Adobe Audition CC 2017+ Punch & Roll

Are you a narrator? Have you wanted ProTools, Reaper, and StudioOne style Punch & Roll natively in Adobe Audition?
You're in luck! So did I.

I've built a (free) extension for Adobe Audition CC 2017 and up which allows for this. I've used it for over 150 full-length books, and it's been an enormous boon to my recording and production process.

It works on Mac & PC, and is quite full featured, including metronome, variable pre-roll, "re-punch", and hotkey support. It is fully non-destructive (which means that when you punch-in, you won't destroy pre-existing audio).

INSTALLATION

DISCLAIMER: 
This extension is provided for your use, free of charge. Use at your own risk.

I have tested extensively on Audition 2017 and 2018. It works for me, but dependent on your own setup and machine, I can’t absolutely guarantee it will work for you, although I’m happy to help troubleshoot.

The extension is available for free from the Adobe Exchange. 

https://exchange.adobe.com/addons/products/19853

Once you've elected to 'get' the extension, Adobe Creative Cloud SHOULD sync it and keep it updated for you. Note that you'll need to have Audition closed for this to happen, and sometimes it takes CC a little while to get around to it.

IF ADOBE EXCHANGE REFUSES TO INSTALL THE EXTENSION, THERE IS A RELIABLE ALTERNATIVE!

If it fails for some reason, use the following steps

  • Download Anistasiy's Extension manager - it works for Mac or PC and so far always seems to work (and lets you remove extensions also)

    UNFORTUNATELY, THE LATEST VERSIONS OF ANISTASIY’S EXTENSION MANAGER ARE BROKEN AND WILL NOT PROPERLY INSTALL THE EXTENSION IN AUDITION ANY LONGER!

    However, I have older versions archived that you can use to do this.
    Windows: HERE
    Mac: HERE

  • Download the extension file here, by clicking on 'Download Punch And Roll' https://www.adobeexchange.com/creativecloud/install-instructions.19853.html

  • Run Anistasiy's Extension Manager, and drag the extension onto it. That's it!

VIDEOS

An overview and walk-through of the extension's features and usage. Covers all aspects of the extension. More useful than any written instructions, I think.

 

Details of my end-to-end narration, editing, and mastering process, using the extension. If you're new to narration and editing, this may be useful to you - or might just provide you with some interesting information to tweak your process.

Or maybe it'll just make you feel better about your own narration! :)

HOTKEYS

HOTKEYS

Punch In can be activated from the dialog, or by using the keystroke bound to the Loop Playback command.
(CTRL+L by default on Windows – OPTION+L by default for Mac)
To change the Punch-In keystroke, rebind the Loop Playback command to the key you wish to use.

Re-Punch can be activated from the button on the dialog, or by using the keystroke bound to the Pause command. 
(CTRL+SHIFT+SPACE by default for Windows – OPTION+SHIFT+SPACE by default for Mac)
To change the Re-Punch keystroke, rebind the Pause command to the key you wish to use.

TROUBLESHOOTING

First - it is VERY IMPORTANT that Audition be set to ‘Instant Record Mode’ and not ‘Punch and Roll Mode’, even if this sounds counterintuitive.
Check this first!
LINK

On Windows, if Audition for some reason fails to trigger a record, or otherwise fails during recording, it's worth checking your Audition Audio Hardware menu. (Choose EDIT->Audio Hardware Setup) 

If our interface is set to use MME for the device class, I recommend trying ASIO if available to see if that resolves any issues you may have. 

If for some reason punches are not happening properly, the usual culprit is a delay in file creation. Unlike waveform editing, every time you 'punch in' a new file has to be created. If the OS takes a long, long time to do this, then the punch can't happen. Common causes are a pending Windows Update messing around with your disk, some other disk intensive application running in the background, or a virus scanner like Norton or Avast getting in the way. If you experience a problem like this, make sure other applications are closed, no updates are pending, no downloads are being made, and try temporarily disabling any virus scanners to see if it resolves the problem.

For other miscellaneous issues, here are two things I always do -

FIRST - turn off Peak File Generation. These are those annoying .PKF files which litter your multitrack folders, and which have to be saved separately by Audition. Just get them out of the mix - they aren’t doing anything useful for you, and can become corrupted and gum up the works.

In Adobe Audition, go to Preferences > Media & Disk Cache > Untick ‘Save Peak Files’

SECOND - Disable Creative Cloud’s cloud sync, if you have it active. You can do this from the Creative Cloud application. This can decide to upload files while you’re working on them and slow down your disk access and otherwise cause mayhem.

After all of that, are you on Adobe Audition 2018 and experiencing issues? I highly recommend rolling back to 2017. Some users have no difficulties at all, but others have resolved issues by rolling back. You can easily do this from the Creative Cloud application.

NOTES

Given that this is a free extension, there's a limit to the support I can provide, but I'll do my best to help you if you run into trouble. Feel free to drop me a line at the email address below.