Audition 25: SNAPPING won't work - error? Help

Report · Oct 24, 2025

Hello everyone!

Does anyone understand snapping really well? My ruler won't snap, despite multiple approaches.

- Audition '25, Windows 11: Ausus Zenbook Flip 14 i7 16GB

Regardless how I drag the cursor / ruler in Multi-track, or create a selection in Waveform, or which snapping settings I use, it only ever snaps to mid-way between sample points (i.e. the square points super close-up).

Typical setup: Mutli-track, Time Display in Decimals (Synchronize with time display preferences), Edit > Snapping > Enabled.

- I choose Snap to Ruler (Course)

- I undo any other snapping settings (Just Enabled / Snap to Ruler (course).

- There's no change.

I tried testing it to Snap to Zero Crossings, and in a selection when I would Adjust Selection Inward, it would go to "near" the zero crossings, but only as close as mid-way between sample points.

But I cannot drag the ruler, or it won't snap in creating a selection, to time increments (i.e. seconds or minutes), or frames and beats, etc.

Help! I sense this is an install / hardware error (?), as it works on my other device.

Report · Oct 25, 2025

I don't think you've understood how sampling works at all. Don't take that personally - most people don't.

A sampling point in audio doesn't represent anything other than the level of the audio at that sample point. What it doesn't represent on its own is anything about the audio signal itself. The audio signal is a continuously varying waveform (no steps), and you can't represent anything sensible about it unless you take the information from several individual samples. You need a minimum of two just to tell which direction the audio signal is heading in, and rather more than that for any more information about it. You don't have to take my word for any of this - there's an excellent video about it here that's well worth watching.

Audition can edit down to the sample level, but no individual sample can represent the absolute level of the audio at that point. So what you see on the screen when you zoom in that much is arbitrary, and you can't judge snapping behaviour from it, I'm afraid. Years ago I created a document that shows just how far out audio levels can get from seemingly normal sample positions - you can view that here. And snapping does appear to be working exactly as it should be. Yes there are caveats...