audio cutting out during playback on Final Cut Pro using new M1 mini 8gb ram

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Level 1

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audio cutting out during playback on Final Cut Pro using new M1 mini 8gb ram

anyone else having audio dropping out during playback, it's happening a fair bit for me (I have to close fcp and then re-open for it to start working again (clip will playback fine but no audio).

I'm using a synchronized clip (audio from an mp3 off a zoom h4 and 3 4k videos synched) it's about a 30 min preformance that I then cut into each song and make each song a compound clip, when editing the compound clip I get no audio (happened roughly 10 times in the last hour)

I can send my library to someone to test out if they'd like to try and replicate it

running on Mac mini m1 8gb ram and 512gb ssd

Mac mini, macOS 11.1

Posted on Dec 29, 2020 2:58 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Luis Sequeira1

Level 9

67,594 points

Jan 3, 2021 11:01 AM in response to alang55

I don't have an M1, so I cannot confirm this, but I believe it is still there.

I just did a test to search in the Finder something that clearly is there inside ~/Library and it did not show. Maybe the Finder is treating the Library folder specially, since one usually is not expecting to search for these files.

Copy and paste the following line to a Terminal window:

find ~/Library -name 'com.google.*'

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Answer 2

alang55 Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 29, 2020 5:11 PM in response to alang55

here's a drill down of my setup

base level compound with titling and lyrics

then here's the sync'd clip with each song grouped into compounds

Finally the service I'm editing

funny thing is that the audio is dropping out when I'm editing at the first level adjusting the timing of the lyric slides

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Answer 3

alang55 Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 29, 2020 5:07 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

each compound is a song in the performance, sometimes we move them around and use them in different places, I also add lyrics and titles over them so having them neatly in a compound is a way for me to not have me move something unintentionally. I also name each compound clip by the song name so I can find each one easily

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Answer 4

Jan 3, 2021 3:24 AM in response to alang55

In another thread I posted this regarding the audio dropout issue:

"Ben Aqua in his YouTube video discusses this audio issue on his M1 Mac mini 8GB RAM. He has a chapter marker at the !:55 minute interval. Here's the link if interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GImXe403T2g

I have the M1 Mac mini 16GB RAM with 1TB SSD and have not experienced this issue, but have performed limited work only in Final Cut Pro so far with this computer. It certainly seems very fast with all operations though, particularly with rendering, just as reported elsewhere."

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Answer 5

Jan 3, 2021 5:56 AM in response to John Cogdell

Thanks for pointing this. In that video the problem appears associated with a huge increase of CPU use by a service associated with the video toolbox- that leads me to suspect that Chrome may be rearing its ugly head once again...

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Answer 6

Jan 3, 2021 6:53 AM in response to alang55

alang55 wrote:

I have Chrome... but it isn't running... can it be an issue even when it's not on?

Yes, it could. There could be other reasons, so I am not saying that the problem at hand is caused by it.

But since it is a huge resource hog and there other browsers available it is worth trying.

Chrome installs two launch agents that are always running, and they seem to be implicated in this.

I suggest you uninstall them. Note: it is NOT enough to uninstall Chrome itself.

I suggest you go to ~/Library and do a search from "keystone".

You can press command-shift-G in the Finder and paste

~/Library

then do Command-F to find and type "keystone"

Usually there should be two files with names like com.google.keystone.somestuffhere

Trash them, then restart your mac.

You may find a more detailed explanation and instructions here:

https://chromeisbad.com

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Answer 7

alang55 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 3, 2021 11:09 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Thanks

/Users/andrewlang/Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/GoogleSoftwareUpdate.bundle/Contents/Resources/com.google.keystone.xpcservice.plist

/Users/andrewlang/Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/GoogleSoftwareUpdate.bundle/Contents/Resources/com.google.keystone.agent.plist

/Users/andrewlang/Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/GoogleSoftwareUpdate.bundle/Contents/Resources/com.google.keystone.daemon.plist

/Users/andrewlang/Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/GoogleSoftwareUpdate.bundle/Contents/Resources/com.google.keystone.daemon4.plist

these are the ones it found, hidden deep, away they go!

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Answer 8

alang55 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 3, 2021 11:51 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

so now audio cuts out when I edit really fast, just did a test run to see what was happening, but... if I let it render in the background for a second, it will come back, which it didn't do before, here a screen record, this is a testament to how amazing the mini is... took about a minute 30s of me messing with files to max out ram and have audio cut out, then as soon as the background render comes back, the audio comes back (by the end of the clip the audio is back). and yes the edit is messy but you really have to push to get the audio to cut out pretty amazing little machine (btw, the 3 clips are 4k) https://youtu.be/otnLlw31nu0

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