Exported Audio Files are out of sync

Discuss playback problems, including VST, Garritan, MIDI, etc.

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RotaryTotem
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Post by RotaryTotem » Thu Mar 03, 2022 2:30 am

I am working with orchestral scores, with dozens of separate instruments. I need to export a separate audio file for each instrument. My music includes many tempo changes, accel, rit, and so forth.

However, when I export audio to separate files for each instrument, then combine them in a mixer (e.g. Pro Tools, Cubase, etc.) the instruments are out of sync.

If I specify tempo changes in Finale to interpreted by Human Playback, then the exported audio is out of sync.

If I turn off Human Playback, then recreate all the tempo changes using the Expression Tool, the exported audio is out of sync,

Is there a workaround for this issue? This is a real show-stopper.


heinzfan
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Post by heinzfan » Thu Mar 03, 2022 2:44 pm

One suggestion might be to try using the midi tool (Midi Tool/Edit Tempo. Highlight the measure stacks that are to be timed. Select Midi Tool/Fit to Time). When finished copy the midi to the other staves so everything should sync.
Another approach which might be preferred is to export a midi file and then link the channels in Cubase to control Finale playback and retain the HP effects. I would presume you could add a video to Cubase if that is your end goal.
Finale 27, Windows 10, VST: Vienna Instruments/Ensemble/Synchron, Cubase, Kontakt 5

danielschellmus
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Post by danielschellmus » Thu Mar 03, 2022 3:14 pm

Hi Here is what I posted in an orther related thread
I think that if you use a soundcard with multi output, it will work

Hi
I am a bit confused now as this discussion appears on two different threads
Anyway:
My project was to mix some live Instruments, synced with three MIDI instruments from Finale: one plucked guitar, one plucked dubble bass and one drums/percussion map. ANd of course a click track. So I needed 4 tracks in order to sync with the real instruments.
With another composer we tried this
I have a MOTU soundcard with 8 outputs
SO I exported at ONCE - that means in one pass only - 8 MIDI tracks from FInale through the ARIA player.
Those 8 tracks included the 4 aforementioned needed tracks.
I imported then those MIDI tracks in CUBASe, and there we heard that they were indeed syncronised.
After that I had to redo the sounds in CUBASE, including the percussion map.
And the problem was solved.
Of course I had preferred that the output comes directly from Finale, but that was not possible as far as my knowledges were concerned.
Daniel

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Djard
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Post by Djard » Wed Mar 23, 2022 5:54 pm

Here is what I do:

1. In Finale HP, set the Rhythmic Feel, Rubato and Mood to zero.
2. In the mixer, select "Solo" for an instrument then export the score as an audio file. Only the selected instrument will be exported as a *.wav file. No need to mute the other instruments.
3. Repeat the steps for the remaining instruments, selecting Solo for the track you wish to export as an audio clip.

In this manner, all the individual audio clips dropped into your DAW will be perfectly synchronized.

Hope this helps.

5notechord
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Post by 5notechord » Mon Mar 27, 2023 9:09 pm

Hello all, I have the same problem as the OP. I am using noteperformer playback, and would really like to get at least half the orchestral instruments out of this (the rest will be kontakt and real instruments, ideally). My tracks are all mismatched when I export to wav and then put in my DAW (logic x). I have tried turning off rhythmic feel, rubato and mood, as well as unchecking "allow temporary score adjustments" (not sure if this helped) before exporting tracks one at a time "solo." (I do this and not the way with the faders because in exports, noteperformer doesn't seem to recognize faders on my computer.)

The problems are as follows:

1. the wav files come out starting at different moments (some have seemingly arbitrary amounts of silence before the music begins).

2. there are, as others have noted, overall time discrepancies, likely at tempo changes but it is hard to tell where. In any case as the piece goes on it becomes more and more chaotic.

Anyone have other solutions? Oh and "fit to time" didn't work.

5notechord
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Post by 5notechord » Mon Mar 27, 2023 10:23 pm

Update:

Did the following:

1. got rid of all accel/rit/a tempo marks

2. indicated the above manually with tempo change expressions (every quarter note a new tempo change, quarter equals 90, then 88, 86, and so on depending on the desired speed of change--very tedious but fortunately there aren't too many in this piece)

This fixed certain parts but there were still problems with some parts being longer than others so I...

3. put an extra measure in the beginning and end of score and added a first note for everyone and a last note for everyone (which I will crop later in my DAW). This seemed to fix that issue, and now all tracks are identical in length and are completely synchronized.

Tomorrow I will attempt to put back the human playback settings (mood, rubato, etc) to see if that re-wonks it all, but even without those settings the sound seems good enough for my purposes. I hope this helps someone else so they don't spend 4 hours trying to figure this out (but this is LOADS of time saved later, because I'll do 10 pieces like this, and damn noteperformer sounds good for certain instruments playing certain ways).

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Djard
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Post by Djard » Tue Mar 28, 2023 10:36 am

I notice that the latency in the leader rangers from 5ms to 50ms when exporting the individual instruments on different occasions. However, exporting them in one session has them all start at the same time in my DAW, wherein I add 1.5 secs of silence to the leaders.

For me, the duration of ralls, rits and accel. are not uniform, so I manually sync the waveform at those points in my DAW. I'm wondering if opting for use of tempo tap might solve this problem.

blueshift
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Post by blueshift » Fri Mar 31, 2023 4:43 pm

I do all my tempo changes as expressions (via controller) on a staff with no sound library attached. Most of the time, I export that staff along with one or more desired staves with voices assigned and everything lines up from zero when imported into Cubase. I make no use of MIDI at all because the myriad rubato adjustments I employ renders Finale's MIDI output completely flummoxed. Though I usually use Garritan libraries, if I need Kontakt libraries, I add them in Finale - I gave up on MIDI a loooong time ago.

My use is mockups (and comps) and I have found as good as Finale is, detailed editing in a DAW makes a big difference still.
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KlazzKeys88
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Post by KlazzKeys88 » Tue Mar 12, 2024 11:10 pm

Djard-- Dude! Sweet! Thanks SO MUCH! This has been an issue for me since 2019, and you've completely cleared it up. I can't thank you enough.
What you suggested synchronizes the audio files, AND preserves Finale's incredible HP. The best. Really. Thanks again.

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