Problem with looping stems

[reillykevin0]

Hi. So I have a weird problem with my loops in pro tools. I have 2 instrument tracks playing for 8 bars and I'm in grid mode, I've quantized the tracks to keep everything in time and the loop runs seamlessly in the session. But once I bounce the tracks out to a wav and import the file into a new session to make sure that the wavs are looping properly, they're not. Or at least 1 of them isn't.

The first stem was piano and double bass which seems to loop fine as a wav (had to fade it out at the end to get rid of a click), but the second stem which is horns and oboe just doesn't work right. I'm using the bbc symphony orchestra VI. Delay compensation is on. Everything is at the same sample rate (48khz, 24bit), the tempo of all the sessions is the same, I've tried using my interface (m-audio) and windows audio as the playback engine, I even trashed my preferences just in case there was a setting I inadvertently changed but the problem persists!

This is for a college assignment and the lecturers will be checking to make sure that every stem actually loops properly. I've been pulling my hair out the past 2 days trying to get it to work so any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks.

I'm on windows 10
16gb ram, quad core intel i7
Pro tools studio version 2023.9

[albee1952]

Hmmm, shooting from the hip; is there any CC data involved? Example, one of your instrument tracks(which loops fine) has some sustain pedal info that makes the bounce have a small amount of extra length due to the CC info. How are you masking your bounce selection? The best way(to my mind) would be to enable GRID mode and swipe across the 2 bars you wish to bounce. Not sure if that helps, but maybe it will give you more ideas

[reillykevin0]

Hi thanks for your reply. I have a sustain pedal plugged in by I was not using it for this particular stem. I'm making my bounce selection in grid mode by clicking on the first track then shift clicking on the second. I had the thought that the problem might be related to buffer size. I'll mess around with those settings today to see if it makes a difference. What buffer size is recommended for a 48khz session? Should I use the same buffer size for tracking as well as bouncing? I think my buffer size was 128, should I try bumping it up a bit? Thanks.

[albee1952]

Buffer size should not matter. I'd definitely take a zoomed in look at the end of your selection to make sure its also on the grid. To do a bounce, you don't need to select multiple tracks, you just need to select the part of the timeline you want included. Also, if you have a Master track with plugins, try removing them(or Make Inactive) to see if that is causing the issue(plugin latency on a Master track is not compensated for). 3rd option, use Track Commit, or Commit up to the last plugin, and make sure the .cm audio files are dead on with the grid(assuming your counter is set to Bars:Beats and NOT set to Time).