Melodyne sync issues - how do I fix?

[Mr. Green]

Hello everyone...

I'm currently putting Reaper through some rigorous test sessions as a serious contender to replacing my PTHD3 system as a mixing/editing platform. I've been running into a few showstopping issues though that might be the result of user error, so I'll be hitting you guys up for answers one at a time here, the first of which being my attempts to use Melodyne.

I use Melodyne Studio to handle editing vocals in both small and large groups and have been successful in exporting and importing tracks accurately and using Rewire to monitor editing in session using channels 1 and 2 in the Rewire plug (though I cannot get any more to work besides that - but that issue does not matter to me so much). The major issue I am having is this:

-When playing back Reaper and Melodyne Studio (through Rewire) the two often playback slightly out of sync, with Melodyne falling behind by a few milliseconds. Stopping and resuming playback yields unpredictable results, sometimes in sync, often times not. It should be noted that once playback is underway, they do not appear to drift out of sync any further. It's very difficult to edit this way especially since I make timing adjustments in Melodyne as well.

-I also use the Melodyne Editor plugin for various things. However, when attempting to transfer audio, I find it often stops transferring audio only partially into the transfer process, making it difficult or impossible to use effectively.

I have not encountered these issues in other DAWs (PTHD, PTLE, and Cubase) so I am wondering if there are some parameters in the preferences that I need to alter to make things work correctly, or perhaps there is something else I am unaware of?

My system is a Mac Pro dual core (4 proc) with 7G ram, Digidesign 192 & 96i w/ Digi CoreAudio drivers.

Any help would be appreciated, as there are so many other things about Reaper I am really enjoying!

[4.33]

this is weird, zero problems with Plugin here.
then again, what is the length of the phrases that you feed into it? i rarely exceed 4 bars of audio, which works fine on my rather dated system.

also, have you tried the Bridge instead of Rewire?

[BobM]

My Melodyne Assistant is very patchy to, sometimes almost unusable. I sent them a email, will see what happens.

[Mr. Green]

Originally Posted by 4.33

this is weird, zero problems with Plugin here.
then again, what is the length of the phrases that you feed into it? i rarely exceed 4 bars of audio, which works fine on my rather dated system.

also, have you tried the Bridge instead of Rewire?

Most of the time when I am using Melodyne, it is for the entire length of the song. Oddly, when I first attempted to use Melodyne Editor in a small Reaper session a few days ago, it seemed to be working fine. My current failed attempts are in a much larger session. Perhaps I should try increasing the buffer size? (currently 256 samples)

Regarding Melodyne Bridge - having tried it a few days ago, it seemed to be working ok, but I did not test it thoroughly enough to notice any sync issues that may or may not have occurred. The reason I choose to use Melodyne Studio through Rewire rather than Melodyne Bridge is because Rewire allows me to have full transport control of the session directly from the Melodyne edit window which makes detailed editing go MUCH faster and more efficient.

When I open the session again later on, I'll try increasing the buffer size and see if that helps.

[urednik]

Originally Posted by Mr. Green

Hello everyone...

I'm currently putting Reaper through some rigorous test sessions as a serious contender to replacing my PTHD3 system as a mixing/editing platform. I've been running into a few showstopping issues though that might be the result of user error, so I'll be hitting you guys up for answers one at a time here, the first of which being my attempts to use Melodyne.

I use Melodyne Studio to handle editing vocals in both small and large groups and have been successful in exporting and importing tracks accurately and using Rewire to monitor editing in session using channels 1 and 2 in the Rewire plug (though I cannot get any more to work besides that - but that issue does not matter to me so much). The major issue I am having is this:

-When playing back Reaper and Melodyne Studio (through Rewire) the two often playback slightly out of sync, with Melodyne falling behind by a few milliseconds. Stopping and resuming playback yields unpredictable results, sometimes in sync, often times not. It should be noted that once playback is underway, they do not appear to drift out of sync any further. It's very difficult to edit this way especially since I make timing adjustments in Melodyne as well.

-I also use the Melodyne Editor plugin for various things. However, when attempting to transfer audio, I find it often stops transferring audio only partially into the transfer process, making it difficult or impossible to use effectively.

I have not encountered these issues in other DAWs (PTHD, PTLE, and Cubase) so I am wondering if there are some parameters in the preferences that I need to alter to make things work correctly, or perhaps there is something else I am unaware of?

My system is a Mac Pro dual core (4 proc) with 7G ram, Digidesign 192 & 96i w/ Digi CoreAudio drivers.

Any help would be appreciated, as there are so many other things about Reaper I am really enjoying!

Hey had similar problem to my understanding. You have to get melodyne to follow the variable tempo of your song, not constant.
You click on the chain on the right side of the Transfer button and click on tempo variation, since no acoustic song has a constant tempo.

Hope this helps.

[Mr. Green]

Originally Posted by urednik

Hey had similar problem to my understanding. You have to get melodyne to follow the variable tempo of your song, not constant.
You click on the chain on the right side of the Transfer button and click on tempo variation, since no acoustic song has a constant tempo.

Hope this helps.

I'm not sure what you mean here. Are you referring to Melodyne Editor or Melodyne Studio? The song in question is recorded to a click and does not change tempo, so would this still apply?

[Mr. Green]

Ok.

Things are not improving here.
I've increased the buffer from 256 to 512 and there is no noticeable change in the sync behavior of Melodyne Studio in Rewire mode. CPU is coasting at a leisurely 25% with no stress.

I am posting examples of the issue here because i really need to fix this; otherwise, it's back to Pro Tools for the edits, and I do NOT like the idea of bouncing back and forth between two platforms; not enough time in peoples budgets for that kind of thing anymore.

The vocals are being heard through Rewire from Melodyne Studio.
Yes, it's a Christmas project. :-)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7984689/example%20A.wav
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7984689/example%20B.wav

Both files are the result of simply recording the output, but as you can tell, the vocals land in a different location each time.
Anyone have any ideas?

[Geoff Waddington]

I've run into this as well.

I've had success chopping the "to be Melodyned" material into less than song length chunks -- no more problems.

From reading your posts sounds like this might not suit your workflow, though.

Another thing is to make sure your play rate is set exactly to 1.0, that has caused me no end of grief in the past with Melodyne.

[Mr. Green]

Originally Posted by Geoff Waddington

I've run into this as well.

I've had success chopping the "to be Melodyned" material into less than song length chunks -- no more problems.

From reading your posts sounds like this might not suit your workflow, though.

Another thing is to make sure your play rate is set exactly to 1.0, that has caused me no end of grief in the past with Melodyne.

When you say "less than song length chunks", are you referring to using Melodyne Studio in Rewire or Melodyne Editor?


Checking my play rate, it is indeed set at 1.0.

[semiquaver]

similar problems here: ME drops out of transfer mode, unpredictable, can't follow the tempo changes, gui is wrong inside items.

[producer]

I am now using the Melodyne Editor instead of Studio, however on Pc. Not discover these problems. Recomed you to the Editor as this is the most up to date software now.

Producer

[daverich]

hmm..

i would try disabling anticipative processing and anything else which causes audio to be sent to plugins out-of-sync.

Total guess but that's where I'd logically first start looking.

Kind regards

Dave rich

[mabian]

Yes, I know, this is a necro thread, but I'm having similar issues now, with Melodyne 4.1 and REAPER 5.78; they go often out of sync, I have to reposition the cursor before press play in the DAW to get Melodyne show its cursor correctly.

The sound is always in sync, but the visual in melodyne is not often behind a couple measures...

Already disabled ("prevented") media buffering and anticipative FX in the track, but to no avail so far.

Also rose the ASIO buffer from 256 up to 1024 samples, again no improvement achieved...

Any hints?

Thank you,
Mario

[Rick Settle]

I use Melodyne as an editor for vocal tracks and the ONLY time I have a problem is when the vocal track isn't exactly the same length as the music tracks I send the edited track back to. Even then, all I have to do is sightly move the vocal to match up with the music tracks. Takes usually less than a minute of adjusting.

[mschnell]

Would it not be better to hold off such discussion until as well Reaper as Melodyne are out with ARA2 support (currently Beta test running) ?

-Michael

[mabian]

Originally Posted by mschnell

Would it not be better to hold off such discussion until as well Reaper as Melodyne are out with ARA2 support (currently Beta test running) ?

-Michael

I don't agree, because:

- I have bought Melodyne
- I am using it (v4.1) in a project now
- I'm having issues with most updated available versions of both REAPER and Melodyne
- I don't know if the new version will be backward compatible, will be free or not and when it will be available

@Rick Settle, thanks for the suggestion but this doesn't seem to help here, the problem is that when pressing play on REAPER the cursor on Melodyne moves erratically, it seems it does some kind of preroll (which changes every time I start playing).
Only fix is moving the play cursor by clicking on REAPER ruler *before* pressing play, but it's unconvenient doing that every time...

Am I really the only one having this problem?
Thanks,
Mario

[mabian]

OK, found that REAPER 5.78, latest official version, is solid and doesn't exhibit the problem.

I was using 5.79pre2, and it seems the problem is there, most likely some VST optimization being worked on the new pres.

Sorry for the noise,
Mario

[schwa]

Ironically the most likely cause is threading changes on our side that were added specifically for ARA2 support. Those changes have only been in prereleases so far, not in any official release.

[Rick Settle]

[QUOTE

@Rick Settle, thanks for the suggestion but this doesn't seem to help here, the problem is that when pressing play on REAPER the cursor on Melodyne moves erratically, it seems it does some kind of preroll (which changes every time I start playing).
Only fix is moving the play cursor by clicking on REAPER ruler *before* pressing play, but it's unconvenient doing that every time...

Am I really the only one having this problem?
Thanks,
Mario[/QUOTE]

Strange. I only experienced what you are describing when I try to use Melodyne as a plug-in directly on a vocal track.

[mabian]

Originally Posted by schwa

Ironically the most likely cause is threading changes on our side that were added specifically for ARA2 support. Those changes have only been in prereleases so far, not in any official release.

Yep, that's what I thought. Any chance to have it working back soon in a next prerelease?

@Rick Settle as I mentioned I found it to be a glitch since a few latest prereleases

Thanks,
Mario

[G-Sun]

Originally Posted by mabian

Yes, I know, this is a necro thread, but I'm having similar issues now, with Melodyne 4.1 and REAPER 5.78; they go often out of sync, I have to reposition the cursor before press play in the DAW to get Melodyne show its cursor correctly.

Any tempo-changes?
As is, Melodyne and Reaper don't handle those together.

[bigearz]

My experience has been that Melodyne Editor plugin needs 1024 samples of latency to work, and it will only follow the first tempo of the project. Also, I find I need to start playback before pressing the transfer button in Melodyne.

[schwa]

Originally Posted by mabian

Yes, I know, this is a necro thread, but I'm having similar issues now, with Melodyne 4.1 and REAPER 5.78; they go often out of sync, I have to reposition the cursor before press play in the DAW to get Melodyne show its cursor correctly.

Finally getting a chance to look at this, using 5.79pre. I'm not immediately able to reproduce it. Is there some sequence of events that can reliably make this happen?

[mabian]

Originally Posted by schwa

Finally getting a chance to look at this, using 5.79pre. I'm not immediately able to reproduce it. Is there some sequence of events that can reliably make this happen?

It's easy here. Move edit cursor to a specific location with at least one track with melodyne transfered data. Then press space to stop and play repeatedly. Position in melodyne does not match with reaper play position. There is a sort of random pre roll applied. Every time slightly different. Only repositioning cursor fixes it. Then it's back.

Totally broken in 5.79 pre2 and 5.78 pre 4. Works perfect in 5.78 release.

Thanks,
Mario

[schwa]

Just can't reproduce. I am using Melodyne 4.2 and REAPER 5.79pre6. You are probably on an earlier version of Melodyne, so it's possible there is some incompatibility that they have fixed on their side, maybe?

[mabian]

Originally Posted by schwa

Just can't reproduce. I am using Melodyne 4.2 and REAPER 5.79pre6. You are probably on an earlier version of Melodyne, so it's possible there is some incompatibility that they have fixed on their side, maybe?

Latest public release of melodyne is 4.1. And that's what I am using. No melodyne betas here.

- Mario

[mabian]

So, provided the issue seems to be within melodyne 4.1 only, but reaper 5.78 works well with it, that means I won't be able to use and test new pres with melodyne until at least one of the following happens:

1) The REAPER pres are updated to work well with melodyne 4.1
2) Melodyne 4.2 is released (hopefully free for 4.1 registered users)
3) I get melodyne 4.2 beta

Am I getting it correctly?

Thanks,
Mario

[EvilDragon]

Yes. Option 3) likely being the one you should chase

[mabian]

Originally Posted by EvilDragon

Yes. Option 3) likely being the one you should chase

Why?

I need solid workflow with melodyne now; while I know that usually REAPER pres are reliable, I would prefer not to use my music time testing ARA2 which I understand is a pretty massive change for both REAPER and Celemony...

Thanks,
Mario

[EvilDragon]

Well, in that case stick with version which works? You can always test new pres as a portable install in which you can import your config?

[mabian]

Originally Posted by EvilDragon

Well, in that case stick with version which works? You can always test new pres as a portable install in which you can import your config?

Yes, I was not complaining, just asking if I understood well the situation...

- Mario

[EvilDragon]

Alrighty. Yes, I think you understood the situation well

[schwa]

I think you understand the situation, I'd just add that any future release version of REAPER is likely to work with Melodyne 4.1 right up until ARA2 support is officially added.

It's also very possible that Melodyne 4.2 has the same sync problems when using ARA1 but I just haven't been able to reproduce them because of something specific to your configuration.

[mabian]

Originally Posted by schwa

I think you understand the situation, I'd just add that any future release version of REAPER is likely to work with Melodyne 4.1 right up until ARA2 support is officially added.

It's also very possible that Melodyne 4.2 has the same sync problems when using ARA1 but I just haven't been able to reproduce them because of something specific to your configuration.

Thanks schwa, anyway I think that REAPER releases should support properly this scenario even after ARA2 is available, because otherwise old projects using Melodyne pre-ARA, like I'm doing now, could exhibit this weird behaviour... or not?

Unless Melodyne 4.2 takes care itself of the issue...

- Mario

[inertia]

I have the same problem with Melodyne not syncing to Reaper. The interface in Melodyne is extremely far behind...like several measures.

Reaper 5.941, VST2 version.

[bigearz]

Originally Posted by inertia

I have the same problem with Melodyne not syncing to Reaper. The interface in Melodyne is extremely far behind...like several measures.

Reaper 5.941, VST2 version.

For me, the fix was to use the VST3 version of Melodyne.