Issue - erratic playback latency

[uhPK]

Hi y'all

So I'm trying to start using Reaper and I ran into ANOTHER weird problem I can't figure out how to solve:

I have a project up. I put a finished .WMA of a song exported from another DAW (an old copy of ACID trial version that can only export WMAs...) and I recorded some other stuff on top of it in Reaper.

When I play it back though, depending on WHERE I start from, the playback on the WMA will playback incorrectly, making the new recorded parts super out of sync. But if I play from certain areas, it's perfectly in sync. There doesn't seem to be any pattern to what determines which measures to start from will yield a proper sync. But, whatever placement will always bring the same result it did the last time.

For example - if I start playback from 56.1.00 it's out of sync every time I start from that position, but if I start it from one gridline earlier at 55.3.00 it sounds totally fine and in sync. 56.3.00 is out of sync, 57.1.00 is in sync, etc.

Any advice on how to fix this crazy inconsistent problem? Looking up stuff on latency only brought me recording latency issues (which I had, and then fixed by adjusting the recording latency)

[xpander]

Originally Posted by uhPK

When I play it back though, depending on WHERE I start from, the playback on the WMA will playback incorrectly, making the new recorded parts super out of sync.

Is the WMA item alone playing through correctly no matter where you start and it's just your new recorded parts going out of sync in relation to that WMA item? Mute other parts to verify. Or the new recorded parts playing through correctly, but the WMA item getting out of sync?

Also, does the playback go in and out of sync if you play all the way through? Or does it stay either in sync or out of sync all the way through?

[domzy]

and it might be useful to describe more clearly what it is that you are adding that is out of sync - if it's MIDI arpeggios or sequences triggered, for example.

[uhPK]

Originally Posted by xpander

Is the WMA item alone playing through correctly no matter where you start and it's just your new recorded parts going out of sync in relation to that WMA item? Mute other parts to verify. Or the new recorded parts playing through correctly, but the WMA item getting out of sync?

Also, does the playback go in and out of sync if you play all the way through? Or does it stay either in sync or out of sync all the way through?

The WMA item is what is out of sync. My new recordings are always in-sync with the metronome and visual waveform.

If it starts off in-sync it seems to stay in-sync the entire time.

Originally Posted by domzy

and it might be useful to describe more clearly what it is that you are adding that is out of sync - if it's MIDI arpeggios or sequences triggered, for example.

The new parts are trombone recorded through a microphone -> focusrite 2i4 -> Reaper. No midi whatsoever.

**UPDATE** converting the WMA into an MP3/WAV seems to fix the problem but all the things I'm going to be importing from my old DAW to finish old projects are going to start as .WMAs so if I could figure out how to fix the problem without having to convert all my files, that would still be cool and save me a lot of trouble.

[xpander]

Originally Posted by uhPK

**UPDATE** converting the WMA into an MP3/WAV seems to fix the problem but all the things I'm going to be importing from my old DAW to finish old projects are going to start as .WMAs so if I could figure out how to fix the problem without having to convert all my files, that would still be cool and save me a lot of trouble.

Thanks for the update. I don't have any .wma source files of my own, but all the samples I've tried play back fine. If some of them, especially from the same source, cause troubles in Reaper but convert ok outside of it, Justin might be interested in looking at that.