Problem exporting 24 bit pcm wav

[pianojoe]

I record in 24bit 96k, directly from my preamp/digital converter into soundcard coax to Audacity. Sounds great. I export to 24bit PCM wav, sounds great in audacity, but wav plays at half speed an octave lower in any other audio program. This doesn't happen when I export to 16 bit wav. Can't figure out why it's doing this, please instruct! Thanks! Joe

[steve]

16 bit audio is a format that everyone agrees on. 32 bit is a format that most agree on. 24 bit is a format that people argue about. The 24bit format that Audacity uses works correctly in ProTools and other professional audio software (though this may depend on compatible hardware and drivers), however there is no guarantee that it will work in all applications. Try exporting as 32bit instead - the file size will be bigger, but conversion from 24 to 32 bit is lossless, and 32 bit is better supported.

[pianojoe]

thanks Steve. I'll try the 32 bit export, but 24 bit wav did not work in Protools or Soundforge, both played at half speed, even on different computers... Joe

[steve]

thanks Steve. I'll try the 32 bit export, but 24 bit wav did not work in Protools or Soundforge, both played at half speed, even on different computers... Joe

That's curious - I've exported from Audacity in 24 bit format and it's worked perfectly in ProTools, but if I recall correctly I think I exported as 24bit 48kHz (the sample rate that I was using in the ProTools project was 48kHz). I've not got ProTools or Soundforge available at the moment, but perhaps they need to be explicitly set to 96kHz when importing 96kHz audio. If they are reading the data as 48kHz then that would account for the speed/pitch change.

Let us know how you get on.