Mute's Pro Syncing Guide ~ UPDATED 11/02/11

[MasterWok]

I know you've got a hard-on for DDReam Studio

Hahaha yeah.

Edit: Another edit. I just feel like briefly explaining why ddream helps with audio-cutting so much. Once you have a song synced (like in some of the screen-shots), you can click on the beats and ddream will tell you exactly where (meaning at which seconds to .001 accuracy) they land. Then, you can go into an audio editing program (such as wavepad), select the area/times between those two beats, and delete it. If you delete sections in order from the end of the song to the beginning (so that you don't change the earlier seconds in a song), you can actually delete many sections and make a complicated cut in one shot.

[mute]

I know you've got a hard-on for DDReam Studio

Hahaha yeah.

Edit: Another edit. I just feel like briefly explaining why ddream helps with audio-cutting so much. Once you have a song synced (like in some of the screen-shots), you can click on the beats and ddream will tell you exactly where (meaning at which seconds to .001 accuracy) they land. Then, you can go into an audio editing program (such as wavepad), select the area/times between those two beats, and delete it. If you delete sections in order from the end of the song to the beginning (so that you don't change the earlier seconds in a song), you can actually delete many sections and make a complicated cut in one shot.

I know you're genuinely trying to be helpful by advocating programs and methods that work for you, but you just gotta trust me when I say that I have no reason to abandon my current methods. GarageBand is as good as or better than what you just described in terms of cutting audio.*







* probably better

...actually it's definitely better

[TheCosmicPope]

Dragonforce resync is going well - checking waveforms is especially helpful in correcting drift.

In general though, I've been trying to sync at a similar position on the waveform (which is difficult with metal bands, admittedly). So I usually toss it into Stepmania and do a minor tune-up by ear (which may make the sync biased, but I generally only have to shift 0.001-0.004 seconds in any given direction).

[alucard.andrew]

Hmm. I'm stepping a Kpop song called Love Like This, and I'm almost done laying out the steps.

I've tried syncing it, and its decent, but I need it to be completely exact for the r21 machine in my area.

Would it possible for me to upload a download link for my simfile and somebody with experience could sync it properly for me ? ;D

[mute]

Hmm. I'm stepping a Kpop song called Love Like This, and I'm almost done laying out the steps.

I've tried syncing it, and its decent, but I need it to be completely exact for the r21 machine in my area.

Would it possible for me to upload a download link for my simfile and somebody with experience could sync it properly for me ? ;D

You are posting this in a thread that explains how to sync simfiles for r21.

I suggest you just follow the guide and sync the file yourself.

[DVogan11]

Not trying to necro this thread but I understand completely how this works and I'm still having problems with it because the current program I use is not particularly good. Any suggestions on a good program for Windows?

[mute]

Not trying to necro this thread but I understand completely how this works and I'm still having problems with it because the current program I use is not particularly good. Any suggestions on a good program for Windows?

Yo Derek. Which program are you referring to, the audio editor, Audacity? And when you say it's "not particularly good," what do you mean specifically? Audacity should be perfect for the purposes of checking sync as this guide explains. If for whatever reason you don't like it, you could maybe check out Goldwave.

If you're trying to cut audio, then Audacity is pretty inadequate. Though I know nothing of Windows, I do know that the best equivalent to my audio editing app (GarageBand) would be Acid. Should be easy to get your hand on a *cough* borrowed *cough* copy. Brandon (Pope) has been using that since I recommended it to him and he will assure you that it makes cutting songs a breeze. Acid is also what Renard uses; in spite of what you may think of his charts, his audio cuts are at least top-notch.


And while we're on the subject of software, I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone: Do not use, or at the very least do not trust MixMeister BPM Analyzer. It often does NOT give accurate readings.

If a song is exactly 135 bpm, MixMeister may say something like 135.012. Because of this, you could technically use the program to just get in the ballpark of a song's bpm. But you should never, under any circumstance, trust the exact bpm value that Mixmeister gives you. LED M, for example, is exactly 162.132 bpm; no more, no less, and it is exactly that for the entire song. Plug that song into Mixmeister, however, and it gives you a value of 162.14 bpm...NOT CORRECT.

End drifty simfiles. Stop using MixMeister.

[DVogan11]

I have this really random program called Cyber Power. Basically every waveform looks like crap on it and I was having a hard time figuring out where beats were even happening at. I'll look into Acid though for sure, seems like it could definitely be helpful. Might even go back and recut the songs for this pack just to ensure less drift since I was using MixMeister (which I have hated for quite some time but didn't really know what alternatives I had.)

[DVogan11]

One more time, but this guide DEFINITELY works well. I reworked my entire pack yesterday and after spending a few hours on it, everything felt much more on.

[mute]

One more time, but this guide DEFINITELY works well. I reworked my entire pack yesterday and after spending a few hours on it, everything felt much more on.

This is the method I've used for all of my files, and the FR4 expansion pack. After the FR4 tourney, however, I learned that a lot of people found my method to make things just a tad early, say about 2-3 ms. Then again there are other people like Flash who shift all of my offsets 12 ms later and then quad my stuff. So yeah...whatever works for ya.

[PaTriCK =)]

If you're trying to cut audio, then Audacity is pretty inadequate. Though I know nothing of Windows, I do know that the best equivalent to my audio editing app (GarageBand) would be Acid. Should be easy to get your hand on a *cough* borrowed *cough* copy. Brandon (Pope) has been using that since I recommended it to him and he will assure you that it makes cutting songs a breeze. Acid is also what Renard uses; in spite of what you may think of his charts, his audio cuts are at least top-notch.

LOL, i use Audacity to cute audio

And while we're on the subject of software, I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone: Do not use, or at the very least do not trust MixMeister BPM Analyzer. It often does NOT give accurate readings.

LED M, for example, is exactly 162.132 bpm; no more, no less, and it is exactly that for the entire song. Plug that song into Mixmeister, however, and it gives you a value of 162.14 bpm...NOT CORRECT.
End drifty simfiles.

I love this, thanks mute, but so how did you find the correct bpm of LED M.?

[mute]

I love this, thanks mute, but so how did you find the correct bpm of LED M.?

Step 2 of my syncing guide.

[PaTriCK =)]

I love this, thanks mute, but so how did you find the correct bpm of LED M.?

Step 2 of my syncing guide.

Your step 2 has 2 pictures, i dont understand. can you explain in other way?

[PUMA.Hamtaro]

I love this, thanks mute, but so how did you find the correct bpm of LED M.?

Step 2 of my syncing guide.

Your step 2 has 2 pictures, i dont understand. can you explain in other way?

Every beat of the song should fall on the first big spike of every beat. In that example, beat 128 falls on the second 56.471, which is where there is a spike is in Audacity.

[mute]

I love this, thanks mute, but so how did you find the correct bpm of LED M.?

Step 2 of my syncing guide.

Your step 2 has 2 pictures, i dont understand. can you explain in other way?

You try different BPM values, like the "troubleshooting" section for Step 2 says.

For LED M, the BPM was obviously somewhere between 162 and 163. So, we get the offset correct so that the first beat of the song lines up properly in StepMania, starting with a BPM 162.000. We see that the other beats of the song slowly start drifting away from lining up with the measure markers. Well, then you just start trying different BPM values until that doesn't happen. 162.100? Better, but still off. 162.150? A little too far. 162.125? A little off, but in the other direction. 162.130? Very close, but there's a little drift by the end. 162.132? Absolutely everything in the song lines up perfectly with the measure markers in StepMania.

LED M is an example of a song that has a weird BPM, but it stays at exactly that BPM for the entire song. It doesn't drift. Some drifty stuff is still syncable though; for an example of that, get my "Together We Will Conquer" file from Mute Sims 4 and look at the BPM changes in Edit Mode.