Exported Audio - Lower Pitch and Slower

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markdemanbey
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2016/01/13 11:20:45 (permalink)

Exported Audio - Lower Pitch and Slower

Hi All.  Not been here for a few years.
 
I updated my X3 installation to Sonar Professional a couple of days ago, and now I'm finding that I have an annoying problem.
 
I'm reasonably familiar with Sonar and DAWs in general.  I have tried to export a number of mixes which sound fine in the DAW.  However, the exported files (WAV and MP3) are always slower in time and lower in pitch.
 
The exports are set at a sample rate of 44.1, and I've changed as many of the settings as I can find to see if that makes any difference.  My soundcard is a Saffire Pro 24 bit box, sample rate set the same.
 
Anyone have any ideas what else to check?  My X3 installation worked fine and I never had this issue.
 
Mark.
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    fret_man
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    Re: Exported Audio - Lower Pitch and Slower 2016/01/13 14:04:57 (permalink)
    I know you said both the DAW and the sound card are set at the same rate but I get this exact same thing when the sound card (RME UFX) and its clock source (an HD500 in my case) are set to the wrong values (48k and 44.1kHz typically). When I check status, big red letters says "Not sync'd" or something to that affect. I'd check to make sure your clocks are all sync'd up.
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    slartabartfast
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    Re: Exported Audio - Lower Pitch and Slower 2016/01/13 14:43:25 (permalink)
    This is the usual symptom with a sample rate mismatch. If you want to convince yourself of that, you can take the misbehaving wave file and change the sample rate in the header using a utility like WaveAgent or a hex editor and see if it is cured. If so find and fix the mismatch.
     
    http://www.sounddevices.com/products/accessories/software/wave-agent
     
    #3
    markdemanbey
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    Re: Exported Audio - Lower Pitch and Slower 2016/01/13 15:09:47 (permalink)
    Thanks for the tips, guys - I downloaded Wave Agent but I'm sure I'm doing something wrong with it - all I get is garbled noise.  I'll have to play around with it when I have more time.  Changing the sample rate did nothing to make it other than noise (and just playing it through an audio player it sounds like music, albeit the wrong pitch and tempo...)
     
    This is how my Sonar and Saffire card is set:


    .. I'm obviously missing something...
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    slartabartfast
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    Re: Exported Audio - Lower Pitch and Slower 2016/01/13 20:44:55 (permalink)
    Your Focusrite manual contains a cryptic warning:
    "Note: you must quit your DAW application BEFORE you make sample rate changes to prevent any undesirable side-effects in your DAW!"
    I wonder if the mysterious undesirable side-effects might be what you are experiencing.
     
    The link below gives instructions on using Audacity to change the sample rate of a wave file, and a link to a simpler utility to change the sampling rate header entry.  Note that this is not the same as re-sampling at a different rate.
     
    http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=80888.0
     
    #5
    markdemanbey
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    Re: Exported Audio - Lower Pitch and Slower 2016/01/14 01:31:34 (permalink)
    ^didn't spot that - a dire warning indeed!
     
    Thanks for  the tip and links - I'll have a crack again later today when I've finished with this annoying thing called "work".
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    markdemanbey
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    Re: Exported Audio - Lower Pitch and Slower 2016/01/16 03:08:27 (permalink)
    OK, so this is driving me mad now.
     
    I can't change the sample rate in the Saffire Mix Control, the image I posted above.  At all.  When the interface opens without any other application, it fires up at 44.1khz, then when it initialises it changes to 96.  But I can't edit it, even with the DAW closed.
     
    If I open it with a DAW, it changes to whatever the DAW is set to. But when I play back an exported WAV from that session, it's still massively out...
     
    I really don't understand what's going wrong here.  Everything was fine with X3.
    #7
    markdemanbey
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    Re: Exported Audio - Lower Pitch and Slower 2016/01/16 03:39:17 (permalink)
    OK, here we go.
     
    So it's looking ok now...  I reinstalled the Focusrite drivers for the Saffire Pro 24, that freed up the interface and allowed the sample rate change - I set it to 48 @ 24.  Then I closed it, and made sure that Sonar had that set for default projects.
     
    Then I went back into the Saffire driver in Windows and clicked on advanced - the sample rate and bit depth were different to what I'd set in the UI...  That's really weird.
     
    So - I changed them in Windows, again to 48 @ 24, saved everything, recorded a short bit of nonsense, exported the WAV, and it played back fine.
     
    Happy now, but that was a complete PITA.
    #8
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