Audio Waveform Display Issues

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There are files stored on your hard drive that contain information about thumbnails and audio waveforms. If you experience display or read/write problems, here's a quick, possible fix. Every time you place a clip in the timeline, when the option to display audio waveforms is turned on, Final Cut Pro creates a file on the hard drive for each clip. Sometimes waveforms won't display as they should.

The first things to try are:

1. Quitting and re-starting Final Cut Pro.

2. Repair permissions as outlined earlier.

3. If the cache files are stored on a different drive from your main hard drive, check that "ignore ownership on this volume" is checked, found in the article Hard Drive Privileges.

If the above options don't clear up the problem, try trashing existing waveform files on your hard drive (as detailed below). Even if you aren't having a specific problem, this folder can get cluttered and its helpful to delete these files occasionally. This won't cause any playback issues. As soon as you choose to display waveforms in the Timeline, Final Cut Pro will re-draw a new waveform file. To throw away waveform cache files:

1. In Final Cut Pro, go to the Final Cut Pro menu > System Settings. On this page you will see the location where Waveform Cache (as well as Thumbnail Cache) is stored.

2. Quit Final Cut Pro.

3. Navigate to folder where the cache files are stored. Delete all files in the folder (but not the folder itself).