Audio drops from slides inconsistently in Storyline 360 Feb & March 2020

Mar 10, 2020

I've been experiencing inconsistent audio dropping issues in February & March 2020. In the past, audio in my courses always sounded perfect. I'm recording audio in Audacity using the recommended format for Storyline. I'm inserting the audio into Storyline 360 with the most current update.

I've experimented by using different microphones, different versions of Audacity and different laptops. Every combination creates inconsistent results. Sometimes the recorded audio is perfect. Sometimes the audio drops in a different place in the recording (but always at the end of the recorded slide.) 

I've experimented by publishing the course to different environments (my LMS and Articulate Review.) Audio in the same course file behaves differently when I publish the course to a different environment.

The attached "ISSUE Audio in online courses March 2020" shows the inconsistent results of my experiments. The rows show 4 different slides published to different environments and the columns show different combinations of microphones, laptops and versions of Audacity software.

I attached the course file.

I don't think the issue is my microphone, laptop, recording software or audio files. Hoping someone can help me figure out if my Storyline software is causing the inconsistent audio issue or, if it's something in my work environment that's causing the audio to drop at the end of my slides.  

11 Replies
Katie Riggio

Welcome, Linda!

I'm sorry you're facing these inconsistencies with the audio lately. You've done a thorough job in troubleshooting on your own, and we're happy to jump in!

I'm hearing some squeaks and drops in your Review 360 output, when I export some of the audio files, and within the source file. I don't see anything in your settings that would cause those behaviors, so I'd like to bring our Engineers to the table and carefully review your thorough findings with them.

Keep an eye out for an email from us soon, and you'll get priority support since you Articulate 360 for Teams!

Huan Vu

Hello Katie,
we have experienced the same issues recently, too.

Would be great if your engineering team could fix this soon. Storyline has become really unreliable with playing audio files. Sometimes it doesn't play at all, many times the sounds are interrupted before they finish. Adding 1s of silence to the end didn't help.

Lauren Connelly

Hi Huan!

Sorry you've hit this snag too! Reaching out to our Support Engineers is the best place to start. They'll take a look at the file and zero in on what could be the main issue affecting multiple audio files.

Please use this link to start a support case! The quickest way to receive help is to include your file and a description of what you've tried so far. After submitting a case, you'll hear from our team shortly. 

Katie Riggio

Hi Mark and Huan!

While it's tough to nail down the source of corruption, these best practices can help:

Another great place to check is to make sure your Articulate 360 app is up-to-date:

If those tactics don't help, our Support team is always ready to jump in to explore further

Jon Schiedermayer

We are having this issue as well. Audio is clear and professionally edited, all work done on local drive, plays perfectly in Preview.

Upon Publish, audio on some slides just drops out.

Also, the CC attached to the audio drops out.

The slide continues to play out the timeline, but no audio or CC.

What have the Engineers come up with for the above cases?

Lauren Connelly

Hello Joseph!

I'm happy to help! Are you finding audio drops when publishing other courses to Review 360? Or is it just this one?

It would be helpful to test the file to determine what is getting in the way. You can share the .story file with us in this public discussion or privately in a support case.