InterDAWlactic Time Alignment Conundrum

[Barbra Streisand]

Hi, I'm working on a project where I'm trying to use my desktop-based Cubase system in conjunction with a laptop-based Mixcraft-system. More specifically, I have recorded parts of a track in Cubase, and now I want to use those tracks as a foundation for doing further recordings "out of the house" using the laptop. So I made an audio mixdown MP3 of the tracks in Cubase, imported that MP3 into a new project in Mixcraft, and went to make my recordings. I thought it went great - until I imported the new audio tracks back into Cubase and discovered that they're all delayed by a tiny bit. I then took a closer look at how the MP3 of the original tracks from Cubase lines up in Mixcraft, and that explains why everything is slightly off. Here's a screenshot:

Compare this to how the same MP3 looks in Cubase:

> Mixcraft is clearly adding a few fractions of a (milli)second before that first hihat-beat, which explains why the new recordings I made based on that sound horribly out of sync when I bring them back in to Cubase.

Does anyone have any idea what is causing this? I would obviously like to figure out the exact size of the delay so I can somehow compensate for it in Cubase and salvage the new recordings I made. But if that isn't possible I would at least like to know how to avoid the same problem in the future.

Some specs: The Cubase-system is on a Windows 11 computer. The laptop has Windows 7 and I was recording through a Steinberg UR242 interface using the ASIO driver, with the buffer size set to 64 and a sample rate of 44,1. (But the issue is hardly some sort of delay in the recordings I made in Mixcraft, because those sound perfectly in time with the MP3 when played back inside Mixcraft. The issue is why Mixcraft has added that little bit of space in front of the MP3).

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

Try wav instead of MP3.

Greg

[Barbra Streisand]

Hi Greg. Thanks for the tip - it worked:

> Note that this is from Mixcraft 9 (which I also have installed on the Cubase desktop) but I have tested if it also works on the old MX8 laptop, and it does.

So stupid of me that I didn't just mix the audio down to WAV in the first place, but at least I won't be making that mistake again.

Any suggestion as to how I might figure out the exact size of the delay caused by having used MP3 instead of WAV so that I can still use the tardy audio files I recorded yesterday? If nothing else I may just try and eyeball it and see if the results are acceptable.

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

MP3 files have a tiny header with tag info, and that can cause gaps. That's why it's better to use wav or ogg for loops. I'm not sure on the size of the gap, but you should be able to zoom all the way in and get things to line up. You may need to turn off the snap setting.

Greg

[Mark Bliss]

Unfortunately, the MP3 data packet size varies. There is no way to determine a specific correction.
This is why MP3 files are not recommended for multitrack use.

[Barbra Streisand]

Yeah I won't be using MP3s for this purpose again. I ended up making a tiny little audio clip from that soundless bit at the start of the MP3 and importing that into Cubase to use it as a guide for how far to nudge the new recordings forward. Works ok, but it's hardly an entirely accurate method so I'm still struggling to convince my brain that the timing is as it should be! Will probably have to redo the recordings to find peace of mind.

Anyway, thanks for the assistance.