Help! timing problems (by Maurice)

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Guest

Post by Guest »

Hi
I am running Pulsar on a G4 350 with 256 Mb RAM and Cubase.

I installed 2.04 last week and my audio/midi timing went mad:
Sound files shortened - as if timestretched - by around 5% so now wrong length and sometimes wrong sync
Pulsar instruments - Arpeg 02 for example - no longer respond to Cubase sync and show either a fixed 60 or 70 bpm or more than 500 bpm, no matter the Cubase timing.

When I reinstalled 2.01 the problem remained, and I can't get back to my previous settings.
Is this a known problem?
Is there a workaround?
Are there hidden files I don't know about that haven't deinstalled?
Can anyone help me ?
I would be very grateful indeed.

Thanks

Maurice
subhuman
Posts: 2573
Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2001 4:00 pm
Location: Galaxy Inside

Post by subhuman »

Subject: don't upgrade in the middle of a project!

first, a word of advice: never change your setup (hardware, OR software) in the middle of a project. it can cause all sorts of problems as you're seeing.

if you loaded your project inside 2.04a, and saved it using 2.04a, it is possible some of the modules in your project were swapped out for the 2.04a updated versions. it is also possible that they didn't, resulting in version incompatibilities. in general, it's a really good idea to finish a project with one version of Pulsar, as they update the modules you may be using.

if possible, rebuild the pulsar project using whatever version you now have installed and see if some of the issues go away.

did you change your sequencer settings or install a newer version of your sequencer?

when you say audio changed lengths as if timestretched, was this in an STS4000 sampler/sample player or was it inside your sequencer?

it sounds like it could be a sequencer sync/master/slave issue as well. not enough information...
Guest

Post by Guest »

Subject: thanks seth, but...

Thanks for your long reply,Seth.

I am having problems inside cubase which I think are Pulsar related. The altered sound files are in cubase, and I can't get Pulsar to sync with the cubase clock in order to run arpeggiators etc in time.
I have no external gear.
Does this help?

Thanks again

Maurice
subhuman
Posts: 2573
Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2001 4:00 pm
Location: Galaxy Inside

Post by subhuman »

Subject: Re: thanks seth, but...

Sounds like you may have a driver problem. I don't use Cubase, but I imagine you would need to reinitialize the sound driver when you change it, and re-tweak all the sound driver settings. This would be somewhere like "Audio Preferences" and you will probably need to do something like Reprofile Audio Drivers. Be sure the sampling rate is set correctly for your audio files, and that Pulsar is set to the proper Samplerate as well.

Be sure you load up the appropriate ASIO drivers inside the Pulsar environment, and have them loaded before Profiling your audio drivers and before loading Cubase.

Midi Sync definitely works here with 2.04a and Logic, so it must be a setting inside Cubase that is incorrect. Be sure in the "Midi Setup" or "Midi Sync" area that you are indeed sending Midi Sync out the midi-port (virtual, or hardware) that you have wired up inside the Pulsar environment.

If you're using the Pulsar Hardware Midi Port (highly suggested for most accurate timing), then the Pulsar device is called Pulsar Midi, otherwise the software ports are called Sequencer Midi Source inside Pulsar. Just be sure you're actually sending MIDI sync to the port you're using.

Hope that helps
Guest

Post by Guest »

Subject: thanks again seth....

I tried what you suggested, and now I'm getting closer- I think!
Now the midi clock input to the Pulsar instruments is running at twice the speed of the cubase clock. This would suggest a samplerate problem, but everything seems to be running at 44.1kHz(?).
Still, I suppose it's a bit better!!

Thanks once more
Maurice
subhuman
Posts: 2573
Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2001 4:00 pm
Location: Galaxy Inside

Post by subhuman »

Subject: midi feedback loop?

Sounds like you're sending MIDI sync messages now out the proper ports; Usually getting a sync message, but an incorrect speed means you have a MIDI feedback loop happening.

This happens to me, too, if I have Logic set to send sync out all my MIDI ports. Try just sending it directly to Pulsar, and see if it works, then work backwards until it doesn't work -- you'll have found the culprit...
Guest

Post by Guest »

Subject: thanks-problem solved

the midiloop was the problem

thank you very much

maurice
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