Is it me or does Pro tools elastic audio/warping algorithm suck

[lucidlife]

I just never works for me. For example I imported a Lionel Richie song. I notice it doest' line up to the beat soI put on polyphonic mode to quantize the sample. Well, it doesn't even quantize it correctly. the down kicks are off the further down the song I go, there are artifacts and it speeds and slows down the song. I try x form, and still the same result, so I end up warping it myself which still I end up slowing and speeding up the song. Am I missing something? I spent more than 3 hours doing this. Finally taking a break for fear of throwing my Mac out the window.

In ableton this would be a none issue. I would have warped the song in under 30 minutes, and began working on my idea.

Abletons warping algorithm is the best I've ever worked with. It's usually 80-90 % correct automatically, but pro tools, I'm always having issues. Everytime. It's laughable honestly.

[sw rec]

Never use it. It's not just you.

[TrentWilliams]

You can choose different elastic audio modes in system preferences under Processing - the Digidesign/Avid T/CE is the best algorithm to use.

Also you might only be warping a part of the tune and not the whole selection with your warping points. Just a thought - i'm not sure of your experience with elastic audio but here's a tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_VufsUuiRc

[midnightrambler]

Originally Posted by lucidlife

I just never works for me. For example I imported a Lionel Richie song. I notice it doest' line up to the beat soI put on polyphonic mode to quantize the sample. Well, it doesn't even quantize it correctly. the down kicks are off the further down the song I go, there are artifacts and it speeds and slows down the song. I try x form, and still the same result, so I end up warping it myself which still I end up slowing and speeding up the song. Am I missing something? I spent more than 3 hours doing this. Finally taking a break for fear of throwing my Mac out the window.

In ableton this would be a none issue. I would have warped the song in under 30 minutes, and began working on my idea.

Abletons warping algorithm is the best I've ever worked with. It's usually 80-90 % correct automatically, but pro tools, I'm always having issues. Everytime. It's laughable honestly.

Don't use Elastic for this sort of thing, I can't imagine it working well on a full mix without a great deal of work...stick to Ableton (or Melodyne even, though I've not tried it there myself.) Elastic works pretty well for subtle changes to timing (as I've just done on some bounced BVs, hoorah) but even then it can take a good deal of work to not make it sound like utter pants.

[Marsdy]

EA and X-Form seem to be very program dependent to me. And there doesn't seem to be any logic behind why one stretch works and the another stretch of similar source material doesn't.

My workflow goes
1. Try Avid first - sometimes it sounds great but if that fails...
2. ...Fire up Meolodyne... There's witchcraft in that there code. It's spookily impressive.
3. ...And finally Ableton Live. I initially dismissed this as a painting-by-numbers toy app for those of limited ability but it's a hugely impressive and powerful tool. Dismiss it at your peril.

[take77]

Elastic audio can be an effective pre-production tool.

Consider using real-time polyphonic processing with a single audio track in tick mode for these purposes:

To adjust the tempo of scratch audio ideas (such as guitar) in preparation for tracking new unadulterated signals at a more suitable tempo.
In effect, a tailored guide track for more official tracking.

Especially if you are combining audio with MIDI during pre-production.
For me, scratch guitar + MIDI drums is a good pre-production start point for a song.
And yes, the guitar sounds altered. But not to worry, because it's only scratch guitar tracks I am warbling.

It enables me to listen back hands free and decide on the ideal tempo to re-track at.
Especially when it comes to finding the "niche groove" for the vocals.
I can sing along while making adjustments to ensure there is breathing room between vocal phrases and that the drum fills aren't cocaine fast or alcohol slow in relation to the guitar & vocals.

What's more, it makes the scratch tracks you might otherwise delete, useful.
The guiding idea is there regardless of being a bit warbled and you aren't messing with any of the final tracks.
This way, the right tempo can be determined before officially tracking any other instruments and having to re-do or warble those as well.

Simply stated, the best tracks take time (and the finer the wine) no matter how many listen backs, tempo adjustments or re-dos.

That's why I invested in Pro Tools as a home user. I can take as long as I'd like to get something right.

Elastic audio for me has served as an effective pre-production tool.
For getting meticulous Mutt Lange precise tempos for each song/album section.
After which, any re-tracking is worth all the effort.

[lesbrunn]

Originally Posted by Marsdy

EA and X-Form seem to be very program dependent to me. And there doesn't seem to be any logic behind why one stretch works and the another stretch of similar source material doesn't.

My workflow goes
1. Try Avid first - sometimes it sounds great but if that fails...
2. ...Fire up Meolodyne... There's witchcraft in that there code. It's spookily impressive.
3. ...And finally Ableton Live. I initially dismissed this as a painting-by-numbers toy app for those of limited ability but it's a hugely impressive and powerful tool. Dismiss it at your peril.

+1. I've used it successfully on short clips, but it doesn't work well sometimes. Unpredictable. It's never worked well for me in remix type scenarios where the tempo of a track has to be changed. Tempos and bar-lines are all over the place, and I have to divide the audio into smaller sections so I can nudge them into place and finally use warp points to shape the timing. Painstaking, nerve-racking, time-consuming work, because it doesn't always work the way you expect it to.

[Bookerv12]

Pro tools has some pretty darned impressive features that other companies can't seem to match.
EA is not one of these.
Ie's like going back to 1992.

[lesbrunn]

Originally Posted by Marsdy

My workflow goes
1. Try Avid first - sometimes it sounds great but if that fails...
2. ...Fire up Meolodyne... There's witchcraft in that there code. It's spookily impressive.
3. ...And finally Ableton Live. I initially dismissed this as a painting-by-numbers toy app for those of limited ability but it's a hugely impressive and powerful tool. Dismiss it at your peril.

Hey Marsdy, you're dead right about Melodyne. I got some pre-bounced stereo background vocals the other day, that needed tuning on one out of the 5 or 6 voices. Easy, and no other software I know of can do that. But even though I use it a lot for sloppy vocal timing, I'd never considered using it on stuff to change tempo on entire tracks. People have also praised the algorithms in Live, but I've never tried that either.

Thanks for the tip... Time for some investigative experimentation!

[deanrichard]

What are the impressive features you feel other companies can't seem to match? Because in my experience that hasn't been true.

Originally Posted by Bookerv12

Pro tools has some pretty darned impressive features that other companies can't seem to match.
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