Imported Audio Tracks Not Aligning with Recorded Track Which Also Plays Back at Half Speed

TDinDC

New member
I saved some backing tracks from Band In A Box as wave files (44100, 16bit) and planned to use Sonar X2 Producer to record a melody and improv track. The importing went okay and I recorded a test melody track on Soprano sax using a Zoom H4N (also set for 44100, 16bit) as my input audio interface/mic. Everything was fine. I was using a Presonus Studio 26c as the output audio interface to some external speakers. I then decided I wanted to switch to a different horn and use some Logitech headphones to confinethe playback sound while I was recording.

NOTE: When I first imported the audio tracks, I put markers at key points in the song. Everything was fine: the markers lined up with the playback and no latency was in evidence.

After switching the configuration, two mystifying things happened:
1) the markers are still in the right place (I can see by breaks in the audio) but the time to the beginning of the playback of the backing tracks has doubled.
2) when I re-record the melody (a) it starts late on playback: i.e. it isn't aligned with the backing tracks, and (b) it plays back an octave low and at half speed.
 
Somehow you accidently changed the sample rate of the session.
I thought of that.Both the Zoom H4n and Sonar are showing 44100. The only other thing is that I split the last few seconds of the piano clip so as to stretch out the last note. And although all the imported clips had a 16-bit depth, Sonar changed this processed clip to 32 bits. But at that point everything played back fine, save a few artifacts in the processed clip.

Currently I'm wondering if it could be the H4n because it has stereo mics but only records a mono track. Could that mean the 44100 is being doubled as a stereo stream is combined into a single stream? The mystery continues.
 
It should make no difference re: the stereo mic/mono track. Each mic goes to its own separate track, although you get a "stereo" track unless you are running in multitrack mode. When used in MTR mode, you get 4 individual track files. In stereo or 4channel modes, you get two 2 channel track files. I take any "stereo" track from my H4n into my DAW (Reaper) and split it into two mono files as needed. I'm with Farview, there's something going on between either sample rate or BPM changes. I dont use either BIB or Sonar so I can't comment on that.
 
Check the sample rate of the files. Then check the sample rate of the session they are in.

The files are not all the same sample rate, or as was said, they are a different bpm, if you have the daw in bpm stretch mode.
 
Check the sample rate of the files. Then check the sample rate of the session they are in.

The files are not all the same sample rate, or as was said, they are a different bpm, if you have the daw in bpm stretch mode.
Tell me more about bpm mode. Perhaps that's the key. The original imported tracks from Band-in-a-Box had a tempo of 135bpm. I exported them as separate. WAV files with a 44100 sample rate. Sonar defaulted to 100bpm at the time I imported them. So I changed the tempo to 135bpm in Sonar, 4/4 time in order that the measure markers align with the imported audio files. Nevertheless, I think Sonar is using absolute time - I think I changed back to that. Maybe too many mods.

But that doesn't tell me how it's connected to a half-speed, 8va low playback. The ratio 100:135 is not 2-to-1.
 
Did you check the sample rate of the files? Go into file explorer (my computer) and right click on the file and hit properties. Somewhere in there it will tell you the sample rate of the file.

I don't use any of the software you do, so I can't tell you where to look in the daw.
 
Maybe a sample rate problem. Maybe also a playback rate problem. I have, on occasion, accidentally hit the playback rate slider and wondered why everything was going fast (or slow).
 
Did you check the sample rate of the files? Go into file explorer (my computer) and right click on the file and hit properties. Somewhere in there it will tell you the sample rate of the file.

I don't use any of the software you do, so I can't tell you where to look in the daw.
Yes, all imported files, and both Sonar and H4n have/are set at 44100 sample rate.
 
Maybe a sample rate problem. Maybe also a playback rate problem. I have, on occasion, accidentally hit the playback rate slider and wondered why everything was going fast (or slow).
Only the track I was recording played back at half speed. But I will never know what the problem was because I changed from the H4n to a Presonus plus external mic as my input audio interface and have no further problems.
 
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