[DaveY]

Hello everybody,

Hope someone can offer me some advice on this: I use Cubase SL3 (I also

have access to SX3 too if need be) for my home studio DAW. I'm trying
to lay down some multitrack drum tracks in the usual manner (stereo
overheads plus close mikes, each assigned to separate tracks). As far
as getting a good sound, I seem to be doing OK - my problem is I want
to tighten up some of the takes - I'm a pretty good drummer and not TOO

sloppy, but I want to use some sampled percussion loops in Reason to
back up my real drumming and hence I would like to be able to tighten
up / shift some of the parts of my performance where I go out slightly
of time with the click that I recorded to.


I've done a lot of messing about with the in-depth audio quantising /
warp samples functions of Cubase, which works - but only on a single
track basis. By this I mean, I select, say, the Kick Drum track in the
sample editor, analyse it to detect hitpoints, then use those hitpoints

to move the kick hits in line with the grid - cool. But then of course
the kick spill on the overheads (which I still want in the mix) remains

UNquantised and gives a phasey, flammed effect which sounds dreadful.
So, in theory I would have to go through the hitpoint detection process

again on the OH tracks and get EXACTLY the same hitpoints detected
(painful - probably have to do this semi-manually) and then quantise
them. Same for other drum tracks too...groan. This is just too painful
to contemplate - is there ANY way in which ALL of my drum tracks for
the take can be selected at the same time, and then the hitpoints from,

say the KICK track used to provide the hitpoints for shifting and/or
slicing?


I read up on this and found that BEAT DETECTIVE in ProTools appears to
offer exactly this function simply and effectively - you basically
group all your drum tracks together, then get BD to analyse using a
selected track and apply hitpoints/slices to all tracks so that they
can all get shifted in phase. This sounds exactly what I need, and it
may just be that I have to fork out for ProTools to get this - but I
thought I would check and see if anyone who has Cubase SL3/SX3 has
managed to tackle this ingeniously before I start saving....


Also, assuming ProTools is the only way forward, then does ProTools LE
feature the Multitrack Beat Detective function - reviews I have read
seem to suggest that only the TDM version supports multiple tracks,
whereas LE allows single track BD function only.... I believe there is
also a Music Production Toolkit available from Digidesign that offers
multitrack BD...? Could that plug in to PT LE?


Many many many thanks for any replies or info


Nice weekend to you all


David

[[email protected]]

The music production toolkit for LE features multitrack BD. And, realy,
in combination with an M-audio card it is very cheap. I know I'm not
allowed to tell you but you can even run .... well, fill it in your
self,..... on the card,... VERY cheap, if you know what I mean...

here is an sos article on how to use BD:
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug0...toolsnotes.htm

I use PT as well as SX and I tell you, doing it in SX is just a pain in
the ass, like so many other things. In PT it won't do it all
automatically for you and sometimes it is even a bit complicated to get
it sound nice, but it's FAR easier than doing it in SX.

regards, Henk

[DaveY]

Hi Henk,

Thanks ever so much for your post, its good to know I am not alone in
the struggle to try and do this sort of stuff on SL/SX....cheers for
the SOS link - in fact that was the very article which got me thinking
of whether there was any way to this in SL/SX in the first place!

So, just to confirm then - PT LE on its own doesnt support BD across
multitracks then? I would have to buy LE and then the Music Prod
Toolkit as a minimum in order to get the BD multitrack functionality is
what I think you are confirming?

And I am guessing that, as you 'suggest', I might be able to run a
Steinberg sequencer that shall remain nameless using the M-Audio
hardware.... that is intriguing. One final question though - I have
already coughed up for my current hardware interface - an Alesis
Multimix Firewire 16 - which I am very happy with, both quality wise
and in terms of ease of use. Would I be able to use PT LE (and the
MPToolkit) with this existing i/f? (rather than have to shell out for a
new hardware box like the M-Audio kit)

Thanks again for any help you can give

Cheers
Dave


wrote:
The music production toolkit for LE features multitrack BD. And, realy,
in combination with an M-audio card it is very cheap. I know I'm not
allowed to tell you but you can even run .... well, fill it in your
self,..... on the card,... VERY cheap, if you know what I mean...

here is an sos article on how to use BD:
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug0...toolsnotes.htm

I use PT as well as SX and I tell you, doing it in SX is just a pain in
the ass, like so many other things. In PT it won't do it all
automatically for you and sometimes it is even a bit complicated to get
it sound nice, but it's FAR easier than doing it in SX.

regards, Henk

[[email protected]]

You can only use PT M-powered with M-audio cards. M-powered is a sort
of LE version but runs with M-audio cards. From the top of my head the
cheapest is the audiophile 2496 for a little over USD100-120 (you can
also get it much cheaper second hand but make sure it is a version that
supports PT M-powered). You can choose weather you want PT with it but
as i've said there are 'other ways' to get that. PT M-powered retails
for about USD250 if i'm right. It's a good deal for running PT on your
system. Just use it for things like BD that you can't do so well in SX.
Then return to your other sequencer to make use of your Multimix
soundcard if you like. I don't run M-powered myself but i've been
teaching PT in a class with 15 mac based M-powered PT workstations and
M-audio drivers seem to be pretty reliable and well updated.
PT M-powered and LE do not feature the multitrack version of BD but the
Music Production Toolkit does. I've only used multitrack BD on PT-HD
systems and it works but you've got to get a little 'feel' for it.

Henk

[DaveY]

OK great! Thanks ever so much again for the very useful info,
appreciate it.

Best regards
David


wrote:
You can only use PT M-powered with M-audio cards. M-powered is a sort
of LE version but runs with M-audio cards. From the top of my head the
cheapest is the audiophile 2496 for a little over USD100-120 (you can
also get it much cheaper second hand but make sure it is a version that
supports PT M-powered). You can choose weather you want PT with it but
as i've said there are 'other ways' to get that. PT M-powered retails
for about USD250 if i'm right. It's a good deal for running PT on your
system. Just use it for things like BD that you can't do so well in SX.
Then return to your other sequencer to make use of your Multimix
soundcard if you like. I don't run M-powered myself but i've been
teaching PT in a class with 15 mac based M-powered PT workstations and
M-audio drivers seem to be pretty reliable and well updated.
PT M-powered and LE do not feature the multitrack version of BD but the
Music Production Toolkit does. I've only used multitrack BD on PT-HD
systems and it works but you've got to get a little 'feel' for it.

Henk