Audio Waveform Desync/ Audio placement wrong on MacOS

[Akshay30014633pt4n]

When I play a specific timeline on an M1 Mac with the latest version of Premiere v24.5, the audio waveform appears displaced to the wrong location on the timeline. Audio plays back properly for a short while, then there are video and audio glitches and the audio desyncs completely.

The same project file and video files on a Windows PC play back normally and correctly.

I have never encountered this behaviour before. I think it's limited to this one Sequence but I don't want to risk file corruption to find out.

The specs of the machines:

MacBook Pro 13", M1, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, MacOS 14.5 Sonoma, Project Files on external USB-C SSD.

Acer Nitro 5, Core i5 11400H, 16GB DDR4 RAM, RTX 3050Ti 4GB GPU, SSD boot + app install drive, internal HDD for project files. OS is Windows 10 22H2

Video of the issue on Mac: mac_VID_20240712_163712.mp4

Same project file and source files on Windows playing back normally: windows_VID_20240712_163819.mp4

Mod note: The title was adjusted slightly.

[Akshay30014633pt4n]

Fixes tried so far:

• Deleting Media Cache
• Uninstalling and reinstalling Premiere
• Shutting Down and Restarting the MacBook

I can't seem to disable GPU Acceleration, the option in Greyed-out in Project Settings.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi @Akshay30014633pt4n,

Thanks for filing the bug report. I hope the team will respond soon. Sorry for the frustration. I am updating the status of the bug report.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Akshay30014633pt4n]

Hi Kevin, that's alright, I know its a Friday. Let me know what extra information is needed to get this bug fixed.

[IanB_360]

Hi @Akshay30014633pt4n ,

Could you give us a few more details about the project in Windows and on the Mac? Are they the exact same cut? Exact same project being saved to separate systems? And which system created the original time line? What are the time line settings and Project settings on both machines? Also are you importing the cuts with an XML? If they are the exact same cut referencing the same files then we could begin to trouble shoot and find out whats going on.                                                                                                                                        

From what I see in the videos provided ; The waveforms of A1 and A2 audio track on the Windows cut come in at 00:00:01:13 " Sit comfortable as you like" and on the Mac the audio Waveform for track A1 and A2 start early at 00:00:00:10 there appears to be some audio that was slipped or imported incorrectly. That same waveform from the Windows machine does not have the cushion on the time line like the windows machine does. The next lines of Audio "Please Gently close your eyes" You can again see the waveform is early on the Mac and perfectly lined up with your subtitles on the windows machine.                                                                                                                                              

If the visual difference in the waveforms on your time line is due to slipping the audio to be in sync when you hear it playback with your video then we will try to discover what is happening. Otherwise it looks like you have to re-adjust and slip your waveforms of tracks A1, and A2 in the Mac cut. If the time lines are being built with a XML or AAF and linking to files then it could be something else. Is  the audio linked directly to the camera and video files you are using and therefore not being being cut in separately from video? Or are your video layers separated from the audio files such as a separate wav form file , and the audio is being dropped in separately ?  It would help us to know how the time lines were created on each machine to understand how the waveforms are being slipped and coming in at different times of your time line.                                                                                                                                                                                

If I can help better clarify any of these questions please let me know. I will do my best to help out without having to get files or the projects from you but that may be the next step if we cant resolve this through the videos you provide and the stats you have given us already. Thank you and I hope we can help you resolve this matter soon.

[Akshay30014633pt4n]

Hi @IanB_360 ,

It is the exact same sequence with the exact same clips and editing the exact same project file in Windows and Mac, they are synced over creative cloud to each machine since my company pays for a corporate plan. There should be no slippage etc because I didn't edit that way, and even though I've only been using Premiere since 2015, I like to think I would know if I accidentally used the slip tool at any point.

TL;DR - I downloaded fresh copies over from the Windows machine over OneDrive and replaced the footage for each clip to fix it.

In my original post I mentioned that I use an external drive for the Macbook to hold footage. I checked it with Mac OS Disk Utility, when I used First Aid to repair the drive, it found some "resource fork missing" errors. These are normally not a problem since external drives that are shared between Mac and non-Mac systems sometimes are missing the '._' files that MacOS uses to maintain compatibility, however the only thing that was touching this external drive were Adobe apps on my MacBook, i.e. Creative Cloud Sync and Premiere Pro, the drive is formatted in APFS and I don't use it with any other machine. Anyhow I assume one of the Adobe apps corrupted these specific video files in a way that makes them glitch out on Mac but not on Windows.

The issue is fixed and I needed to carry out the following steps to fix it:

1.  Deleted the Creative Cloud Sync folder after pausing CC Sync.
2. Formatted the APFS SSD to Ex-FAT.
3. Pointed CC to use the newly formatted SSD as the Sync Location.
4. Downloaded all the CC Sync Files (about 600 GB which took a couple of days).
5. Launched the Project to discover that the error with the A/V synchronisation was still existing.
6. Redownloaded footage files over the Internet from OneDrive, used Replace Footage on the clips in the Project at which point the peak files were properly generated and everything worked again.

I guess thanks for reaching out so late. Do me a favour please tell everyone from the top down who works on CC Sync Product team that they absolutely suck at their jobs. My company paid Adobe to lose 2 days of my productivity, what a fantastic deal...

[IanB_360]

That sounds like quite the painful task @Akshay30014633pt4n  I am sorry you had to go through all that. I am glad you were able to get things working on your end. Since you are a seasoned user you probably already know these things and I am not saying that this is what caused the audio/waveform sync problem but just here to offer help in the community however we can so you don't have a negative experience in the future.

Creative Cloud Synced files are being discontinued. Starting February 1, 2024 

Adobe continues to offer and support cloud storage and syncing across Creative Cloud with Cloud Documents, Creative Cloud Libraries, Lightroom Cloud storage, and Frame.io cloud storage. None of these cloud storage solutions are impacted by this change. Files synced via Lightroom are not affected by this change; only synced Creative Cloud files are affected. 

I know you also had cleared the media cache and you knew that could potentially be where the problem was. I am sorry that did not work in resolving the issue when in most cases it typical does. I am unfamiliar with your project or if there were any third party plugins being used but there are times when third party plugins can be the culprit of certain problems. I am not saying this was at the root of your projects issues, we of course would need further testing and project files to try and reproduce what you experienced on your end to verify that it could have been a plugin.

I have included a link to another community member who had waveforms not matching up and audio sync issues that were fixed after they turned off/deleted a third party plugin. Premiere pro deleting and re-generating peak files + problem with clip speed 

I am sorry we were unable to help you this time around but we are constantly trying to improve the perfomance and experiences you have with Premiere as well as remove existing bugs that take time away from the creative process and smooth work-flows all together. Have a good day @Akshay30014633pt4n and we will do our best to assist you if you ever need help in the future.