You could sync audio the old-fashioned way...

Put both tracks on separate time lines, closely in sync - then PLAY. STOP. Select a track and bump it a few frames, using <alt-left/right arrows>.

PLAY. If echo is less, then you're headed in the right direction. Audio may slightly cancel when in perfect sync.

Yes. I have spent many enjoyable hours doing just that. As well as matching wave signatures in different clips, even (when some clip's audio was insufficient) moving frame-by-frame as I watch a drummer's stick come down, then catch the moment it started back up, and match THAT with an audio clip.

Fun times.

It just seemed to me that, given the innate capability for some component of PD to synch multiple clips (essentially using a similar approach), why not let, oh, I don't know, THE COMPUTER DO THE TEDIOUS WORK. I recall a decades old promise that computers could be used to do just that. Freeing up our massive creativity for the higher, more esoteric endeavors.

If the audio analysis engine can do that in the MultiCam Designer, doesn't it seem reasonable that it could be unleashed on arbitrary clips in the standard timeline?

Or can it, and I've just missed the documentation?
Chuck Puckett
"I don't want to steal the show. I only want to borrow it for a while"
http://www.puckettpublishing.com
http://www.chuckpuckettsongaweek.com

Does this answer your question?

EDIT: There's also a new patch that was just released. You can find it here.

YouTube/optodata

DS365 | Win11 Pro | Ryzen 9 3950X | RTX 4070 Ti | 32GB RAM | 10TB SSDs | 5K+4K HDR monitors

Canon Vixia GX10 (4K 60p) | HF G30 (HD 60p) | Yi Action+ 4K | 360Fly 4K 360°

Well, yeah!
I don't recall that button before. Amazing how one's perception is prefigured by what one already "knows" and what one has always "done".
Thanks! That may be the single most useful PD tutorial I've seen.
Now I'm off to watch a bunch of PD13 tutorials and take my Crabby Appleton complaining under a rock! Chuck Puckett
"I don't want to steal the show. I only want to borrow it for a while"
http://www.puckettpublishing.com
http://www.chuckpuckettsongaweek.com

Unfortunately (and I am a bit take aback by this), Sync By Audio only works on video+audio clips. My audio mix (this is a music video) is on a separate audio only track. Selecting it DISABLES the Sync By Audio button!

Seriously?!

Oh, and in other late-breaking news, when I try to install the patch, I am told I don't have the required version of PD. This appears to be the only PD13 patch available (and I think they're cumulative anyway). I even tried installing while I was running PD13, you know, to kind of prove I had it installed. No dice.

Submitting to tech support. But I feel that old software frustration creeping back into my spine. Chuck Puckett
"I don't want to steal the show. I only want to borrow it for a while"
http://www.puckettpublishing.com
http://www.chuckpuckettsongaweek.com

I can see why you're disappointed! There are a couple of workarounds for the synching issue, but it would be good for Cyberlink to know about the patch problem and that PD13 should allow audio tracks in the mix.

For your syncing issue, the simplest approach would be to place your audio-only track by itself in the timeline and just produce it as a video clip, as a .wmv, .mp4, etc.. The video will be blank of course, but when you place it in the timeline it won't disable the Sync by Audio button. It's an extra step, but it should only take about 20 seconds.

Another option is to use the multicam designer (MCD), which will let you sync up to 4 videos clips AND an audio-only track. I know you felt like that feature was a separate entity, but it actually integrates very well with the main editor even though some of the functions aren't immediately apparent.

I'd suggest that you import just one video clip along with the audio clip, then sync by audio (assuming they both have the same music track on them) then note the offset of the clips. This way PD13 has done the tedious work for you and it might be easiest to just make note of the offset, cancel the MCD and place those 2 tracks on the main timeline with the same offset. You'd probably want to do that after you've synced the video clips in the main timeline.

You can actually use the MCD to create your entire video, especially if you have no more than 4 concurrent video clips at any one time. It's actually a very powerful tool that came out in PD12, and you may want to look at some of these tutorials to get a deeper understanding of how it works and whether it can help with your music video.

Hopefully one of these will be a good fit for this project!

YouTube/optodata

DS365 | Win11 Pro | Ryzen 9 3950X | RTX 4070 Ti | 32GB RAM | 10TB SSDs | 5K+4K HDR monitors

Canon Vixia GX10 (4K 60p) | HF G30 (HD 60p) | Yi Action+ 4K | 360Fly 4K 360°