Another Protools (free) question

[Jeff Leites]

I'm listening to a mix of tracks I recorded, and I'm playing along on my guitar, adding a new audio track (the new track is in mute mode). When I'm done, and play it back (mute off of course), sometimes the track I just recorded is off a fraction of a second from the tracks I was playing along with :( . Sometimes it's right on. Is this latency. What can I do about it? I never know if it's in sync or not till I'm done recording. I've tried to slide the new track into place, but that hasn't worked out.

[-_dup1]

Gosh, I used PTF for a while before moving over to PTLE and I never had that problem. When you say you're muting stuff, do you mean you're muting the input signal within PTF when recording? (I assume you're hearing your input signal in an outboard mixer or something...?) The latency thing in PTF is when you *don't* mute the input signal when recording -- you'll hear the input signal, but it's always a half second or so late. (It's one of the built-in "we want you to upgrade to the real thing" features of PTF.)

[Jeff Leites]

[quote]Originally posted by Hank The Cave Peanut: [b]Gosh, I used PTF for a while before moving over to PTLE and I never had that problem. When you say you're muting stuff, do you mean you're muting the input signal within PTF when recording? (I assume you're hearing your input signal in an outboard mixer or something...?) The latency thing in PTF is when you *don't* mute the input signal when recording -- you'll hear the input signal, but it's always a half second or so late. (It's one of the built-in "we want you to upgrade to the real thing" features of PTF.)[/b][/quote]Yes, I mute the input signal (mute is active on the track I'm recording). If I don't do that, I hear 2 signals, one is delayed as you said. Everything I do hear comes through my sound card to my PC speakers. Even with the recorded channel muted, it still comes through the speakers, but without the echo effect, so everything is in sync while I'm recording, but when I play back, sometimes, but not always, the new track is off. I'm not sure if it starts a bit early or late.

[-_dup1]

[quote]Originally posted by Jeff Leites: [QBbut when I play back, sometimes, but not always, the new track is off. I'm not sure if it starts a bit early or late.[/QB][/quote]That's strange... Perhaps it's a soundcard issue? I don't know how much this might help, but one way to find out if it's early or late is to do this: Make a click track of some sort (it can even be a recording of you clapping your hands or making a "chunk chunk chunk" noise on your guitar), play it back, then route the signal into recording on a new track. [i]MAKE SURE TO MUTE THE RECORD TRACK BEFORE YOU WIRE THE OUTPUT BACK TO THE INPUT OR YOU'LL GET MASSIVE FEEDBACK!!![/i] :eek: Try doing this until you run into that problem where the track isn't playing back correctly. When you look at the waveforms -- especially close up -- they SHOULD look almost identical. If the timing is off, it'll be easy to see whether your newly recorded track is ahead or behind the track you're playing back. Figuring out whether the recorded track is ahead or behind where it's supposed to be won't help you solve the problem, but it might help someone diagnose what's wrong. Another thing to check is perhaps the buffer settings/hardware setup stuff. I no longer run PTF, so I can't offer specific advice as far as what to look for, but if it's PTF that's screwing up and not your sound card, that might be a place to start... Lastly, if you aren't able to solve the problem on your own, check out (or search the archives of) the [url=http://duc.digidesign.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?category=13]Pro Tools Free[/url] forums over on Digi's site. Good luck and I hope this helps!

[not Cereal]

i have almost no experience with ptfree on a pc. might be time to upgrade to a mac and LE! then we can get some stuff done!