Reference

Troubleshooting and job messages

fMusic reports problems in three places: blocking screens and alerts before a job runs, the HUD and error cards while a session is being read, and the job report on the card in the queue. This page lists the messages you can meet, in the order you meet them, with what each one means and what to do about it. Messages are quoted as they appear in the app; a value in braces, such as {name}, and counts such as N stand for what fMusic fills in.

One rule holds everywhere: fMusic never edits your audio files, and a job that stops before creating tracks leaves the Pro Tools session untouched. The report tells you exactly which steps ran, which were skipped, and why.

Before anything runs

These screens and alerts appear before a job exists. They are blocking on purpose: each one names the single thing to fix.

• Move fMusic to Applications, with macOS is running fMusic from a temporary copy, where it can’t update itself or keep its permissions.
  What it means: you opened fMusic straight from the Downloads folder or from a disk image, so macOS is running it from a temporary location where it cannot update or keep the Accessibility permission.
  What to do: follow the three steps on screen, Quit fMusic, Drag fMusic from your Downloads folder into Applications, Open it again from there. Quit fMusic is the only button. The path shown at the bottom of the screen is the current location of the app: include it if you write to support.
• Allow Accessibility, with fMusic drives Pro Tools’ interface for you. macOS asks for your permission once.
  What it means: the Accessibility permission is not granted. fMusic operates Pro Tools’ menus and dialogs through it, so the app stays on this screen, showing Waiting for permission…, until it is on.
  What to do: click Open System Settings (it opens the right pane directly), go to Privacy & Security ▸ Accessibility and turn on fMusic. The app checks every half second and continues on its own, no relaunch needed. The macOS prompt is shown only once: if you dismissed it, enable fMusic by hand in that list.
• Pro Tools in a language other than English (no message before the run)
  What it means: the automation looks for Pro Tools’ English labels, such as Bounce, OK and Search Outputs. fMusic does not warn you up front: with Pro Tools in another language the steps that drive its dialogs fail, and the failure surfaces as an error in the job report (for an export, the Bounce dialog step).
  What to do: switch Pro Tools’ interface to English before launching fMusic. See DAW language.
• fMusic Intro needs an internet connection or fMusic Studio needs an internet connection, with The app will continue on its own as soon as the connection is back. Nothing you were working on is lost. and the spinner Waiting for the connection…
  What it means: the Mac has no route to the internet, and Intro and Studio need one. The overlay covers the whole app, but your session, lanes and edits stay intact underneath, and jobs that were already running keep running. The check is about the Mac’s network route, not about reaching Forte’s servers.
  What to do: restore the connection; the overlay dissolves by itself. The link Keep working with no connection at all. See fMusic Suite opens the pricing page: Suite works offline.
• Open a Pro Tools session, with Open a session in Pro Tools or load a template in Settings before importing.
  What it means: you reached Session Settings with nothing to describe: no session is open in Pro Tools and no template is loaded in Settings ▸ Import & Organize.
  What to do: Open Pro Tools launches or brings Pro Tools forward (it does not create a session for you); Cancel returns to Home. Open or create a session in Pro Tools, or load a template in Settings: the alert closes on its own as soon as a session arrives.
• Pro Tools isn’t running, with {Export|Organize} works on the session Pro Tools has open. fMusic will launch Pro Tools and open "{name}" to continue.
  What it means: you clicked an Organize or Export card in Recent Sessions while Pro Tools was closed. Both work on the session Pro Tools has open; an Import recent has no such requirement.
  What to do: Open Pro Tools lets fMusic launch Pro Tools, open that session and continue; Cancel does nothing.
• Save the session in Pro Tools first
  What it means: the Current Session row of Organize Session sees a session that is open but has never been saved to disk. Organize needs the session file; Export needs only an open session.
  What to do: save the session in Pro Tools. The row becomes active as soon as the file exists.

The Current Session rows of Organize and Export also tell you why they are disabled. When the row is live, its title is the session name and the subtitle its format, for example 48 kHz · 24-bit; otherwise:

Opening or reading a session

While fMusic opens a session and loads it into the editor, a HUD above the timeline reports progress. Opening a session gives the focus to Pro Tools; when the load succeeds, the fMusic window comes back to the front by itself. Only one load runs at a time: starting another one cancels the load in progress.

• Opening session in Pro Tools…, and after 8 seconds Pro Tools is still working. A large session, or a cold launch, can take a while — nothing has gone wrong yet.
  What it means: Pro Tools is opening the session, or is still launching. Large sessions and a cold launch take longer, and fMusic cannot speed that up.
  What to do: wait. Cancel is offered while the phase can still be cancelled.
• Analyzing track N of M…, with Each track is being classified from its audio. Long tracks take longer; the count keeps moving.
  What it means: recognition is running on the loaded tracks. There is no Cancel here.
  What to do: wait for the count to reach M.
• Couldn’t open the session, always followed by Your Pro Tools session was not modified.
  What it means: the read failed. Nothing was written to the session.
  What to do: Try Again is offered only when the failure is recoverable; otherwise Back to Home is the only button. Check that Pro Tools is running, is not showing a dialog, and has the session open, then start again.
• AAF sessions aren’t supported, always followed by Your Pro Tools session was not modified.
  What it means: the session was built from an AAF and structures its media in a way fMusic cannot map yet, so the read refuses it instead of loading empty lanes.
  What to do: this is a current limit of the session read, not a problem with your session. See Sessions built from an AAF.
• Opened "{name}", but couldn’t read its clips — the session may use media fMusic can’t map yet (e.g. an AAF import).
  What it means: the session opened and has tracks, but none of its clips could be read. Same cause as above, caught one step later.
  What to do: as above. Import into this session still works, since an import only creates new tracks.
• Couldn’t open that session, with the underlying message and OK
  What it means: the .ptx you picked through Open a Session… could not be opened in Pro Tools.
  What to do: check that the file opens in Pro Tools by hand, and that Pro Tools is not in the middle of quitting; then pick it again.
• Pro Tools didn’t start. If it is still quitting, wait for it to close, then try again.
  What it means: fMusic tried to launch Pro Tools, or to open a session with it, and Pro Tools did not come up. The usual cause is a Pro Tools that is still closing.
  What to do: wait until Pro Tools has fully quit, then run the action again.

Normal status texts you will also see in this phase: Creating "{name}" and Creating "{name}" from the template for a New Session or Template destination, Opening "{name}" for an Existing Session. If Pro Tools is closed, fMusic launches it in the background first.

Session Settings warnings

The second wizard page checks your choices against the live session. Some messages block the forward action, others only inform. Import (or Organize) and Add to Queue are disabled together when there are no lanes, the destination is incomplete, or the placement position cannot be resolved. See Import setup for the controls themselves.

Placement

• Couldn’t read the Pro Tools selection — open the session you want to import into, or pick another placement. (blocks)
  What it means: Import At is set to Selection and fMusic cannot read Pro Tools’ timeline selection, usually because the target session is not the one open.
  What to do: open the session you are importing into, or choose Session Start, Marker or Spot.
• No range selected in Pro Tools — the import lands at the edit cursor. (informative)
  What it means: Selection is chosen but Pro Tools has no time range selected.
  What to do: nothing, if the edit cursor is where you want the clips; otherwise select a range in Pro Tools. The selection is resolved by Pro Tools at import time.
• This session has no markers — nothing to spot to. (blocks)
  What it means: Import At is set to Marker and the session has no memory locations. fMusic reads markers, it never creates them.
  What to do: add a memory location in Pro Tools, or pick another placement.
• No marker at {position} in this session — the import will land at that position. Pick a marker to change it.
  What it means: a job reopened from the queue referenced a marker that no longer exists. The import still lands at the stored position.
  What to do: pick another marker if that position is no longer right.
• "Move into routing folders" is on in Import settings, so every track lands inside the folder its route names.
  What it means: in Routing mode with that switch on, In Routing Folder is the only Place Tracks option, by design.
  What to do: to place tracks elsewhere, turn the switch off in Settings ▸ Import & Organize. See Routing Folders.
• "Below a Track" needs an open Pro Tools session to read its tracks from.
  What it means: that placement anchors the new tracks under an existing one, so it needs a session to list.
  What to do: open the destination session, or pick another placement. While the list loads you see Reading this session’s tracks…; Couldn’t read this session’s tracks from Pro Tools — try again, or pick another placement. and This session has no tracks to place under — pick another placement. say exactly what they mean.

Destination

• Can’t contain: {characters}
  What it means: the Session Filename holds characters macOS or Pro Tools cannot use in a file name: / \ : * ? " < > |. An empty name also disables the action.
  What to do: remove the listed characters.
• No templates found in Pro Tools’ "Session Templates" folder. You can load a template file in Import settings instead.
  What it means: the Template destination with Installed selected found nothing in Pro Tools’ own templates folder.
  What to do: load a template file in Settings ▸ Import & Organize and choose From settings. See Using your mix templates.
• No session is open in Pro Tools
  What it means: the destination is Current Session but the session has been closed in the meantime. The same text stops a job whose destination session is gone by the time it runs.
  What to do: reopen the session, or choose another destination. No session selected and No folder selected mark the other incomplete destinations.

Sample rate

• 3 files are 44.1 kHz; this session is 48 kHz. Import Audio is set to Copy — Pro Tools will bring them in as-is and they will play back at the wrong speed and pitch. Switch to Copy & Convert. (yellow triangle)
  What it means: some files do not match the session’s sample rate, and Import audio is set to Copy or Add. Both bring the file in unchanged, so a 44.1 kHz file in a 48 kHz session plays slow and flat. The check is repeated when the job runs.
  What to do: set Import audio to Copy & Convert in Settings ▸ Import & Organize. Pro Tools then resamples on import, and fMusic states it: 3 files will be converted to 48 kHz on import (~1 s per file). When the files already match, fMusic quietly downgrades Copy & Convert to Copy, so leaving it on costs nothing.

Route Tracks prefill

In Routing mode the right column prefills each track with its category’s default route, after reading the session’s I/O catalog. While it reads you see Reading routing from Pro Tools… and the pickers show Loading routes…. The scan opens and walks Pro Tools’ I/O Setup window: leave Pro Tools alone while it runs. See How the table is prefilled.

• "ƒDRUMS" isn’t available in this session. Those tracks are routed to "Out 1-2" instead., or 4 routes aren’t available in this session. …
  What it means: a category’s default route does not exist in this session, so its tracks fell back to the physical output. Each affected row carries a yellow triangle.
  What to do: pick a real bus in the row (the triangle disappears), or create the bus in Pro Tools and reopen the page. A track left without a destination does not block the import; it is simply not routed.
• No Import category for: followed by a list of names
  What it means: those tracks belong to a category that has no row in Settings ▸ Import & Organize ▸ Categories, so there is no default route to prefill.
  What to do: right-click the rows and use Change Category, or add the category in Settings. Changing the category forgets and re-prefills the destination of those rows.

The status row under the title counts the result, Every track has its output. or how many of the tracks still lack one. It is informative: unrouted tracks never block the run.

Import and Organize job report

Once a job runs, everything it could not do lands on its card in the queue. The final summary reads like 10 of 12 tracks · 8 routed · 2 not routed · 1 skipped · 2 settings not applied · 3 warnings, and the checklist below it lists only what deviated. Most steps drive Pro Tools through its own interface, so a step can fail simply because Pro Tools was not in front: leave the Mac alone during a run and close any open Pro Tools dialog before starting one.

Route preflight

Before a single track is created, every routing destination is verified against the session. Four outcomes (see also Preflight):

Three upstream blockers stop a job even earlier: No session is open in Pro Tools, Pro Tools didn’t start. If it is still quitting, wait for it to close, then try again., and PTSL connect failed: …. The last one means fMusic could not reach Pro Tools’ scripting layer: make sure Pro Tools is fully launched and has finished loading, then run the job again.

Placement helper track

• A placement helper track is left in the session — delete "fM DELETE ME"
  What it means: with Place Tracks set to Top of Session, fMusic creates a throwaway mono track at the top, imports after it, and deletes it. It tries three times; if the deletion still fails, the track is renamed fM DELETE ME instead of being left with a misleading name.
  What to do: delete that track in Pro Tools. Nothing else is affected.

Strip silence

Strip silence is performed by Pro Tools’ own Edit ▸ Strip Silence, one pass per distinct tuning, after the import. Nothing is cut inside fMusic and there is no preview. See Strip silence.

• Silence not stripped on 8 track(s) — no import category for unclassified, woodwind
  What it means: those tracks belong to categories that have no row in the Import categories, so there are no strip-silence parameters for them.
  What to do: add the categories in Settings (with strip silence on), or run Strip Silence by hand on those tracks.
• Strip silence didn’t match any track’s category
  What it means: strip silence is enabled, but none of the imported tracks belongs to a category that has it switched on.
  What to do: turn it on for the right categories, or accept the result.
• Silence not stripped — Pro Tools didn’t report its tracks, — none of the tracks are in the session, — Pro Tools wasn’t in front, — Pro Tools’ Strip Silence window didn’t open, — Pro Tools wouldn’t take the strip settings (nothing was cut), — Pro Tools’ clips are unchanged
  What it means: the Strip Silence pass could not be driven: the track list was unreadable, the tracks were gone, Pro Tools lost the focus, its window did not open, it refused the slider values, or it accepted them but changed nothing. In every case the clips are as they were imported: nothing was cut wrongly.
  What to do: select the tracks in Pro Tools and run Edit ▸ Strip Silence yourself with the category’s values, or run the import again with Pro Tools in front and no dialog open.

Track order (Organize)

• Track order not applied — Pro Tools didn’t report its tracks, — a Pro Tools dialog was open, — Pro Tools’ track menu isn’t wired up yet, and Track order in Pro Tools doesn’t match the editor
  What it means: the last Organize step, reordering the tracks to match the editor, could not be completed or did not produce the expected order. Everything before it (deletions, merges, renames, colors, routing) has already been applied.
  What to do: close any open dialog in Pro Tools and run Organize again with only the order changed, or drag the tracks into place by hand.

Normalization, track height and tempo

• Level not normalized on 'Kick'
  What it means: Audio normalization could not be applied to that track’s temporary copy. The source file is never touched, and the track was imported at its original level.
  What to do: adjust the clip gain in Pro Tools, or re-import that file.
• Track height 'Medium' not applied — Pro Tools did not come to the front and Tempo 120 BPM not applied — skipped — Pro Tools did not take the focus earlier in this run
  What it means: track height is applied with keyboard shortcuts and the session tempo through Event ▸ Tempo Operations ▸ Constant…; both need Pro Tools in front. Once the focus was lost earlier in the run, the later step is skipped rather than typed into the wrong window.
  What to do: set the height and tempo by hand, and keep the Mac idle during the next run.

Routing and Retry routing

• Routing — {bus} listed as failed
  What it means: the bus assignment of that track did not go through. Routing is applied one pass per bus through Pro Tools’ interface; a route that names a routing folder is translated into the folder’s input bus.
  What to do: the card offers Retry routing, described as Re-runs only the routing of the N tracks whose bus assignment failed. Nothing is re-imported. Fix the bus in Pro Tools if it was missing, then click it.

Organize-only messages

Organize writes into the session it read; see Applying changes for the full order of operations.

• The session open in Pro Tools ("X") isn’t the one these changes were read from, so fMusic won’t delete tracks in it. Reopen "Y" and organize again.
  What it means: a different session is open in Pro Tools than the one your changes came from. Deletions are refused rather than applied to the wrong session.
  What to do: reopen the session named as Y in Pro Tools and run Organize again.
• "Gtr" wasn’t merged: "Gtr.L" and "Gtr.R" aren’t both in the session any more.
  What it means: merging split stereo pairs is best-effort: one side of the pair was no longer in the session when the job ran, so that pair was skipped and the job went on.
  What to do: merge the pair by hand, or reload the session and organize again.
• Rename — Old → New, Colour — {name}, Delete — {track}
  What it means: a rename Pro Tools refused, a color that could not be verified after applying it, a track that could not be deleted. A rename is only attempted where the name changed.
  What to do: apply that one change by hand in Pro Tools.

Match template and Track preset

• Match template: no Pro Tools template selected, so its track structure wasn’t imported and Match template: Pro Tools couldn’t import the template’s session data
  What it means: the template step runs Pro Tools’ Import Session Data from the template file. It is best-effort: when it cannot run, the job continues without the template’s structure and reports it as a warning.
  What to do: load a template in Settings, and check that the .ptx opens in Pro Tools; then run again. If every referenced template row already exists in the session, this step is skipped and that is not an error.
• Track preset: '{preset}' couldn’t be recalled — Kick, Snare routed to their buses instead
  What it means: recalling that Track Preset through the track header menu failed twice, so the listed tracks received plain routing instead of the preset’s routing, plug-ins, inserts, sends and color.
  What to do: check that the preset exists in the folder set in Settings (by default ~/Documents/Pro Tools/Track Presets/Avid), then recall it by hand on those tracks. See Track preset.

Export job report

An export renders only the prints you selected, one bounce per audio format, and reports N files rendered, plus N failed, N skipped and N warning(s) when they apply. A run counts as complete only with zero failures, zero skips, and every requested bounce delivered. One failed print never stops the batch. See How to bounce your stems.

Pre-flight rows at the top of the print list

Before you even press Print, up to four rows above the list name the prints that cannot render as configured:

• Mix source "A" isn’t available in this session. fMusic is using "B" instead — pick one in Print settings to choose for yourself.
  What it means: the project mix source is missing here, and fMusic resolved a substitute for the inherited prints.
  What to do: accept it, or set the source explicitly in Print settings ▸ Bounce ▸ Mix source.
• Mix source "X" isn’t available in this session. N prints inherit it and they’ll bounce the main mix instead — fix it in Print settings.
  What it means: no substitute could be resolved; the inherited prints will fall back to the main mix.
  What to do: pick an available source in Print settings, or fix the session’s routing. The same situation appears under the picker in Print settings as "X" (from your defaults) isn’t available in this session. 3 prints inherit it and they’ll bounce the main mix instead.
• N prints use a mix source that isn’t available in this session. They’ll be skipped — fix their sources or the session’s routing.
  What it means: those prints carry their own mix source, and it is missing. A print with an explicit source is never repointed at another mix, so it will be skipped.
  What to do: edit the print’s Mix source, or create the bus in Pro Tools.
• N prints can’t be printed: their routing sources or folders aren’t in this session, or they have none set.
  What it means: prints built from Export categories whose bus or routing folders are not in this session, or not configured. A category whose folders are only partly present also makes the print unprintable. Row tooltips give the detail: Routing folder "ƒSAMPLE" isn’t in this session, so "ALL DRUMS" can’t be printed., "DRUMS" has no routing source, so there’s nothing to print. Pick a bus in Settings ▸ Export.
  What to do: fix the category in Settings ▸ Export, or the routing in the session.

Why a print is skipped

A skipped print renders nothing, and the reason is written on its checklist row. The job cannot honor what the print asks for:

• A marker range that cannot be resolved: range start — "Chorus" is no longer in this session; "Chorus" matches 2 markers in this session — rename them or pick one in the print; the range ends before it starts (A → B); Couldn’t read this session’s start from Pro Tools.; This session has nothing on the timeline, so it has no end to render up to. Fix the markers in Pro Tools or edit the print’s Range.
• An explicit mix source that is not assigned: mix source 'X' (required by category 'DRUMS') is not assigned to any track in the session — skipped rather than bouncing the main mix under this name. Assign the bus in the session or change the print’s source.
• No tracks left: none of its N track(s) are in the open session. Edit the print’s tracks, or open the session it was made for.

Warnings that do not stop the bounce

• N of M track(s) not in the open session — bounced without them: some of the print’s tracks are missing; the file was rendered from the ones present. Check the print’s track list.
• bounced from Pro Tools’ default mix source or bounced from the main mix: the print’s inherited source was unavailable. fMusic first retries the same source typed the other way (bus as output, output as bus), and only for inherited sources falls back to the main mix. A print with its own source never falls back: it is skipped instead, as above.

Failures during the render

• Bounce file never settled: {name}
  What it means: Pro Tools always writes into the session’s Bounced Files folder first; fMusic waits for the file’s size to stay stable across two checks 300 ms apart, and gives up after 8 seconds. Either Pro Tools never finished writing, or the disk was too slow to settle in time.
  What to do: look in Bounced Files for the file; if it is complete, move it yourself, otherwise select that print alone and run it again.
• Bounce dialog errors
  What it means: when a bounce is driven through Pro Tools’ Bounce Mix window, fMusic looks for its English labels. With Pro Tools in another language the step fails and the print is reported as failed; this is the only place a non-English Pro Tools shows up.
  What to do: switch Pro Tools to English and run the print again.

Whatever ends a run, fMusic restores every solo and mute it changed, including on an error. Reveal in Finder on the finished card opens the destination folder, or Bounced Files when no destination is set.

Importing print files and presets

The Presets and prints menu in the Export toolbar loads and saves files. Its errors:

• That’s a prints file, not an export preset — use "Import Prints…" instead.: you chose a prints file through the Import Preset… command. Other preset errors appear in the alert Couldn’t use that preset.
• This prints file was saved by a newer version of fMusic (format X; this build reads up to Y). Update fMusic to import it.: update the app, then import again.
• That file isn’t a prints file fMusic can read.: the file is not a prints export, or is damaged. Ask for a fresh export from the colleague who sent it.
• That prints file is empty — there is nothing to import.: the file was exported with no prints selected.

A successful import ends with the alert Prints imported and a summary: N prints imported., Renamed to avoid a clash: "A" → "A 2"., Imported without some tracks: "X" (2 missing)., Mix source not in this session: "X" → @DRUM BUSS., Skipped, none of their tracks are in this session: "X". Imported prints arrive unstarred and already selected.

Global print shortcuts

The system-wide print shortcuts work while Pro Tools is in front and answer through notifications: Select the tracks to print in Pro Tools first. when nothing is selected, Couldn’t read the Pro Tools selection when the selection cannot be read, and No print created with the reason when the tier’s print limit is reached. A shortcut is ignored while the queue is running. See Print shortcuts.

Queue

The card in the queue is where every report above ends up. A few behaviors of the queue itself look like problems and are not; see The queue and processing for the full screen.

• Pro Tools is doing this step. Long renders and large sessions genuinely take this long — the step below moves when it finishes.
  What it means: the status strip has been on the same phase for a while and fMusic is waiting on Pro Tools.
  What to do: wait, and do not click into Pro Tools.
• Stop organizing?, with Changes already made in Pro Tools aren’t undone. and the buttons Stop / Keep Running
  What it means: stopping an import or organize is not a rollback: tracks already created, renamed or deleted stay that way. Organize deletes tracks near the start of the run. An export, by contrast, stops cleanly between bounces, with solos and mutes restored and the bounce dialog closed.
  What to do: stop early or let the job finish. Stopping one job marks it Cancelled and the queue moves on; Stop in the bottom bar ends the whole run and leaves the remaining jobs waiting. A failed job never stops the queue.
• The queue already holds import work. fMusic Suite runs export and import jobs together; in Studio they queue one module at a time. (toast)
  What it means: on Intro and Studio the queue accepts jobs from one module at a time while jobs are waiting. The job was not added.
  What to do: run or clear the waiting jobs first, then add the other module’s job.
• Reopen does not bring back my edits
  What it means: an import job stores one whole region per track and no clip layout, so a reopened import comes back as one region per track: splits, trims and clip moves made in the editor were never part of the queued job. An organize job reopens in full. The button is absent when a resume is impossible.
  What to do: redo the clip edits in the editor before running, or run the job as queued.
• Reveal in Finder does nothing
  What it means: the job has no folder to show: an import, or an export into the current session whose path fMusic never learned.
  What to do: open the session folder yourself; exports are in Bounced Files or in the destination set in Print settings.
• Jobs are back after a relaunch
  What it means: waiting jobs are persisted and reappear as Queued; progress inside a job is not, so a job that had started but not finished runs again from the start. The run-end banners Nothing to process., Cancelled — nothing ran. and {S} of {N} complete (with · N failed and · cancelled when they apply) describe the last run only.
  What to do: remove with ✕ the jobs you no longer want before pressing Start.

Getting help

When a report does not explain a failure, export the logs: Settings ▸ General ▸ Diagnostics ▸ Export Debug Logs… opens a save panel with the name fMusic2-logs-YYYY-MM-DD.zip; the row is described as A compact rotating log. Export it to one file when reporting a problem. The archive holds fMusic’s own rotating log for the last two weeks, a crash log, a record of any app freeze, and the journal of the current import phase; it contains no audio and no session data.

Attach the archive to your message to support, together with the Pro Tools version, the exact message from the job card, and, if you are stuck on the Move fMusic to Applications screen, the bundle path shown at its bottom. To see the guided tour again, use Help ▸ Replay Onboarding….