Extended-duration multitrack sessions not supported?

Report · Sep 27, 2017

Hi Folks!

I've just had a discussion on the phone with a support representative that I could barely understand, and after originally asking me to re-re-install Audition (Again), he effectively decreed that the use of Multitrack Sessions are not supported by Adobe.

Audition destabilizes into uselessness and eventually fully crashes in the event that Dynamics Processing is used as a Noise Gate on a track effect or a Master effect on a Multitrack Session for an extended amount of time (Several hours). After finally tracking down that this is the specific contributor to the crashing, I was advised that it should only be used for short file processing and not for Multitrack Sessions because the use is not supported.

Are we in a situation here where hundreds or thousands of people using this for real time audio processing are going to have to find an alternate software package, or is this just a support agent who didn't want to do his job and provide support?

If it's the latter, then how can I get support from somebody who is not going to tell me that Adobe does not want my money or the money of other people who use it for a similar purpose?

I'd prefer to have things work than to move my business elsewhere and spread the word, so if anybody has any insight into the problem, I'd love to hear it.

Report · Sep 28, 2017

Once again, the 'help' desk strikes... and no, it's not just one of them (unfortunately).

There is inherently no reason at all that you shouldn't be able to use dynamics processing as a track or master effect in any session that Audition is capable of running. To suggest otherwise is ridiculous.

Fortunately we can tell you what to do, and it gets you straight back to where you need to be - with the developers, as Audition actually crashes. What you need to do is follow carefully the instructions in this FAQ: Audition Crashed. Now what? and send the results to audbugs@adobe.com which will result in some direct feedback from where you actually need it...

You might also like to mention the situation with the helpline to them, whilst you're about it.

Report · Sep 28, 2017

Just as a matter of interest how long is one of your 'extended' sessions?

Report · Sep 28, 2017

"Extended Session" -> It starts to destabilize anywhere between 1.5 and five hours in, with a propensity more toward 3-4 hours. If I just start it running and leave it, sometimes it will be in an unstable (not usable, but not yet crashed) state after 12 hours, and sometimes it will crash solidly the moment I even swap to its window. However closing the session or trying to exit it when it's unstable leads to a crash more often than not.

I just did a test with a completely neutral Dynamics Processing filter and it still destabilized, though this time it took 5.5 hours, which is a record, and it only went into "visibly" unstable (I can see that it's having a problem on the meters rather than having to listen to hear for the corruption) after eight hours.

Report · Sep 28, 2017

Excellent information, though sad to hear that the help desk is helpless. Companies often consider support to be a money sink to minimize the expense of, and that kind of attitude costs them in the long run.

I even attached a debugger to it on one crash, but all I could get out of it without symbol files is the fact that it looped through a certain function multiple times with a null pointer each time and was not amused. I'll take a look at the information you provided and see what can be come up with.