Can't Move Audio Clips in Timeline After Expanding to View Waveforms (Premiere Pro CC 2014.2)

Report · Apr 28, 2015

So, this seems to be a bit of a weird one, and I'd be pretty stoked if it ended up being something silly that I'm doing wrong, but I can't for the life of me figure out what that might be.

As the title suggests, I can't use the mouse to move some audio clips in a timeline once I expand the track to view the waveforms. This appears to only happen with independent audio clips (WAV. AIFF, MP3, etc), and not with clips attached to video. Also, it's worth noting that I don't have track keyframes turned on. I was hoping that was it, but it wasn't.

So, what happens is this:

1) I drag an audio clip down to the timeline (I can drag it onto an existing track, or drag to the bottom of the sequence and create a new track. Neither option seems to get a different result.).

2) So long as the track isn't expanded and the waveform isn't visible, I can move the clip left, right, or up and down to a different track.

3) As soon as I expand the track to view the waveform this functionality goes out the window. When this issue happens I can use the keyboard to nudge left and right, but that's about all the movement I have.

4) It's almost as though the track becomes corrupt. The lanes for the track don't redraw properly, and the track is pretty much unusable. I can't put anything into it, and I can't take anything out. All I can do is delete the track and start again.

Complicating issues is that this doesn't always happen, but instead is one of those "vast majority of the time" issues. I can't see any rhyme or reason for why it works or doesn't. I seem to do the exact same thing, but occasionally get different results. It doesn't matter what type of file I'm using (WAV, AIFF, etc), and this only happens with independent audio clips.

Once again, I don't have track keyframing turned on when this happens. Believe me, I wish that was it.

I have already filed a couple of bug reports about this over the last month or so, but haven't heard anything yet. I was wondering if anyone else was having the same issue, and if so, whether they had any workarounds.

Mandatory system info:

Windows 7 Professional SP1 (64-Bit)

Intel i7-3820

32GB RAM

Nvidia GTX 980 (350.12)

Premiere Pro CC 2014.2

Report · Apr 28, 2015

Update:

I was just looking to post a screenshot of the timeline when I discovered something interesting. As soon as I use the vertical scroll bar to the right of the sequence, the tracks start to work again. Close off the waveform and the clip goes haywire. Move the scroll bar a tiny bit (or a lot), and suddenly the clip starts working.

Pretty bizarre.

The good news is that for the time being that could be a workaround, though it would be great for this to not happen at all.

Report · Apr 29, 2015

This might just be "one of those things." A lot of the Premiere Bugs seems to have to do with the UI, and can get "woken up" by shifting to a new window or, as you have done, scrolling a little.

Do you have any effects applied to the clips or tracks that are causing this issue?

Report · Apr 29, 2015

It might be worth trying a different graphics card driver.

Report · Apr 29, 2015

Unfortunately I've already given that a go. There was an Nvidia update in the last few weeks, but it didn't seem to have any effect. Thanks for the suggestion though. It might be worth trying a totally fresh install of Premiere and a clean driver install as well. I'm working on a project at the moment, but I can give that a go later today.

I'll post any results.

Report · Apr 29, 2015

I think you're right about the "one of those things" issues. I'm just hoping that it's mysteriously resolved in the next update, or something like that.

As for effects, that really doesn't seem to have any impact. I could have a timeline chock full of effects, or have a brand new vanilla sequence, and I get the same results. Good suggestion though! I would have loved for it to be something like that.

Report · Sep 05, 2022

7 years later and this is still and issue, and this solved it! Premiere can be so wierd!

Report · Apr 29, 2015

Okay, so an update: I uninstalled and then reinstalled Premiere, and I also redid the GPU drivers, and things seem to be working so far. I'll keep you posted if anything falls apart though, but in my initial testing it looks as though things are as they should be.

Crossing fingers!

Report · May 05, 2015

And another update: Unfortunately the problem hasn't completely gone away. It seemed to be absent for a short period, but it's shown up sporadically over the last few days.

The scroll bar workaround is getting me through, but it would be great not to have to do that any more.

If anyone has any suggestions, please fire them on through. I'm keen to give them a go when I have a second.

Report · May 13, 2015

Thanks for the scrollbar workaround tip! Having same issue here off and on for about the last two months.

Report · May 13, 2015

No problem. Glad it worked for you as well.

Just checking: Have you filed a bug report? If more reports get filed about it, then hopefully it'll get fixed sooner.

Adobe - Feature Request/Bug Report Form

Cheers,

Darren

Report · Jul 20, 2015

Solved

Folks I don't think this is a bug, but more like mode switching.

I too had this problem many times and it is extremely frustrating. But thanks to Darren's observation it makes sense now. When expanding a track to reveal the waveforms, you drag the bottom edge of the track down (or use your wheel mouse on the left track column). Then if you try to move a clip it won't budge. This is kind of like in Photoshop when you drag scale something but haven't hit enter yet. It is locked up until you do, as if closing the command. So in this case Premiere sees it as still in expand mode until you switch the mode by either scrolling your mouse wheel while over the audio tracks (right column) or grabbing the slider bar as Darren suggested. That tells Premiere you are no longer adjusting track height and to unlock the objects. I don't think it is a bug but just the way the program is designed. Since it has the split functionality with the mouse wheel to scroll the tracks if hovering over the right column and to expand tracks if hovering over the left column, Premiere has to know when you are switching from one function to the other. The only way around would be if Adobe can make it so clips can be moved while in track expand mode.

Thanks for the tip Darren, ended a lot of frustration.

Report · Oct 21, 2015

No problem at all. Glad I could help!

I've been using CC 2015 off and on of late, and it looks as though this issue isn't really around anymore, which is great. In saying that, I still haven't fully transitioned to 2015 yet, so I'm still having to deal with this pretty regularly, but, at least when I do go into 2015 there is some respite. Which is excellent!

Cheers,

Darren

Report · Oct 27, 2015

Hey guys, I'm having the same problem. It just started. My buddy is editing in the same room as me and does not have this problem. He is able to drag clips regardless of if they are expanded or not. This is defiantly a problem. It is not the way the program was designed because Im able to do it on his computer without issue.

Report · Oct 27, 2015

Hey there JJ,

Yeah, I know what you mean. It's pretty (ridiculously) frustrating.

When the issue occurs you can see that the horizontal lines in the timeline around the offending tracks don't draw properly, so something is definitely going wrong. Use the vertical scroll bar on the right when the problem occurs. It doesn't matter what you do with it, but just make sure you use it. That seems to force the program to recognise the user input and this seems to fix the issue, at least temporarily.

For what it's worth (and I know this isn't a solution, or even remotely good enough), I haven't noticed the problem in CC 2015. But I also don't use 2015 that often because it's a nightmare working between Premiere CC 2015, and After Effects CC 2014, but if you can use AE 2015 for production, then I'd suggest updating Premiere. Again, I know it's not necessarily a solution, and this problem should be fixed, but I thought I would mention it.

One last thing, definitely file a Bug Report. Hopefully if they get enough they'll fix it. Here's the link for that:

Feature Request/Bug Report Form

Cheers,

Darren

Report · Oct 27, 2015

Hi Darren, I am using 2015. I just spent 3 hours on Adobe help chat and hotline, no fix. It is very frustrating but the scroll does reset it. 😕

Report · Oct 27, 2015

Oh man, that's not good to hear that you're encountering it in 2015...

I'm glad the workaround works for you as well. At least there's that, although, to be honest, it's still annoying having to use it.

Did you file a bug? If you haven't, definitely do so. The more information they can get about it, hopefully the better. 😛

Report · Oct 28, 2015

Try hiding the track key frames, select the clip key frames instead.

Report · Oct 28, 2015

Hi Richard,

Thanks for your suggestion. Unless I'm mistaken, the audio tracks are locked by design when using track keyframes. Unfortunately this bug isn't related to track keyframes, this issue occurs at random when using the default clip keyframes.

The timeline not redrawing correctly when the issue occurs is another thing which sticks out as a "this shouldn't be happening" indicator.

Cheers,

Darren