Tempo changes and pitch shifting
 

Sorry for the trouble, but I was hoping someone in these forums might be able to help me with some issues I've been experiencing with Pro Tools.

I've been doing some recording, mainly guitars, and something has happened to all my sessions. Both the tempo and the pitch of the guitars has been changed... I haven't got the slightest idea as to how it happened. It's impacted every single session. I backed up my sessions, and even those backups have the same issue... everything has changed. I honestly have no idea what happened, or how to restore the sessions back to their proper tempos.

I'm recording through a 003 (Pro Tools 8).

Thanks in advance to anyone who might be able to help me out -- it'd definitely be appreciated. I wish I could offer some knowledge to the community in return, but truthfully I'm here to try to gain knowledge from people who know this stuff a lot better than I do.

Happy recording, all you wonderful musicians!

Tempo changes and pitch shifting
 

At any time, were you synching the 003 to an external digital clock?

What sample rate did you record at?

Is the audio pitch up/faster or pitched down/slower?

Did you ever open the session with a different device selected in the audio engine and it gave you the warning that this device didn't support your sample rate but the session opened anyway?

Re: Tempo changes and pitch shifting
 

Thanks for the reply -- your help is definitely appreciated.

There was no switch to an external digital clock... not that I know of, at least. I recorded at a sample rate of 44.1 kHz. The pitch is up/faster.

To my knowledge, I never opened a session with a different device in the audio engine. I should mention that I have a PreSonus Faderport, and that I was playing around with the punch feature on that for the first time. I don't think that would've caused it, but maybe it did...

I opened the sessions again this morning, and they're all back to normal. It's the weirdest thing. Even though they're all fixed, it'd be good to know what caused that to happen in the first place.

Thanks again for your help.

Re: Tempo changes and pitch shifting
 

Glad its working now! If its a Windows machine, are you letting Windows use the 003 as its "Default Playback Device"? Just wondering if Windows was forcing the sample rate to 48K until a reboot?(another good reason to set Windows to NOT use your interface):o

Re: Tempo changes and pitch shifting
 

I'm still having issues with tempo & pitch. Talking about Windows using it's own audio as default with a different sample rate than pro tools sessions sounded like the answer. Well, nope.. I went into Control Panel/Sound and disabled the on board sound. My MBox3 was the Default. I did notice that before I disabled the on board that both it, and the MBox were sharing the Default sound responsibility. Maybe that's the way it should be? I mean, I didn't consciously change anything to make this problem happen!
So anyway, I rebooted opened a session and the pitch is still a step higher than recorded, and it's moving at a faster tempo as well.. I noticed while I was in Control Panel/Sound, that I can double click the on board and change the sample rate to 44.1 kHZ from it's default of 48. something. I know the MBox3 is set to a sample rate of 44.1 kHz. Has anyone had success fixing this issue changing the computer's on board default sample rate?
I also notice that my Control Surface iCon Qcon Pro X, snaps to attention when a session opens up, but is inoperable otherwise. I have to use the computer to play the session. How does this stuff just 'happen'??
Just a thought here, using 3rd party audio loops couldn't somehow mess with the sample rate of a session.. I've go the conform to tempo turned on so I don't think so.
Now that I think about it, where do I check the sample rate of the Sessions on Pro Tools 2018.4?

Thanks for the help, RichrdC

Re: Tempo changes and pitch shifting
 

On board sound set to default, mbox enabled but not default. PT needs exclusive control of the interface to function properly on ASIO in Windows so you can't use the interface for both PT and Windows apps at the same time.

Re: Tempo changes and pitch shifting
 

64gtoboy, thanks for having the answer.. I set up the on board as default with the MBox enabled only and the sessions play at the correct tempo & pitch.. Thanks again

Re: Tempo changes and pitch shifting
 

To reiterate, I have a Lenovo laptop, 16 gig RAM, the MBox 3 with the iCon Qcon Pro X control surface, running PT 2018.4..
So I fire up the computer and low & behold, the tempo / pitch issue is still with me.. I thought, 64gtoboy had found the issue, and it was making sure the on board sound was set as default, and the MBox set as 'ready'. So I set the computer on board sound as Default, and the MBox3 ready, but not default. In the MBox 3 control panel, it shows it's set to 44.1 kHZ.
When I opened the session, the Qcon Pro X snaps to attention, but none of the buttons work. I went into the SetUp and I basically just reset the HUI, (it's in the 1st position) and when done, I clicked the OK button, and the Qcon snapped back to attention, but it still wasn't usable. I had to use the computer to play the session, and the pitch and tempo are fast. The pitch is a step higher than recorded.
I should have checked to see what the sample rate of the session was, but I didn't. Sorry... Are there other settings, other than a mismatched sample rate, that can cause a session to play at a different pitch & tempo than when it was recorded?
Thank you for your insights.. RichrdC

Re: Tempo changes and pitch shifting
 

Not ordinarily, but sometimes you never know. I documented and submitted a clock issue support case to Avid and the person who responded to my case basically shrugged it off. I found that when changing interfaces from the Dante virtual soundcard to my Red8 Pre or back, a clock mismatch could occur and Pro Tools would still open the session when in the past it wouldn't.

Dropbox a file that clearly sounds pitch shifted and I'll take a listen and see if it's a clock error written to the file header.



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Re: Tempo changes and pitch shifting
 

Well, I spent the $40 to have Avid remote in and get me going. After checking out settings, he created a new Session, imported the Session Data from the affected Session, and it worked. Everything was fine, even though the vocal & rhythm guitar were out of synch, the system was working and I could fix things. This was yesterday. I closed the system down & went back to it, and it was working fine.
Today, I spent a number of hours working and playing, no problem. Turn it all off to run some errands, and when I open it up this evening, the same problems are back..
The onboard sound is Default, with the MBox3 set to Ready.. the MBox3 sample rate is 44.1 kHz as is the Session that's messing up.
So.. I create a New Session, import the data, but it's all still playing fast. I'm going a little nuts.
Why & how do setting change like this?? I wish I had a degree in I.T. ! Any ideas would be so much appreciated..