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Ableton adds a few milliseconds before the exported file

Posted: Thu May 10, 2018 3:02 pm
by j.roemer92
Live 10 Problem

When I export the master, ableton adds a few milliseconds before the track in the final file. This is extremely annoying when I create instrumentals for other people to record on, because it seems I don't export the files right on the grid.

This is how I export files, and it has worked fine for a long time:

I choose the frame for the export with the loop shortcut Strg + L. I click on the bar that appears on the top to mark the looped area. I export.

Has anyone experienced the same problem?

Re: Ableton adds a few milliseconds before the exported file

Posted: Thu May 10, 2018 5:28 pm
by Stromkraft
j.roemer92 wrote:
I choose the frame for the export with the loop shortcut Strg + L. I click on the bar that appears on the top to mark the looped area. I export.

Has anyone experienced the same problem?
Frame? I think you mean section.

Yes, I see a millisecond delay. However, when I do a recording, which is sample perfectly aligned, it looks the same. More importantly it nulls with the original.

Don't assume from looks. Prove by nullification. Audio matters, looks don't.

Re: Ableton adds a few milliseconds before the exported file

Posted: Fri May 11, 2018 10:48 am
by j.roemer92
Update:

This only occurs with the new MP3 export feature. When I export wav it works just fine. I exported wav and mp3 with the same selection and same settings, mp3 adds a few milliseconds before the chosen selection of the export.

Re: Ableton adds a few milliseconds before the exported file

Posted: Fri May 11, 2018 2:37 pm
by chrk
j.roemer92 wrote:This is extremely annoying when I create instrumentals for other people to record on,
Yes giving mp3s to other people to record on is extremely annoying.

Use Dropbox, WeTransfer or other cloud storage to exchange usable material.

Your discovery is no surprise, I was about to ask, if by chance you're exporting to mp3.

Technical FAQ - LAME MP3 Encoder gives quite a comprehensive explanation what's happening, though I guess Live does not use Lame (it doesn't write the Tool tag which would identify the encoder).

Re: Ableton adds a few milliseconds before the exported file

Posted: Fri May 11, 2018 2:59 pm
by Tarekith
This is pretty common in a lot of apps when converting to MP3, it's a destructive process so you're not going to get a bit for bit accurate results. Is there a reason this few ms is an issue for you, or were you just curious what was happening?

Re: Ableton adds a few milliseconds before the exported file

Posted: Fri May 11, 2018 3:17 pm
by Stromkraft
j.roemer92 wrote:Update:

This only occurs with the new MP3 export feature. When I export wav it works just fine. I exported wav and mp3 with the same selection and same settings, mp3 adds a few milliseconds before the chosen selection of the export.

??? This is just a reference file? Or why are you using MP3? Why are you even expecting Live to deal with MP3 domain issues? It's not like you couldn't export as WAV/AIFF and automatically convert to MP3 with your own tools. That's what I've been using for years. Not for sharing music files with collaborators though.