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Tracks recorded on different devices not the same length


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Recently I've been recording our practices with a cobbled together multi-track setup: drums with a Zoom H2N; guitar, bass and vocals through a recording interface connected to my laptop and recorded in Ableton.

A problem I've been having is that the tracks from the H2N are not in sync with those recorded on the laptop. If I sync them up at the start, they very slowly drift out of sync. It's maybe half a second of drift after an hour of recording.

The sample rates are the same on both, so I'm wondering if the issue down to a difference in speed between the clocks on the two devices. Is that something that happens? Or is it something that Ableton is doing perhaps?

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Known issue with the Zoom devices (H1 H2 H4 H4n etc) they have a pretty sh*t clock.

Its fine on its own, you'd never notice, but it definitely is not as accurate as a pro level device (and pro level devices you would always sync the clocks on anyway).

There is no way of syncing any of the Zoom devices to a decent external clock. All you can do is squeeze or stretch the Zoom track to match the other device I'm afraid.

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[quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1408374784' post='2529565']
Known issue with the Zoom devices (H1 H2 H4 H4n etc) they have a pretty sh*t clock.
[/quote]

That sounds like it must be it then. I'm definitely recording at 44.1 on both. No click track - God, if only :D No digital out on the H2N, just the headphone/line out. I wouldn't have anywhere to plug the digital out into anyway, as I'm just using a basic Focusrite interface. This wasn't a pre-planned setup - I just realised that if I used all the little bits I had already bought for recording stuff at home I could get a better result than just sticking the H2N in the corner. It does work - band members were relatively impressed with the results - but I'm not going to be putting the local studios out of business just yet :)

I've been using Audacity to get a clear look at the waveforms, syncing the beginning of the tracks, and then stretching the ones from Ableton until they sync at the end - it's a trial and error process though: "0.002%, nope not enough, 0.008% too much ..." and so on. You would think that once I'd figured out the exact percentage to use I could just do that for each session, but no, it doesn't seem to work that way. It's a pain.

I guess the next step is to upgrade the recording interface, but I'd also want to buy mics for the snare and kick, stands, might end up needing a little outboard preamp if there aren't enough on the interface - it all adds up. Maybe one day.

Thanks guys. This forum is so helpful :)

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something like this would fit perfectly plugs straight into your laptop via usb and works as a little recording interface could also be used as a spare mixing desk incasese of emergency

[url="http://www.gear4music.com/PA-DJ-and-Lighting/Mackie-ProFX12-Channel-Mixer-with-FX/DCI?origin=product-ads&gclid=CMDCotqHn8ACFbPJtAodsEoABA"]http://www.gear4musi...CFbPJtAodsEoABA[/url]

Edited by Chrismanbass
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