diff --git a/app/render/audioplaybackcache.cpp b/app/render/audioplaybackcache.cpp
index 93b3c592a..995658d26 100644
--- a/app/render/audioplaybackcache.cpp
+++ b/app/render/audioplaybackcache.cpp
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ void AudioPlaybackCache::SetParameters(const AudioParams &params)
   emit ParametersChanged();
 }
 
-void AudioPlaybackCache::WritePCM(const TimeRange &range, const TimeRangeList &valid_ranges, SampleBufferPtr samples, const AudioVisualWaveform *waveform)
+void AudioPlaybackCache::WritePCM(const TimeRange &range, const TimeRangeList &valid_ranges, SampleBufferPtr samples)
 {
   // Ensure if we have enough segments to write this data, creating more if not
   qint64 length_diff = params_.time_to_bytes_per_channel(range.out()) - playlist_.GetLength();
@@ -143,13 +143,6 @@ void AudioPlaybackCache::WritePCM(const TimeRange &range, const TimeRangeList &v
       // Each segment is contiguous, so this out will be the next segment's in
       this_segment_in = this_segment_out;
     }
-
-    // Write visual
-    if (waveform) {
-      visual_.OverwriteSums(*waveform, r.in(), r.in() - range.in(), r.length());
-    } else {
-      visual_.OverwriteSilence(r.in(), r.length());
-    }
   }
 
   foreach (const TimeRange& v, ranges_we_validated) {
@@ -157,11 +150,24 @@ void AudioPlaybackCache::WritePCM(const TimeRange &range, const TimeRangeList &v
   }
 }
 
+void AudioPlaybackCache::WriteWaveform(const TimeRange &range, const TimeRangeList &valid_ranges, const AudioVisualWaveform *waveform)
+{
+  // Write each valid range to the segments
+  foreach (const TimeRange& r, valid_ranges) {
+    // Write visual
+    if (waveform) {
+      visual_.OverwriteSums(*waveform, r.in(), r.in() - range.in(), r.length());
+    } else {
+      visual_.OverwriteSilence(r.in(), r.length());
+    }
+  }
+}
+
 void AudioPlaybackCache::WriteSilence(const TimeRange &range)
 {
   // WritePCM will automatically fill non-existent bytes with silence, so we just have to send
   // it an empty sample buffer
-  WritePCM(range, {range}, nullptr, nullptr);
+  WritePCM(range, {range}, nullptr);
 }
 
 void AudioPlaybackCache::ShiftEvent(const rational &from_in_time, const rational &to_in_time)
diff --git a/app/render/audioplaybackcache.h b/app/render/audioplaybackcache.h
index ee697808d..8394975a9 100644
--- a/app/render/audioplaybackcache.h
+++ b/app/render/audioplaybackcache.h
@@ -66,7 +66,9 @@ public:
 
   void SetParameters(const AudioParams& params);
 
-  void WritePCM(const TimeRange &range, const TimeRangeList &valid_ranges, SampleBufferPtr samples, const AudioVisualWaveform *waveform);
+  void WritePCM(const TimeRange &range, const TimeRangeList &valid_ranges, SampleBufferPtr samples);
+
+  void WriteWaveform(const TimeRange &range, const TimeRangeList &valid_ranges, const AudioVisualWaveform *waveform);
 
   void WriteSilence(const TimeRange &range);
 
diff --git a/app/render/previewautocacher.cpp b/app/render/previewautocacher.cpp
index d8ee8a129..daf18aac7 100644
--- a/app/render/previewautocacher.cpp
+++ b/app/render/previewautocacher.cpp
@@ -32,6 +32,10 @@
 
 namespace olive {
 
+// We may want to make this configurable at some point, so for now this constant is used as a
+// placeholder for where that configarable variable would be used.
+const bool PreviewAutoCacher::kRealTimeWaveformsEnabled = true;
+
 PreviewAutoCacher::PreviewAutoCacher() :
   viewer_node_(nullptr),
   use_custom_range_(false),
@@ -141,7 +145,9 @@ void PreviewAutoCacher::AudioInvalidated(const TimeRange &range)
   // cancelled, so some areas may end up unrendered forever
   //  ClearAudioQueue();
 
-  if (viewer_node_->GetAudioAutoCacheEnabled()) {
+  // If we're auto-caching audio or require realtime waveforms, we'll have to render this
+  if (viewer_node_->GetAudioAutoCacheEnabled() || kRealTimeWaveformsEnabled) {
+    // We still render for the sake of waveforms
     audio_job_tracker_.insert(range, graph_changed_time_);
 
     // Start jobs to re-render the audio at this range, split into 2 second chunks
@@ -203,11 +209,14 @@ void PreviewAutoCacher::AudioRendered()
 
       AudioVisualWaveform waveform = watcher->GetTicket()->property("waveform").value<AudioVisualWaveform>();
 
-      // WritePCM is tolerant to its buffer being null, it will just write silence instead
-      viewer_node_->audio_playback_cache()->WritePCM(range,
-                                                     valid_ranges,
-                                                     watcher->Get().value<SampleBufferPtr>(),
-                                                     &waveform);
+      if (viewer_node_->GetAudioAutoCacheEnabled()) {
+        // WritePCM is tolerant to its buffer being null, it will just write silence instead
+        viewer_node_->audio_playback_cache()->WritePCM(range,
+                                                       valid_ranges,
+                                                       watcher->Get().value<SampleBufferPtr>());
+      }
+
+      viewer_node_->audio_playback_cache()->WriteWaveform(range, valid_ranges, &waveform);
 
       // Detect if this audio was incomplete because it was waiting on a conform to finish
       if (watcher->GetTicket()->property("incomplete").toBool()) {
diff --git a/app/render/previewautocacher.h b/app/render/previewautocacher.h
index a4d15cf82..150a45e48 100644
--- a/app/render/previewautocacher.h
+++ b/app/render/previewautocacher.h
@@ -192,6 +192,8 @@ private:
   TimeRangeListFrameIterator hash_iterator_;
   TimeRangeList audio_iterator_;
 
+  static const bool kRealTimeWaveformsEnabled;
+
 private slots:
   /**
    * @brief Handler for when the NodeGraph reports a video change over a certain time range