[George Piazza]

I have the same question.

I know this isn’t an answer to your question but I did notice when one exports to a stereo out, SD3 first exports each track individually (each individual track does have the name of the source track), mixes together those individual tracks, then erases the individual ones and leaves just the stereo composite track. I wonder if this multi-step process somehow prevents the final stereo track to be named specifically when initiating the export process.

If there is no way to define the name of the stereo composite track on export, many DAWs allow you to rename an audio file from within the DAW (the actual file name on the drive; not just the DAW the reference name); it’s not the best solution, but it is a workaround so you can have a drum track file with the name you want. Just make sure the file is not used in other DAW sessions, or they won’t be able to locate the file anymore (though many DAWs allow you to repoint the file or clip reference to another file, so even there, you can get around the problem as long as the file start point and length have not been changed).

Or, if you are exporting from the standalone SD3, you could rename the audio file in Windows Explorer or Mac Finder before importing the file into your DAW.

Reply To: Rename wav before bouncing version: 3.1.4
Operating system: Windows 7

[George Piazza]

Robin,

I’m just another SD3 user, I also use Cubase. I do mastering and have researched Sample Rates & SRC in depth. And I also have the same question, since I typically record in 48 kHz / 24 bit. **

It depends on where the Sample Rate conversion happens and the quality of that Sample Rate Conversion.

If Superior Drummer does the SRC before sending the audio to Cubase, the question is: How good is the SD3 SRC?

If Cubase does the Sample Rate Conversion, unfortunately that is one of the weaknesses in Cubase, unless you are using Cubase 10.

For an analysis of SRC quality in DAWs and standalone SRCs, see here: http://src.infinitewave.ca/

The sweep analysis on this site for Cubase demonstrates the mediocre SRC of all versions of Cubase before version 10; they all have a fair amount of aliasing. Some DAWs are worse; some are better. Cubase is about in the middle. Bitwig, Ableton Live 7, Reason 6.5, Sadie, Sequoia 8, Vegas 9, Soundblade, Soundforge (arguably), Traktor Pro 2.6.4 are all worse. Most of the other DAWs are better. Some DAWs running on a MAC OS apparently use the MAC SRC, so the SRC quality is dictated by that version of the MAC OS. Logic is one example. (Cubase uses the Cubase SRC on both platforms, so it makes no difference).

Wavelab’s SRC is far better (every version from 6 on).

iZotope RX is also superior.

Voxengo makes a free SRC 9R8Brain Free) that is excellent.

But none of these can be used in real time or export mode in Cubase.

** (A good converter can make excellent recordings in 44.1 kHz; it is largely a question of how good the anti-aliasing filter is. That is by far the biggest difference between A/D converters and Sample Rates. The ‘recording at higher sample rates is better because there are more dots to connect’ argument is bogus, but that is another topic. But there are some good reasons to choose 48 kHz over 44.1 kHz, the main ones being auditory filters – anti-aliasing filter interactions, possible reduced A/D filter ringing and better processing during the mix process – see Bob Katz’ ‘Mastering Audio’ book.).

FWIW, I also question the idea of recording at a lower Sample Rate, then exporting at a higher one. Some people assume that the processing throughout the audio chain (including plugins) will take place at the higher Sample Rate that ‘Export’ is set to, but that doesn’t make sense. It is much more likely that the mix is run at the original sample rate, then is up-sampled on export, after the main mix bus; this means there is no quality benefit gained by exporting at a higher sample rate, since the conversion takes place after all the mix processing.

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Thanked by: Robin Gardner

[George Piazza]

I second (or third) many of these requests:

Jacek Sniecikowski wrote:

The Superior Drummer 3 Tracker is a fantastic tool but could use a few improvements to make editing more efficient. These all apply to standalone mode, as that’s my main workflow at the moment.

1. Additional options in ‘select’ menu: ‘Select by velocity…’. A new box has options that will let you select all notes below a value, over a value. This will be very useful for creating a map only for snare ghost notes. It’s not precise enough to select by dragging the selection when zoomed out to see the whole track.
2. Playhead follows playback toggle. Just like the Pro Tools ‘n’ shortcut’. IWhen listening to my edits, I would catch a mistrigger and instinctively hit space bar to stop playback and take care of it. Unfortunately, this takes me back to where the playhead was originally at, so I have no idea where that missing note is if I wasn’t keeping my eye on the bar timeline
3. Turn off auto scrolling in the trigger editor
4. Zoom tool. Select a specific area and zoom into it. Much less tedious than having to drag the zoom brackets at the bottom
5. Lower priority, but a pre-roll value would be nice in the standalone version. Helpful when you are focusing on edits and want to hear some context without having to scroll around
6. The select similar knob could use a toggle to only select new notes after the playhead location. If I am editing notes and everything has been fine but then I come across a note that is not getting triggered, I want to select it, select similar and know that whatever work I have done up to this point not get affected. Otherwise, this adds another step to my work to verify I did not trigger anything I shouldn’t have.
7. It looks like it’s not a general issue but UI performance is making it difficult to work on my 2013 Mac Pro. Already created ticket 89300 but haven’t heard back yet.

1: I’ve worked with regions and it does make it easier, but it is still tricky or tedious to get ghost note triggering just right; also when an audio file has flams or ruffs in it (especially a snare track), it is very hard to match the sound & feel of the original. The SD3 library flams and ruffs don’t sync to tempo, nor do they sync in Tracker, so the only options are to use another articulation, which is less realistic / convincing, or possibly time stretch or compress the flams or ruffs (which I haven’t tried; even if this is possible, it would be exceedingly tedious).

2, 3, 4: Scrolling and zoom options are limited and make it very difficult to make adjustments, like the OP said. Almost every DAW has a variety of options to have the playback point either go back to the last start position, the beginning or stay where it was stopped. Having the latter would be a major workflow improvement.

Same with scrolling and the zoom features.

Also, if tempo adjustments are attempted while Tracker is in play mode and the Playhead scrolls past the zoomed area, the snap point is dragged to wherever the mouse is released in relation to the visual (i.e. it will get dragged past the original view into the newly scrolled view). With the limited zoom bar, this is a real hassle. One could stop playback before making adjustments, but then the problem of the Playhead resetting to the previous playback start position is again an issue.

I’d add one more: a time signature editor in the ‘Find Tempo’ editor. A song with a lot of complex time signature changes requires that one map them all out beforehand or use ‘find tempo’, then go back to the main window to determine the time signature of the next section (which is easier when the tempo is mapped up to that point), add a time signature, then go back into ‘Find Tempo’ mode; unfortunately, entering and exiting ‘Find Tempo’ mode has produced unpredictable results for me, even if I don’t change anything in the main tracker section.

With more playhead, zoom and scrolling options, the Tracker workflow would be greatly improved:

1. Scroll on /off
2.  Zoom in the audio timeline using a specialized zoom tool (either horizontal or a rectangular horizontal / vertical); perhap zoom / location snapshots as well for working with difficult sections.
3. Playhead return options, including ‘Playhead remains at stop point’.
4. Time Signature editing in the ‘Find Tempo’ mode.

Thanks!

[Author]

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