Tascam Changing bpm on Tracks Moved from one Portastudio to another?

[dougg_123]

My friend and I both have the Tascam DP-24SD Portastudio. We live in different states and exchange files using Dropbox. He gave me a guitar and vocal track at 115 bpm which I downloaded from Dropbox, loaded onto my Portastudio, recorded my drum track, exported my drum track from my Portastudio, and uploaded it to Dropbox. My friend downloaded my drum track from Dropbox and then loaded it onto his Portastudio. The drum track is now at 125 bpm on his Portastudio instead of 115. How is this possible? What could have happened along the way to change the bpm of my drum track? Any insight would be greatly appreciated. We've been working together for years on songs using this exchange method and have never had this issue. It just doesn't seem possible. Thanks.

 

[Mark Richards]

Welcome to the forum.
If you've been using this exchange SOP with DP-24SDs successfully in the past, then my first thought is one of the songs was not set to the correct BPM when first created and so will remain at that BPM when tracks are imported.

 

[dougg_123]

Hi Mark. Thanks for the welcome. The original vocal and guitar tracks were recorded on my friend's Tascam at 115. He then exported them, uploaded them to Dropbox where I grabbed them and loaded them into my Tascam. I verified that they were at 115 on my Tascam. I recorded my drum track with the metronome on at 115. Everything was good. I then exported my drum track and uploaded it to Dropbox. When my friend grabbed the drum track from Dropbox and loaded to his Tascam, it was at 125. It makes no sense to me and I couldn't find anything in the manual that could do that?

 

[shredd]

I'm the Village Idiot here - so I usually leave technical issues to the smart guyz.
But it occurred to me: when your pal is loading the 115bpm track you returned to him onto his DP, is the project he's importing it into ALSO set at 115? Or did he somehow try to import it into a project that's set at 125??
If I were me, I'd grill his but, and if he skroo'd that up, than encourage him to go get tested to be sure he's smart enuf to use a machine like a DP...Sheldon's mother has the number of the place...

 

[dougg_123]

Thanks for your response. The Tascam doesn't work like that. Tracks are imported and don't change their timing. The Tascam metronome, no matter what it is set at, doesn't change the track tempo. You have to adjust the metronome to the right bpm to match the song. They are completely independent of each other. There's absolutely no reason I can think of that would change the track tempo. It makes no sense to me.

 

[Mark Richards]

I just x-posted with you dougg_123, and you had answered my question in your post #5.
So, next: Is the song actually playing faster on the other unit, and what are the two of you using to confirm the song's BPM?

Second: are you both using the most current firmware update?

 

[shredd]

The Tascam doesn't work like that. Tracks are imported and don't change their timing. The Tascam metronome, no matter what it is set at, doesn't change the track tempo. You have to adjust the metronome to the right bpm to match the song. They are completely independent of each other. There's absolutely no reason I can think of that would change the track tempo. It makes no sense to me.

That's whut I wuz gettin' at...yeah, the imported track (recorded at 115) won't be changed - but if he imports it into a project set at 125, duz the imported track still play at 115 - or at 125? Just thought he should check that...

 

[dougg_123]

Hi Mark. Thanks for your response. Yes, the song is actually playing faster on the other Tascam. We are using the Tascam metronome to check the speed of my imported drum track. Regarding your second point, good question. I don't know about the current firmware. One other thought I had, but I don't think it is correct...if my song in which I recorded my drum track was created at 44.1 kHz and then my friend created his song on his Tascam at 48 kHz, maybe that is doing something. However, the reason I don't think this is the issue is because I also learned that tracks created at 44.1 kHz can't be loaded into a song created at 48 kHz. The Portastudio gives an error and won't load those tracks.

 

[dougg_123]

Hi shred. Thanks for your response. The imported track, which I recorded at 115 actually plays at 125 on the other Tascam. P.S. I love your tagline about RUSH...my favorite band.

 

[shredd]

I guess - in my clueless way (I’m waaay less tech-savvy then guyz like @Mark Richards et al) - that’s whut I wuz getting at - ya gotta make sure that both machines are TOTally in sync: bit rates, sampling rates, bpm, EVERYthing.
And as heavily documented in these forums, suitable SD cards are critical.
And - as MR pointed out - it’s a good bet that both machines running on latest f/ware could matter.
——
“There’s RUSH - Then There’s Everyone Else”.

Words to live by!

Lifeson is the ONLY git’rist in existence that I wanna be more than DGilmour!

 

[-mjk-]

if my song in which I recorded my drum track was created at 44.1 kHz and then my friend created his song on his Tascam at 48 kHz, maybe that is doing something

It won't import if there is a resolution mismatch.

This baffles me.

 

[-mjk-]

@dougg_123 If I were you, I would create a new song and pretend you are the other side, and import your tracks to the song and see how they play back.

 

[dougg_123]

Hello All. My apologies for not responding. I've been out of town and got back last night. I solved the issue!!! The drum track was not altered...which makes sense because I can't possibly see how it could be. What happened was that my friend used the incorrect drum track. He used the original scratch track we recorded in my studio the first time we were working out the arrangement, which was slightly faster. Thanks again to everyone for offering your suggestions. I really appreciate it.

 

[shredd]

Thanks for the clarification/followup!
Advise having your friend drug-tested, or at least having his reading-comprehension checked, since he miiiiight not know quite what the hail he's doing with a DP (not that we ALL haven't done inadvertent foulups - I certainly have!). Sheldon's mom has the number.

 

[shredd]

Yup...nailed it on the first try! Toldja MR wuz one of the "smart guyz" around here!
My stab (post #4) I wuz only figgerin' on it, specifically because I've made inadvertently made comparably moronic mistakes (though I did discover/resolve them by myself, which I am proud of).

So, @Mark Richards - for being spot on the money: you are cordially invited to kanye's house to record your music, have your name legally changed to "L'il Marky R", and henceforth spend the billions in royalties from your garbage "music" sales on lawyers to keep you out of jail for the endless string of drug charges, underage sex crimes, and weapons charges from your "rap war" with anyone who ever spoke your name.

 

[Mark Richards]

Yes! My dream come true.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I didn't really want that red Ferrari anyway. Not my favorite color, so it's yours shredd as first runner up.

 

[-mjk-]

My apologies for not responding

OK, I take it back!

 

[-mjk-]

What happened was that my friend used the incorrect drum track. He used the original scratch track we recorded in my studio the first time we were working out the arrangement, which was slightly faster

It really couldn't have been anything else. I want to personally thank you for the follow-up because it really adds to the usefulness of the forum!