Reaper and Retrologue 2

[Reaperinho]

Hi, my virgin post on this forum

I am wondering about possible compatibility issues with the Steinberg Retrologue 2 synth.

When I render a Retrologue 2 track to audio at a higher sampling rate (88k up), the audio sounds totally wrong.

Not sure, but it might depend on the complexity of the patch.
I also tried it with a simple bass sound and could hardly hear any difference (maybe it was only in my imagination).
But with one of my more complex voice patches, the difference is huge.

I have uploaded a short audio, first 48k (the way it should sound), then 96k:

https://app.box.com/s/o554bcic53judoff6gtdvw3vgpdg0hjo
https://app.box.com/s/85pgbqlkc60o9yi37t1r039p31iz8p8u


The problem does not exist when rendering to mp3, only with wav.



Of course I already asked on the Steinberg forum, but users there said they have no such problem. So, I am not sure what the problem is...


I am using the latest versions of both Reaper (Win10 64bit) and Retrologue 2, of course.

[Softsynth]

I haven't listened to your recordings but I have tested it.
Retrologue 2 fine here at 48k, 88.2k and 96k with every Reaper version so far including 6.42, as far as I am aware.

[Reaperinho]

Hm, did you use a simple or a heavy, complex patch?

I have attached my pretty heavy "voice pad" patch.
When I record a few chords and render them to wav at 96k, the sound is screwed up.

[Wallaby]

Installation of this plugin failed on M1 mac.
I can't test it.
The two soundfiles indeed sounds totally different.
One is a vocal preset and the other is a synth.
The program must have switched somehow by mistake.

[Reaperinho]

Originally Posted by Wallaby

Installation of this plugin failed on M1 mac.
I can't test it.
The two soundfiles indeed sounds totally different.
One is a vocal preset and the other is a synth.
The program must have switched somehow by mistake.

No, it is the same patch (the one I annexed in my previous post). I recorded the chords and then rendered them twice at different sampling rates, no switching of anything.

[Wallaby]

You have recorded the chords ? How ?
With a midi keyboard ?
You may have recorded a program change command, some keyboards sending these commands unwanted.

[Reaperinho]

Originally Posted by Wallaby

You have recorded the chords ? How ?
With a midi keyboard ?
You may have recorded a program change command, some keyboards sending these commands unwanted.

Yes, with a Midi keyboard.
No, no program change. I only have that one voice pad patch.

Also, as already mentioned, when I rendered the same recorded chords to mp3 at 96k, it sounded fine. Only with wav files does the problem exist.

[Softsynth]

I tried several of my own polyphonic and mono patches capturing MIDI only and I couldn't replicate the problem. I tried changing the sound card setting in Reaper to 48, 96 and 192khz.
Then I repeated that but with your patch, and I got exactly the same issue that you did!
Each time I changed to the faster rate the pitch very obviously changed, but on your patch only!
I suppose I will have to have another look at this some time. Why on earth it is a patch dependent issue.

Retrologue 2 is a great synth. It may not be the absolute smoothest, or have the most solid bass but it is great little synth, very flexible, very fast patch creation. Definitely worth sticking with.

[Reaperinho]

I just did a few more tests and found out that it is the phaser effect in R2 that causes the issue. I applied it to the primitive init patch and got the same difference when rendering at different sampling rates.

So I assume it is a R2 problem and not a Reaper problem, right?

[Softsynth]

Originally Posted by Reaperinho

I just did a few more tests and found out that it is the phaser effect in R2 that causes the issue. I applied it to the primitive init patch and got the same difference when rendering at different sampling rates.

So I assume it is a R2 problem and not a Reaper problem, right?

It is a weird quirk for certain. Lots of my patches seem to be immune to the phaser bug!
So I think it isn't just enabling the phaser but specifics of how it is set up too. A strange bug in R2.

Maybe try a different free vst phaser with that particular patch, if it has to be that patch.
For instance:
https://www.bluecataudio.com/Products/Product_Phaser/

[Reaperinho]

Originally Posted by Softsynth

It is a weird quirk for certain. Lots of my patches seem to be immune to the phaser bug!
So I think it isn't just enabling the phaser but specifics of how it is set up too. A strange bug in R2.

Maybe try a different free vst phaser with that particular patch, if it has to be that patch.
For instance:
https://www.bluecataudio.com/Products/Product_Phaser/

Well, if it is the phaser's fault, I think Steinberg should fix it.
Sure, I could use an external phaser, but it's not the same. Using the onboard effects allows me to share patches with other R2 users.

Let's see what Steinberg says or does, they seem to be a somewhat slow, bureaucratic, and indifferent company