Detected Dropped Samples - log or timestamp?

[voiceoverbrian]

Hello,

When I get the "Detected Dropped Samples" warning in the bottom right corner, is there any more information available, e.g some kind of log or timestamp? I have an hour-plus recording that I just finished and I want to find the moment(s) when it happened.

Thanks!

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

They aren't logged. Quite often when this happens, the only way to discover where they are is to work your way carefully through the recording, zoomed in, and look for the discontinuities. Also they tend to show up pretty clearly in the Spectral view.

What I'd be more worried about is why it is happening. How are you recording?

[voiceoverbrian]

Thanks Steve. 

Nothing has changed in my setup in a very long time, so I don't know the best way to go about trying to pinpoint and resolve the issue.  I'm recording voiceovers in mono on my Sennheiser 416, running through a Focusrite Scarlett Solo. I've had both for several years. I alternate between my desktop at my home studio (where I use the latest version of Audition) and my laptop when I'm on the road (where I usually use Audition Beta). Both run Windows 11. This problem has just started, and it's happening on my laptop.

If you have any advice as to what the problem might be, or how to fix it, I'm all ears!

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

Waveform view or Multitrack?

[voiceoverbrian]

Waveform.

[SteveG_AudioMasters_ · Accepted solution]

In that case it's possible that there are interruptions when writing to the temp file. Audition records to a temp file in Waveform view, and the final file isn't created until you do a Save - which saves the latest version of the temp file. By default the temp file is located in a place where your OS can get at it, and for some strange reason it seems to think that it has priority access rights...

Two things: Firstly it's a good idea anyway to relocate the temp file in a fresh directory of its own, ideally on a different drive. An external USB one is fine, as long as it remains connected whilst you are using Audition. The second thing is actually a better solution, and is in fact the recommended one - record in Multitrack view. The reason that this is a better solution is that your input is written directly to the final file - no intermediate steps at all. You can even make recoveries from it if you have a crash - very little chance at all of this happening in Waveform view.

All of the foregoing assumes of course that you don't have a faulty (or going faulty) hard drive in your machine. They have got a lot better over the last few years from this POV, but if there's any doubt at all, then run chkdisk on it. For more information about this, do a google search using the search term 'checking hard drives for errors'.

[voiceoverbrian]

Thanks very much Steve!

I always record to an external drive that's constantly connected, but I had no idea about the difference between recording in Waveform vs Multitrack. I'll make the switch.

Very much appreciate you taking the time to respond - thanks again for the help!

Brian