Fairlight Audio Resolution?

Hello,

can I please ask what is the maximum audio resolution in Fairlight (Pubic Beta 17)? I am just checking that it is not maxed at 1/4 frame or similar, as I would like to use it for editing hight quality audio (classical) as a standalone DAW.

Thanks!

Audio Clips may be moved in sample increments if required, including zooming down to the sample and performing edits.

There's actually a new forum for version 17.

17_Forum.png (60.2 KiB) Viewed 1750 times

Audio Clips may be moved in sample increments if required, including zooming down to the sample and performing edits.

It appears, unless I'm missing a setting somewhere, that by "sample", you mean 1/24th of a video frame, a far cry from a real audio sample (48,000/sec). Keyframing at that level, however, doesn't seem to be possible - only at the Frame level. That's not good for an audio editor that purports to be a DAW. It may be sufficient precision for mastering or finishing tool, but not good enough for some critical audio applications. It would be nice to have much finer precision. I'm hoping these are in the pipeline, including a Waveform editor similar to the one in Adobe's Audition.

All digital audio sample rates are per second not per frame. At 24fps 48k is 2000 samples per frame. 48k was chosen for digital video work as the sample rate is equally divisible by all the standard video frame rates.
When I used Audition I found the waveform editor a real pain. It goes right back to when it was Cool Edit Pro before it was bought by Adobe, and you couldn't edit waveforms in the multitrack view. In Fairlight as in Pro Tools, you can edit the waveform directly down to sample level.
I wouldn't expect keyframes at sample level as you can alter the samples directly to remove pops or clicks.

All digital audio sample rates are per second not per frame. At 24fps 48k is 2000 samples per frame. 48k was chosen for digital video work as the sample rate is equally divisible by all the standard video frame rates.

Yeah, sorry, typo on the 48k/s. I fixed that. I was wrong when I looked at the samples per frame in DR. It is 2,000, like you said, or 25 Samples per Subframe, with 80 Subframes per second (25x80=2000). Not sure where the 80 and 25 come from, or if they are arbitrary divisions. Audition similarly is 2,000 samples per frame.

When I used Audition I found the waveform editor a real pain. It goes right back to when it was Cool Edit Pro before it was bought by Adobe, and you couldn't edit waveforms in the multitrack view. In Fairlight as in Pro Tools, you can edit the waveform directly down to sample level.
I wouldn't expect keyframes at sample level as you can alter the samples directly to remove pops or clicks.

Yes, the ability to redraw samples in the timeline is pretty handy, indeed. However, the major benefit you failed to mention in Audition's Waveform Editor is the Spectral editing capability. Being able to look at the spectral graph of the waveform and draw out a hum, reduce the level, or even clone out an entire sound in a particular frequency range is something I used a LOT, particularly in Foley work. That's what I'd really like to see added to Fairlight.

It appears, unless I'm missing a setting somewhere, that by "sample", you mean 1/24th of a video frame, a far cry from a real audio sample (48,000/sec).

Fairlight operates the sample level including jogging with the CTI, nudging, trimming, and splicing Clips, as well as editing down to at the sample level.

Right click on the Timecode Reader to expose the various options related to the Ruler.

samples.gif (663.42 KiB) Viewed 1616 times

It would be nice to have much finer precision. I'm hoping these are in the pipeline, including a Waveform editor similar to the one in Adobe's Audition.

Any third party application (such as the Cedar's ReTouch Spectral Editor) may be configured for external processing: Preferences > System > Audio Plugins > Setup External Audio Processes

Fairlight operates the sample level including jogging with the CTI, nudging, trimming, and splicing Clips, as well as editing down to at the sample level.

Yes, but keyframing is still at the Frame level. I discovered that in the Fairlight Study Guide when asked to keyframe a small transient between two others and found that I couldn't place a keyframe between the transients because it didn't fall on a frame border. And if you need to do them in pairs, as you often do, it has to be the next frame over. There needs to be better resolution, don't you think?

Any third party application (such as the Cedar's ReTouch Spectral Editor) may be configured for external processing: Preferences > System > Audio Plugins > Setup External Audio Processes

Sure, and I'll continue to use Audition for that, but I just thought it would be a nice addition to Fairlight as well.

keyframing is still at the Frame level.

For precision and speed consider employing the Fairlight system's automation which is accurate down to the sample level.

automation.png (45.26 KiB) Viewed 1602 times

I assume you are talking about live automation? I haven't gotten that far yet, but I'm really talking about setting keyframes manually and precisely, as in dialog cleanup, etc. I guess I don't understand what you're doing in the image you posted. When I set a volume keyframe on a clip in the inspector, and try to set another a sample over, I can't. I can only set another keyframe either one complete FRAME before or after. That's a 2,000 sample spread, right?

EDIT: I think I see now. I'm reading the Editing Automation section in the manual and see what you are talking about. It is sample level, and I guess what you are saying is that you can use the pencil to draw in your sample-ish-level "manual" automation, amiright?

you can use the pencil to draw in your sample-ish-level "manual" automation

In Resolve's UI with the mouse use the Toolbar's Pencil tool to draw automation data, use Preview automation (i.e. Glide or Fill Range) with keybindings, or a Fairlight Console for absolute control and speed without requiring the use of a mouse and keyboard.

Yes, you can use the pencil tool to reduce the volume of a particular peak or noise in the waveform. Pic shows a peak 26 samples wide reduced in volume.

Hmm... To me it looks like in this figure that you've not really lowered the amplitude of the signal (samples), but have instead reversed their phase. If you changed the samples from above the line, say, to or closer to zero, that would lower the volume. You've in fact changed the sound, I think.

To me it looks like in this figure that you've not really lowered the amplitude of the signal (samples)

The black dots indicate the previous sample's position, with the green dot indicating the current level.

have instead reversed their phase.

Sample editing does not flip the polarity of the signal. Polarity and phase are not the same thing.

No phase reversal, just a lowering of amplitude. If you take the samples to the bottom they would then be muted. The black squares are showing the original amplitude.

This is a noise in the audio muted by lowering the samples.

That's what I'd really like to see added to Fairlight.

There is a separate forum for Feature Requests.

viewforum.php?f=33

Best practice is to search first, to see if someone already asked. If not, post one idea per thread with a very brief description of the idea in the thread's title.