Time Compression

[Stashu]

I'm trying out a demo of Pitchtime. When I time compress, the file remains the same length. The audio is shorter, but the region length stays the same. If I had to edit a phrase out of the existing compressed file there is no way to tell where to mark the edits. And, because of this, I would have a rough time adding SFX and editing music to the voice track.
Is there a way around this? Does it work this way because it's the demo?
And, are there other Time Compression plugins? for my work, I don't need Pitch correction as much as Time correction.
Thanks for any help.

[Bob L]

Any time comnpression plugin will have the same effect... there is no current way for the plugin to alter the length of the region itself, since it is independently shortening or lengthening the audio in its own code separate from the main engine.

So... if you must edit after the time compression... build a mix of the track or entire mix and then edit that.

You can edit the source material on the track and then apply the time compression after the edits and all will be fine.

In general... with time compression, you will find it more controllable to time compress the audio that you need, and then use that as the source audio on tracks to create the finished production.

Bob L

[Ian Alexander]

PitchTime works this way in the purchased version, too.

Might end up with glitches galore, but you could try using SS VariSpeed to get the length you want, then using PitchTime to reverse the pitch change. That would give you accurate region sizes. Probably easier to solo the track and process it with PT then edit and mix as BL suggests.

When making radio spots or tv vo's, I often use PitchTime on two or more tracks to overlap vo phrases, etc. As long as the settings are the same and any setting changes are automated at the same time, the tracks stay in sync.

You can also patch the plug on output tracks to cover some or all input tracks.

Other little things:

If you have a glitch, adjust the plug settings by a very small amount or move the affected region a sample or two, and the glitches often go away.

If you're checking overall timing compared to un-pitched tracks, you have to start before the plug is automated IN or at zero. Another point for processing the nec. track(s) and then disabling. But I never do that.

[Bob L]

The limitation of not being able to adjust the region lengths is in the plugin API code... not the plugin code itself.

At one time I experimented with various API enhancements to make that possible... but with latency producing plugs and with the use of automation, it became quite complex and crazy to make it all work correctly... because automating plugin settings would also be altering the region scaling differently from one point to the next and it got kind of crazy to deal with screen updates and regions altering their sizes on the fly... and on multiple tracks.

Bob L

[Carl G.]

See, Bob, you spoiled me with your Pitch and Speed correction in the multitrack. The region shrinks or expands by your command.
For my editing, I need the pitch to stay the same. I may play around with bypassing PitchTime, making the edits, then turning it back on.
Thanks.

Remember you also can simply use the "BuildMix to Layers" option to conveniently overlay your new time compressed file over the same spot on a different layer (on which the plugin is disabled in automation). So you can have the easy option of editing the original track layer... or the compressed layer... however you wish.

[bcorkery]

Think editing pitch stuff is hard? Try reverse audio ... Ho boy!

[bcorkery]

If you have a glitch, adjust the plug settings by a very small amount or move the affected region a sample or two, and the glitches often go away.

Danger Will Robinson ... that would be messing with the Pitch-Time Continuum! Red Alert!

Cool tip, thanks Ian!

[MMP]

A trick I use to get around this is I varispeed the region to the right length and then use Pitch Time to repitch the region back to it's original pitch. This gives you the correct region lengths and sounds maybe a bit better than using the time compression by itself.

Edit: I see Ian already suggested this...

Regards,

MM