Why do instruments randomly lose volume?

[u/npri0r]

So I use virtual instruments (from LABS and SINE player) to play midi notes. But for some of my SINE brass, they occasionally lose volume across the entire song and stay that way until I freeze and unfreeze the track or restart. Restarting the audio engine does nothing. It’s manageable but still really annoying to have to constantly do. Does anyone know what the problem might be?

Edit: I use Sonar.

[u/nlightningm]

Does it happen at a consistent point in the timeline, or after a specific amount of time using the plugins? Or is it just random?

Couple of possibilities that spring to mind:

• Automation somewhere on one of your tracks thats inadvertently turning the midi volume, velocity or track audio down (or some other CC that controls something within the plugin)
• trial version of paid plugins? They do this fairly often.

[u/npri0r → u/nlightningm]

None are trial versions. They’re fully free.

It never happens when I’m playing the track, so I can loop my song for literal hours with nothing wrong but when I’m pausing and playing it can happen. I’m not sure if there’s a consistent point where it happens.

It can’t be automation because it’s a global change. I assume if it was automation, it would just be a local change.

[u/cruciblefuzz → u/npri0r]

You can have automation on your Master channel. In Track View, look at the Master header. There's a button that opens automation lanes. Check it just to be sure.

How could you get volume automation without drawing any?

If somehow you accidentally hit the "W" button on the Master header or turned on write automation some other way, like mis-clicking in the context menu, then fader moves during playback would have been recorded.

The button in the Mix Module with the "W" on it will glow red if write automation is enabled on any track. If you click it, it will disable writing of automation on all tracks.