Sudden playback delay in newly recorded track (other tracks are fine)

[Continuity8]

When using Pro Tools I will generally have a few tracks playing as I record a new track (a new instrument - live from a microphone or guitar).

Each time I will record the new track and then play it back to hear the results. I may then delete the new track and record it again, and then delete it and record again etc...

The issue is this - when I play it back initially all the tracks will be in sync including the new one. Then I will re-record it and play it back again and it will still be in sync... but then I will record the new track again and play it back and SUDDENLY when I play it back the new track plays with a slight delay...

The backing tracks are all in time but the newly recorded track playback is slightly behind all the others.

To fix it I have to close Pro Tools and reopen it and it will all work fine again... until randomly the same issue occurs.

I have noticed a correlation with the issue and the time of day... it seems like it often suddenly occurs right on the hour... as if some process that kicks off hourly has caused it. Could be wrong though.

Dell G3 17
64-bit, Intel Core I7 2.2GHZ
16GB Ram
Pro Tools 2020 (also occurred with earlier versions)

[daeron80]

That's pretty weird. I'll make a few wild speculations just in case it happens to point in a helpful direction. Something to do with LLM accidentally getting turned on and off, maybe? Delay compensation bug in a particular plugin? Output path different in any way that could point to an interface driver problem?

Troubleshooting steps I'd take:

• When the problem occurs, immediately bounce down without changing anything and see if the sync issue is heard in the mix.
• Record to a click track made with the Create Click Track command, to see if maybe the other tracks are early instead of the new one being late.
• Run a mobo temperature app and see if the CPU or something might be too hot when the problem occurs.

That's all I can think of off hand. Regular PT user on both platforms for decades, never seen or heard of your issue. Your situation is unique in some way. If this forum supported memes, someone would no doubt use the "I'm not saying it's aliens..." one.

[Darryl Ramm]

Seems very unusual. If this was happening more widely I expect DUC would be full of folks screaming.

Are there plugins on the track you are recording? What plugins?

Is LLM enabled?

Are there plugins used on the backing tracks? What ones?

Is delay compensation enabled? An explanation here may be you accidentally disabling delay compensation.

Why not just work with playlists instead of deleting the past recording? If you had all the playlists from before then wether the whole track or just the latest playlist is now shifted or not might be useful to know.

What interface are you using? And what IO buffer size?

You should try to measure the latency. If you can reproduce this just test with recording a click track back into a microphone (mute that track to avoid feedback of course)... makes it easy to measure the latency.

[BruceKahn]

I've had a somewhat different but maybe similar timing issue when using my MIDI guitar set-up. Cranking along just fine, and suddenly then there is a huge delay in the plugin's response to my playing, both on input and recording.
The fix for my issue is to restart everything, including the computer.
This probably isn't helpful, and may be something completely different, but maybe it will lead to a lightbulb moment for someone.