The plugin loaded, it is sitting on a track, the transport is running, and still nothing comes out. The confusing part is that no error appears to tell you why. Almost every case is one of a handful of ordinary things, and there is a sensible order to check them in, the same for any host on Mac or Windows.
This is host-agnostic. The idea is the same in every DAW or video editor; only the menu names differ, so check the wording in your own mixer and track settings as you go.
Because the plugin loaded but the audio never reached the output, and nothing on screen tells you where the break is. A plugin can appear in the list, and even light its own meters, without a sound arriving at your speakers. There is a chain that runs from a note, through the plugin, through the track and its routing, to the main output, and a break anywhere along it is silent. Nearly every case is one of these, so work down them in order and stop the moment sound returns.
If the plugin is not even in your list to begin with, that is a different problem: see why a plugin does not show up in your DAW. This page assumes the plugin is loaded and on a track, and only the sound is missing.
Start with the track itself, because a mute, a stray solo or a lowered fader is the most common cause by a wide margin and the fastest to rule out. Run these in order and stop the moment sound returns.
If that does not do it, the table below maps the most common symptoms to a likely cause and a fix.
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Silence on every track | A solo left on somewhere, or the master muted or turned down | Clear all solos, unmute and raise the master |
| One track silent, the rest fine | That track is muted, turned down, or feeding a dead output | Unmute it, raise its fader, check its output routing |
| Instrument silent when you play | No MIDI reaching it: track not armed, wrong input, or no notes | Arm or monitor the track, pick the right MIDI input, confirm notes arrive |
| Effect plugin makes no sound | No audio coming into the track it sits on | Feed real audio into that track, or move the effect onto one that has some |
| Meters move but you hear nothing | Output routed to a bus that goes nowhere, or a disabled output | Route the track to the main output you are monitoring |
| Sound drops out under load | CPU overload, with the host muting to protect playback | Raise the buffer size, freeze or bounce heavy tracks, or remove some plugins |
| Silent only on export or bounce | An offline bounce, or a muted or out-of-range render | See why is my export silent |
Because the notes are probably not reaching the instrument. An instrument plugin stays silent until MIDI arrives at it, so if you press keys and hear nothing, the usual break is somewhere between your keyboard and the plugin rather than in the plugin itself.
The track has to be armed, record-enabled, or set to monitor its input before it will pass your live playing through to the instrument. If it is not, the notes go nowhere. The track's MIDI input also has to be set to the keyboard or controller you are actually playing; if it is listening to a different port, or to nothing, the notes never arrive. And there has to be something to play in the first place, so check you are not on an empty region or a part that lives on another track.
Once you are sure notes are arriving, the causes move to the instrument itself. It may have no patch or sample loaded, which leaves it with nothing to sound. It may be bypassed. Or its own output, separate from the track fader, may be turned down. Rule those out and most silent instruments start playing.
If the instrument plays itself, and it is silent only when you bounce or export while sounding fine on playback, that is a different cause. A faster-than-realtime offline bounce can render a self-playing instrument as silence. That one is covered in why is my export silent.
Because an effect only makes sound out of the sound going into it, so an effect on a track with no incoming audio is silent by definition. A reverb, delay, compressor or EQ processes an input signal; give it nothing and it outputs nothing, even though it loaded correctly and looks active.
So the first thing to check is that the track the effect sits on is actually receiving audio, whether from a playing region, a live input, or a send from another track. On a silent or empty track the effect has nothing to process, and the fix is to feed real audio into that track or to move the effect onto one that already has some.
A few effects are wet-only or built around a sidechain, and these can stay quiet even with the routing right. A reverb or delay set fully wet still needs input to create its tail. A plugin in sidechain-only or ducking mode with no key signal reaching its sidechain input stays closed on purpose. And a noise gate set with its threshold too high can hold the whole track shut so nothing passes. As with any plugin, also confirm it is not bypassed and that its output level and the track fader are up.
Most of this page is about a break somewhere in your own project rather than a fault in the plugin. The fastest way to tell the two apart is to hear a plugin you know is working, with none of your own routing in the way.
Every Tunary instrument has a browser demo that needs no install and no account, so you can hear a working plugin play in seconds and rule out an install or routing problem in your own project. The Collection is three of them: ARGISH, SILT and REHEAT. If one sounds in your browser but not in your DAW, you know the plugin is fine and the break is in the setup, which is exactly what this page is for.
Try one free in your browser first, no install and no account. The whole Collection is one purchase.
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