Hello! Cubase (13.0.41 on Mac 14.2 M2 Max) is importing the production audio from a video out of sync with the video. In this case, the 24fps video file had a dialog track embedded in the video with a 2 pop. Cubase is set to 24FPS with the correct start timecode, and the 2 pop audio is a little more than 1/2 frame late. I imported the exact same video into Logic, Reaper, and Pro Tools and the 2 pop audio was exactly lined up with picture. Here is a screenshot showing the discrepancy:
I tried another test with a 23.976 FPS video, and the discrepancy was even larger. Cubase audio (from the video file) is almost a whole frame behind every other daw I tested this on. I had a friend test this on Digital Performer, and his waveform lined up exactly the same as all the DAWs but Cubase. Here’s a screenshot (from Logic) showing the difference:
If someone would be willing to try to replicate, I would appreciate it! Here are the steps:
- Find a Quicktime video with audio embedded
- Set Cubase to same frame rate as video, and starting timecode to that of the video.
- Import the video into Cubase with the audio.
- Replicate steps 1, 2, and 3 in another DAW
- After the audio from the video file is imported to the other DAW, import the other DAW’s version of the audio into Cubase on a new track at the correct start time to see if aligns with Cubase’s version.
I score a lot of animated television, and often I find myself needing to punctuate things from the VO/Dialog track. Once my score hits the mixer’s Pro Tools timeline, everything lines up perfectly when it comes to frames on the video, but my VO/Dialog punctuations sound a little late because Cubase seems to be not importing the VO/Dialog track from the video correctly.
Since all the other DAWs I tried this on agree with each other, Cubase seems to be the outlier. My workaround for now will be to import the video’s audio track into another DAW first, and then import that audio file into Cubase instead of relying on how it imports the audio attached to the video. I need to know that my production audio is being displayed correctly so that I can correctly sync up to both visual and audio elements. I LOVE Cubase, so please don’t interpret any of this as throwing shade at Cubase. If this is a replicable issue, then it seems like Steinberg would want to know!