On 8/10/05 6:55 PM, in article
t, "Doc"
wrote:

I'm doing a transcription of an old big band recording using Cakewalk Pro
Audio 8. My plan is to have the wave file at the top and then piece together
the band below it, following along with the recording. I want to make the
wave file fit fairly precisely into the measures so I don't have to futz
with the midi tracks later to make them line up. Tape decks being what they
are and the original performance being done by humans, after a while it
drifts off from the metronome beat.

A way I've come up with is to find a tempo that fits for as long as
possible, paste in the wave file and about a bar before it starts to drift
noticeably, split the file, cut the portion of the file from that point on,
insert a tempo change that fits - probably only a click or so one way or the
other is all that's needed - repaste, and continue this process to the end
of the recording.

Is there a more elegant way of doing it than this? My source for the
recording is an analog tape deck.

Thanks for all input.


I do this all the time, particularly on a long-term project.
SMPTE and MIDI time Code are my friends.
Earlier an 8-track analog deck and more recently a TASCAm DA88 system locked
to (in my case) either SPMTE-TRACK PLATINUM on an ATARI ST or FREESTYLE on
the Macs. I just have a bunch of songs working on the tape-based system and
still use it out of confort and habit, luddite that I am... PERFORMER does
all this inside the computer with a digital audio file and would work. As to
tempo, most of the decent MIDI sequencers have a tempo-match feature where
you can tap in a beat along with the guide recording and the system then
makes a tempo-map that adjusts MIDI tempo from moment to moment along with
the normal variations in the musical performance. It's pretty seamless and
easier than fighting through it the way you're doing now.