Help Me Understand EA Polyphonic Mode

[tomhartman]

OK, so I do a tempo map of a song I'm duplicating (hit song).

I send this off to the drummer, (with the midi file for the tempo map) he does his vocals and drums, sends them back to me as always.

I drop them in the session, and they are no longer in time (vocals and drums are late). I notice that the tracks I put them on are in EA Polyphonic mode. I disable that, using "revert".....now all is fine and in time.

Why? Wouldn't Polyphonic mode just "make" the audio follow the existing tempo map (same as the drummer used)?

I know I am missing something here....thx for any input.

[albee1952]

Hmmm, this is certainly a puzzler. Some thoughts:
1-No EA Algorithm will make audio follow the tempo unless the audio was put into TICKS mode first(a detail you haven't mentioned).
2-Did your drummer use the same tempo(BPM) as you? Since you sent him/her a midi file, then this SHOULD be the case, but it may be worth a conversation about it(maybe they had some reason to not use the midi file?)
3-For future collaborations, I would ask your drummer to send you rendered tracks(so any EA edits he does would be "baked in").
4-Why do you suppose the drummer used Polyphonic when Rhythmic would seem more appropriate for drums, and Monophonic would be more suited to vocals?

[tomhartman]

Originally Posted by albee1952

Hmmm, this is certainly a puzzler. Some thoughts:
1-No EA Algorithm will make audio follow the tempo unless the audio was put into TICKS mode first(a detail you haven't mentioned).

Yes, in Ticks mode.


2-Did your drummer use the same tempo(BPM) as you? Since you sent him/her a midi file, then this SHOULD be the case, but it may be worth a conversation about it(maybe they had some reason to not use the midi file?)

He uses the midi file I send him, (WITH tempo map built in) so his BPM is same as mine. We are both using the same midi file.The file doesn't have any actual music in it, it is sent for BPM sync only.

3-For future collaborations, I would ask your drummer to send you rendered tracks(so any EA edits he does would be "baked in").
4-Why do you suppose the drummer used Polyphonic when Rhythmic would seem more appropriate for drums, and Monophonic would be more suited to vocals?

He doesn't use PT, I had the empty tracks in Polyphonic mode that I placed his files in, for no particular reason. I use Polyphonic for everything just out of habit and the experience that it seems to sound the best. I usually do not have his tracks in this mode when I initially import them into PT. Wonder if that is a "thing"...

We do 4 songs a week, for many years, like this. First time it's happened. Very strange.

[reflexson]

I’ve noticed that if I have conform to tempo enabled in the workspace browser, pro tools will sometimes automatically enable elastic audio on any imported audio track.

There are also some prefs that will cause this behavior

"Drag and Drop From Desktop Conforms to Session Tempo" in "Processing"


"Enable Elastic Audio on New Tracks" also in the "Processing" tab

[smurfyou]

Originally Posted by reflexson

I’ve noticed that if I have conform to tempo enabled in the workspace browser, pro tools will sometimes automatically enable elastic audio on any imported audio track.

There are also some prefs that will cause this behavior

"Drag and Drop From Desktop Conforms to Session Tempo" in "Processing"


"Enable Elastic Audio on New Tracks" also in the "Processing" tab

This might be the ticket. I rarely use EA but on some other systems (not mine) these preferences are set and catches me off guard.

[Will Russell]

Forgive me if you know this already, but if your track is set for ticks mode, and you have elastic audio enabled on the track, ProTools will attempt to conform that file to the tempo. If you switch it from ticks to samples that problem won't happen.
https://www.pro-tools-expert.com/hom...e-based-tracks