Melodyne - pitch corrected bounced track out sync with original

[Humble Pro Tools User]

Hello all,

I am having timing issues with Melodyne. When I insert Melodyne in a track, it detects a tempo change immediately without ever "hearing" the track and when there is no tempo or time signature change present. Nor has there ever been. Then when I make the necessary pitch corrections, I bounce the audio to a new track and every note is out of sync with the original. Some notes are shorter than the original track and some are longer. I have been in contact with Celemony for two weeks regarding this issue and they say that they have never encountered it before and have no reports about it. Celemony support says it must be an issue with my workflow and/or a setting in Pro Tools which is why i am here. I have followed their instruction to the letter before and during my correspondence with them. They're essentially gaslighting me. This issue occurs if I use a blank Pro Tools session, an established Pro Tools session, and even in Melodyne's standalone program. i can assure you I have exhausted what I know to be all possible combinations of using Melodyne to achieve a pitch corrected track that's in time. I have even quantized with Melodyne with no luck. This is driving me insane. If any of you have encountered this or can think of a reason this may be a Pro Tools "setting", I would very much appreciate the help.

Here are the steps I am taking:

1. I open a brand new blank Pro Tools session. I do not touch the tempo. (I have used an existing session, a brand new blank session, and a stock pro tools template session. None of which have tempo or time signature changes other than the initial setting of the tempo for the established sessions)

2. I immediately import an audio track into Pro Tools. The track is a quantized MIDi piano made in reason. (The issue happens regardless of the origin of the track, track length, if it is MIDI, or if recorded DI)

3. I then insert Melodyne on the track making no changes to the session whatsoever.

4. I click the tempo icon in Melodyne which opens the tempo dialog box. It says that Melodyne is detecting a tempo change in my DAW. (Melodyne says it detects a tempo change in my DAW even when I open a brand new blank Pro Tools session and insert it on a blank track)

5. I change to Variable mode and let Melodyne "listen" to the track. (The track length in this case is less than 3 bars in length)

6. I stop the track and click ok in the tempo dialog box. Melodyne says it detects a tempo of 120bpm - 120bpm. (The tempo icon never blinks and is not broken)

7. I then Transfer the audio into Melodyne and stop the track when it finishes.

8. I make the necessary pitch corrections by double clicking the "blobs". Nothing more.

9. I then close the Melodyne window.

10. I then bounce the newly pitch corrected audio to a new track. (I have tried rendering, committing, and printing)

11. The bounced audio is now out of sync with the original. (If I run the audio through Melodyne and do not make pitch corrections, it stays perfectly in sync)

I believe the heart of the issue is whether or not this is a common occurrence with every user. Is it user error? Is it a setting or issue with Pro Tools? Is it an issue with my computer? Celemony is standing by their claim that is on my end. I have sent multiple screen capture videos to them and even more detailed walkthroughs to no avail. They have sent detailed responses every time but never ever offer an explanation or solution. It is maddening.

If this is not a Pro Tools issue, is the solution to edit the bounced audio to realign it back with the original? To my knowledge, this is not a latency issue. If that were the case, I could simply drag the track back over to realign it with the original. The issue is that all of the notes have a new length. Some longer. Some shorter. The first note is usually always very close to the original but the audio becomes stretched and squashed all of the way through(I have tried deselecting the Stretch icon with no luck).

Any help with this would be very much appreciated. Thank you for your time.

[albee1952]

Hmmm, it might help to know which exact versions of Pro Tools and Melodyne you are using. I've been using Melodyne since version 2 and have never had it bounce out of time.

Also, exactly how are you bouncing? FWIW, here are my 2 methods that have always worked:
#1(the old way), once I finished with Melodyne(which ALWAYS goes in the first insert), I would put up a blank track(AUDIO or AUX, both work). I would drag the Melodyne plugin to this empty track and route it to an open bus. On the original track, I would make a new PLAYLIST, change the input to the bus and record the Melodyne'd audio back onto the original track, on its own PLAYLIST(always keeping the original audio, just in case).

#2(the new way), once I am done in Melodyne, I right-click on the plugin and chooose "Commit up to this insert". In the next popup, I choose "do nothing" to the source track. Once the commit is done, I have a new track(with the tuned audio) next to the original. On the original, I make a new PLAYLIST and copy/paste the tuned audio back to the original track and delete the Melodyne plugin(if you want to save it, just in case, drag the plugin to the "commit" track and make the track inactive).

Hope something here helps

[Humble Pro Tools User]

Pro Tools 2020.12.0

Both Melodyne Essential and Melodyne 5 Studio

Hello,

Thanks for your reply. I have bounced, committed, and rendered in every conceivable manner imaginable to no avail(including your methods).

The nature of Melodyne and other pitch correction software, or at least my assumption, is that Melodyne changes the frequency to make these corrections. This would naturally alter the waveform as a whole. Performing a null test between the original and bounced audio will show the difference. I understand this much. Would this also change the length of the note/waveform in the same manner? Making a note start later and end sooner than the original? I have been leaning toward this idea more and more but Celemony doesn't seem to want to answer that one, though, I am still in contact with them.

if anyone has any more input it would be much appreciated. For now, I think I may concede defeat and edit the notes so they fall back into time.

Thanks again

[albee1952]

When you say "out of sync", what exactly do you mean? All notes later? All notes earlier? If you play tuned audio beside the original audio, they will sound phasey for any note that was changed in any way(this is expected).

Melodyne is fine for stretching or shortening notes, but I would definitely NOT try to use it to solve your problem. There must be some root cause because as I said, I have been using Melodyne for 10+ years and never had this issue(and trust me; I am a bear when it comes to tuning and timing).

What numbers are you seeing in the Delay Compensation window? Big numbers might be the cause(and remember that delay on the MASTER track is NOT compensated for).

Until you do figure it out, the simplest solution(to me) would be to use Track Commit to render the tuned audio and then use the original audio as your guide and nudge(or SPOT) the tuned audio to match.

[Humble Pro Tools User]

When I say out of sync, some notes start/end later and some start/end early which makes the start of every note "out of sync" with the original track. It doesn't seem to be a latency issue in that I would normally just be able to drag the bounced audio file back in line with the original. That's not the case here. Every note is a new length after pitch correction. A single note can start later and end sooner than the same note on the original track. Granted we are talking ms here but it's enough samples to hear the difference.

As far as delay compensation, there is zero delay on any track in the delay compensation window and the only compensation is on the aux tracks. They are all at 4000~. There is virtually no compensation anywhere else in the session and none on the track(s) in question.

I agree that I may just have to match the tuned audio up as best as possible. The reason it is such a headache is a) time and b) the notes that begin early have to be dragged back enough to be in time which causes a doubling of the end of the previous note. I end up either making a larger fade or "doubling" a section of the previous note that is less noticeable. This is insane.

[albee1952]

Okay, given this info, I would uninstall Melodyne and install a fresh download from your Celemony account. Your comment about Melodyne grabbing tempo info makes me wonder if there is some preference that got changed? re-installing should restore all defaults for a new test