Audio .wav file in Vegas 20 will not playback

Sam-Stalos wrote on 11/24/2025, 6:57 PM

I’m operating with Win 11 on a Dell Precisions 3630 Tower using Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8700 CPU @ 3.20GHz, 3192 Mhz, 6 Core(s), 12 Logical Processor(s) with 32 Gig of RAM. I have been a Vegas user since Version 9. I am now on Version 20 and have produced several projects with this version.

I have an 8 minute video project that use 19 tracks of video and 5 tracks of audio. All audio tracks are mono: 1 narration track, 2 music tracks, 3 SFX tracks. The clip that’s fighting me is one of those sound effects located on the same track adjacent to three other sound effects. All audio are 41,000 Hz at 16 bit. Except for this one clip, all other audio clips are working just fine. The problem clip refuses to playback no matter where I place that clip in the program.

As I’m sure is common, I backup any significant changes by saving a new version of the program, e.g. 1, 1a, 2, 2a, etc. The version I’m trying to finish with version 47h. Version 47g did not exhibit this audio problem and works fine. The difference between the two versions only involves changes to video clips. There are no variations in track lengths or track assignments…or in the overall length of the program. All versions up to 47h have work fine with regard to the audio tracks.

1. I have clicked on the problem clip, selected Options>Preferences>Audio Devices, and verified that this clip is handled by Microsoft Sound Mapper, as are all of the other audio clips in the program.

2. I read that one solution was to re-render the track in Audacity. So I took the original .wav clip into Audacity and re-rendered it at 48 kHz at 24 bit. I added this new version into the Vegas Media list, placed in onto the track, and it does not playback.

3. I have moved the problem clip to other tracks and to other positions within any of the other tracks, and it will not play, even though adjacent sound effects on the same track work just fine.

4. Since the SFX is loud and sitting under a loud section in one of the music tracks, I thought the automatic compression, noise gate/compression/eq effects might have been accidentally been triggered…they had not.

5. I tried Muting/Un-Muting, Soloing/Un-Soloing and those functions worked fine.

6. The volume meter for that track shows no output/input for the SFX when that clip is played, while just above it in another track, the volume meter is working fine.

7. There are no fade-ins/outs on the problem clip.

8. There are no volume envelopes on the track containing the problem clip.

9. I have tried moving the problematic audio clip to different audio tracks at the same time setting and it will not playback.

10. But…if I open up a completely new Vegas 20 program and put this same SFX clip onto an audio track, it works fine.

Since eralier version of this same program have worked just fine, I have not tried reducing the number of video tracks used in this program.

I have read in Google that there have been problems with .wav files in Vegas 20. What can you suggest I try next?

Comments

Dexcon wrote on 11/24/2025, 7:25 PM

Check to make sure that the volume in the track header for the track containing the problem audio event hasn't inadvertently been reduced to 0.0 dB, and hit keyboard V to enable audio envelopes to make sure that the envelope hasn't inadvertently been reduced to minus infinity dB.

Alternatively, create a new audio track (Insert Audio Track or Ctrl+Q) and move the audio event on to that track.

john_dennis wrote on 11/24/2025, 8:37 PM

Please post a Mediainfo report and/or a sample file per these instructions:

https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/faq-how-to-post-mediainfo-and-vegas-pro-file-properties--104561/

Sam-Stalos wrote on 11/26/2025, 7:01 PM

I have spent some time isolating the problem area and reducing the files to the bare minimum that will exhibit this .wav problem. I am ready to send this file to you, but want to make I understand your protocol. I have prepared a separate .veg file of the program that includes the files with which I am having trouble. The link prompt here seems to want me to upload the .veg file, including the supporting audio and video media, to a website's URL, from which you can download it for examination. I do have a website and can do this, but I was expecting to see an upload prompt that would placed this files on your server with your URL. The upload pro mpt shown on this forum will only accept image files. Do I understand correctly? Meanwhle, I will upload the image files that at least demonstrate the area involved.

EricLNZ wrote on 11/26/2025, 7:25 PM

@Sam-Stalos Have you tried deleting the offending file from your project. Then shutting down VP. Reopening your project and reintroducing the file. That's what I would do.

Sam-Stalos wrote on 11/26/2025, 10:03 PM

Thank you Eric for the suggestion. I did what you describe and it did not work.

john_dennis wrote on 11/26/2025, 11:08 PM

Upload and share your sample files to a cloud share site, Google drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, etc. and post the link on this site.

Sam-Stalos wrote on 11/29/2025, 3:38 AM

I want to thank you all for your help, and if it will enlighten anyone else who encounters a similar problem, I'll relay what I found.

The problem was not the .wav file. The .wav file that would not play on track 24, even though all the other .wav files scattered around on track 24 would play, even though I re-rendered that particular .wav clip in Audacity up to 48 kHz 24 bit, even though all the other sound clips were 41 kHz at 16 bit, even though there were no Sound Envelopes involved in the entire program or hidden effects on that track...it was not the .wav clip.

The problem was somewhere embedded in Track 24. I deleted all the clips on Track 24 and then deleted Track 24. I then closed the Veg file, shutdown the computer, waited the appropriate minutes, rebooted the computer, reloaded the Veg. file that was now missing Track 24 (although of course the other tracks had simply moved up and Track 25 was now in the Track 24 slot), I inserted a new blank Audio Track 24, reloaded all the sound files onto that track including the trouble clip .wav SFX, and everything works just fine.

So the problem was hidden in Track 24...and in that particular place on Track 24. What does that mean? Is the timing code for the .wav file carried in the .wav file, or is there a clock on Track 24 that is cued to active/accept that particular .wav file according to a timing code embedded in Track 24???

Wasn't the original audio engine for Vegas called something like "Sound Forge," a non-destructive software program that appeared sometime in the 1980's? I remember it as being a very reliable piece of software.

Sorry it took so long for me to figure this out. And Happy Thanksgiving.

Dexcon wrote on 11/29/2025, 6:01 AM

Sorry it took so long for me to figure this out.

I did suggest the new audio track approach in the first reply to your post:

Alternatively, create a new audio track (Insert Audio Track or Ctrl+Q) and move the audio event on to that track.

Why? Because you said that you'd had success when importing that audio event into a new project:

But…if I open up a completely new Vegas 20 program and put this same SFX clip onto an audio track, it works fine.

Wasn't the original audio engine for Vegas called something like "Sound Forge," a non-destructive software program that appeared sometime in the 1980's?

I believe that the original Sound Forge was named Sonic Foundry Sound Forge that was first released in the early 90's, possibly 1993. It seems that Sonic Foundry introduced Sonic Foundry Vegas Pro in 1999 which was originally an audio only program, the difference being that Sound Forge was - and still is - a one-track but multi-channel (up to 32 channels these days) audio editor whereas Vegas Pro these days is audio-wise a multi-track audio program but limited channel-wise in Project settings to 2.0 or 5.1.

I've owned Sound Forge 10 to 16 and it has always been a great audio editor for many audio editing purposes, but I also use the excellent SpectraLayers Pro for spectral audio editing as well as iZotope RX11 for many of its native and related plugin features.

Howard-Vigorita wrote on 11/29/2025, 12:29 PM

The other big distinction was that SF was a destructive audio editor while VP1 was non-destructive of the original WAV track, saving the edit sequence to a VEG file by default unless explicitly rendered. I didn't see the point at the time of the extra rendering step so I passed on VP1 until VP2 added video. At the time I combined my mostly midi editing with multitrack audio in Cakewalk for explicit rendering. It took me a while, but I've come to appreciate Vegas' non-destructive editing approach which seems to have caught on. I still use Sonar for high-quality multi-track audio editing even though I don't do much midi anymore. But Vegas' edit functions are so similar and quicker, that I've come to depend on it for audio destined to video where audio quality standards are so much lower. Btw, I still use Sony SF7 for down and dirty quick edits. And obtaining level stats of Vegas audio projects... it's so much quicker in and out of Vegas than the latest Sound Forges.

rraud wrote on 11/29/2025, 1:17 PM

Sound Forge can edit non-destructively by 'Saving as' a <.frg> Sound Forge Project file. Pros and cons to both destructive and non-destructive editing.
The 'Event' edit mode can be very useful for surgical edits, x-fades, ect.

Sam-Stalos wrote on 11/29/2025, 3:44 PM

You're right Dexon. You did suggest replacing that whole track (track 24), but I couldn't understand why other .wav files played just fine -- although located at different times on Track 24 -- while this one particular SFX .wav file would not play. The video tracks at that particular point had also been both stretched and compressed and I thought that might have somehow influenced the performance of audio tracks located at the same point in time.

By the way, all of the music files were composed in Cakewalk/Sonar and the narration track was recorded using Cakewalk 5. I kick myself for not having purchased a new, clean Calkwalk 8.5 because that was the last version before the abandoment of .midi in favor of recording .wav samples and scoring with the piano roll view.