im finding soundtrack horribly innacurate and overall useless!

ok, ive been working with soundtrack for a while now and am finding some really insane behavior...

when you are playing a clip in the waveform editor and call up the compressor filter, the gain level when adjusting the filter and then after processing it are radically different - WAY GAINED, and CLIPPED after processing. even though it sounded about right while setting the values...?

then, when adding an EQ filter, the file sounds immediately a little bit different when calling up the filter (even before applying filter settings) - and then radically different than previewed once processed, and also like the compressor filter WAY OVER GAINED.

is anyone else seeing these problems? or is there some setting im not aware of?

other than the really nice noise redustion feature, im finding soundtrack more or less useless... and in fact harmful.

I didn't have the problem you are talking about but a few others that were a pain, and could not figure them out. Finally I trashed the preferance file for STP and my problems went away.
Maybe it will work for you...?

thanks bret - ill give that a roll...

Wayne,

Come-on now! Don't you think that IF an application were that bad and has been out there for over a year it would have gotten a really BAD reputation? If that were the case. EVERYBODY would know about it.

i also do get some problems in my friends editin room but he worked it out

[www.venkatrocks.com]

<<<EVERYBODY would know about it.>>>

I wonder about that. As near as I can tell, STP has only two things it does really well; Noise reduction and the fact that it can scrub the timeline--which everybody keeps insisting you don't need, but it drives me nuts not to have it.

Outside of that, you can use it to cut and fade and do other plain jobs, but the instant you try to do anything fancy, you run into the problem that it was an audio tool designed by video people. For immediate example, the disco lights. They're in the form of an audio meter, but since the levels aren't marked, their usefullness is about the same as a mirror ball with a spotlight on it.

I see a programmer tried to give us audio levels with a little window with a number in it. Nice try. I know other programmers who tried that. It didn't work then, either. It's like trying to judge your car speed by measuring how hot the tires are getting.

Then take the timelines themselves. They're either marked in percentages (very video) which is functionally useless for audio, or they can be changed to DB scale--on a linear format. See: Useless. Half voltage is -6 dB which is very video. Half video voltage is about mid gray. Half *perceived audio volume* however, is -20 dB. Where is -20 marked? No, I can't find it, either.

I'm trying to do heavy effects editing with some troublesome voice tracks we shot. I have to go outside the building every so often to scream. **Everything** I do requires all the little render bars to scan across making trial and error a retirement exercise. I'll be tuning this track when I'm ready for the home.

I'm only trying to tune a 3 minute piece. I can't imagine the pain of trying to process a half-hour show. Maybe the reason it doesn't have a bad reputation is that it doesn't have *any* reputation. The audio producers looked at it and said, "next."

Koz

no john, i dont. at least not on this forum. one thinig ive found is that about 70% of the people here dont know their ass from a hole in the ground - as far as audio goes. (that wasnt intended to sound nearly as harsh as it reads - but its true)

and i dont kow a single pro audio engineer who gives STP the time of day.

so no, i wouldnt be surprised at all if soundtracks voluminous shortcomings went largely unoticed...

thanks koz, i was really starting to think i was the only one seeing these issues...

as far as my needs go, im gonna keep peak and protools reved up so that when it comes to really tuning a piece, i'll know what im hearing is what i'll get!

<<<about 70% of the people here dont know their ass from a hole in the ground>>>

I know that one.

For one thing, my ass won't grow petunias. Now given that I didn't try very hard or for very long. There is that major germination time offset thing and the then the process of keeping everything watered.

They didn't just make up the phrase "Where the sun don't shine" on a whim. It really is too dark for proper chlorophyll developement. Flowers were hopeless.

I finally gave it all up as a pain in the.....well it was very awkward.



<<<thanks koz, i was really starting to think i was the only one seeing these issues... >>>

I think I recognize the problem. It's the blind leading the deaf. The programmers are trying to find people who manage sound so they can provide the proper tools. There aren't a lot of those around, so they start talking to newby audio people or video people. The recently arrived newby audio people (the new newbys) take the freshly designed tools and naturally assume that the programmers are minor gods and produce perfect tools and the newbys just have to get used to it.

[repeat from top]

The programmers need to speak to the Audacity people.

[sourceforge.net]
[audacity.sourceforge.net]

SourceForge produces a free audio production program whose basic audio concept is shockingly good and appropriate, and it's available on three different computing platforms, thankyouverymuch.

Koz