I've seen weird stuff like this with some Kontakt libraries due to the fact that there are several ways to adjust levels in Kontakt and they can conflict with each other. You might check if you have any other automation in the track by turning on Automation Lanes and see what shows up.
 
Regards,
Dan
 

dcumpian
I've seen weird stuff like this with some Kontakt libraries due to the fact that there are several ways to adjust levels in Kontakt and they can conflict with each other. You might check if you have any other automation in the track by turning on Automation Lanes and see what shows up.
 
Regards,
Dan

He doesn't mention that the tracks were generated with Kontakt, so I assumed they were just regular audio tracks.
 
The reason why I asked about MIDI was that this kind of issue is fairly common if you have controller 7 messages where MIDI reads something like a low level on a fade out, then returns to the beginning but misses a piece of data that resets the level. But he said MIDI wasn't involved in the track. 
 
The next step is to find out what in the virgin track is different from the other track.

Anderton
 
The next step is to find out what in the virgin track is different from the other track.

Right. After I figure out how to drag the lead guitar track to a virgin track (details here), that's what I'll be doing today. 1.) What do you think I should look for first? ...and 2.) Why won't the lead guitar track let itself be dragged to a virgin track?
EDIT: No Kontakt for sure, and MIDI is involved only if I did something in my sleep.

Bounce the lead track to a new track and it will reflect the automation and such. Mute the original track and see if the problem persists in the bounced track. This might actually be a better test than dragging the audio because you can uncheck different mix enables and see if one particular mix enable causes the problem to occur.
 
You can also clone the track and bounce the clips to themselves, and drag them over as a single clip.

Yeah - I was thinking maybe something weird with zero controllers affecting a particular instrument/preset, but given the presented information, I don't really have a clue.
 
Bob Bone
 

Anderton
Bounce the lead track to a new track and it will reflect the automation and such. Mute the original track and see if the problem persists in the bounced track. This might actually be a better test than dragging the audio because you can uncheck different mix enables and see if one particular mix enable causes the problem to occur.
 
You can also clone the track and bounce the clips to themselves, and drag them over as a single clip.

I bounced the lead track to a new track, with all mix parameters enabled except Audible Bounce and Live Input, which were both greyed out anyway. The new track is at the correct level and plays fine even after a restart, although it is now frozen with Guitar Rig and BT Analog Phaser effects. I'm out of time for the next couple of hours, but I think I will bounce again without the FX, then add the FX back to the bounced track, and see if that works.


 
As I mentioned earlier, I don't need to know why this happened, but I'd like to...

robert_e_bone
Yeah - I was thinking maybe something weird with zero controllers affecting a particular instrument/preset, but given the presented information, I don't really have a clue.
 
Bob Bone
 

Bob,
 
I don't know what "zero controllers" are, but I'll look into it if you point me in the right direction.

Under Preferences>Project>MIDI
 
There is a check box for 'Zero controllers when play stops'.  
 
This used to mess up some of my Reaktor sounds, which for some reason had pitch assigned to the mod wheel.  
 
With this preference checked, the Reaktor preset would drop 1 whole note in pitch, and it took me FOREVER to figure out I needed to remove the check for this parameter.
 
Bob Bone
 

robert_e_bone
Under Preferences>Project>MIDI
 
There is a check box for 'Zero controllers when play stops'.  
 
This used to mess up some of my Reaktor sounds, which for some reason had pitch assigned to the mod wheel.  
 
Bob Bone
 

Bob - This box is checked in my project preferences. The track(s) in question are not MIDI tracks, though. I unchecked the box just to see, and the bad behavior continued. Good thought, though.

As the songwriter/arranger/producer of this track, I am invoking my privilege to give up and blow this song off.
 
Turns out the track bounce idea only worked once. I deleted the first bounced track and tried it again with the FX not enabled. I got a track with audio so low as to be almost inaudible. I tried to redo the lead guitar track. Inserted a new audio track, set Guitar Rig and levels. When I started playback, levels dropped to nearly inaudible. After stopping and restarting, levels were even lower. Tried the same thing again with yet another new audio track, and got the same results.
 
Something is seriously screwed up, and I have not gotten to the real root of the issue. Right now my concern is that other projects might begin to exhibit this behavior. Have not checked that yet. Thanks to those who tried to help. If I find an answer I'll let the group know.