Audacity Forum

I have made numerous guitar tracks with a beat program playing for meter or a click track on a couple occasions. On 1.2.x I always had to enter a negative value of around -.65 in the change tempo effect due to any guitar track recording after being stopped would lose a couple seconds per 4-5 min. of recording. I now use the latest version of 1.3.x and have to still enter negative values, except now it's around -.68 to bring tracks in time with the beat. The funny thing about this is that I recorded a guitar track the other day and it needed no negative value(meaning the track didn't shrink like usual). I totally understand the time shift tool and use it all the time after entering values because it moves my tracks slightly, so this is not the issue. Any explanations would be appreciated on this. And by the way, is this all a result of me still using Realtek 97 stock card as to why all but this one mysterious track have shrunk and had to be slowed down with negative values?

If you record exactly one minute of show and it doesn't play back for one minute, or it plays back in a different key, most times that turns out to be problems with a really cheap sound card.

Koz

kozikowski wrote:If you record exactly one minute of show and it doesn't play back for one minute, or it plays back in a different key, most times that turns out to be problems with a really cheap sound card.

Koz

Sometimes changing the default sample rate (48kHz > 44.1kHz or 44.1kHz > 48kHz) will improve things (but it won't make a good sound card out of a bad one).

First of all. Thank both of you. You guys are really great contributors to these boards. I understand sound quality and needing a new card, but a card like mine can actually record in different time? Steve, I have everything matching at 44.1 in Audacity and in the sound effect menu of my card, which is what I thought is correct. On my cards sound effect menu in 44.1 it is 'output digital only' option and if you check the 48 there is 2 options- 'output digital and analog option' or 'output digital only'. The one time my track didn't shrink? This is a mystery though, huh? I'm waiting for this crappy economy to get better, save some cash, and get the Edirol UA25EX USB2.0 interface. Thanks guys.

<<<I have everything matching at 44.1 in Audacity and in the sound effect menu of my card, which is what I thought is correct.>>>

Oh we believe you. However, nowhere is it written that the 44100 Hz master digital clock generator inside your US$8 sound card has to be running at exactly 44100 Hz. Suppose it's 1% off? Worse, some sound cards use different electronics for capture and playback, and each one can be off.

Start two cheap cars exactly even and send them on a ten mile run at exactly 30 MPH according to each speedometer. What are the chances the two front bumpers will match up at the finish line? I'm guessin' they won't even be able to see each other at the finish line. There's no way two cheap speedometers would be even close to 30 MPH when they say they are.

Hollywood has a trick called overcranking. We tell the movie camera to expose the film faster than normal so that when the film is projected on a clueless but standard projector, everybody will seem to be walking slowly. Perfect timing and calibration only works when all parts of the system are holding hands and calibrated and that, too, is usually missing from a US$8 sound card.

Koz