Cubase 7 not exporting to exact length

Cubase
#1

Hey guys. Please see the attached screenshot below. I’m exporting WAV files for a commercial product which will be ACIDized and also converted to Apple Loops. ACID apparently doesn’t register the tempo to a high enough number of decimal places but because of this overhang Apple Loops is giving me tempos like 131.998 instead of 132 and it looks pretty sloppy. The top track is the original VST Instrument loop, the bottom track is the resulting .wav.

Cheers!

  • Paul

**Edit: I incorrectly marked this as solved a little while ago, sorry guys. Still happening. It’s vital I get to the bottom of this. I see other users have had it going back to the SX days. Desperate for any help here.
Loop Export Problem.jpg

#2

Okay sorry to bump this guys but I’ve been doing a little research, and it seems as though this is a bug? It’s certainly a problem others have had, since SX days apparently. Find attached a new screenshot. The first is the result of a file exported from Cubase that originally was supposed to end exactly on the bar. So I figured I’d resize the event to the bar, and bounce the part from within Cubase. Should fix it right? Nope. The bottom file is the result of doing a bounce. Now it’s too short.

Now in Cubase, were I to duplicate these back to back, it somehow figures out what I’m trying to do and puts the start of the event right on a beat. In other apps though, this might not be the case, and within a minute or so any such files would soon go out of time with the rest of the song. I’ve sent a support request form too. Really hoping for an answer or workaround on this. I have a large number of commercial files by other producers to process, in addition to my own loop libraries that I now have no idea how I’m going to get out of Cubase correctly.

Cheers!
Cubase export bug.jpg

#3

Doesn’t do this here. Sample accurate bounce all the way.

You should post steps to repro…you haven’t given anything to go on really.

Where have you seen that this is an existing problem for others…I couldn’t find anything with a quick search??

#4

I just Google’d “Cubase export overhang”. Forgive my lack of detail, though. It was late and I’d already been working at this for several hours. The steps are as follows:

I have several audio files (prepared by another producer) that for various reasons need to be trimmed and re-exported to exact lengths.

Project is set to match sample rate and bit depth of the files I’m working with.

I drop the files into Cubase, zoom in and find the overlap.

I then resize the file so it ends exactly at the R locator.

Export, drag the new resulting file back into the project window, zoom in and the overlap is still there.

Next I tried resizing the file and bouncing in place which looks fine at first. If I then manually locate this file from the Audio Pool folder and drag it into Cubase, it falls slightly short of the R locator.

Grid snapping is on. Snap to zero crossing is off. I’ve tried this with latency compensation on and off. The only thing that made any kind of difference was rendering at a higher sample rate, where I noticed the overlap became smaller.

I also noticed that the overlap (or the shortfall) both end exactly at the start/end of a sample, and a friend has since suggested to me that this is just a mathematical consequence of the number of samples at 44.1khz not fitting exactly into however many seconds a loop of any number of bars (so the file cannot end on a fraction of a 44,100th). If I duplicate the file repeatedly, it starts at the correct position every time, but if I zoom in I can still see a tiny bit of overlap between the parts. So somehow Cubase is still managing to put everything in the right place. What I can’t be sure of is that every other audio app out there will do the same.

If it helps I’m using a Komplete Audio 6 on Win 7 64-bit Home Premium. I have the latest Cubase update applied and the latest audio interface drivers. Windows has also been patched to the latest service pack.

Thanks in advance for your help.

#5

I just Google’d “Cubase export overhang”.

I just did the same and not seeing any obvious evidence of the same problem??
Not out to prove you wrong here…just to establish if this really is a bug others are having or if it’s something specific to your process or system.

Have you tested this with any files other than those supplied by this producer?

#6

This is very strange. Hold up, I’ll do a quick video recording of it so you can see what I’m seeing (and maybe point out something obviously wrong).

#7

Okay here you go. It’s worth mentioning that this doesn’t happen at 120bpm (I guess because 1 beat = 1 second so the number of samples fits perfectly). This is an example of just rendering original content from within the sequencer, but the result would be the same if I were to drop a file in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij8ezD0rHoA&feature=youtu.be

#8

OK…I was testing at 120bpm.

I can confirm what you are seeing at other tempos.
Exporting 4 bars at 123bpm produces a file that is a sample longer than the original.

#9

I think it’s slightly random as well, I have noticed different lengths on exporting different tracks but using the same L/R selection. Fortunately the start is always the same, just the end or number of samples that’s different.

It’d be nice to have this sorted especially when creating loops that need to be a specific length for repetition.

Mike.

#10

Well at least I know it’s not just me haha. I mean when I drag the part in to the R locator no numerical values change, meaning it’s too small a discrepancy to register. I’m hoping this will follow through to other apps but still it’d be nice to know Cubase was exporting exactly to the right length. Some official input on this would be nice!

#11

Bumping to get some official input on this. I’m at the point of being ready to export my loops for commercial purposes and if this is abnormal behaviour, I’m going to have to find another way to export it all.

#12

Hi Guys,

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but I’m finding this is still happening, in Cubase 9! Trying to achieve sample accurate files for looping.

Not only is there overhang at the end, but the waveform in the bounced file, compared to the new file, seems to be quite off in terms of timing. This stuffs up my attempt to make files stop at zero crossings on either end of samples.

Anyone having the same problem, or found a solution to this?
Export moves sample.jpg
File Overhang.jpg

#13

I did a simple test on Cb9 and it exported fine on my system. Precise alignment and size.

But I have had this in the past, so maybe it’s a problem introduced by a plugin which isn’t working correctly, Does this happen with a brand new empty project with no plugins?

You should probably raise this in the Cb9 forum with a new thread…

Mike.

#14