Strange things happened to PT's session it's playing back faster than recorded

[Emcha_audio]

Originally Posted by BigRockStudioTechnologies

Hey Darryl, I've got 35+ years in pro audio, I've taught college level recording classes, I've worked in large analog studios and I've been doing digital recording for almost 20 years. There was no mistake made in sync during this session. I would happily admit to my client if there was and would not be here asking the community for help.

The issue with the MP3 was with SRC not converting the MP3 correctly into the session. It just so happens that we needed a click track in this session too, so we needed the tempo of the MP3 to match the tempo of the session. SRC was importing fast then slow then finally the right tempo it was VERY, VERY strange....

The issue with the messed up tracks in the "bad" session is also VERY, VERY strange because the session was recorded in 48k and playback is at 48k. When imported into a 44.1K session they were way to slow. And in current playback at 48K it seems like it's sped up..... Like I said we played them back after tracking and they were fine..... It was when we went back to drop overdubs in the session that the problems surfaced..... We actually got it playing back correctly 2 or 3 times but every time I record enabled the two new tracks it changed how it was being played back... AGAIN a strange issue....

Hey there about the importing into a 44.1k session from an 48k one and it being too slow. There's 3 panes in the import window, the file section on the left, the auditioning section in the middle and the convert section on the right. If you do not make sure all your files that you wish to import from a 48k to a 44.1k session are in the right window, and click convert then your files will remain at 48k (after getting a warning message) and be played at 44.1k which will slow down the sound. I'm sure you know this, but just making sure it's out there in case other people who might not know this stumble on this and understand where the error might be happening.

[BigRockStudioTechnologies]

Actually kinda went thru that today Bashville... will try your way tomorrow....

As a note I melodyne'd the 48k session and then the newer 44.1k session too.... the first note from the keyboard player is an A at 44.1k and a SHARP A# at 48k........ Me thinks something went VERY wrong..... But do not know where..... The clocks were never changed..... And unless the clock slowed down just a touch..... this is really strange,,,,,

[BigRockStudioTechnologies]

OK after talking with the keyboard player the first note is an A.... When putting the files into a 44.1k session Melodyne reported the first note as an A..... So the PT's session was showing 48k, my converters showed 48K but they were tracked at 44.1k...... OK AVID tell us what happened! This was NOT user error and was 100% a function of screwed up software programming by AVID!!!

[Darryl Ramm]

It was almost certainly just something you did wrong. And you or others involved in the session are likely the only folks who can work out what it was, if it is worrying you you will likely need to go back through all your steps again and see if you can reproduce it. Or just stop worrying about it.

And if your interfaces showed a different sample rate (you mean on the interface front panel?) that was being recorded, that would be a MOTU issue not an Avid issue, but you would have heard lots of MOTU users complain, and those interfaces and control software have been used widely for many years,

If Pro Tools 9 (or other versions) screwed up sample rates people would have been on here screaming about it. The occasional other sample rate related problems reported on DUC that I can recall end up being tracked down to something simply set up or done wrong. And for some of those the Pro Tools UI/UX maybe could have been better, say with bounce to disk sample rate settings that have tripped up some users.

Pro Tools 11 software has enough other serious issues for Avid to worry about without chasing these phantoms.

[Top Jimmy]

Originally Posted by BigRockStudioTechnologies

So the PT's session was showing 48k, my converters showed 48K but they were tracked at 44.1k...... OK AVID tell us what happened! This was NOT user error and was 100% a function of screwed up software programming by AVID!!!

It is absolutely impossible for Pro Tools to change the incoming clock rate. It is possible to set Pro Tools to a rate, but then have your clock be at a different rate. The Pro Tools software cannot do real-time SRC. Coreaudio can, but not Pro Tools, and Pro Tools does not have the ability to invoke SRC in Coreaudio.

I too have a 424 with a 2408-II and a 1224. I know full well that the the MOTU can occasionally boink the clock. Things to do to help insure against this: Don't use the MOTU for I/O in Mac OS. Don't have another software open using the MOTU hardware when starting Pro Tools.

I know you claim the hardware was at 48K, but it couldn't have been. Either the 424 clock was goofed, or it was clocked to another source. Whenever I go to freshly use my MOTU gear, I always open the MOTU setup and toggle all settings and watch on the interfaces to be sure that the settings are as I desire. Otherwise, I have had goofiness occur in the past. Once, I even had indication on my interfaces that one was at 48 while the other was at 44.1. The hardware is not supposed to be able to do that. In that instance, a reboot was required, but usually refreshing the settings by toggling them is enough.

Also, your tempo for this one song isn't really 155 bpm. It's actually 142.40625 bpm.

[bashville]

Originally Posted by BigRockStudioTechnologies

Actually kinda went thru that today Bashville... will try your way tomorrow....
the first note from the keyboard player is an A at 44.1k and a SHARP A# at 48k........

Yeah that's the secret maddening interval. Sorry you had to go through this. I used to run Logic with the old 2408's. I just made it a policy to ALWAYS run the same sampling rate from project to project otherwise these kinds of things would happen. I would always run 44, but then a pre-recorded video project would come through my room at 48, and I had to be careful around it. Especially if you have multiple MOTU units linked to each other. With Logic I got used to setting a preference that was supposed to take effect immediately, but it wouldn't really change until I restarted. I just became accustomed to not quite trusting the lights. Good luck