Audio Glitch- 1 channel playing back slow

Hi all-
I'm having a weird audio glitch that I can't figure out. Basically, 1 audio channel seems to be playing back slower than the other.
This only happens on 1 account, the other seems to be working fine.
Any ideas?
I have trashed preferences.

Hi,
Interesting!
What is your audio output device?
tc

This is a laptop, playing out of the laptop's speakers. Audio Output is on "Built In Output."

When you say, "playing back slow", do you mean that one channel is delayed or that one channel is pitched lower than the other indicating that that the speed of the clip has been changed?

I wonder if it's a power issue. Try an audio mixdown (Render > Only > Audio mixdown) Oh wait, one account on the same *computer* works fine and the other doesn't? Or one computer works fine and the other doesn't?

So are you saying that the same Sequence plays fine on one user account but not another?

That would make me suspect something wrong with your Mac OS System Preferences. That is the only thing I can think of in your equation, since Sequence Settings - Audio Outputs should be specific to the Sequence and should be equally screwed up from user to user.


www.derekmok.com

chrismrash Wrote:
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> When you say, "playing back slow", do you mean
> that one channel is delayed or that one channel is
> pitched lower than the other indicating that that
> the speed of the clip has been changed?


One channel seems to be delayed. When I'm playing back a female actor, from one speaker comes her normal voice. Then, delayed by a couple seconds comes a super sexy alto version of the same read.

To clarify what I mean by it happening in one account but not the other-

When I posted this, I thought this delay happened all the time in user account "james" and never in user account "edit". However, I've found it's not as consistent as I thought it was.

As soon as I posted about this on Twitter, it was fine. I then gloated on Twitter, laid some XDCAMs off, and when I went to check them, the audio glitch was back. Now, I just wanted to go and do some further investigation on how user specific it was, and it plays back fine. So apparently, it's inconsistent.

I'll do some more testing, and see if I can figure out some logic to this computer...
Thanks everybody!

You need to be much more specific going about your detective work. You seemed to have offered some assumptions as facts, which only serves to muddy the issue. Don't jump to conclusions. So far the only thing you've ruled out is preferences.

Let's clear this up:

1. Is it just this user account having this problem?

2. Is it just this Sequence having this problem? Or this project file?

3. Change the Sequence Settings. Does the problem still come back?

4. Start a new project file with identical media and Sequence settings. Import a few of the clips that had problems. Does the problem still come back?

5. Start a new project file with different media and Sequence settings, something really simple and unlikely to have bugs (eg. DV NTSC). Import a few of the clips that had problems. Does the problem still come back?

6. Start a new project with different media and Sequence settings again. Import some clips that have never had this problem before. Does the problem still come back?

7. Unhook all external drives (if any). Start FCP with a new project file. Problems, yes or no?


www.derekmok.com

Derek-
Thanks for your troubleshooting help. The problem is currently not occuring anymore, not sure if it will return (my guess is it will, since it has gone away and returned already). My answers are below, as best I could, since it isn't happening right now.
Thanks!

derekmok Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You need to be much more specific going about your
> detective work. You seemed to have offered some
> assumptions as facts, which only serves to muddy
> the issue. Don't jump to conclusions. So far the
> only thing you've ruled out is preferences.
>
> Let's clear this up:
>
> 1. Is it just this user account having this
> problem?

I have only experienced it in 1 user account. When I first posted this, I thought it was consistently in that 1 user account, but since then it has occasionally worked.

>
> 2. Is it just this Sequence having this problem?
> Or this project file?

When it is happening, it is any sequence, any project file. I can even play the stock bars and tone in the Viewer, and get this glitch, before opening any projects.

>
> 3. Change the Sequence Settings. Does the
> problem still come back?

This has happened with multiple sequence settings.

>
> 4. Start a new project file with identical media
> and Sequence settings. Import a few of the clips
> that had problems. Does the problem still come
> back?

When it is happening, it happens irrespective of project, sequence, etc. I will test this if/when the problem reoccurs. This applies to the rest of the questions as well.
Also of note- All audio within Final Cut is affected by this glitch. But nothing outside of Final Cut has experienced this. I've tried iTunes, Quicktime Player, SoundTrack Pro, and all have been fine. It is isolated to Final Cut.

>
> 5. Start a new project file with different media
> and Sequence settings, something really simple and
> unlikely to have bugs (eg. DV NTSC). Import a few
> of the clips that had problems. Does the problem
> still come back?
>
> 6. Start a new project with different media and
> Sequence settings again. Import some clips that
> have never had this problem before. Does the
> problem still come back?
>
> 7. Unhook all external drives (if any). Start
> FCP with a new project file. Problems, yes or no?

without reading the whole thread, i'd ask one question: how full are your drives?

the reason i ask is that i had similar symptoms using a drive that got a bit too full. i've
not completed testing the solution but what seems to have solved my sync and playback
issues was getting a bigger drive so the whole project could reside in the faster part of
the drive and not fill it out to where the drive's performance dropped off too much.

see the thread on fcp 6.0.6 failing to boot for details of my issues.

thanks,
BabaG

Good thought, BabaG. However, my drive is ~20% empty. Recently, I dipped close to the 15% mark, so I'm going to clear off some unneeded things and see if that helps.
Thanks!
BabaG Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> without reading the whole thread, i'd ask one
> question: how full are your drives?
>
> the reason i ask is that i had similar symptoms
> using a drive that got a bit too full. i've
> not completed testing the solution but what seems
> to have solved my sync and playback
> issues was getting a bigger drive so the whole
> project could reside in the faster part of
> the drive and not fill it out to where the drive's
> performance dropped off too much.
>
> see the thread on fcp 6.0.6 failing to boot for
> details of my issues.
>
> thanks,
> BabaG