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multi-track playback


timtheenchanteruk

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A production I am doing shortly involves the need to playback 4 tracks of audio at the same time.

 

These will be recorded in Cubase, and then..........

 

thats where I get a bit stuck, everything I have done till now has been OK mixed to stereo then panned hard.

 

problem is I have music (needs to be stereo), and vocals (2 of that need to be panned)

 

just not sure what to do here except keep it and run it from cubase.

 

I usually use multiplay, tried that with 2 cues one triggering the other, but there is too much delay between the tracks starting to be in sync.

 

does SCS do 4 tracks? had a look at the demo and couldnt find it, if t does, how would I get them out of cubase, or can I record directly into SCS?

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You need the two tracks played together, mixed down to stereo output, or four tracks to play out of individual outputs?

 

Could you not pre-mix the music to a single stereo file?

 

What is the effect/situation you're trying to create/work around?

 

C :blink:

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You need the two tracks played together, mixed down to stereo output, or four tracks to play out of individual outputs?

 

in this case the first, but forward looking, want somthing that will do the latter.

 

the case is this:

Music, with stereo panning and effects with 2 voice overs/singing parts over the top, panned left/right for effect of an "inner monologue type thing" I need to be able to control the level of the 2 voice overs independently of each other and the music backing.

 

Boswell, thanks, looks like the ticket, same thing as I tried in multiplay, but doesnt sync, there is a slight pause between the play of the trigger track and the others starting.

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I have a vague recollection that SCS can play multitrack wavs - if you have the capability to produce such a thing you won't even need to worry about making separate tracks and getting them to play back in sync as they'd all be coming out of the same file. Might be having a memory fail here tho!
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I believe SCS can play surround sound/multitrack files. Best to send them a quick email to check.

 

Another option is to create a DVD in which the sound is on different channels of the surround sound. Then put the different outputs of that through the desk. Will keep the timing and allow control over levels of the different channels.

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does SCS do 4 tracks? had a look at the demo and couldnt find it, if t does, how would I get them out of cubase, or can I record directly into SCS?

 

QLab does. You can have up to 48 audio tracks in a single cue in QLab. I am sure there are other similar playback systems that do similar.

 

Mac

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As well as using either software that can play stereo .WAVs back synchronized (eg Richmond's Sound Server) or play multitrack .WAV files, is you need to have the outputs all running off a common clock, most easily achieved by having a single sound card with many outputs. Otherwise they drift in phase with each other.
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does SCS do 4 tracks? had a look at the demo and couldnt find it, if t does, how would I get them out of cubase, or can I record directly into SCS?

 

QLab does. You can have up to 48 audio tracks in a single cue in QLab. I am sure there are other similar playback systems that do similar.

 

Mac

 

Audacity will create multi-channel wav. It's an export preference (on mac, don't know what the windows equivilant would be - probably options), where you choose always to create a custom mix when you export. Then you can choose to send each track in audacity to a separate channel in the wav file in the export option in the edit menu.

 

And yes Qlab can play multi channel wav's. Although my click track for panto last year was 6 audio channels, 4 separate wavs (two stereo, one mono, one click) all separate files, but triggered at the same time. The MD exported them as single wav files (mono or stereo). I just had to play them together. I had an 8 output auduo card (the other two outputs were my SFX playback.)

 

All decent playback software should be able to playback several wavs simultaneously through different outputs. I can vouch for Qlab with it's 'guaranteed sync' option. Not sure about any PC software, but would be surprised if you can't get usable results from the likes of SCS, CSC, SFX.

 

Neil

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I have a vague recollection that SCS can play multitrack wavs - if you have the capability to produce such a thing you won't even need to worry about making separate tracks and getting them to play back in sync as they'd all be coming out of the same file. Might be having a memory fail here tho!

 

SCS absolutely supports multichannel playback, but not the "lite" version. You have to go to the "Standard" to get two pairs (or two sound card if you don't have a multichannel one) and the "Professional" or "Professional Plus" versions increase this number again.

 

Be aware that, if you go the "two sound card" route, latency between them can be an issue. I got caught that way once when I tried a bodge using a mix of EMU and Edirol. Bringing my multichannel M-Audio box from the home studio solved this.

 

If you don't want the expense of buying the "proper" versions of SCS, it certainly can work just playing from your DAW--I use Audition rather than Cubase, but for simple shows I've certainly used that for playback.

 

Bob

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A production I am doing shortly involves the need to playback 4 tracks of audio at the same time.

 

These will be recorded in Cubase, and then..........

 

thats where I get a bit stuck, everything I have done till now has been OK mixed to stereo then panned hard.

 

problem is I have music (needs to be stereo), and vocals (2 of that need to be panned)

 

just not sure what to do here except keep it and run it from cubase.

 

I usually use multiplay, tried that with 2 cues one triggering the other, but there is too much delay between the tracks starting to be in sync.

 

does SCS do 4 tracks? had a look at the demo and couldnt find it, if t does, how would I get them out of cubase, or can I record directly into SCS?

 

SCS will definitely do what you want and a whole lot more . . have a read of an article I wrote at http://www.soundachievements.com/SA_Web-Site_3/Live_Show_Control_-_Home_Page.html . . . it explains how to mix the tracks out of Cubase etc . . . . . There are several levels of SCS but even the top level is really well priced . . . would be very happy to give you any advice if you require it . . .

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  • 2 weeks later...
We use SCS for all our shows and the tech support is 1st rate.

The next version of SCS will use SoundMan-Server as the optional, high quality sound engine and essentially be able to be a virtual mixing desk with live inputs as well as a playback system with up to 512 inputs & outputs and 999 playback tracks.... Enjoy!

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SCS is totally not needed for this. just do it in cubase and send the audio to different outputs on your soundcard. That's all SCS is doing.

 

OR, to save a gazillion seemingly pointless steps. mix the files to stereo and use automation so that the vocals sit well.

JOB DONE!

 

 

 

(reason for edit: I deleted some of my post by mistake)

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