Audio Track timing is way off

Recent posts say people are using audio tracks. It was my favorite feature, until I actually tried using it and realized the timing is way off. When you record an audio track, there is a big delay before it should start.

Try it, make 1 track and record something, then make another and record the same thing in perfect timing. Then play them both back and it's way off. Look at them in trim mode and see for yourself the numbers are way off.



JJ's response was, "Since the timing which pushes a REC+START button always is not the same, it cannot adjust automatically." That didn't make sense so I asked for further explanation:

I'm sorry.
Explanation was wrong.
Time for all the users' MPC to differ is not necessarily the same.
The programmer has said.
There is also a problem of hardware and impossible, although it cannot explain correctly.

This pretty much ruins audio tracks for me. I can still use them, but I have to constantly go back and try to fix the timing by adjusting the start points in trim. But it'll never be exact like I recorded because it's random delay, so I have to just get something sounding close by ear.

How are you using audio tracks where this problem doesn't affect you?

Jamon wrote:It was my favorite feature, until I actually tried using it

I use them all the time, and either have zero latency or not enough to notice. Maybe you're noticing that MPCs are NOT sample accurate?

This topic makes me wonder something.

Since i got os2xl i didn't have the occasion to use audio tracks but
what about the behavior of REC+STOP with audiotracks?

Or am I missing something and there is something else to trigger rec start by audio?

For me the values shown above (approx 600 and 700) are not dramatic coz it depends on user timing and if it's ok by ears you should not worry.

It's the audio track start time. Look at the numbers in those pics. They should both be 0, because it was recorded at the very start of a sequence, and both should start at the same time since both were identical recordings.

Instead, what you record doesn't start at 0, it's way up in the 600-700s in this example. That's like 15ms delay! Not only that, they aren't even consistent. It's random, and in this example they are off by 154 samples.

The MPC is nowhere near sample accurate, but it's tighter than under 10ms. The audio tracks are so off it's in the delay category. If you record an audio track version of a tracked synth, it won't match up, it'll be a slight delay effect.

That's 1 way I was trying to use them, MIDI freeze. I'd sequence a synth, then make an audio track and record the synth's audio, and mute the MIDI. That way I have the MIDI if I need to change it, but it's now audio not MIDI.

Jamon wrote:I'd sequence a synth, then make an audio track and record the synth's audio, and mute the MIDI. That way I have the MIDI if I need to change it, but it's now audio not MIDI.

I do this frequently-- but I guess the difference is, I never tried to layer 2 audio track recordings of the same sequenced instrument part. I'm not sure why I would, actually, with the lack of sample accuracy and resulting phasing.

yes i noticed since day one that audio tracks never sync up perfectly.. and it actually annoys the crap out of me
and is a real creativity killer...

I can see how you might be off in the time, but I try to compensate by going off beat with the next track. Maybe it's just me but I don't need the same thing on two different tracks. I feel the FX will assist if I need a certain sound.

Slightly, off topic but I imagine using switches for rec/play and stop would help with the accuracy and timing? Feet for stop and go and hands for the playing.

He hasn't replied to my email to explain why the timing is off. They just say it is.

It probably isn't a switch issue, but it's difficult to think of what it could be.

It seems like almost anything should be able to be calculated and compensated in the firmware.

Does Akai OS Direct Record have the same problem? If that's exact timing then JJ OS could be too.

I have foot pedals setup for starting recording, they need to add Audio Track punch-in though.