Recordings disappear when recording stops

[Spotto]

I'm experiencing disappearing recordings as soon as I record them in Waveform 13.

I arm a track, hit the record button, the count-in happens, the cursor starts to move and the section being recorded turns red as the cursor moves along. However, I'm seeing no notes appear in the clip and when I hit the stop button, the bit I thought I'd recorded disappears. I'm using a Macbook Pro M1 and the input is set to virtual. Input is enabled in the settings. It used to work but now it doesn't. Does anyone have any ideas what I'm missing?

TIA

S

[Peter Widdicombe]

1. Recording MIDI or audio?
2. Do you see the left-side input meters moving, indicating input on the selected device
3. If MIDI, are you sure the recorded notes are not just out of range of the current display?
4. In the recorded space, do you see notes or a waveform show up?

[pough]

There are a couple of things that might have been set (or not set) by accident that can result in unexpected behaviour. And Peter's questions above are important because so much depends on what you're recording (MIDI vs audio) and what you're seeing happen and not happen, ie. Are the input meters bouncing? Is the clip being drawn as you record?

1. You didn't arm the track to record. Waveform will allow you to "record" without recording anything. This is a feature and not a bug. Any software that gives you more options also gives you the option to do things you don't want to do.

2. Your MIDI device input Action is set to "Monitor live input from this device, but don't actually record".

3. Your audio input Trigger Level is set to a value higher than -INF dB. It will look like it's recording (ie. the clip will draw) but if the input levels don't hit the target the clip will simply disappear.

That's what I can think of off the top of my head. There may be more circumstances, but for anything else you will have to tell us what exactly is happening.

As always, step #0 is to open the Controls Panel at the bottom. It has soooooo many useful settings in it. Those long, horizontal slider controls are a pain. I have never once tried to set MIDI note velocity in there without first mistakenly setting the Note-off velocity. I don't even know what that is, but if Waveform sends usage data to TSC (I don't think it does) then they must think that it's my #1 most-used feature. It's easy to change the Trigger Level without even really noticing.

[pough]

Sorry. You actually did describe most things. That's an odd one. From your description it sounds like the audio thing but you seem to be recording MIDI. I can't easily find anything that would result in that happening...

Are you hearing anything when you play? Like, does pressing a key go through to the plugin properly? If MID is going through the track from the input to the plugin then it really should be recording those notes.

Um... have you tried turning it off an back on again?

[Spotto]

1. Recording MIDI or audio?
2. Do you see the left-side input meters moving, indicating input on the selected device
3. If MIDI, are you sure the recorded notes are not just out of range of the current display?
4. In the recorded space, do you see notes or a waveform show up?

1. Midi
2. No (but mine are on the right).
3. I am. The display just disappears anyway so I can't even check to see)
4. Neither, just a red background appearing as the cursor moves then disappearing when it is stopped.

[Spotto]

Sorry. You actually did describe most things. That's an odd one. From your description it sounds like the audio thing but you seem to be recording MIDI. I can't easily find anything that would result in that happening...

Are you hearing anything when you play? Like, does pressing a key go through to the plugin properly? If MID is going through the track from the input to the plugin then it really should be recording those notes.

Um... have you tried turning it off an back on again?

Ha! I have tried the old on and off trick, yes, but to no avail!
No sounds as I record the track but I can hear the other tracks.
No meter indication of volume.

[Spotto]

Thanks for all your suggestions. I've just sorted it. MIDI input was set to "virtual" (unusually, I was using the Mac typewriter inbuilt keyboard but should have set to "All MIDI Ins" rather than "virtual"). I usually use an AKAI Mini for notebook work but was being lazy for a small additional track using the Mac alone. Phew! Thanks folks, you gave me some good steers. OK, mostly not the cause but all useful to enable me to eliminate everything else. V grateful.

S

[pough]

2. No (but mine are on the right).

Your input meters are on the right? The input meters on the left will show what's coming in regardless of what's recorded or what's going out. The meters on the right will only show audio going out. If you're not seeing any action on the left then nothing can be recorded.

[Spotto]

[gigazaga]

It's interesting because I have been having the same issue on both audio and MIDI. I am going to roll back a few version to see if that helps.