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I have a few SMPTE-striped multitrack tapes. I used them with Performer/Mac OS9 (pre and post Digital Performer) and used the SMPTE signal to keep the audio sync'd with MIDI tracks. I used an MTP AV/USB to get the SMPTE into the Mac. I now have a MIDI Express XT for that. I have switched to Windows 7 64bit with Digital Performer 8.

I'd like to record the analog tracks into Digital Performer audio tracks but I am confused about the process. I presume there's a hole in my understanding of synchronization.

It seems like I want to playback the tapes while sync'd to SMPTE and record the audio tracks while doing so. The part I miss is this: when I subsequently playback the newly-digitized audio, the SMPTE clock pulses will be useless because they will stay on the original audio tapes. Presumably, the clock source will be the PCI-424 card that I use for all-digital projects. That won't mimic the SMPTE pulses from the tape exactly. Will that mean the audio will drift relative to the MIDI tracks in the same sequence?

This must be a solved problem; I presume many people have transferred old material from SMPTE-striped tapes to digital audio tracks. It beats me how to solve it.

What am I missing?

Hey Musher,
Why don't you just break down and get a drumpad MIDI controller! I have a DrumKat and use it with a Alesis DM5 and my new TD-8. It's got to beat programming (sorry for the bad pun)!

As far as obsessing goes, I'm with Flatcat. Mixing is the most difficult and tedious part of the process for me. I just don't have the honed in skills yet to immediately apply what I want to hear in my head. EQ is still a learning experience for me. I think I've done a pretty good job, but I'm relying more on my ears and experimentation than deliberate functional skills. And so it becomes very tedious.

The other thing about mixing is the whole transaltion" thing. I've lately started to bring a lot of my favorite sounding CD's into the studio to play back on my studio monitors. It's confusing me more. Some of them don't sound as good there - very bright - almost steely. Maybe this is why my initial mixes start out rather dull sounding. My monitors (Event Trias - tri-amped with sub) have a bunch of frequency adjustment knobs on the back to compensate for the room. Maybe I should start playing around with those? I just don't know what "right" is. I'm thinking of buying a set of those "Golden Ears" CDs which has ear training for EQing.

davidthriller,

I am not sure where you are going with your reply. I have drum and keyboard parts that I have recorded on MIDI tracks and I want to keep them in sync with vocals and guitars I have on multitrack tapes after I transfer the audio into DP. I don't want to recreate all those MIDI parts again.

(By the way, I performed most of the drum parts with a drumKAT, though I don't have it anymore.)

Musher

Musher wrote:davidthriller,

I am not sure where you are going with your reply. I have drum and keyboard parts that I have recorded on MIDI tracks and I want to keep them in sync with vocals and guitars I have on multitrack tapes after I transfer the audio into DP. I don't want to recreate all those MIDI parts again.

(By the way, I performed most of the drum parts with a drumKAT, though I don't have it anymore.)

Musher

Okay, I was just checking to make sure.