Offset Musical Time in Media Player

Cantabile
1

I am trying to use a backing track in a media player along with Cantabile’s metronome, but I can not get it to align with the beats in the mp3 track. I think there is extra time (few milisecs) at the start of the track that is just encoding info.

I can easily make a range that cuts that bit out, but the problem is the musical alignment still corresponds to the start of the track’s time not the start of the first downbeat.

Is there a way to set 1:1:1 similar to ableton (offset the start of the track, and hence its musical alignment)? Any other ideas besides wav? I’ve tried wav and it solves the issue, but the file size is an issue for me. My only other option is to embed a click track in a separate media file that is synced to the backing track.

I have the master transport set to follow the media player, and the media players format set to musical if that matters.

Thanks!

2

Hi Jonathan,

I know there is no offset for the media player or metronome. I’m not sure if you already thought of this but you could download Audacity audio editor and use it to trim the front end of the track(s) and save to a new file(s) for your use. Would that correct the musical alignment?

Dave

3

I will try it, but I am inclined to think it will not make a difference as I have been led to believe that the extra time is some how inherit in mp3s as it is in the nature of their encoding. I think it is just encoding info that tells the player what the codec is for the file that is playing.

Thanks for the suggestion.

1 Like
4

I know this media file playback offset function is do-able easily in a DAW like Studio One. I’ll put a marker for @brad and see if he wants to weigh in.

5

Update: I tried Audacity, and it worked. Good call Dave! I now have to figure out why Ableton is adding time at the start of the track when it is exported to MP3. I guess that other forum where I was reading about it being encoding information was wrong. It didn’t make sense anyhow as to why it would add audio time to the track for encoding purposes.

Either way it would be a nice feature to set a start offset in Cantabile so the track doesn’t have to be edited in yet another software. I could see its utility as well in being able to use part of a track in a song. ie start on chorus or something.

6

Hey Jonathan,

This might not be it but I thought on it a little and have this to offer. Some DAW programs have built in pre-record button buffers that capture a predetermined period of Audio input to compensate for songs that have lead notes or beats before the first marker beat of the song prior to the pressing of the record button. It constantly monitors all record enabled inputs and saves the buffer amount while dumping the buffer contents that go beyond the capacity of the buffer. In short this type of function stops the shearing of first notes played on a recording that might proceed the record button punch.

Dave