Karaoke Forums

I have been suffering from this problem as long as I've been recording. The problem is, that internally recorded sound is faster than imported sound. For multitrack recordings where I use external sound (e.g. my voice from minidisc) I can't import anything because the imported files are slower in tempo. The pitch stays the same. The difference is about half a second during 3 minutes. Not a big difference but big enough to make things impossible. If I record the files to be imported internally (for example by playing them in WinAmp and recording on the fly), the sync is right.

Does anyone know what settings to adjust or is there anything I can do about it?

Thanks in advance for any help!

jee

ok.

Few things for multi track recordings what software are you using?
Cakewalk, Sonar, Pro Tools, Vegas?
Those are the only 4 i would reccomend.
Soundblaster cards are not reccommended for any type of mutitrack recording because of laitency problems similar to the one you have listed.

Trying to make it work.

Make sure you have uninstalled your onboard audio driver if your pc had an onboard audio device before installing a soundblaster product.

Check that you have the latest version of Direct X think its 10.1b
Chck that in you SB control panel the eax section that chours and reverb are diabled.

Most other configurations would be set in the software I would need to know what you are using to optimize audio settings.

Is processor speed an issue? Do you have a 2.4 ghz with at least 512m ram?
How full or fragmented is your hd do you have at least 6 gig of available space and have defraged in the last 30 days?

Oh darn, I didn't realize it could get that complicated!! Ok, so I'm using Adobe Audition 1.5 for now, because I never used a multitrack program and learning to use it is very simple. I also tried recording with SB's Wave Studio and got exactly the same delay so I didn't think it would be a software problem.

My current setup is P4 2.6GHz with 512MB Rambus. I have 5+5gigs on both discs for temporary files but I can increase that no problem.

What I don't have, is the newest DirectX but I think I have defragmented within 30 days. So I guess I should start with expanding the temp space and getting the newest DirectX. Also I'll have to disable on board audio to see if that helps. Should I do that from the software or with jumpers in the motherboard?

Do you have any other recommendations? Thanks for this, because now I know I'm not imagining my problems...

jee

You should be able to just disanle your onboard audio via software. I you have no future plans to use it I would set your motherboard jumper to diable so that you don't hvae to deal with it in the future.

When audio is recorded it is wave files. This is the reason for disc space and defrag. I have errors in the past recording when there is fragments, it will record have to seek to another hd sector and cause a delay.

I'm looking into the adobe program for you I'm not familiar with it.

Well, I think what the problem may be is when recording as you are, you are reading, and writing multiple times at the same time on the hard drive.

in that you are:
1. reading the song being played (soundtrack)
2. Writing the song you are recording (soundtrack & vocals)
3. cashing your pagefile.

even on a fast computer with a fast hard drive. this take a bunch of time, and it will throw off the timing. I'm not shure, but try a couple of different things. first rip the soundtrack to mp3 and try recording see if it is better. If that is what you are doing now, then rip it to a wave file and try.

also it could have to do with the the background processes you have running in the computer antivirus, autoupdates, internet connections etc.

Just a few thoughts for you.

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Jee,

I think what you exprenced is called drift. There is a drift correction function in the software that you are using. I know CEP pro have it, so I asume Audition should have it.

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Jee,

The software you are using doesn't support the Asio driver if I'm correct, the best software I would recommend in your case is Audacity, it's free btw!  The Audigy2 family cards do support the asio drivers and therefore will work with a multitrack software.  The best software out there would be from Steinberg, something like Cubases, Cubasis...  They own the rights for the Asio driver btw.

I suggest you stay away from Cakewalk & Audition not compatible with Asio, passed date software and WAY too expensive for nothing in my opinion!

This audio card is a USB card, right?  Are they good?  USB is great but I would never use it for a studio setup, Firewire is by far more stable.  If you're using a laptop, the new Audigy2 ZS Notebook would be the best option for a studio setup.

Dr.D,

Hard drives are capable of reading & writting at the same time and still be well in sync.  Of course, the drive should be a 7200 rpm, good ram memory, 256 would do it but 512 and more would be even better and nothing running in the background like you said.

I always record my vocal coming from the mixer and playing the audio file at the same time using the same hard drive (second drive), it's in FAT32 btw, day & night for sound quality, NTFS is not recommended for audio, only for video capturing.

Jian, you got it! I checked the "drift" option on multitrack tab under Options/Settings and now it's exactly right.  

Thank you all for the interesting ideas, I will probably realize some of them. Tried to reply yesterday but somehow the message was lost.

jee

PS. Micky, my soundcard is USB, and it's worked well so far! I got it to get rid of the hiss and with it I did

Jee,

Glad to be of help.

I have the same problem when using KRISTAL or Audacity and both softwares have no drift correction funtion. To overcome that I Record the backing track rather than import it. And while recordig the vox I mute the backing track on track one but play the backing from an extanal player. By doing this, the drift of the two tracks will be about the same so they will be about length. I then drag to-sync the begining of the trak.

Futher correction is done by cutting and draging the slower track (esp towards the end) to sync with the other track.

_________________
I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

Hi Jian,

I've been doing those work arounds that you mentioned so far, but got sick of them! Especially when doing duets, there are huge problems if the imports are not in sync with internally recorded audio. Anyhow, glad that it works now!

jee