Ableton Forum

Hey, I've been experiencing a really weird issue here every export that I do adds a small amount of time to the beginning of the export. If I export a file that is 30 seconds long, and then bring that export back into the session, the start points are different. This matters a lot of course if you are working with video.

Any advice? Thank you!

jacobrosati wrote:If I export a file that is 30 seconds long, and then bring that export back into the session, the start points are different. This matters a lot of course if you are working with video.
Any advice? Thank you!

OK since none of the "tribal Elders" have yet tried to assist you;
You haven't really said anything about your I/O hardware or experience level,
SO I assume a lot here already.

I rarely export and re-import, other than converting single stereo tracks to mono.
However, it seems to me that I had this problem once when I changed ASIO
drivers and latency settings became an issue. I'll spare you the "Latency 101"
lesson you probably already know. GO to your preferences and look at;
AUDIO > LATENCY. You should see in, out an total numbers in ms.

If you see that,
Live has detected your inputs driver latency and corrected it internally.
Mine did and I still had a SLIGHT (with pardons to Ableton) 2ms difference
before I ran the "Latency wizard." (and yes, I CAN hear that little difference.
More importantly though I was a BIT OFF TIME in my single tracks exports!)
I know that this did effect the exports I re-imported for the mono conversions.

1. Are you using ASIO driver(s)? VERY important if not, do that!
Your I/O device manufacturer should have one (preferred) Otherwise,
"ASIO4ALL" is good.
2. Next thing I would do is run the built-in "Latency Compensation" setup wiz;

HELP VIEW> (@ the bottom)
SHOW ALL BUILT IN LESSONS>HARDWARE SETUP>DRIVER ERROR COMPENSATION.

Read every word, do it step by step (if you haven't before) and you should come up with
a perfect export & input timing.

oh and don't forget to re-arm the "add fades to clip edges automatically" if you do that.

Hope this helps!

G Pop

are you changing the sample rate on export and then changing it back on import?

G-Pop wrote: More importantly though I was a BIT OFF TIME in my single tracks exports!)
I know that this did effect the exports I re-imported for the mono conversions.

While I haven't investigated in detail with Live 10 the expectation is that 4 exports with different audio buffer settings all will null perfectly. In other words non realtime exports should not be affected by audio buffer settings.

However with real time exports such as when you're using an external instrument, especially external sequencers audio buffer settings and latency issues could come into play. Still, it shouldn't add time to the beginning. It all depends on actual set up though.

jacobrosati wrote:If I export a file that is 30 seconds long

You don't "export files" from Live nor do you export time lengths. You typically export bars, or partial bars, of music. What is the length on the timeline exactly? What is the length setting in your export dialog?

What is the export format? Is it MP3? If so, there you go.

As you're re-importing I'd assume it's not.

Stromkraft wrote:

G-Pop wrote: More importantly though I was a BIT OFF TIME in my single tracks exports!)
I know that this did effect the exports I re-imported for the mono conversions.

While I haven't investigated in detail with Live 10 the expectation is that 4 exports with different audio buffer settings all will null perfectly. In other words non realtime exports should not be affected by audio buffer settings.

I did a quick test exporting a track of 16 bars of 44.1 kHz 16bit mono to the same with 64 samples and 2048 samples of audio buffer. Both exports null 100% with the original.

The test need to be repeated with devices/plug-ins that adds massive amounts of latency.

Stromkraft wrote: You don't "export files" from Live nor do you export time lengths. You typically export bars, or partial bars, of music.

Well technically, though information is being "exported" from the application, you "Render". Don't want to confuse the guys with incorrect lingo.

jestermgee wrote:

Stromkraft wrote: You don't "export files" from Live nor do you export time lengths. You typically export bars, or partial bars, of music.

Well technically, though information is being "exported" from the application, you "Render". Don't want to confuse the guys with incorrect lingo.

Until the Export Audio/Video dialog is renamed I'll nevertheless continue to use "export". From a user perspective that's what's happening and the rendering is an underlying process to that.

I think "rendering" would be a good name for what commonly is called Bounce in Place when Ableton adds this next month… .

jacobrosati wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 16, 2018 3:44 pm

Hey, I've been experiencing a really weird issue here every export that I do adds a small amount of time to the beginning of the export. If I export a file that is 30 seconds long, and then bring that export back into the session, the start points are different. This matters a lot of course if you are working with video.

Any advice? Thank you!

At the risk of being somewhat late: The problem is caused by the mp3-encoder as explained here: viewtopic.php?t=230461

Basically, mp3 always adds 528 Samples at the beginning of your track.

Therefore:

if it needs to be precise, using mp3 is unwise.