Davinci Resolve 16 | No Audio Waveforms

We're having the same problem here. None of the proposed fixes are working. I love DaVinci but this is a deal breaker..

Hi,

i am as well frustraded with this.
Wave Form is not showing, especially in Multicam Compositions.

For now i could fix it like this:
I went to DaVinci Preferences -> Media Storage -> I had two storage Locations ins here and i deleted one.
Then i went to the multicam composition ->hold "alt" key and mark the audiotrack (only the audio track) -> right click on the track "flatten"

That worked for me now but it needs to be fixed!
Seeing the Wave Form all the time, no matter what is key for an editing software!

So as I was reading this thread, trying to figure out why my waveforms sometimes show, sometimes don't, they just appeared automatically. Was Resolve processing the audio files to create the waveforms? It didn't say it was doing anything at all.

I'm going to echo some of the previous sentiments:

Dear Blackmagic,

Your program is amazing. But the audio aspects are SO BAD, that it makes us want to stop using Resolve. We are all waiting for you to fix these issues, but we will not wait forever. Even worse than editing without waveforms (Why the **** is there even an option to turn that off? Who edits without waveforms? WHY?), is the glitch where the audio makes a very loud popping noise while youre editing. Can you imagine sitting with a client, and the audio keeps popping? Most clients are just going to associate those glitches with you, not the program itself, despite what you tell them, because it's part of the overall experience of working with you/your business.

Don't give me that ******** about my PC or my settings. I've used different PC parts, different programs, different codecs, different cameras, different audio configurations. Resolve is broken.

3700X, 2080 Ti, 32 GB 3200mhz, X470 motherboard.

Can I also add after trying everything suggested in this thread I’m still not seeing waveforms in DR16.1.2. I have audio waveforms showing in the fairlight and cut pages, but nothing in the edit page. Very frustrating and a solution would be really useful.

I'm having the same issue. Specifically with FS5 1080/4K XAVCL .MXF's. Oddly the XAVCS files in .mp4 have no issues loading the waveforms (takes minutes), while the MXF's take hours to process and load their waveform files. After clearing out my cache bins entirely I began to try to complete a waveform render with my existing media.

Also I noticed if I moved the items in the timeline or made any editorial changes the processing of the waveforms would stop and hang. I can hear the hard drive spinning when waveforms are being read and generated so it's clear the waveform generation is crashing either part way or all together..

To test this I created a new project and timeline and left the long .mxf (40 minute clip) to render out the waveform while I left the iMac unattended. When I returned after an hour, the waveforms were built and fully functional.

Optimizing the clips with proxies seem to have no impact.

Trying to convert over from Premiere (who renders it's waveforms in minutes not hours) and feeling a major set back here.

Do you see waveforms on the Fairlight page?

Yes I see waveforms on fairlight page.

Hi all, I was having this problem, and I managed to fix it by increasing the height of the audio tracks.
Hope that helps!

Do you have waveforms on the Fairlight page?

If you do, are you sure you've enabled audio waveforms on the Edit page?

edit_page_audio_wfms.PNG

I've been having the same issues as above, but no, my audio does not appear on the fairlight page.

It was part of a linked mp4 movie file. I noticed that the waveform had disappeared on the edit page even though I had waveforms enabled and a separate mp3 file in the timeline that works fine. I saved and restarted the application but the waveforms were still not appearing on the edit page. I came here and read through the thread and checked the fairlight page as per your post. Sure enough, it's not there, but how do I get it back short of deleting my work and reimporting the movie file? Moreover, how do I prevent something like this from happening again?

Thanks!

Have you made these selections?

Have you made these selections?

Yes, we made it. result = 0.

Dmitry, what is the exact version of Resolve you are running, and what GPU driver?

What seemed to solve it for me (along with not being able to generate optimised media) was looking at the Preferences -> Media Storage -> Media Storage Locations - my drive was full so it was causing all kinds of problems, clearing the drive/changing it to one with some space sorted out the issues I was having.

I have some clips that don't show any waveform in the source viewer either. This is for synced audio with multiple channels in my case.
When I locate that clip in the finder and open it in Adobe Audition all six channels show waveforms.

What is interesting is the seemingly inconsistent behavior:

That clips has six channels. One is used in the timeline (ch1). When I do a match frame and switch the Source viewer to audio this shows a waveform for ch2. All others are empty.

I then do "Find clip in Media Pool" which reveals the video to which the audio is synced. When I open that in the Source viewer and switch view to "Audio Track", same thing, ch2 shows waveform, the other five don't.

I then do "reveal synced audio ..." and open that in the source viewer. Now all channels are empty. No waveform at all.

However:
When I drag this (original) audio into the timeline, all six channels show waveforms in the timeline (but not in the source viewer)
When I go back to the matched video in the Source viewer and drag the audio part (using the icon) onto the Timeline only ch1 shows a waveform in the timeline (while in the Source viewer only ch2 shows a waveform).


DR 16.2.1.017
MacOS 10.15.4

Do you see waveforms on the Fairlight page?

Hi Dwaine, I followed all this threat and still unable to to find the solution to my 'No audio Waveform' problem. but your last question was above, my situation to your above question(s), 1. I can see all waveforms from Faiirlight page, 2. I have clicked/enabled Timeline View Option's waveform view indicators, but unfortunately, I still unable to get waveform to display. MacBook Pro 16's macOS Catalina, Davinci Resolve 16.2.1 Studio

Please help. Thanks

I'm in latest version of 16, and no waveforms to be seen anywhere. Not in preview window, not in timeline.

Select the flat audio waveform clip with your mouse. Hit 'D' to disable the clip. Hit 'D' a second time to re-enable it.

I'm on 16.2.1 and still get missing waveforms on the Edit Page... the above does get the waveform to reappear in my case.

So, select all (CTRL + A) then (D) and (D) again...

I've also noticed missing waveforms in Adobe Premiere, in this case, it was due to the bit depth and compression type of the file within the .wav container.

OK. There are so many posts on this topic now, I’m amazed BMD are not working on Memorial Day to get this fixed. After years of FCPX loyalty, I made the commitment to switch to Resolve as part of my general admiration for all things BMD and the rapid progress of Resolve as a platform.
I fought my reluctance to return to track-based paradigm, deciding that the superior Color and access to Fairlight outweighed the backward step.

So, in preparation for a major full-length documentary edit, I did my homework and learned Resolve inside out. I already new editing and Logic. So it was a matter of learning equivalents. Most of the time, the new knowledge was a delight.

So I started the documentary in Resolve.

Not having to round trip out to Logic was already a joy.
Having direct access to the best color controls anywhere was very reassuring and moved me up from the LUT dependency and in to greater things.

Then I hit a brick wall.

Audio waveforms disappearing.

I’ve read every single post on this forum. Watched every relevant video on YouTube.

I’ve updated, reinstalled, rebuilt the project, deleted caches, deleted cacheclip folders, started new databases on new drives. Deleted preferences. Tried different optimized video options. Different proxy levels. Different project settings.

Using the latest everything.
I’ve been doing this a long time.

But still, no audio waveforms.
Sometimes they appear. Then they disappear. Never all at once. Totally random. One half of a stereo pair. One clip edited from a larger source that’s showing up fine.

Nothing fixes it. Changing track heights. Disabling. Reimporting. Turning on or off embedded tracks. Deleting embedded audio components. Some waveforms will appear in Fairlight, but not the edit page. Go figure.

Well, bottom line, I had no choice but to restart the WHOLE FRIKKING DOCUMENTARY again, in FCPX.

Where, from the get go, the entire footage library opened, with intact waveforms, without a SINGLE hitch.

What use is an NLE that randomly fails to show audio waveforms? Answer: no use at all.

I am fastidious about maintaining my (Mac) system. I rely on it. It’s not some ad hoc gaming PC filled with viruses and third party crap. It’s used for one thing and one thing only.

I was hoping that would now be Resolve, but it seems not.


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Are you on 16.2.2? It was fixed for me in that version.

But if it still doesn't work, FCP-X is a great NLE! You may want to get into roundtripping for color grading. There are some pitfalls regarding effects beyond simple cuts and dissolves, but as long as you have proper TC and reel/tape names, it works once you got the workflow tested and set correctly.

What's your hardware?

I am. The day it came out. Hoping for a solution.
Believe me, I WANT it to work. I get no pleasure from this pleading for a fix.

I want to start a new thread here just to let Davinci know that this is serious - but I held to forum etiquette - this is complete crap. This audio problem has gone on for years and I thought it was fixed - and now I have a bunch of major projects with audio waveforms which have all vanished. Nothing - no piece of advice - works.

Fix the audio waveforms - it's the decent thing to do. If you think it hasn't happened to you - that somehow you're just the lucky one - you're wrong. It will happen exactly when it is most inconvenient.

I have been pulling my hair out but have just managed to succeed and can now see audio waves.

I added a new path instead of using the default Volumes/Photos path.

Preferences --> System --> Media Storage

I then un-clicked the default path and enabled the new path

Then File --> Project Settings --> Master Settings --> Working Folders and changed the working folders from the original BMD default folders to the newly created path folders.

It is working now but I will test some more and if no issues, will leave it there and hoe some others have the same success.

John

Make a last work in DR.
Davinci resolve = "Linux Mandrake". Excuse me, but there is logic with a writing on running water or on air. clear cache/some tricks/restarting etc. People can use and Linux Mandrake and haven't have problems. be sittings and fight with some jokes of app.
I understood, that it's a Free app, as and "Linux". No problem.

New Resolve user here.

Thanks everyone for your input on the waveform issues. I learned a lot by reading through this thread.

I found a solution for my situation that may help someone else.

I was having issues on a project where 20% of my waveforms were flat.

I tried every recommendation presented in this thread to no avail.

I finally deleted my media cache and moved it to another location (I'm not sure if this step was necessary).

When I loaded my project after deleting my cache all my waveforms were now flat. I immediately regretted what I had done and went for a long run to release some anger. When I came back I noticed a few waveforms had populated.

I let my computer sit with my timeline open for about 5 hours. When I came back to check, all my waveforms had populated.

For a little background, my project consists of about 30 Videos (1TB) edited down to 30 minutes. That may be why it took so long for my waveforms to populate.

The weird thing is my previous project, which had an identical setup, didn't have this issue at all.

So if nothing seems to be working try to leave your timeline open for a while and see if they populate. And if you don't mind risking the loss of all your waveforms try to delete and move your cache and let your timeline sit for a few hours.

"0%"
When your customer involve result, and you restart a some app, clear cache etc, sorry.
every time to clear cache, that you see, how create about 10 (may be 30) minutes, and after it be delete, because it very nice idea - no.
I'll better to boy adobe account with premiere/audition/after - professional app, then I'll sit on ... mega best and feature Davinci resolve. As in the Open Source tradition, people get money of hardware. Software side for ... marketing.
Excuse me. really.

[Dwaine Maggart]

What Resolve version are you using? What OS version?

When you launch Resolve, do you get any warning about cache or stills or capture locations?

Do you see all the waveforms on the Fairlight page?

Very latest OS and Resolve.
No warnings of any kind.
Waveforms that show/don’t show in Fairlight and edit page are seemingly unrelated. And randomly different.

I even created a timeline and placed EVERY piece of footage into it, then left it for five hours. At the end of that period, approximately 20% of waveforms were missing.

The EXACT same footage on the exact same drive and machine open perfectly and instantly with all waveforms intact in FCPX and Premiere and even iMovie.

So glad to be back in Final Cut, where work can get done. With a little effort, the Hue vs curves and etc can be made to work pretty much as well. The scopes are better (imho) and the logging tools are light years ahead of Resolve, which still thinks we’re standing there with tape and a razor blade.

Audio in FCPX is obviously very unsophisticated, but round tripping to Logic is not the end of the world.

Integration with Frame,io is better in FCPX, with synced, live timelines. Delivery to social media is far superior. Rendering is faster. BRAW workflow is obviously missing.

Fusion is a non-issue, as most people like me with 25 years of After Effects experience are not about to switch to a whole new VFX paradigm except to do little, easy fixes and the odd lower third. Fusion has another few years before it catches up.

Anyway it’s all moot. Resolve isn’t working.


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where are the moderators in this forum? I'm new but so far as an example Universal Audio does a much better job being present in forums and personally responding to user questions.

What Resolve version are you using? What OS version?

When you launch Resolve, do you get any warning about cache or stills or capture locations?

Do you see all the waveforms on the Fairlight page?

1. macOS Mojave 10.15.6.
Davinci Resolve 16.2.2.011
2. No, I don't didn't see any warnings.
I see saw waveforms on the Fairlight one.
Audio - pcm wav.

I think, can be ask any man, who like work with video - "Give the name of video editor' app, where sometimes you don't see waveforms))) for your track". That moment will bring a smile certainly)

Didn't see that problem in Adobe Premiere, or fcpx. The highlight of the Davinci Resolve)) TOP-1 for several years)

Chrystal, posts get read and replied to by actual Blackmagic staff as well as experienced users. Staff members who post are Dwaine Maggot, Shrinivas Ramani, Peter Chamberlain, and Rohit Gupta to name four. Their names are always highlighted in blue.
The more information given by posters the better as it helps to identify problems.

How much more information can we give for F’s sake?

Professionals, not amateurs, cutting real projects, not school videos. Listing every aspect of their systems and setups, for many months. No one can tell me BMD can’t recreate the problem, because I moved to a new machine and immediately the problem reared it’s ugly head again.
Different project; different footage.
I’m fully versed in database locations vs cache locations. In smart vs User. And please don’t ask me again if I have waveforms turned on in the timeline.

It’s just a joke at this stage.


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So glad to be back in Final Cut, where work can get done. With a little effort, the Hue vs curves and etc can be made to work pretty much as well.

I agree with you there 100 percent.

Yes, in fact, an app for color correction action isn't problem in 2020x. Can be use 3dlut creator app (as example), that more better color engine (imho), than tools in ps, davinci, premiere, fcpx, edius, etc.

Of COURSE Resolve has always been the premium, go-to color environment. Perhaps they should have just stuck with that and made roundtripping easier.
FCPX is a far superior editor on many levels and it’s pretty easy for them to catch up on the color front. I’d imagine the next version will have much-improved Hue vs section and tracking for windows etc.

Premiere, as we all know, is an expensive toy editor, but at least you get waveforms.

Resolve’s Cut page attempts to make something new and interesting, but forgets that we still need to see waveforms and that it’s only useful at al if not cutting to music or anything pre-timed. In effect it’s doing half of what FCPX already does natively.

The Resolve Editor keyboard is very well made, but (are you sitting down) is not backlit. So in a dark color studios is almost impossible to use. Unless you’re a master touch-typist, you can forget about using it as a regular keyboard. It slowed me down by about 50% and now I have to have two keyboards: the Resolve to try and develop the muscle memory for fast Cut Page work, and a regular Mac keyboard for everything else (adding keywords, comments, naming nodes etc)

But, I digress.

All the above is moot. Resolve 16.2.2.whatever, is still not useable. Like my friend above said: “who cuts without waveforms??”



Fix it, or go back to being a color station.

I can see the keyboard being discontinued, like the eGPus.


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And before anyone says "just go back to your beloved FCPX then"

1. I have. (I've HAD to)
2. I've been a BMD advocate and believer for many, many years, having spent tens of thousands of dollars on their hardware, including 3 Ursa Minis and 4 Pockets, and countless studio hardware components. I believe in their creativity, innovation and pricing philosophies 100%.
3. I believe in Resolve Color and not having to round trip out from anything in to Logic if I don't have to. That's why I've been looking to move to Resolve in the first place. Color + Fairlight + Deliver. Perfect.
4. I believe in and admire BRAW
5. I want to see BMD succeed. They've earned it.

I believe this is a "simple" software bug. I was having this issue on my iMac for over a month. I also delved into every imaginable forum looking for a fix, to no prevail.

At the time, I was running Catalina 10.15.4 (or something earlier than 10.15.5) as my OS. I usually hold off on os updates to avoid any software bugs, (ironic I know lol) at least until they get worked out. But I updated my OS to 10.15.5, and immediately checked to see if the waveforms showed up. They didn't. But a day later I was relinking some files that previously didn't display waveforms, and bam all of a sudden: waveforms.

All that to say, try updating your operating system and give it a couple days. There is no fix all solution to this issue. Try different things, see what works. Eventually it'll get resolved. But when it comes to issues like this, it's just a heck of a lot of trial and error.

*update as of 6/10/20*
Some of the clips that had finally started displaying waveforms now have reverted back to not displaying them. Although it varies now and isn't consistent. Sometimes they'll show back up if I unlink the audio track from the video track.

And before anyone says "just go back to your beloved FCPX then"

1. I have. (I've HAD to)
2. I've been a BMD advocate and believer for many, many years, having spent tens of thousands of dollars on their hardware, including 3 Ursa Minis and 4 Pockets, and countless studio hardware components. I believe in their creativity, innovation and pricing philosophies 100%.
3. I believe in Resolve Color and not having to round trip out from anything in to Logic if I don't have to. That's why I've been looking to move to Resolve in the first place. Color + Fairlight + Deliver. Perfect.
4. I believe in and admire BRAW
5. I want to see BMD succeed. They've earned it.

So, you want to say, that do you not believe, that blackamgick to fix moment, when you set command to optimize media and after it, when you create sublip from optimezed file and davinci show, that subclip haven't optimized media? viewtopic.php?f=21&t=76462

Why do you not beleive in it? Maybe they will be fix it sometimes. I'm sorry - I think (and believe), that after 2 or five years blackmagick will fix and that problem and will be use that app, even if it will fall every 10 minutes.

I posted here a couple of days ago as my first post, but it seems to have been eaten in the moderation queue, so I thought I'd repost. Especially as I've now found the solution to the no-waveform issue I was having.

From my initial post:
----
I am having this problem with two specific files. Waveforms for these two WAV files will frequently disappear on the Edit page. Waveforms are visible on all other files/clips.

Here's a screenshot demonstrating the issue on the Edit page - the yellow clip is missing waveforms, where all others are OK:


This affects only the Edit page; all waveforms from all files are visible OK on the Fairlight page.
----

The problem & solution:

The file that was causing the problem was originally imported as a stereo WAV file. Later I did some external processing on the file, and in the process converted it to mono (both channels had been identical anyway).

I updated Resolve using "Replace Selected Clip" and pointed it to the newly processed, now-mono file, and from that point onwards, any new clips created from that file showed no waveforms.

I initially found a workaround, which was to do "Replace Selected Clip" again, pointing it to the file it was already using, and then all clips would show waveforms. But as soon as any new clip was created - eg as a result of adding the file to a new timeline, or copying an existing clip, or splitting a clip, that new clip would show no waveforms.

I finally found the proper solution: in Clip Attributes the clip was still showing as Stereo. And in fact Resolve was displaying its waveforms, kind of. Actually it was displaying the waveform of the second channel (which didn't exist). I realised this when I happened to choose "Display Individual Audio Channels" on the clip.

The solution was therefore just to edit Clip Attributes and correctly mark it as Mono. Then all waveforms appeared.

I feel like there is a bug here somewhere: the fact that Replace Selected Clip would cause all waveforms to show, but only until a new clip was made, doesn't feel right.

Anyway, if anyone has this problem with clips from a specific file that started life as stereo, that could be the solution!

Thanks TheBloke (Brit?)

I did read your original post, but thanks for reposting.

None of the files in the project (that I had to abandon) were stereo, audio-only files. They are all .MXF video + audio footage generated by a Sony camera. There is mono audio on tracks 1 & 3 of the eight tracks in the wrapper.

So I have been through every exercise of deleting empty tracks and then using Clip Attributes to display 1 or 3. Even adding new tracks (to change the numbering) and then deleting etc etc etc.

Sometimes it “works” but it’s random and so can’t be labeled a solution. And we’re talking about 2Tb of files here.

Anyway, the search goes on.

Every day I look for 16.3


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So, new version. List of fixes.
No waveforms.


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Davinci Resolve 16.2.3
wav audio
deleted cache
no waveforms

Forgive me if this has already been posted
I think the problem occurs when using a monitor of insufficient resolution. DVR seems to hide the audio wave forms on smaller monitors

If I edit using the screen in 2018 15inch MBP there are no wave forms
The moment I plug into a 27 inch monitor they appear again. Happens reliably every time with no changes in settings on DVR
Try and larger/higher res monitor

Forgive me if this has already been posted
I think the problem occurs when using a monitor of insufficient resolution. DVR seems to hide the audio wave forms on smaller monitors

If I edit using the screen in 2018 15inch MBP there are no wave forms
The moment I plug into a 27 inch monitor they appear again. Happens reliably every time with no changes in settings on DVR
Try and larger/higher res monitor

On my 27” Benq it happens all the time, very disturbing.

Forgive me if this has already been posted
I think the problem occurs when using a monitor of insufficient resolution. DVR seems to hide the audio wave forms on smaller monitors

If I edit using the screen in 2018 15inch MBP there are no wave forms
The moment I plug into a 27 inch monitor they appear again. Happens reliably every time with no changes in settings on DVR
Try and larger/higher res monitor

On my 27” Benq it happens all the time, very disturbing.

Reboot DVR while connected to monitor ?

On my 27” Benq it happens all the time, very disturbing.

Make sure Display Scaling is set to 100%.

27"
1920x1080 resolution of device
1920x1080 resolution in settings
Davinci Resolve window set into full screen.
No results. Fairlight/Edit tab.
Sometimes it's working. Sometimes it's not.

For all, it doesn't matter. Be work it or not. Really. Just hear sound and the end). If there is a sound, so all're ok. If isn't, so... ))) so there is not)
As example, if it will be work normally I anyway won't see changes, if set something in compressor tool of fairlight. The threshold/ratio, make up tool. I must playing/scroll all track and watch levels of control room. And waveform isn't changed after compress/expand/make up action. Only after simple action as is a changing level, when I change a level thread in timeline.

To be sure, I still can't find shortcuts for points of color curves (yrgb). About 5 or more years and anybody don't know it))) viewtopic.php?f=21&t=117521

waveforms is the little things in life))

I am in the middle of a project in fairlight. As is normal, I need to find the best audio takes for some things, so I switch to the media page and audition various takes. All the audio files are polywavs with 4-6 channels.

If I select a file, say Take1.wav, it displays ok in the media page, I listen, and decide to hear a different take. I click on Take2.wav and although I can hear it, no visual cue. Click on Take1.wav, waveform is displayed, click on Take2.wav, nothing. Now sure, I could just listen to Take2.wav and set in/out points, but when I drag to the timeline, I can't see where to line up because that too is blank.

If I just quit resolve and restart, hey presto, waveform is displayed for Take2.wav in the media page. So I crack on only to hit the same problem with other files and end up having to keep quitting Resolve. This is a royal pain in the proverbial. It is a bug and it's a bug that needs fixing. I have also noticed that when this happens in the timeline, if you right click & select normalize, it will display the waveform. You can press CMD+Z to undo the normalize and the waveform will stay displayed.

I don't want to have to learn a whole load of "if you put your left hand in the air, pointing north, whilst standing on your right foot whistling the national anthem then rotate in a clockwise rotation" kind of workarounds just do basic sound editing. BM You need to resolve the issues with resolve!!

The lack of displaying of audio waveforms in longer clips (+45 min.) meant a dealbreaker for me, when I tested Davinci Resolve earlier this year. Shortly Resolve does display waveforms in longer clips. I started editing in Resolve. But three clips in my first project still do not generate waveforms in the timeline (edit mode). Total drag.

Yesterday, I took a phone call which stopped my progress in Fairlight. As I was on the call, the screen changed, I noticed that the waveform had magically appeared on the screen whilst I stopped using Resolve.

This makes me wonder whether there is some background process responsible for the drawing of these waveforms that requires inactivity or maybe the process crashes and restarts because the behaviour is not consistent. I was going to send this yesterday when I noticed it, but when I tried to see whether it was just a fluke or something that was repeatable, and couldn't get it to repeat.

Again, today however, I stepped away from the computer in frustration of missing waveforms, for a break, leaving a screen of missing waveforms, only to return back 1/2 an hour later having sunk two coffees, to see a screen full of waveforms!

It would be good to understand what's happening here but the very least having a refresh waveform for selected clip(s) function would be really useful.

Having this issue as well. Have left project open overnight and have noticed waveforms being added. However not all appear. All audio is 48khz either wav or mxf (sony F55) both formats are missing waveforms for certain clips. Longer clips vs shorter clips not sure about. Wav files are also missing waveforms and those are under 15 seconds. Many of the missing waveforms are on 2 minute or longer clips but I can see no real correlation between clip length and missing waveforms. Plenty of missing waveforms on very short files.
I've talked to two other editors having the same problem on Macs with DR 16.
Disappointed to say the least. Won't be jumping the adobe ship just yet.
Yes give us a manual refresh or something. Software has been drawing waveforms since the freakin' eighties.

27inch iMac 4.2Ghz i7 64GB RAM Radeon Pro 580 8GB VRAM
DR Studio 16.2.4.016

Having troubleshooted this exact issue with various Sony Camera footage I can safely say it's very easy for BM to duplicate this issue with mxf's created by the Sony FS5 and they seriously need to review this issue. It's clearly rampant and repeatable.

Here is what I speculate is happening: The Sony MXF's are playing havoc with the audio decoder in Resolve. Why this is happening I don't know, but compressed MXF's in 10 or 8 bit with uncompressed audio take nearly realtime to read back the media and generate the waveform .PFL files. These sit in the cache bin occasionally get stuck in the this crazy recusive loop where they seem to be constantly accessing the hard disk to read back and write the waveforms. Looking at the cache folder, every file had a pfl, but the Resolve (in the background) is still spinning like crazy, constantly. Ever after an hour plus, it's still going.

When I check the cache timestamps no new data is being written, it's almost as if Resolve thinks it needs to keep making waveforms files or it can't read the ones it already made. This issue doesn't seem to occur when using ProRes or after you optimize media. But the reason for the insane slow waveform generation is beyond me.

After this loop goes on for hours (trying to read the waveforms of about 2 hours of video footage) it may finally complete it's task and show waveforms in the timeline (and yes I Fairlight too, trust me this isn't an issue with my not knowing where the waveform button is). I can hear the hard drive accessing constantly, almost so much that it has impacted playback and other performance. It's difficult to even playback the footage at all until the process is complete.

The really frustrating part is that Adobe can do this process much much faster. So it occasionally hangs and you have to reboot, but I've never had to wipe my cache three times in the hopes that this time it will figure it out it already did all of this work. And FCPX is able to read the waveforms almost instantaneously. No background reading or rendering required, it's nearly instant. Honestly, this one issue has cost me all of the time I save in the finishing stages of a cut, that I'm considering abandoning Resolve except maybe for the final stages of a project.

I really want this app to be better, I want to be able to make my own proxies and link them directly like Adobe. I want to be able to rely on the fact that waveforms will always be there and not require an overnight render session to show up. And I disparately want to tell everyone of my professional colleagues to switch over. But more and more I keep hitting issues that cripple the workflow.

Blackmagic this is a plea, contact me, hell I'll make a video, or something to get to the bottom of this. I'll even give you footage, whatever you need to properly troubleshoot this. This is a serious issue that has existing since the start of Version 16, it's not new! Get on it.

Same issue here.
Working with MXF files from a C300 Mark II.
Camera produces 4 channels. 2x XLR input, 2x Scratch Audio from onboard mic.
Clip attributes show all channels correctly in Mono.

Waveforms only show up on the shorter clips in the timeline or in the Viewer -> Show Full Clip Audio Waveform.
Longer clips don't show me visual waveforms. I'm able to play it back though and hear all channels. Waveforms won't show up in Fairlight either.
Waveforms have been activated in Timeline View Options. Again, some do show up, some don't.

Changed my Media Storage Location from an external SSD to my internal iMac Pro SSD. No change after rebooting.
Cleared the Cache, deleted all optimized media, no change.

This happened before. After going crazy, I reinstalled Resolve completely. Problem seemed to be solved and waveform showed up at first trial. No setting changes. After a week or so in a different project the same issue occurred.

Davinci Version 16.2.5.015
System: iMac Pro 8 core 3GHz Intel Xeon W, 32GB RAM, Radeon Pro Vega 64 16GB