Recorded Track Out Of Sync

[JL9]

I just started trying out Cakewalk, and there seems to be a sort of deal breaker problem right from the start. 

A number of times already, a newly recorded audio track  is out of sync. I then try another take, and it will be in sync. I googled this, but found no concrete solution or reason for this happening.

I am using the Focusrite Scarlett ASIO driver, which works in other DAWs.

Thanks.

[Lord Tim]

A lot of us here are using Focusrite interfaces with great results (myself included) - they have solid drivers that work well in Cakewalk.

Are you able to take some screenshots of a couple of pages in Preferences for us?

We'd need Audio > Devices, Audio > Driver Settings, and Audio > Playback and Recording.

The other thing you might want to check is if you're using any effects that are introducing latency (eg: convolution reverbs, limiters with lookahead, linear precision EQs, etc.) - that could possibly be tripping you up, especially if you've accidentally hit the PDC Bypass button up on the Control bar.

But let's have a look at your prefs first to see if anything is up at the basic level first.

[JL9]

24 minutes ago, Lord Tim said:

A lot of us here are using Focusrite interfaces with great results (myself included) - they have solid drivers that work well in Cakewalk.

Are you able to take some screenshots of a couple of pages in Preferences for us?

We'd need Audio > Devices, Audio > Driver Settings, and Audio > Playback and Recording.

The other thing you might want to check is if you're using any effects that are introducing latency (eg: convolution reverbs, limiters with lookahead, linear precision EQs, etc.) - that could possibly be tripping you up, especially if you've accidentally hit the PDC Bypass button up on the Control bar.

But let's have a look at your prefs first to see if anything is up at the basic level first.

Here are the screenshots.

The thing that seems odd to me, is that I can record a take that is in the right spot right after the out of sync one, so no settings or anything has changed.

Thanks very much.

[Lord Tim]

This all looks good. Sorry, one more screenshot, can you get me Preferences > Audio > Sync and Caching

What have you got going in your project? Just audio tracks? MIDI too? What effects if any?

[John Vere]

Also beware of checking the 64 bit double precision box. Most of us avoid that and I can’t remember why but it’s something I would disable for now when troubleshooting. 

As Tim has said it is best to track audio with minimal effects. I always bypass them using the toggle in the Control bar. 

[JL9]

1 hour ago, Lord Tim said:

This all looks good. Sorry, one more screenshot, can you get me Preferences > Audio > Sync and Caching

What have you got going in your project? Just audio tracks? MIDI too? What effects if any?

Here's the sync and caching.

No midi, just a few audio tracks, Fx are just some of the pro channel fx, the eq, the 1176 style compressor. This is just a test project. All the FX are just Cakewalk fx, I don't even have any other vst fx installed in Cakewalk. 

Edited June 13, 2023 by JL9

[JL9]

23 minutes ago, JohnnyV said:

Also beware of checking the 64 bit double precision box. Most of us avoid that and I can’t remember why but it’s something I would disable for now when troubleshooting. 

As Tim has said it is best to track audio with minimal effects. I always bypass them using the toggle in the Control bar. 

Hmmm, ok. Funny, I think the 64 bit thing was the only thing I changed. I saw that, and thought, oh, well that seems like a good thing.

Sort of sucks to have to bypass fx when recording.

[Lord Tim]

Yeah, this all looks fine to me. Weird!

Re: the 64 bit thing, some effects really don't like the extra bit depth and misbehave, but that shouldn't affect latency. I'd still recommend turning that off for troubleshooting all the same.

I'm trying to remember if the compressor has lookahead enabled, which could cause some issues. 

On your Control Bar at the top of the screen, have you got that PDC button engaged at all? That bypasses the automatic plugin delay compensation which lets you monitor live without plugin latency (for most cases) but it'll also cause tracks to go wildly out of sync later because it's basically saying "ignore whatever delay these effects are adding and just stream the audio" and, depending on which effects are in your project, it could be anywhere from negligible to horrific.

If this is all good, this is certainly not typical for people using Focusrite interfaces here. I wonder if the sync is set correctly in the Focusrite control panel software? That can also have a bearing.

Perhaps try a different USB port?

Failing that, I'll defer to the Smarter Person Than Me of the forum! Like I said, quite a lot of us have Focusrite interfaces so if this is a thing, someone would have bound to have noticed something by now.

Edited June 13, 2023 by Lord Tim

[John Vere]

The ASIO driver and Cakewalk calculate your round trip latency and use that to place incoming audio in the correct place on the time line. 
In your case it takes 12.4ms for the playback of the already recorded audio to reach your headphones or monitors. Then you play or sing in perfect sync to that using the direct monitoring system of the interface. 
 

 Now what you are performing takes another 12.4 ms to return to Cakewalk. No problem Cakewalk knows where that belongs in time because it’s aware of the 24.8 ms delay.
So generally in ASIO things are always in perfect sync.

 BUT!
If you add an effect that adds additional latency needed for its processing,  Cakewalk can’t properly calculate the additional amount of latency so everything just went out the window.  Therefore it is recommended you simply bypass effects while tracking Audio and even midi.  

And using input echo will make matters worse because your hearing you input 24.8ms after you perform it . That’s why they all have direct monitoring now.  No latency.  

The only exception to input echo is recording a Guitar Sims. Then you will need all other effects bypassed and lower your buffer to at least 64. And a decent computer.  

Edited June 14, 2023 by JohnnyV

[JL9]

9 hours ago, JohnnyV said:

The ASIO driver and Cakewalk calculate your round trip latency and use that to place incoming audio in the correct place on the time line. 
In your case it takes 12.4ms for the playback of the already recorded audio to reach your headphones or monitors. Then you play or sing in perfect sync to that using the direct monitoring system of the interface. 
 

 Now what you are performing takes another 12.4 ms to return to Cakewalk. No problem Cakewalk knows where that belongs in time because it’s aware of the 24.8 ms delay.
So generally in ASIO things are always in perfect sync.

 BUT!
If you add an effect that adds additional latency needed for its processing,  Cakewalk can’t properly calculate the additional amount of latency so everything just went out the window.  Therefore it is recommended you simply bypass effects while tracking Audio and even midi.  

And using input echo will make matters worse because your hearing you input 24.8ms after you perform it . That’s why they all have direct monitoring now.  No latency.  

The only exception to input echo is recording a Guitar Sims. Then you will need all other effects bypassed and lower your buffer to at least 64. And a decent computer.  

Thanks for the help you guys.

I did some more testing yesterday with everything exactly the same, still using the 64 bit engine and still leaving fx engaged, and everything remained in sync this time.

Weird.