# Help! Snap to zero crossing question



## Scott Cairns (Dec 27, 2004)

Hi Guys, Im in a bit of a bind, I have to chop up a 2 min wav file into small sections no longer than 4 seconds.

I have set the option in Cubase to snap to zero crossing so I dont get clicks..

The problem is.. Im still getting clicks! I tried fading them out in Sound Forge too and they are still there!

Does anyone have a suggestion? I was trying to fade out about 200ths of a second as near as I can tell (3.998?), is this not enough perhaps?

Lastly, does anyone know if perhaps the standard bar snapping might override the snap to zero function? Im leaving bar snapping on so that I get accurate cuts but perhaps this is a culprit? Who knows.


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## Marsdy (Dec 28, 2004)

Hi Scott

If the audio is stereo it is unlikely you will get a zero crossing on both sides of the stereo pair. One side might hit zero but not the other although it might be close.

I'm not sure that is your problem though as a fade should get rid of any clicks that are left. A fade of only a few samples should be enough although you may get a "bump" if there are a lot of low frequencies in the audio. 

Are you able to try a different audio card/driver? I mention this because I can't use my RME hardware on my PC for audio editing as it doesn't support wacky sample rates and if I use the motherboard's audio I get clicks that shouldn't be there.


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## Scott Cairns (Dec 28, 2004)

Hi Dave, thanks for your suggestions. I was thinking that perhaps when I do hear a click, its not just the end of the first file but maybe the start of the other one too?

Im going to experiment with fading out the last few milliseconds of the first file but also fading in the next offending one too.

Im not really in a positionto try othersounds cards right now, hopefully its a simple fix (crosses fingers).

Thanks again for your help though. :wink:


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## Nick Batzdorf (Dec 29, 2004)

There's nothing magical about zero crossings. They can click as well as any other edit point.

God created the fade for getting rid of clicks.


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## Herman Witkam (Dec 29, 2004)

I don't think God studied electronics. :D


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## Nick Batzdorf (Dec 30, 2004)

Now that's a great opening for a philosophical debate.


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## DKeenum (Jan 7, 2005)

Just my opinion: Sound Forge is easier for me to do these kinds of edits. You can pick it up really fast.


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## Scott Cairns (Jan 7, 2005)

Thanks, Soundforge is exactly what we ended up going with.


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## FilmComposerZ (Jan 7, 2005)

Scott,

I think what you should do is cut at the zero crossing, and if the other channel is not crossing zero, i think in SoundForge you can redraw the wave and make it cross the zero. Just an idea

Pablo


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## Scott Cairns (Jan 7, 2005)

Thanks Pablo. The problem I had turned out to be a few things, zero crossing was definetely one of them, but I also had to combine two or even three wav files at different times. 

I discovered that some of the glitches were due to the files being slightly different lengths. Even a few milliseconds would throw a nasty spanner into the mix. So initially chopping different files to zero was causing different lengths of files, we had to go in, cut all files to the exact same length and then make sure the starts and ends crossed at zero. Was a bit of nightmare!


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## Nick Batzdorf (Jan 9, 2005)

The problem is that you're trying to match two pieces of audio that don't match. Occasionally you can cut on zero crossings and not hear a click; usually you will, and drawing in one wave cycle isn't going to do a damn thing. I'd much rather cut on a transient peak than a zero crossing if I'm not going to use a crossfade.

Crossfading won't match up a goat with a pair of pajamas, but at least you won't hear the edit. There's this macho thing about not using crossfades, and I simply don't understand it.

If you're looping samples, then crossfading isn't the first choice, but for editing it's much easier to crossfade and be 50 seamless edits ahead while other people are standing around arguing about zero crossings. There are times they don't work, but they sure save time when they do.


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