t work unless i just ‘link them’ wich prevent me from putting any file back in a folder to then make subclip etc.
Any way to get around that? Am I missing something really obvious?

I am absolutely disappointed by PP.. not fast and buggy. If there wasn’t AE, I’d switch back to FCP and pray.

[Matthew Barrett]

Hi Pierre,

The only fix I found was the preventative one I described in my previous post: to use the Clip > Audio Options > Breakout to Mono function to separate stereo audio rather than Modify > Audio Channels > Mono Track Format. Doing this before syncing your clips seems to preserve the audio after a save and restart.

Unfortunately I haven’t found any way to fix clips already synced using the Audio Channels method. Maybe try contacting Adobe and see what they have to say about the issue?

[Pierre Conti]

Thanks Matthew, but it doesn’t work here.. Also I’m actually only dealing with mono tracks.
I have everything in sync on a timeline: one layer of video and two mono audio tracks.
So I just select a group of three (one video clip with its 2 audio clips) and click merge (w in points). It’s all beautiful until i switch off the stuff.
I don’t get it. It seems like a huge bug but not so many people are talking about it. I can’t believe I’m actually missing FCP…

[Pierre Conti]

Ok it works. It’s a metadata problem. My stereo files were split to mono by plural eyes but it didn’t work yet. I had to use Wave agent from the brilliant sound device to separate the original stereo file (that soft does handle metadata very well).
Thanks Matthew!

[Douglas Morse]

I used Plural Eyes as well on some of these files. BEFORE you put them in a timeline, from within Premiere, right click on the file, modify audio channels, then choose stereo. Once they are merged, they will be split back to mono but will not self destruct when Premiere is closed and reopened.