Cubase Metronome tests show it clicks early.

Cubase
#1

Hi guys,

I have stumbled across an odd phenomena that for the past several hours has caused me to doubt all my years of playing piano.
I believe the metronome track within cubase actually clicks ahead of the beat. I did some tests while recording some quarter notes at 146bpm. All of my notes were in the exact same position ahead of the beat. I then did some more tests via me recording myself clapping to an external metronome and everything was spot on. Then, I recorded myself playing along with Cubase’s metronome; however, I also recorded when my keys were being depressed-- for reference I put some quantized silent midi notes on each quarter beat–what I found is that the Cubase metronome is always clicking a few milliseconds ahead of the actual beat is occurring.

Is there a fix for this? While it is easy to just hit quantize and call it a day, it is driving me nuts! :frowning:

#2

I found a helpful post in which someone found out the time offset Cubase does with Midi. It works out to be around 58ms, so at 48khz=2784 sample offset. Logical editor to the rescue; however, I really wish this was not needed in the first place.

#3

What post are you referring to?

#4

I’ve noticed this too. Is there any fix to stopping the metronome from sounding early?

#5

It’s just part of Cubase. I made a logical editor preset to just bump anything selected over 2784 samples, and I have been working this way since.

#6

I’m new to cubase. How do you do that?

#7

I sure the metronome doesn’t click early - Piano_Pete’s issue is elsewhere.

The original post from 2018 doesn’t contain nearly enough detail to diagnose it. I’m assuming Pete means Midi (although no actual mention of that - and Pete talks about clapping ?)
mac/pc ?
what midi interface ?
what midi driver technology ?
Midi timestamps on ?
What audio card ?
What buffer size ?
Software or hardware synth ?
Control Room on/off ?
Any inserts in the Control Room ?
Constrain delay compensation on ?
etc etc

If Pete has a solution that works then that’s great - but the metronome is 100% on the beat - easy to prove is you care to test…

@nradish - are you saying you are having an issue with Midi not recording in time ?

#8

Making no assumption about who/what is early/late, this is my experience.

Regardless of whether I use the built in metronome tones or MIDI tones:

I take a basic drum groove (Addictive Drums) and quantize it. When I play it back with the metronome, it is obvious to my ear that the metronome is slightly ahead.

If I run the metronome and play quarter notes on my piano exact as possible, the resultant midi notes are consistently ahead of the beat. (Yamaha DGX-660 with Addictive Keys)

–Neil

#9

render the metronome and look at the waveform

#10

How do I do that? I’m new to Cubase

#11

Hi Neil

https://steinberg.help/cubase_pro_artist/v9.5/en/cubase_nuendo/topics/playback/metronome_creating_a_click_track_t.html

render an audio click - and then look at the waveform.

If you have a timing issue then I’m willing to bet the issue is elsewhere but without more information it’s impossible to say.

#12

The wave forms are dead on, and when I play them in tandem with the live metronome itself, there is no obvious discrepancy.

So I did more investigating, and it seems the early MIDI notes are related to the ASIO buffer. Though I don’t directly perceive it, the ASIO seems to be added lag that does effect my playing; causing me to play ahead to compensate. The smaller I make the buffer, the closer my notes are to the beat.

This leads me to believe that the other problem (the metronome being ahead of the drums) is likely due to something in the audio path that is creating lag.

Now that you’ve shown me that metronome rendering feature, it seems easy enough to compensate by sliding that waveform around, or running it through the full audio path instead of directly out the speakers. Using that instead of the live metronome.

Thanks for the help.

–Neil

#13
#14

This old topic is not relevant to current versions, so I’ll close it.

#15