Recorded audio wrong tempo (too fast)

Are you using a USB mic to record this vocal track?   

Compressor and other FX should not affect the speed of playback but using a USB mic can and will affect the playback since it is not synced with internal clocks to the factory sound card....Your computer see a USB mic as a second sound card.......... the two will not be in sync and as a result they will drift..... and there is also a possibility that the sampling rates between the two different cards are not the same. A difference there will also cause problems. 

Guitarhacker


Are you using a USB mic to record this vocal track?   

Compressor and other FX should not affect the speed of playback but using a USB mic can and will affect the playback since it is not synced with internal clocks to the factory sound card....Your computer see a USB mic as a second sound card.......... the two will not be in sync and as a result they will drift..... and there is also a possibility that the sampling rates between the two different cards are not the same. A difference there will also cause problems. 

Yes, it is USB! A Behringer U-Control UCA202. I use it for all my recording (several times a week).
Well, that makes some sense, though I've not noticed this problem before. This is the 16th song I've written and recorded in the last 14 months, using the same equipment, software and setup (other recording jobs I do don't depend on synchronous tracks).
Of course, there's a reason I use the USB dongle: my built-in card introduces all kinds of noise to the recordiing. It's useless. And, since it's a Netbook, I can't simply pop a new sound card in.
Oh, well. I'll have to try my backup laptop (which my wife thinks I'm going to ship to her sister --- hehehe!).
BTW, this isn't a "speed of playback" issue. It plays back at the same speed in all software, regardless of plug-ins, etc. This is a record-time issue.
BTW, I've thought of a work-around. I opened the original Band-in-a-Box project with the vocal recording as an audio track (file of the same name), to see if it would have an effect on playback if I changed tempo, and IT DID! So, if I open the file without the audio track, change the tempo up, save the file and close it, then open the file with the audio track, then I should be able to change the tempo back down and it should play right. I'll have to do my mixing from BB, but that's the only solution I have (if it works).
BTW, I tried using a timestretch function. That introduces a lot of pops (wave cuts; you can see them if you zoom in enough). That makes it useless. A better answer along those lines would be to take each audio bit (from silence to silence) and paste-mix it together on top of a made up noise track (same noise a the original recording at silence), using a melody track from the project as a tempo guide. I could do this in Sony Sound Forge (but I'm too lazy!).
Thanks for your response! I think I know what to do. Anyway, I can define a test scenario and figure out if it's the compressor or the USB audio dongle. If I figure it out, and can make the time to write again, I'll let you know!
 
Thanks again,
Richard Allan Stauch
Ft. Myers, FL

In the long run, I'm sure you'll be a much happier music maker if you get yourself a USB-soundcard and a normal condenser microphone.

Forum member Beagle has recommendations on his website (link in his signature). Ones that have been proven good in real life.

What compressor is it?
That doesn't make sense to me since all audio effetcs are applied to the output, not the input.

Jeez, new here. what a mess. so far.
 I bought a cheap usb mic that came with this cakewalk5 and I noticed the same thing to start, how suddenly the timing is off and the recording result is sped up! and I have Audacity as a reference that my mic works! and at 44k sample rate.

I'm winxp on a notebook. I am giving cake a try and have just started trying to figure it out, what a mess. is there not even a thorough manual? the tutorials pale in comparison to the features cake has with no appearant explanations.

Hey Black dog..... you should start a new thread for your topic so more people will know it's here. 

But, yup... the USB mic is not the tool to use to record in Sonar or MC. 

Was it the other way around? You paid for the mic and MC5LE came with the mic? 

OK so you are using a limited edition of MC... that LE version is not a full version... more of a teaser. 

Many folks starting out (including myself back 5 years ago) are totally over whelmed by the software. It takes time to learn it BUT having the right gear to start will help. 

Return the USB mic if you can. Buy a decent dynamic or condenser mic and buy a decent USB based audio/midi interface which runs native ASIO drivers. 

By using a USB mic with the laptop sound card for playback, you are in effect running TWO soundcards in the same computer and they are not synced together with timing signals so they will not playback the music you record in sync. Actually the out of sync is happening at the record point. You hear music and are singing/playing along with it, and it sounds like it's in sync but the new stuff going in on the USB mic is not being synced properly and when it's played back..... total confusion. 

Audacity is not like Cakewalk so saying it works fine with Audacity is one thing, but a USB mic will not work well in Cake.  A USB mic is ok for podcasting and that's about it.  It is certainly not designed for multitrack recording. And yeah, I know they bundle it with cake products and tell you that it is..... Like Beagle, I wish they would cease and desist that practice... but I guess it opens the doors to some people actually doing the right things and getting into recording the right way by getting a good interface and buying up the cakewalk ladder. 

WinXP is a good OS for MC. Lose the USB mic, get a decent interface, and the DAW will be a much better performer. 

thanks Guitarhacker, [!] You may be right. and if you are. Cakewalk will not be a company I will do anything with!