slurring in playback

[aceteleman77]

I've been transfering some material from cassette and have had real good luck so far but I just ran into a problem I don't know how to solve. After I've recorded the song, when I play it back it slurs, in other words it will speed up and/or slow down in spots. Is there a way to correct this in ProAudio 7??

I've tried deleting the tracks, cleared all the extrainious files and then re- recorded the song but got the same result....

Thanks in advance for any advice.....

[Track Rat]

I don't understand. Is it the cassette that speeds up and slows down and you want to know if you can fix it or is it that the cassette plays back fine and the computer recording is the problem?

[aceteleman77]

The cassette is playing fine it's the recorded track in Cakewalk that is slurring....

[dachay2tnr]

You may have your latency set a bit low and you're taxing your system resources. Usually that will result in a dropout (playback stops altogether), but I imagine it could result in a slowdown.

Try raising the buffer settings in Options -> Audio and/or moving the slider to the right to raise you latency. Also, if you have Input Monitoring enabled, try disabling it as well.

What kind of system and sound card are you running?

[aceteleman77]

I'll check that latency setting, thanks for the tip....

I'm running Win98SE on an AMD750mhz processor. The sound card is a Sound Blaster PCI129.

The funny thing is that I get that slurring stuff when I play back in cakewalk but once I export the file and play it on my media player it is perfectly fine...... KINDA WEIRD!!

Anyway ya'll, I really appreciate all the tips as I'm a novice at this but I'm the kinda guy that 'HUNTS & PECKS' until I find the solution, remembering what I did to get to that point is another matter...... lol

[dachay2tnr]

The funny thing is that I get that slurring stuff when I play back in cakewalk but once I export the file and play it on my media player it is perfectly fine...... KINDA WEIRD!!

Not wierd at all. In Cakewalk you are playing with multiple individual tracks. Each track is its own wave file (or multiple wave files in some cases). You also are probably running realtime effects.

So your computer has to playback all these individual waves, applying effects on the fly where requested, keeping all the tracks syncronized with each other (down to sample rate levels), and keeping the tracks in the proper volume and pan relationships. Apply any volume and pan automation that may be in the project. And... (enough??)

When you playback a wave file in Media Player, that is all you doing. Playing back a single wave file with all the effects, volumes, pans, and so on already applied to it.

[dachay2tnr]

Sorry, I just re-read this thread, and realized that you started by stating you were recording casettes. In which case you may only be working with a single, stereo track with no effects or automation, etc.

In that case, your comparison probably is a bit more apples to apples. It still could be your latency setting, so I would check that out.

[aceteleman77]

KEWL!! Thanks again for the tip. All things I'll need to know when I delve into other projects....

[drflanger]

I know exactly what this guy means. I have recorded 30 seconds of bass into a new empty project and when you play it back it sounds like a 2 year old is messing with the tuning pegs. It seems to be an intermittent problem that is unrelated to demands on the system. Rebooting solved it.

[aceteleman77]

drflanger,

I have tried rebooting as well as adjusting the latency settings, several times each and none of it seems to help. It only does it in Cakewalk playback, if I export the file to a media player (music match jukebox in this case) it plays perfectly fine. So, I still don't have a clue but it sure would be nice to solve the problem before a I start trying to mix my unmixed recordings from my band's home studio...

[drflanger]

right im no expert but I have a couple of suspicions...

when you try again are you rerecording into the same cakewalk project or opening a new one? It seemed to me that the project I opened was faulty itself, as if its time values were corrupted, a bit like trying to record on a tape deck with a slipping belt. Does cakewalk do this with every signal input it receives?

Try recording your tape input into another program like Soundforge, saving it as a wave file and then importing it into cakewalk- import, wave file.

Right now I am recording some drum and bass tracks from a rehearsal that way, importing it and then putting guitars and vocals over the top in cakewalk.

Hope that helps. Please bear in mind that I dont know my ass from my elbow when it comes to the way cakewalk thinks, but I have still managed to record a whole cd for release using this programme.

[acidrock]

Do you have the sample rate in cakewalk set the same as your soundcard?
It sounds like a clocking problem to me.

[aceteleman77]

drflanger,

Yes, I've opened a new project with each recording but the problem persists. Basically what I've been doing is recording from a live tape of my band and converting it to mp3 to burn to cd. I've done each song individually with a new project for each... The end result has turned out fine but it is sure a pain in the ass when I try to listen to it before exporting it, trying to edit, add effects, eq, fades, etc..... The description of a cassette deck with a bad belt is a very apt description of what I'm hearing in cakewalk.... I've been working on a studio (home, analog 8 track) of original material and had hoped to dump it to cakewalk to mix and add fx. But with this problem I'm not sure how far I'm going to get with that.

[aceteleman77]

acidrock,

That's a new suggestion I haven't heard yet. Not sure how to go about checking that or setting the parameters. If you could give me a clue, I'm willing to try anything to solve this problem before I attempt doing my mix project with my original material...

the Teleman

[nave]

Don't know about your sound card or if you mentioned it...but you can start by checking the sample rate in cakewalk by going to Options/Audio/general......you'll see it there....it does sound like a clocking issue. The problem is that if this is the issue then you are screwed with this project and you'll have to do it over...setting the sample rate only effects the project before you record it! Once the sample rate is set for a project it caN't be changed. You want at least 44100hz for standard CD quality.

[drflanger]

Yes it does sound a feasible explanation but why did the problem suddenly occur? I have experienced the same trouble and it is intermittent.

Just out of interest, is your pc clock accurate, or is it slow? Thats the one weird thing about my new pc.

drflanger

[aceteleman77]

nave,

just did a check in cakewalk and looked at the sample rate and it is set to 44100..... I also went into device manager and looked at the settings for the sound card but I'm not real sure what I'm supposed to be looking for....

and re: to drflanger,

the problem did suddenly occur, it's been there since I began this project on every track I've recorded. and as far as I know my pc clock is accurate, it's the same time that is on my watch and my vcr and my satellite receiver, which is run from atomic clock I believe.... so I'm sure it's accurate....

[acidrock]

This "clock" is different than the time clock you are refering to.It's the sample rate clock.
When digital audio is processed it takes a certain amont of samples or "pictures" per second.
If this "clock"fails or is inaccurate timing and playback problems can occur.
This "clock" relates to audio only and resides in your soundcard.Keep in mind this is only a guess as to what your problem is.

[aceteleman77]

ok acidrock, how do I check that and/or change it if necessary??

[acidrock]

Well that part I'm not really sure about...
keep in mind this is only a guess,it could be something altogether different.

But just as a shot in the dark go to programs /accessories /entertainment/soundrecorder and try using that.
If you record there and it comes out okay you can eliminate the soundcards crystal as being bad.

Also have you turned off all unneeded programs?
Have you defragged or performed system maintenance lately?

[aceteleman77]

ok acidrock,

I tried the sound recorder and it worked fine so I guess that answers that question. And yes, I turned off all the extranious programs (did the ctrl/alt/del trick) and it still didn't eliminate the problem in cakewalk. As I said in one of my threads earlier, I've played around with the latency (buffer) setting, gone up, gone down from the, I presume, default setting and none of that helped.... So, I'm still stumped....

[drflanger]

I seem to remember when I had that problem that I ended up reinstalling cakewalk, and it hasnt happened for a while now.

[aceteleman77]

drflanger,

I've reinstalled cakewalk 3 times and it hasn't helped, I still get the little skips and slurs. Like I said earlier tho, it only occurs in cakewalk itself, once I export it, it plays back perfect. It does make it hard to do any kind of mixing in cakewalk tho....

[dachay2tnr]

aceteleman - I'm gonna try and get back into this thing. Can you describe exactly what it is you're doing.

If I understand correctly, you are recording a single, stereo wave file from a cassette deck into Cakewalk 7. Then when you play the file back (no effects, no panning, no nothing) it slurs on you. But when you export a wave file from Cakewalk, the exported file plays fine in other programs (e.g., Windows Media Player).

If that is the case, then obviously the file is recording fine and the problem is only something to do with playback in CW 7.

I'm not familiar with CW 7, but go to Options -> Audio. Do you see something related to Recording and Playback timing? Are they both set for your sound card, and both set to the same thing?

Is the project set for 44.1 sampling rate and 16 bit depth?

What sound card are you using?

[aceteleman77]

Originally posted by dachay2tnr
aceteleman - I'm gonna try and get back into this thing. Can you describe exactly what it is you're doing.

If I understand correctly, you are recording a single, stereo wave file from a cassette deck into Cakewalk 7. Then when you play the file back (no effects, no panning, no nothing) it slurs on you. But when you export a wave file from Cakewalk, the exported file plays fine in other programs (e.g., Windows Media Player).

If that is the case, then obviously the file is recording fine and the problem is only something to do with playback in CW 7.

I'm not familiar with CW 7, but go to Options -> Audio. Do you see something related to Recording and Playback timing? Are they both set for your sound card, and both set to the same thing?

Is the project set for 44.1 sampling rate and 16 bit depth?

What sound card are you using?

I'm using a Sound Blaster PCI 128 card..... I didn't see anything in audio options relating to record and playback settings other than queue buffer settings and it is set to 44.1 as is my sound card....

I've tried several times to adjust the buffer settings, at someone else's recommendation, but it hasn't seemed to help. I've been wanting to use cw to try doing a mix from my 8 track but don't know how well it's gonna work with that problem, kinda hard to hear if the mix is right with that going on....