Is the DP10 "Stretch" function reliable?

[jeepbird]

I finally recently upgraded my copy from DP9.52 to DP10. One of the most appealing feature to me in DP10 is the "Stretch" function. I would hope that it can speed up my workflow of timing edits on drums/vocals etc.

However, my experience so far is that the function is not so reliable.

For example, I imported at loop audio file in the same tempo (112bpm in this case), then I adjusted the timing of some beats.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/68299erlzdkqc ... 5.png?dl=0

Then I merged the soundbite, and in the result it clearly has shifted the audio. For instance the 2 edit points at "1|1|180" and "1|2|000".

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vz0ywh6yhh0v2 ... 9.png?dl=0

The first edit have resulted in a delayed transient after merge and the second edit have one shifted to the left.

Hence, the result can becomes quite unexpected. Bouncing or merging both have the same problem.

Any other user found the same problem?

[mikehalloran]

It does not work for me as advertised. I'm having other major soundbite issues in DP 10.11 so I'm not even addressing time stretch for now—also possible that the two are intertwined. I have other tools so it's a low priority.

Gotta get through Easter — which I can do in Logic if I must. I may reinstall DP 9.52 to see if my issues are tied to 10 or not.

[dado]

For me stretch function it's the major improvement on DP10. So easy to edit audio tracks. Love it

[jeepbird]

I found DP9.52 more stable for now. Too bad, because I have high hope that this "stretch feature" can be more helpful.

There are other small issues I found, so I going to file a techlink support ticket on the issues. Hope they will resolve it soon.

[ggm1960]

This function is not working the way I'd hoped either. I wanted to be able to drag in an mp3 file get close to the tempo with a MIDI click track and then have DP10 detect beats and adjust the audio as necessary.

So I'm back to my old method of cutting, sliding and stretching piece by piece wondering what the hell was the point of this upgrade?

Has this worked for anyone else?

[mikehalloran]

I solved my main issues — had to learn what to check, uncheck etc... so I'll be ready to give time stretch a try next time I need it.

I do have other tools including those that use ztx so we'll see. Overall, I'm liking 10.11 a lot but there's still a learning curve.

[HCMarkus]

DP10.11 Time Stretch is simply awesome.

"Reliable?" Not sure, but is sure works for me in situations like described below...

I'm putting together mixes for my band's videos during the current shelter in place. We are doing one per week, Saturday morning releases, and they are seen on local TV as well as online. This week it's In The Stone/New Shoes medley. Guitarist's Cubase/Helix system was acting up. Somehow he created tracks that were in tune but a few BPM slower than the actual tempo. Music is due. What to do?

I cut tight to the downbeat at the front of the approx nine-minute electric guitar track and lined it up with the band. Then I time-compressed the soundbite from its end until DP shows the last chord's attack lined up with the last kick in the drum track. Let DP do its thing and... some minutes later (using ZTX High Quality on my 2010 Mac Pro) I am rewarded with a perfectly in-time, artifact-free version of the guitar track.

This process is easy to do when the guitar is played with a clean tone and with tight rhythm. It gets tough to eyeball material lacking in transients, like the guitar solo that took me several tries to get right. But the solo wasn't nine-minutes long like the medley, so it was only a matter of seconds before I knew I had gotten it right or wrong.

[Michael Canavan]

Honestly so far I've liked it much much better than before. The only area where Live was unequivocally better than DP was in time stretch operations, but with a little bit of work and relearning, I would say it's just as good if not better than Live at this now.

[jeepbird]

I have submitted a support ticket at MOTU and they admitted that it is a bug. Hopefully they can resolve it soon in the coming update.

I think the workflow with the new features in DP10 should be better and more versatile. But before the bug is fixed, I am back at DP9.52 for now.

[bayswater]

Did they say whether the problem is with the ZTX process, or the merging afterwards? Is the timing in your examples OK before you do the merge?

[HCMarkus]

Yes, I think it is likely MOTU completely re-worked the audio engine in DP and unexpected results are cropping up here and there. Overall, DP10.11 feels like it handle the pre-rendering more efficiently than 9.52, but I haven't conducted any tests to confirm. Overall, my workflow is workin better than ever in DP.

I do like the ability to quickly change the buffer size. Now that Altiverb has been updated to work properly in DP, making buffer changes is generally painless (although I have, on a couple of occasions, been subjected to a loud blast of noise as the change is taking place.)

[ggm1960]

DP10.11 Time Stretch is simply awesome.

Guitarist's Cubase/Helix system was acting up. Somehow he created tracks that were in tune but a few BPM slower than the actual tempo. Music is due. What to do?

I cut tight to the downbeat at the front of the approx nine-minute electric guitar track and lined it up with the band. Then I time-compressed the soundbite from its end until DP shows the last chord's attack lined up with the last kick in the drum track. Let DP do its thing and... some minutes later (using ZTX High Quality on my 2010 Mac Pro) I am rewarded with a perfectly in-time, artifact-free version of the guitar track.

I'm sure the stretch stuff works fine, I use it all the time in fact but I wish I could stumble upon a better method for my way of working.

I paste an mp3 song file onto a stereo audio track and the idea is to build up MIDI and audio parts using that mp3 as the "template" if you will. So I need to establish a consistent tempo and want the audio template to follow suit. I have a dedicated MIDI click track which I attempt to get close to the tempo of my template but the template is going to vary some over time and soon start drifting from the click.
The only way I currently know how to do it is to cut, slide and then stretch parts throughout the whole duration of the template audio. DP does a pretty good job of finding beats within the template audio but that only seems to help me find the places where I need to cut. I'm sure there's a better way but I just haven't found any advice, articles or videos on how to do it more efficiently.

[CharlzS]

Just received the email for the webinars this week. These may be of interest:

Tuesday, May 5
Transcending the Timeline
• Conform the timeline to freely recorded tracks.
• Learn Adjust Beats for aligning to the grid.
• Beat-match across audio tracks.
• Master beat map editing.

Thursday, May 7
ZTX Time-stretching and Pitch-shifting
• Perform pitch correction in the Pitch Edit Layer.
• Transpose audio and MIDI data in one operation.
• Explore the many ways to time-stretch audio.
• Gain insight into the "Good, Better, Best" settings.

[ggm1960]

Just received the email for the webinars this week. These may be of interest:

Tuesday, May 5
Transcending the Timeline
• Conform the timeline to freely recorded tracks.
• Learn Adjust Beats for aligning to the grid.
• Beat-match across audio tracks.
• Master beat map editing.

Thursday, May 7
ZTX Time-stretching and Pitch-shifting
• Perform pitch correction in the Pitch Edit Layer.
• Transpose audio and MIDI data in one operation.
• Explore the many ways to time-stretch audio.
• Gain insight into the "Good, Better, Best" settings.

I receive the emails as well but I'm at work (hello MOTU, the middle of the day?) when they're conducting them.

[bjornln]

They will post them on youtube as soon as they can.
It's a great idea. There is ALOT of info that they go through in every webinar.


Stay safe,
/B