Nuendo 4.3 : MOTU : Quicktime :

[TAFKAT]

Hey All,

We have seen plenty of commentary about the Cubendo 44.1 at start WAD feature , and how it can cause issues with end users with MOTU units due to the unique arbitration that MOTU uses between the driver and its ASIO control. Well I tripped over another weird one on an install this week with a new system for a client.

On loading an existing session which contained a QT video we experienced some odd issue with the session reporting that the sample rate had changed to 44.1 and if we wanted to change the audio files to the new sample rate. Session was set to 48K , all audio files were AIFF 24 Bit / 48K , QT video was at 48K.

So here is the run down , start Nuendo we get the now usual B.S reset of 44.1 at launch over the set 48K , start loading session switches to 48K all good , on initializing the QT video it reports session is switching to 44.1 and whether we want to SRC the audio files to suit, cancel out all of the pop up options , session plays as normal , all in sync but the MOTU control panel is reporting 44.1. With a QT video in the session we cannot get to the ASIO control panel of the MOTU as its locked us out, which suggested to us that QT was the culprit as it had taken precedent over the audio driver.

Solution : Exit out of Nuendo , launch QT and change the settings in audio playback options to 24 bit/ 48K, close QT, relaunch Nuendo , launch session and everything is now as it should be.

I haven't encountered this before with other Nuendo clients using RME / Lynx hardware , so I was wondering is this is inherent with just the MOTU ?

Any insights ?

[LEX]

I think if your system settings are set for MOTU audio, rather than internal, it does that since QT is basically running outside of Nuendo. Not sure why it does that, but at least you figured it out.

LEX

[kdm]

Yep, this is what I reported on N.com many months ago, and of course the thread descended into why it's a system clocking problem and proper external clock would never do this (except when it does of course....)

I think it only happens with external clocking (have to check to see which I have mine set for now since I revamped my clocking setup at the same time I fixed this problem). It's only partly MOTU's fault imo.... the rest is Nuendo's force default to 44.1k, and Quicktime video being present usually is the worst case scenario since QT also tries to arbitrate the sample rate with the host.

Reaper doesn't do this, but Reaper has an option to force sample rate, or check, etc. Apparently Justin knew about this hole in sample rate negotiation with drivers.

[TAFKAT]

Hey Dedric,

Internal clocking on this system.

The interesting thing for me was that QT took precedent over the ASIO settings , which I find more than a little revealing how much of a hodge podge the video integration is.., lets hope the new fan dangle engine in 5 is a major improvement.

The other thing I didn't mention was that there was major ASIO spiking and garbled playback running anything QT related until we changed the Audio Priority to Boost , which is another thing that you discovered and forwarded to the group, but was also never officially acknowledged.

The client just looked at me stunned when I showed him that , and told him that Steini had never officially acknowledged the issue , or the fix.

[kdm]

Hmmm - it was external here until I moved to internal to avoid this problem - it was maddening having to navigate through the multiple flip flops of sample rate, "do you want to move object..." dialogs, etc. What I lost in clocking imperfection I more than made up for in time saved, many times over. lol

Yes, QT taking precedent over ASIO should send developers into a panic - obviously a 3 year, very slowly building, almost concerned (but not really) version of ahem..."panic". :wink:

[kdm]

As Lex mentioned, if the Wins/system audio device is set for MOTU, this is a problem even with internal clocking. This system doesn't have on board audio, so luckily I can switch to the Decklink video card for WinXP audio when running Nuendo, otherwise I would have had to install a cheap audio card just to avoid this problem (or perhaps installing ASIO4ALL would provide an alternate/dummy driver to keep Win/QT from taking over the MOTU driver).

[TAFKAT]

Right,

Thanks for the heads up.

No need to activate the onboard sound card to work around this , as adjusting the setting in QT Player will sort it, its just interesting that Steinberg have never , ever officially made a note of it, unless I missed it.

The point still stands that QT is taking precedent over ASIO within Nuendo , which is as arse about as you can get.

Also unless you change the audio priority to boost in Cubendo, it remains a spiking , spluttering mess when using QT, again, never acknowledged by Steinberg.

I mean how hard is it to use the information that we present, officially acknowledge it and formalise it in a support document for the benefit of the community ?

[LEX]

I mean how hard is it to use the information that we present, officially acknowledge it and formalise it in a support document for the benefit of the community ?

Apparently very hard. Rather than admit there's a problem, it is better to ignore and let the users fend for themselves.

No wonder there is so much down time.

LEX

[kdm]

No need to activate the onboard sound card to work around this , as adjusting the setting in QT Player will sort it, its just interesting that Steinberg have never , ever officially made a note of it, unless I missed it.

Interesting - I don't remember that completely solving it here. I seem to recall QT forgetting/changing that setting as soon as I loaded a client video to preview/convert - didn't want to adjust QT everytime I switched sessions since QT just takes the system audio preferences to determine sample rate - an inactive system audio driver means it never conflicts with Nuendo.

Yesterday I inadvertently left the MOTU device selected in Sys Audio after watching a DVD, went to open a 44.1k project and the sample rate query was in full force. Changing the default audio device cured it.

Still, like you said, the fact that QT contends for the driver within Nuendo, is the problem. These are just workarounds.