Subject:Syncing Acid to ProTools

Posted by: dw

Date:4/25/2000 1:25:00 AM

I'm at the moment trying out Acid pro to see if it can
coexist in my working environment without any problems.
I'm using a Mac as my main Audio worstation running
ProTools Mix+ system and a PC running Gigasampler. I intent
to buy another PC for Acid and sync it to my Mac ( Pro Tools
). I have set up a demo machine running Acid pro with a
Mixtreme sound card. Everything works fine when i'm running
Acid by itself but when I slave Acid to my Mac via MTC, Acid
does not start on the first beat when I hit play on my Mac (
is this normal ??..all the settings, like offset..etc seems
to be ok ). Is there a way for Acid to " fololw " the tempo
changes of the program it is slave to ???For example I change
my tempo on my Mac, I would like Acid to follow that change
while maitaining tight sync !! Thanks for all your help

Subject:Re: Syncing Acid to ProTools

Reply by: Kelly_S

Date:4/25/2000 5:17:00 PM

Hello.

No, unfortunately Acid does not make a good slave to MTC. It must
always be the master in an MTC sync situation at this time - we are
still looking into how we could resolve this in a future version of
the program itself.

Thanks.

dw wrote:
>>I'm at the moment trying out Acid pro to see if it can
>>coexist in my working environment without any problems.
>> I'm using a Mac as my main Audio worstation running
>>ProTools Mix+ system and a PC running Gigasampler. I intent
>>to buy another PC for Acid and sync it to my Mac ( Pro Tools
>>). I have set up a demo machine running Acid pro with a
>>Mixtreme sound card. Everything works fine when i'm running
>>Acid by itself but when I slave Acid to my Mac via MTC, Acid
>>does not start on the first beat when I hit play on my Mac (
>>is this normal ??..all the settings, like offset..etc seems
>>to be ok ). Is there a way for Acid to " fololw " the tempo
>>changes of the program it is slave to ???For example I change
>>my tempo on my Mac, I would like Acid to follow that change
>>while maitaining tight sync !! Thanks for all your help
>>

Subject:Re: Syncing Acid to ProTools

Reply by: pwppch

Date:4/27/2000 9:36:00 AM

ACID cannot follow external tempo data. Just not possible in real
time.

It can slave to MTC only. Yes, there is a bug that can cause poor
intial sync when slaving ACID to MTC. We are working on this.

What happens is that ACID can be slow to start and inconsistant on
recieving MTC. The only work around currently is to increase the
Synchronization delay time in the Advanced Sync page for MTC Input.
Some users have found that increasing this time allows ACID to lock
up/trigger. This set up also means that you must have an offset setup
and start playback on PT before the actual point you wish to sync to.
The amount of the start offset will be at least the amount you
specify for Synchronization delay time.

Also, if you are sharing a common clock between Protools and ACID,
turn on Trigger playback only in the Advanced page. Since the PC and
PT are using the same sample clock, there is no need to have ACID
chase audio.

Peter

dw wrote:
>>I'm at the moment trying out Acid pro to see if it can
>>coexist in my working environment without any problems.
>> I'm using a Mac as my main Audio worstation running
>>ProTools Mix+ system and a PC running Gigasampler. I intent
>>to buy another PC for Acid and sync it to my Mac ( Pro Tools
>>). I have set up a demo machine running Acid pro with a
>>Mixtreme sound card. Everything works fine when i'm running
>>Acid by itself but when I slave Acid to my Mac via MTC, Acid
>>does not start on the first beat when I hit play on my Mac (
>>is this normal ??..all the settings, like offset..etc seems
>>to be ok ). Is there a way for Acid to " fololw " the tempo
>>changes of the program it is slave to ???For example I change
>>my tempo on my Mac, I would like Acid to follow that change
>>while maitaining tight sync !! Thanks for all your help
>>

Subject:Re: Syncing Acid to ProTools

Reply by: rmeuk

Date:4/28/2000 3:26:00 PM

Peter,
could you give us a timeframe, when Sonic Foundry will have fixed the
MTC bug. As you know I'm waiting now for years(!) to see that problem
fixed.
Also, I would welcome the feature, if you could sync ACID via MIDI
Beat Clock.

Cheers,

Steve Rhodes
RME London UK

Peter Haller wrote:
>>ACID cannot follow external tempo data. Just not possible in real
>>time.
>>
>>It can slave to MTC only. Yes, there is a bug that can cause poor
>>intial sync when slaving ACID to MTC. We are working on this.
>>
>>What happens is that ACID can be slow to start and inconsistant on
>>recieving MTC. The only work around currently is to increase the
>>Synchronization delay time in the Advanced Sync page for MTC Input.
>>Some users have found that increasing this time allows ACID to lock
>>up/trigger. This set up also means that you must have an offset
setup
>>and start playback on PT before the actual point you wish to sync
to.
>>The amount of the start offset will be at least the amount you
>>specify for Synchronization delay time.
>>
>>Also, if you are sharing a common clock between Protools and ACID,
>>turn on Trigger playback only in the Advanced page. Since the PC
and
>>PT are using the same sample clock, there is no need to have ACID
>>chase audio.
>>
>>Peter
>>
>>dw wrote:
>>>>I'm at the moment trying out Acid pro to see if it can
>>>>coexist in my working environment without any problems.
>>>> I'm using a Mac as my main Audio worstation running
>>>>ProTools Mix+ system and a PC running Gigasampler. I intent
>>>>to buy another PC for Acid and sync it to my Mac ( Pro Tools
>>>>). I have set up a demo machine running Acid pro with a
>>>>Mixtreme sound card. Everything works fine when i'm running
>>>>Acid by itself but when I slave Acid to my Mac via MTC, Acid
>>>>does not start on the first beat when I hit play on my Mac (
>>>>is this normal ??..all the settings, like offset..etc seems
>>>>to be ok ). Is there a way for Acid to " fololw " the tempo
>>>>changes of the program it is slave to ???For example I change
>>>>my tempo on my Mac, I would like Acid to follow that change
>>>>while maitaining tight sync !! Thanks for all your help
>>>>

Subject:Re: Syncing Acid to ProTools

Reply by: pwppch

Date:4/28/2000 5:10:00 PM

I don't have a date, but it _will_ be fixed in ACID 3.0. You have
been exceptionaly patient on this one. We get spanked on this
everyday. I promise you that you will be the first to know when the
fix is in.

Syncing to MIDI Clock (MIDI Beat?) is not possible. Why? Because we
can't handle realtime tempo changes. Why? In order to do what we do -
and this is the case with any audio tracking software - we have to
render ahead of the clock. This means that the sound you hear at 1
sec into the project is rendered well before the time it is heard.

Additionally, all audio hardware under Windows has a certain amount
of latency. You have to queue at least 2 buffers of data to the
hardware before it is being played. So even if we could handle
changes on the fly, if the hardware latency was say 20 ms, then the
tempo changes would be 20 ms late in the best case scenario. This is
audible and you would loose sync over time.

In the end, MIDI Clock was designed and intended for MIDI sequencing.

Peter


Steve Rhodes wrote:
>>
>>Peter,
>>could you give us a timeframe, when Sonic Foundry will have fixed
the
>>MTC bug. As you know I'm waiting now for years(!) to see that
problem
>>fixed.
>>Also, I would welcome the feature, if you could sync ACID via MIDI
>>Beat Clock.
>>
>>Cheers,
>>
>>Steve Rhodes
>>RME London UK
>>
>>Peter Haller wrote:
>>>>ACID cannot follow external tempo data. Just not possible in real
>>>>time.
>>>>
>>>>It can slave to MTC only. Yes, there is a bug that can cause poor
>>>>intial sync when slaving ACID to MTC. We are working on this.
>>>>
>>>>What happens is that ACID can be slow to start and inconsistant
on
>>>>recieving MTC. The only work around currently is to increase the
>>>>Synchronization delay time in the Advanced Sync page for MTC
Input.
>>>>Some users have found that increasing this time allows ACID to
lock
>>>>up/trigger. This set up also means that you must have an offset
>>setup
>>>>and start playback on PT before the actual point you wish to sync
>>to.
>>>>The amount of the start offset will be at least the amount you
>>>>specify for Synchronization delay time.
>>>>
>>>>Also, if you are sharing a common clock between Protools and
ACID,
>>>>turn on Trigger playback only in the Advanced page. Since the PC
>>and
>>>>PT are using the same sample clock, there is no need to have ACID
>>>>chase audio.
>>>>
>>>>Peter
>>>>
>>>>dw wrote:
>>>>>>I'm at the moment trying out Acid pro to see if it can
>>>>>>coexist in my working environment without any problems.
>>>>>> I'm using a Mac as my main Audio worstation running
>>>>>>ProTools Mix+ system and a PC running Gigasampler. I intent
>>>>>>to buy another PC for Acid and sync it to my Mac ( Pro Tools
>>>>>>). I have set up a demo machine running Acid pro with a
>>>>>>Mixtreme sound card. Everything works fine when i'm running
>>>>>>Acid by itself but when I slave Acid to my Mac via MTC, Acid
>>>>>>does not start on the first beat when I hit play on my Mac (
>>>>>>is this normal ??..all the settings, like offset..etc seems
>>>>>>to be ok ). Is there a way for Acid to " fololw " the tempo
>>>>>>changes of the program it is slave to ???For example I change
>>>>>>my tempo on my Mac, I would like Acid to follow that change
>>>>>>while maitaining tight sync !! Thanks for all your help
>>>>>>