OK - work with me here - read all this and it will hopefully explain a lot of stuff and answer your next 3 questions at the same time.
So a SCENE is a record of all settings, gain, EQ, pan, bus effects etc. at a point in time. And that's all it is. Remember that! The minute you change something - move a fader for instance - you're no longer using that scene.
When you mix with the AW4416, if you're doing a rough mix, you will just work out what's the best overall group of settings for the entire track and save that as a SCENE. Nothing changes whilst you're playing the track through. All volume, pan, EQ effects etc. stay the same all the way through because it's a rough mix and you just want to get a general idea. You listen, think, I need to cut the bass a bit on Track 5. Go to the EQ, muck around with it, and when you're happy, re-save as the same scene. And so you iteratively get a rough mix scene happening.
This will almost never be good enough for a proper mix. So when you're doing one of these, you will use the AUTOMIX function. To use this properly you will work out what the best starting settings are for all your tracks and save those as another SCENE (Call it Automix Start). This will be close to your rough mix scene probably... you might turn a few channels off or a few faders down perhaps.
Then you will use your AUTOMIX functionality in real time to ride faders, change pan etc etc. and record that as an AUTOMIX.
You might then get to a point where you need to have a completely new set of settings (ie. if you run out of tracks and decide to put an electric guitar lead break in an otherwise blank spot in a harmony vocal track). Are your EQ settings for the two things the same? Most likely not. So in this case you would made a new SCENE based on Automix Start, change the EQ settings for the particular track only, and save it as Automix 2.
In your AUTOMIX you would, at the relevant time, recall Automix 2 scene as an AUTOMIX instruction, and then, when the widdly widdly lead break is over, probably recall Automix Start again and go on your way. This is how you assemble an automix. I have many that incorporate scene changes, but they're not always necessary.
None of this is answering your question but will give you an insight into how it all works, I hope.
The reason you can't record any punch ins is almost certainly because you have AUTOMIX switched ON.
So what happens whenever you try to do something else like go to a point and cue everything up for a punch in, is that the AUTOMIX takes over, goes... "Hmm... where am I? Ah yes, I'm at 2.12.564 in this song, therefore I have to PLAY the song, first recalling scene Automix Start and then using any other automation cues I have from that point on." and off it goes in PLAY mode, thus wiping out all your carefully routed punch in attempt, nulling the record arming light above the channel etc.
You can't RECORD anything with AUTOMIX on. (Yay, we got to the answer eventually!)
It's a mix tool which automatically puts you into PLAY mode, whereas if you're punching in, you're still tracking. Disable AUTOMIX and you'll be able to punch in to your heart's delight using the automated punch in facility.... (you know about that, right?)
Let me know if that doesn't sort it for you.
Cheers
