SLpro7 Timeline oddity in ARA2 mode in StudioOne5

SpectraLayers
1

I was working with a small event in StudioOnev5 which needed a click removed in SpectraLayers pro7. Working in SOv5, I add Slpro7 in ARA2 mode to the event by clicking ‘ALT’+ dragging SLpro7 from the browser window. Opens nicely, and the wave form appears as I expect. One thing I notice is that the timeline in SLpro7 can be in different units than in SOv5. No problem. Just change the units in SLpro7, and the action box in SLpro7 appears on the same screen as SLpro7.

I have pics attached (hopefully). In SOv5, I am working in beats/bars and the time cursor is at 41, near the start of the waveform, PIC1

PIC1 Timeline in StudioOnev5 Beats.JPG
PIC1 Timeline in StudioOnev5 Beats.JPG815×180 21.7 KB

. Time cursor moves in SL7 as I expect, but the gradations in SLpro7 show up as 41.1.99, 41.2.49, and so on, PIC2
PIC2 Timeline in ARA2 SLpro7 Beats .JPG
PIC2 Timeline in ARA2 SLpro7 Beats .JPG1166×561 66.6 KB

. How do I get the gradations to just be 41, 41.2, and so on, as they are in the SOv5 timeline? The 41.1.99 markings in SLpro7 really confuse me, and make line up waveforms all most impossible.

Next, if I move the time cursor in SLpro7 to AFTER the original time cursor position, the gradations remain the same, 41.1.99,etc, but if I move the time cursor in SLpro7 to BEFORE the original time cursor position, the gradation change completely, like 37.1.49, PIC3

PIC3 Timeline in ARA2 SLpro7 beats after moving cursor before prior placement.JPG
PIC3 Timeline in ARA2 SLpro7 beats after moving cursor before prior placement.JPG1178×560 61.6 KB

. But I have only move the timeline cursor only one half second, not 4 seconds. And this makes the two timeline cursor positions totally off.

I also notice that when switching to ‘seconds’ in SLpro7, I move the cursor in SLpro7 once or twice and the time units switch back to ‘beats.’

So a couple of oddities in the SLpro7 timeline units that would be nice to clear up. Or perhaps there is some setting that I have on that causes this?

thanks much!! Oh, but I did remove the ‘click’ regardless, and the waveform now sounds great!

2

Indeed it seems to be a rounding issue. I can’t repro with SOv4.6, can you tell me the exact tempo you’re using ? I suppose the timing is 4/4 ?

3

Robin,
Thanks for responding. It is 4/4, and as I look at this, the original piece was recorded without a metronome. so the tempo varies at from 123 to 129. I detected the transients in the drum track and adjusted the bpm measure by measure accordingly.

this may be the whole issue! Too late for me check other songs tonight, but I will check a few other songs recorded with a metronome tomorrow morning. My guess is that the rounding issue may be from the slight tempo changes throughout the song!
Cheers!!

4

I went back to SOv4.6.2, and noticed the same rounding error when using beats/bars as the timebase. Pic1

PIC 1 SOv4.62 SLpro7 beats with cursor at 2nd bar.JPG
PIC 1 SOv4.62 SLpro7 beats with cursor at 2nd bar.JPG1171×262 39.6 KB

and Pic2
PIC 2 SLpro7 (in SOv4.62) showing beats cursor at 1.4.99.JPG
PIC 2 SLpro7 (in SOv4.62) showing beats cursor at 1.4.99.JPG629×600 25.2 KB

.

This is in a NEW project, the tempo is 120 stable, and in 4/4.

In this version of SOv4.6.2, moving around the timeline in SLpro7 was stable and there was no change in the timeline like there was in SOv5.02 when moving the cursor.

I then changed the time units in both SOv4.62 and SLpro7 to seconds, and the cursor and timeline units behavior was what I expected. PIC 3

PIC 3 SOv4.62 SLpro7 Seconds timebase with cursor at 3 sec.JPG
PIC 3 SOv4.62 SLpro7 Seconds timebase with cursor at 3 sec.JPG1164×270 42.6 KB

. I couldn’t get the 4th pic to download, but it shows the expected timeline units of seconds and the cursor follows correctly whether moving it in the SL window or the main arrange window in SO.

So on my system, I get these rounding errors whether in SOv5.02 or SOv4.6.2 only when in the time unit of beats. I just updated to WIN10 2004 from WIN 10 1909, and this peculiar presentation was present in both WIN10 versions. Not that big of deal, I will just need to get used to 1.4.99, actually means bar #2 in 4/4. I havent tried this in other time signatures such as 3/4 or 2/2. One thing i did notice that when I change to frames time unit, SLpro7 correctly shows the number of frames, such as 25,50, 75, but SO shows continues to show seconds such as 1, 2,3, etc. Both frame rates set to 25/sec. THX!!

5

Finally found where that rounding error was coming from :slight_smile:
It will be fixed in the second patch coming this month.

6

thanks! I will be looking forward to the next patch!
Cheers!