Automation 'mute off' not triggering on the beat

It’s a problem I have had for a long time. I have MIDI drums playing using beat designer, I mute this track for an intro for example, unmute it with automation on bar 8 and the 1st beat kick drum is missing. Does anybody know why?

Haven’t had this problem with automation but with MIDI messages. My usual fix is to manually move the event one tick earlier (so maybe 7.4.4.119 in your case). Of course that introduces another problem if you want to move automation data with the event…

Not sure, but it might be that because most automation is not sample accurate (apart from volume in C12 iirc), but dependent on the buffer, so it might be that the unmute automation comes to effect with the next buffer which can be later than the kick. Just a wild guess…
As far as I can remember, you can switch Beat designer patterns via MIDI events, so you could maybe just create an empty pattern, and trigger that for your intro, then trigger the real pattern.

Thanks for the replies. I’ve thought about nudging events forward but that would be a nightmare to organise when arranging.

So are you suggesting it may be a latency issue, fese? I’m sure there are different workarounds like you mentioned. I’m going to start trialing different DAWs and see if they suffer from the same workflow blockages as Cubase, I’m loosing faith in Cubase rapidly :confused:

Mute automation is a complex topic, because you don’t want it to be completely “abrupt”, going from 0 to 100 from one sample to another, because the result could be audible clicks. This is why DAW typically smooth the mute over time, and that could lead to what you are experiencing here.
Imho it is not a workflow problem in Cubase, you are just using the wrong tool for the purpose.
If you automated e.g. the Beatdesigner insert, everything works fine in a short test here. Or, as I already wrote, switch to an empty pattern for the intro.

Thanks for the advice fese.