songs don't sound the same on different software

[stafs]

Hi, gearslutz! After mixing all day in Cubase, i'm bouncing song in stereo track, then opening it in Sound Forge and DEEEM! That's not the same mix, i did! I understand, different programs have different algorithms, but why difference is soooo huge? Maybe Forge just sux sound wise and i should switch to WaveLab? Or, i'm too critical and difference is not 'sooo' huge?

[theblue1]

If all you're doing is playing back the previously recorded file, SF is merely feeding the ones and zeros out to your interface. So that's not likely to be the culprit (unless you are modifying the sound in some fashion, either through destructive edits or, perhaps realtime plugs [can't remember if SF does realtime non-destructive FX.])


Now, if you are, say, comparing a 16 bit output file to your mix as it plays in Cubase's 32 bit floating point environment (which has an effective bit depth roughly equivalent to 24 bit fixed), then, yeah, you might very well here some very real differences.

That said, there are a number of factors -- and a number of things that could 'go wrong' in the sense that you might not actually be making the comparisons you think you are making. (ie, some plug is not being rendered to the output file or you are outputting your file with 'visible' peaks so close to 0 dBfs that you might be suffering from the effects of hidden intersample peaks that effectively create overs at the DA stage, etc.)

[sam c]

not sure what that would be? when i open a finished mix in SF9 it sounds just like when i finished the mix. i usually put a 24 bit file into SF. the only thing that makes mine sound different is when i ad plugs in SF to the file?

could you be doing something different in after you open the file in SF? are all of the settings the same? 24 bit, 44.1, etc, etc.

[stafs]

That's why i'm wondering. Bounced file is 24bit 48Khz. Project in Cubase the same. I even load stereo file in Cubase, matched levels and compared it with SF. Anyway - they sound different. Then i matched Cubase projects sound with stereo file loaded in Cubase - perfect match.

[Barbary Ape]

Different audio engines different sounds. Summing on the other hand is the same for all programs, there are lots of summing test conducted in these boards that confirm that, they all sound the same when summing without plugins the rendered tracks always null.

But when it comes to adding plugins it's a different story. The same plugins will sound different in different audio engines.

Last month I noticed that my plugins sounded different in Samplitude than in DP5, I had my friend listen to this and he said the same thing they sound different so we did a test. I put in 4 tracks in DP5 faders and pan settings on 0 then I added a UAD Fairchild on each track using the Ocean Way preset then bounced to disk. I did the exact same thing in Samplitude and bounced to disk. I imported both bounced tracks to DP5 invert the phase of one of the tracks, hit play and they didn't null. Did the same thing in Samplitude and they didn't null either. The results were even more drastic when we started using reverb plugins.

Different audio engines will react to the same plugins differently. To confirm that it's not the plugin format that's causing this(VST, AU) he did the same test between Logic 7 and Logic 8 since Logic 8 is said to have a new audio engine and they didn't null either.

[Flying_Dutchman]

Some thoughts:

1. How did you set the pan law in Cubase?

Here, i can only use the -3dB setting.

Thats the setting Cubase uses for audio export.

If i mix with 0dB for example, Cubase still exports in with a -3dB panning law and the mix is different.

2. Never change the sample rate or the bittrate in audio export.

[stafs]

Hmm, pan law is set to -3 as default. All tracks are recorded at 24,48, and i bounce the mix to same 24,48.
I will try to mix without any plugs, just for comparsion to see (hear) wat happends and then let You know.
Thruth is in there :D
And thanks to all of You for your time.

[PlatinumSamples]

a) Are you playing back through the same interface and monitors?

b) Check that all your tracks are hitting the stereo bus in Cubase and you're not double monitoring or something.

Rail

[Tui]

Originally Posted by Barbary Ape

I imported both bounced tracks to DP5 invert the phase of one of the tracks, hit play and they didn't null. Did the same thing in Samplitude and they didn't null either. The results were even more drastic when we started using reverb plugins.

That's very interesting, as it runs against conventional wisdom that suggests all DAWs sound the same.

However, it's worth pointing out that reverbs are dynamic processes and unlikely to produce the same effect twice. This is definitely true for hardware reverbs, but I imagine it might also be true for soft verbs.

[Alxi]

I've noticed the same thing a while back. Was mixing a song in PT ( i usually mix in sonar ) and to my ears the plugins were not responding the same way.. i wasn't geting the same sound out them as i do in Sonar. Talk about it to a few people and they all told me... it's all 1 and 0... there shouldn't be any differences

Glad to see i'm not the only one

-Alxi aka Scotty Beamus-