So as some people saw I made a couple posts in the qualified section for beatmaps stating that maps were incorrect along with screenshots of audacity. This didn't go over well, so instead of directly telling people (some got offended or were confused) I will show and explain the reasons behind what I did so there is a better understanding.
What is audacity Download
Audacity is a sound editing/recording program that can be used to take direct samples of what the computer outputs in the form of waveforms that are visible, this is recorded as is so there is no way to say it's wrong or incorrect. The only problem is that there are discrepancies in latency and how things are actually played, plus what the player perceives as normal may not actually be so. Also there's no solid method to set a universal offset for everyone, so what you check may not work for someone else; this could explain why others found the offsets to be fine while I had to reduce the offset to be earlier (my computer is fine tuned so latency is extremely low, others haven't taken the time to do this). So essentially this is something each player would have to do themselves as it currently is.
So how can you detect what's right and what is wrong
Simply put you just set audacity to Windows WASAPI and this records the sound directly output by the computer without any inbetween, you can then go into the editor and do what mappers normally do of listening to the initial sound and offsetting it to that point. The metronome tick in the editor is pretty distinct and you can usually lower the game volume a bit to make it more so.
Here is what the metronome sound effect from the editor looks like, as you can see it starts abruptly, this is where the sounds from the music should be aligned
So to do this you simply go to the initial timing point and have it a bit before it
go to audacity and hit record, then go back to the editor and hit play so it can sample the timing point.
Next you simply zoom in and see where the metronome tick is at, sometimes you will have to lower the music volume and raise the sound effect volume so that it's more visible. [View > Volume] The way you have your windows volume can affect this as well, I would recommend having windows at 100 so everything is visible.
Next you just use the selection tool [Looks like the text selector in an editor] and select from the metronome tick to the start of the sound from the music [where it should be set to] You can also set the display down below to show in length [it outputs as ## h ## m ##.###s, the decimals in the seconds are milliseconds]
So you have the offset now. You simply test it by playing the map. You use [+] and [-] on the keyboard to adjust it; hold [alt] and press them to go in single units. You have to use a positive local offset (it adds to it) if the metronome is early, you use the negative offset (subtract to it) if the metronome is late.
Here are some other examples
Hey this isn't working, it doesn't sound right
You don't always have to use the initial offset. You can use other parts of the song that are clear where the timing should be set. What works best is finding those spots where there's empty sound before the metronome ticks.
It takes some practice using this because sometimes the sound waves you determine to be the offset point may actually be slightly off.
There are also possibilities that there's delay from your computer to your ears (This shouldn't be true as computers can get it precise to microseconds)
Another reason that a map may not seem right using this is that you're simply playing wrong and that you're predicting/anticipating the sounds.
Marathon maps are pretty much impossible to locally offset correctly since there are multiple timing points.
Okay you're crazy, we aren't "robots" we can just sense it
To human is to err. I personally would rather have something that is precisely timed than play something and have to fool myself into thinking it's correct. If you don't like this then again like the bevy of other stuff I do, don't do it. What you hear and what you're seeing in audacity are exactly the same. Honestly I only use this method if I feel a map is timed wrong for certain or I'm trying to rank on a map. It's kind of a pain to check every map before you play it just to find out there's a tiny bit of difference.
I hope this helps some people out there as that's all I'm trying to do here. If you have any questions or need help, please feel free to ask. Depending on how this is received I will possibly do a video in the future to make this easier to understand.
What is audacity Download
Audacity is a sound editing/recording program that can be used to take direct samples of what the computer outputs in the form of waveforms that are visible, this is recorded as is so there is no way to say it's wrong or incorrect. The only problem is that there are discrepancies in latency and how things are actually played, plus what the player perceives as normal may not actually be so. Also there's no solid method to set a universal offset for everyone, so what you check may not work for someone else; this could explain why others found the offsets to be fine while I had to reduce the offset to be earlier (my computer is fine tuned so latency is extremely low, others haven't taken the time to do this). So essentially this is something each player would have to do themselves as it currently is.
So how can you detect what's right and what is wrong
Simply put you just set audacity to Windows WASAPI and this records the sound directly output by the computer without any inbetween, you can then go into the editor and do what mappers normally do of listening to the initial sound and offsetting it to that point. The metronome tick in the editor is pretty distinct and you can usually lower the game volume a bit to make it more so.
Here is what the metronome sound effect from the editor looks like, as you can see it starts abruptly, this is where the sounds from the music should be aligned
So to do this you simply go to the initial timing point and have it a bit before it
go to audacity and hit record, then go back to the editor and hit play so it can sample the timing point.
Next you simply zoom in and see where the metronome tick is at, sometimes you will have to lower the music volume and raise the sound effect volume so that it's more visible. [View > Volume] The way you have your windows volume can affect this as well, I would recommend having windows at 100 so everything is visible.
As you can see the metronome tick is really early compared to the sounds from the music on the right
Next you just use the selection tool [Looks like the text selector in an editor] and select from the metronome tick to the start of the sound from the music [where it should be set to] You can also set the display down below to show in length [it outputs as ## h ## m ##.###s, the decimals in the seconds are milliseconds]
So you have the offset now. You simply test it by playing the map. You use [+] and [-] on the keyboard to adjust it; hold [alt] and press them to go in single units. You have to use a positive local offset (it adds to it) if the metronome is early, you use the negative offset (subtract to it) if the metronome is late.
Here are some other examples
Hey this isn't working, it doesn't sound right
You don't always have to use the initial offset. You can use other parts of the song that are clear where the timing should be set. What works best is finding those spots where there's empty sound before the metronome ticks.
It takes some practice using this because sometimes the sound waves you determine to be the offset point may actually be slightly off.
There are also possibilities that there's delay from your computer to your ears (This shouldn't be true as computers can get it precise to microseconds)
Another reason that a map may not seem right using this is that you're simply playing wrong and that you're predicting/anticipating the sounds.
Marathon maps are pretty much impossible to locally offset correctly since there are multiple timing points.
Okay you're crazy, we aren't "robots" we can just sense it
To human is to err. I personally would rather have something that is precisely timed than play something and have to fool myself into thinking it's correct. If you don't like this then again like the bevy of other stuff I do, don't do it. What you hear and what you're seeing in audacity are exactly the same. Honestly I only use this method if I feel a map is timed wrong for certain or I'm trying to rank on a map. It's kind of a pain to check every map before you play it just to find out there's a tiny bit of difference.
I hope this helps some people out there as that's all I'm trying to do here. If you have any questions or need help, please feel free to ask. Depending on how this is received I will possibly do a video in the future to make this easier to understand.