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Subject:help with importing multitrack audio
Posted by: ebateman
Date:4/14/2011 5:51:55 PM

I've finally brought my analog 16 track recorder back to life and have imported a song into Acid Pro 7. (The tracks were recorded to a click. but they don't all start at the same time i.e.vocals after intro.) Is there a way to beatmap all of the tracks simultaneously or do I have to do each track individually? (I want to add additional audio and MIDI tracks.)

Any advice/tips would be greatly appreciated - I've got a lot of songs to transfer. Thanks!

Subject:RE: help with importing multitrack audio
Reply by: sodbuster-ca
Date:4/15/2011 5:18:07 PM

"... I've got a lot of songs to transfer..."

ebateman


I'm not sure if AP7 is capable of Beatmapping multiple tracks...(I kinda' doubt it). You might want to consult the Sony Knowledge base or read the manual.

There is, however, a more straight forward solution for solving your problem. Invest in (buy, rent, borrow) a 16 input interface and "fly" your tracks into your DAW simultaneously. Another quick & dirty solution would be to take your tapes to a studio capable of performing the transfers. Studio time for simple transfers shoudn't be terribly expensive. Once on disc, importing the tracks into ACID is a breeze. And of course, the stems would all line up.

Lining up & sliding around lots of individual tracks in a lot of songs is going to be very time consuming.

By the way, what are your specs?
1) What type of 16 track machine do you have?
2) What type of audio interface are you currently using?

Subject:RE: help with importing multitrack audio
Reply by: ebateman
Date:4/17/2011 6:01:26 AM

Sodbuster-ca - Thanks for your reply and very sorry for the lag in response. I should have stated my problem more clearly. I've already brought the 16 tracks into Acid using an RME interface with 8 analog inputs and 1 ADAT interface. The tracks are already in perfect sync. I now want to align the tracks so that the songs start on beat one of a measure and remain lined up with measures for the length of the song. This will enable me to add MIDI tracks and to quantize them as needed. It will also make it very easy to cut and paste segments of various audio files.

I've looked in the manual but didn't see anything about beat mapping multiple tracks simultaneously. A friend said that this is very easy to do in Logic, but I can't believe that Acid won't do this. Thanks again for any ideas.

PS - it's an old TASCAM 1" machine from the late 70s.

Subject:RE: help with importing multitrack audio
Reply by: sodbuster-ca
Date:4/18/2011 5:20:45 PM

"I've already brought the 16 tracks into Acid using an RME interface with 8 analog inputs and 1 ADAT interface."

ebateman


Cool...RME makes very good converters.

"...it's an old TASCAM 1" machine from the late 70s..."

Yeah, I remember those.

"The tracks are already in perfect sync. I now want to align the tracks so that the songs start on beat one of a measure and remain lined up with measures for the length of the song. This will enable me to add MIDI tracks and to quantize them as needed. It will also make it very easy to cut and paste segments of various audio files."

OK. In that case, it looks like you only need to establish a beat map on one track. (You did say that the basic tracks --1 thru 16-- are syncronized with one another).

That "one" beat mapped track will then serve as a guide for all further additions (i.e. MIDI, loops, etc.).

Try that and report back on your results.

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