recording in multitrack

[secretorchard]

Hi all,

Last week I posted with a problem with sampling rates. The tracks I recorded (j-station->s/pdif out->Maudio 2448 s/pdif in->CEP 1.2 @32 bit float/44.1 kHz) sounded 1/2 step higher upon playback. I messed around with settings to no avail. The next day I fired up the computer and lo and behold, the tracks sounded fine. I have no idea what happened.

Now, the current problem. In order to record additional tracks while listening to the existing tracks, I must record while in multitrack mode. So, I start recording, but when the existing tracks begin to play, they are sped up! I mean, the cursor is flying across the screen in what sounds like 2x the actual speed they were recorded in. Oddly, if I just hit "play" in multitrack mode, it sounds fine. Only when I attemp to record does the playback sound all sped up. So...I messed with a few settings, but to no avail. Any ideas? For all I know, I'll go back home and fire up the computer tonight and it will work fine, but it is very odd that these apparent sampling rate problems keep cropping up. Thanks.

s.o.

 

[Strryder]

Hi all,

Last week I posted with a problem with sampling rates. The tracks I recorded (j-station->s/pdif out->Maudio 2448 s/pdif in->CEP 1.2 @32 bit float/44.1 kHz) sounded 1/2 step higher upon playback. I messed around with settings to no avail. The next day I fired up the computer and lo and behold, the tracks sounded fine. I have no idea what happened.

s.o.

The first thing I can think of is this,

If the J-Station puts out a 48 khz s/pdif sample rate, and you can't change it, then once that first track is done, it's at 48 khz, you should make sure that you record ALL your tracks in the same project at the same sample rate, this might fix it.

I think that an incoming s/pdif stream will set the sample rate of the soundcard.

Have you considered recording the J-Station's output as "audio", in other words, going out the audio output on the J-Station and into an analog input on the Audiophile? this would let you select, and record in any supported sample rate in CEP.

 

[Track Rat]

I agree you have a difference in sampling rates somewhere. It sounds to me like your recording properties are set to 44.1 but when you go into record, the computer will automaticly follow the incoming clock signal embedded in the S/PDIF signal. If that is 48k, it will play back your 44.1 tracks fast. You have to have everything clocked the same or this problem won't go away.

 

[secretorchard]

I appreciate the help. One thing to clear up is that the J-station s/pdif output is in 24bit, 44.1 kHz, not 48 kHz. My CEP settings are for a 32bit float (which I guess is really 24 bit), 44.1 kHz. So I don't know where the sample rate difference lies.

What seems odd to me is that within the multritrack mode, if I just hit "play," everything sounds fine. But when I hit record, the existing tracks sound sped up, but if I go ahead and record the track, it records fine. So the issue is all in the playback. Maybe I will open the tracks in winamp and see what sample rate it thinks they are. I did this the other night and they were in 44.1 kHz, so I believe the tracks are in 24 bit, 44.1 kHz. So, somehow, the analog outs on my maudio dio 2448 are set to 48 kHz or something that is causing the tracks to sound very fast, but ONLY in record mode within multitrack. That's very odd. I am open to other suggestions.

 

[secretorchard]

Well, I figured it out. I'll post what I found, just in case others have a similar problem. I also have a followup question that someone may be able to answer.

After messing with all kinds of settings from the menu (F4), nothing was working. I ran the signal from my jstation through the analog outs (not s/pdif), and this didn't change anything. I was about to give up, when I noticed two small buttons in multitrack mode by the volume and panning buttons on the left side of each track. The buttons look like "1", one being blue the other red. One button goes to the playback settings, the other to the record settings. I went into the record settings and there are a number of toggle switches. "Left" "Right" "Stereo" and "16 bit" "32 bit". It was set to "stereo" and "32 bit." For whatever reason, when I switch it to "16 bit", the other tracks sound fine while I'm recording in multitrack mode. The only problem with this is that the track I am recording is in 16 bit, whereas the tracks I recorded in edit mode were in 32 bit float (24 bit). I'm not sure if this will present a problem when I mix down or not.

Is there anyway I can record in multitrack mode in 32 bit depth AND still hear the other tracks at regular speed? I tried to changing various settings (F4), but to no avail. I changed them one variable at a time, keeping the others the same, so as to determine exactly which one would have an effect, but none of them did. As I am writing this, one other idea comes to mind. In those track settings mentioned above, there was a toggle switch for "set all tracks the same" or something equivalent to that. Maybe I can set the existing tracks to 16 bit and leave the track I'm about to record at 32 bit, and that will allow me to hear the other tracks at the correct speed, but also allow me to record in 32 bit.

Sorry for the long-winded post, but hopefully this will help someone else.

 

[7evin]

I think it is your sound card. If your sound card is unable to record at those freq. then it will speed and slow it down. That could be the reason switching to 16bit fixed it. No matter what the outside signal is, the sound card is the deciding factor.