Broadcast Wave Files...Timestamping Bug??

Not sure if anyone knows the status of this one, but it’s huge. Cubase does not properly timestamp .bwf files. So if you print audio in Cubase to place in a film…it will spot incorrectly. Usually by a second. Heres how I tested:

  • Open empty session.

Setup as follows:
Session start 01.00.00.00
Length at 30 min
fps 29.97
sample - 44.1
res. 24 bit
recording file type - Broadcast wave file

Set main transport time base to “timecode” rather than “bars and beats”

tempo 120

Create 2 audio tracks

postiion cursor at 01.01.00.00

record 5 seconds of empty audio

remove from your edit page, and find the file in your pool (it may have moved to the trash when you deleted it from your edit window. Just grab it back out and put it back in the audio folder).

Highlight, right click, and insert into project at origin. locate the file start time, and it is now 01.00.59.00-not 01.01.00.00.

I have seen cues spot even further out of sync when imported into Pro Tools instead of cubase…sometimes before the session start time, other times over an hour late. One work around that I have had some luck with, and if you have Pro Tools HD, PLEASE HELP ME TEST THIS.

  • Open session, follow steps above.

After you have recorded the audio, do not delete it. Instead bounce it and replace it.

Now remove it, reimport it to your pool, and insert into project at origin, and it spots correctly.

One thing I noticed that I found a bit odd was that the tempo of the audio file as identified in the pool was 120 (which is correct, but led to the audio being improperly spotted). When I bounce the audio and reimport into the pool…the tempo reads 155.71 (which is 35.771 bpm over what it was recorded and bounced at…but results in the file being spotted correctly.)

It seems like Cubase is either stamping or reading .bwf file start times by using some code or algorithm that is tempo based. This is a very BIG PROBLEM. Many cubase users rely on timestamped files to put their music to picture. 1 second might seem like a small amount of time, but when you are writing a piece of music that hits 8 or 9 points in a scene, 1 second is an enormous amount of time.

Please address this soon. Not only is bouncing every piece of audio that is printed in Cubase a massive waste of time, it is doubling the amount of hard drive space required to store all of the worthless audio Cubase is generating every time I press record.

Supposedly reported for further investigation (28230) in February 2011. Any progress? Thanks…

DeLa