Don't they have to be on the timeline first to sync them?

This was the only way I could find to try to sync them. And the error message suggests Vegas thinks something is wrong with the media files. As does the fact the media property sees no timecode in the media.

At any rate, if there is another way, I need exact directions because the help file is very vague.

I also thought that this only worked with Broadcast Wave Formats.

It is in the BWF. That is what the bext chunk is for.

If the timecode is on one of the stereo tracks, then Vegas will not read it. It does not know analog timecode.

and with any multicamera, you have to have them on the timeline on separate tracks first I believe.

I am not sure it would sync audio with timecode, I know it will do it with Video that has timecode.

I realize now I gave you some bogus information and I apologize. It has been a long time since I worked with timecode. You are correct in you apply the sync with the files in the media pool and it is supposed to lay them out on the timeline based on timecode. Again, sorry for being confused and questioning your steps. If you have a wav file you can upload somewherre I can try it on my version 12 of Vegas to see if it works correctly here.

I created a BWF file with my Sonar software and vegas does not see the timecode. I also recorded within vegas as a BWF and it does not see timecode. I am thinking this option might only work with video, but still not convinced. It seems like I did this a long time ago but I haven't worried about timecode since I joined the NLE world.

Yes, here are the files I used. This is the version with the timecode in the BWF format, the same files used in the above video.

I am thinking this option might only work with video, but still not convinced.

That would make no sense. The whole point of timecode is to record the video with a camera and the audio with a separate audio recorder, while using the same timecode with both devices, then syncing the separate video with the separate audio in the editing software. Yes, it can also be used to sync multiple cameras shooting the same scene from different angles, but that is just a nice byproduct of what timecode was designed for.

Essentially, timecode was invented to be for video what a slate is for film. It has been around continuously since the analog days of 1967 or so, so it is not some new idea that the Vegas team could not have heard of yet. And considering Vegas started off as an audio editor, I am very surprised it does not know how to deal with the traditional time code being recorded as an audio signal, but would be even more surprised if it cannot interpret the BWF metadata.

Yes your files contain the correct BWF timecode info since they position themselves correctly within an Audition Multitrack session. However, as you have found, Vegas 15 doesn't seem to be able to correctly find and use that metadata for some reason.

Thanks, ryclark. So, at this point I have to hope that someone from Magix will notice this thread, and that Nick includes it in his list of known bugs.

Vegas Pro can read the BWF timecode but only while you import the BWF files via the file menu BWF import option, not for that context menu layout option.

If I use the BWF import option for the two files you offered for download, Vegas Pro places "test1.wav" at timeline position 00:17:01 and "test2.wav" at 00:17:08 (take care of the import settings on the bottom of the import window).

I never even noticed the BWF import. My eyes just passed over it. Thanks Marco.

Just a side note …

If a BWF file is used in Vegas Pro, take a look at its file properties. There is a "time reference" number for the "BWF Information". This is the sample count which represents the timecode start of the file.

For "test2.wav" the time reference is  49375589 (samples).
It's 48 kHz – so  49375589 divided by 48000 is 1028 (seconds) which equals the timeline layout after BWF import in Vegas Pro.
 

I imported the files I created in Sonar and they worked perfectly. Thanks

Thanks, Marco! I never noticed the BWF import either. Now, I guess I’ll have to create a YouTube tutorial. Though I shall wait till my two Tentacles, that I ordered yesterday, arrive. These two test waves I made in Audacity by hand.

Would it be possible that support for audio timecode could be added to Vegas?

Tools like the Tentacle and other "SMPTE workflows" are ubiquitous. While Avid Media Composer can handle this type of timecode for a long time, Adobe added support to Premiere a while ago.

Yes, it seems very odd that you would have to Import BWF audio files separately in order to use the embedded time reference. 😞 However even if it eventually happens automagically you sometimes need the option to ignore the time stamp.

Well, Marco . . . Today my Tentacles have arrived. I promptly hooked one up as an audio input (using an XLR adapter that I bought with the Tentacles) to my Blackmagic Design Video Assist 4k and just recorded the video out of the HDMI output of my computer.

I then used the Tentacle utility to convert the LTC audio to video metadata. I am not familiar with the structure of .mov files, but this is the ending of the converted file, including to what to me looks like a mention of the timecode:

But when I check its properties under Vegas (Pro 15, current), it does not know about that metadata:

So, what am I still missing?

On a related issue, when the timecode in the .wav file starts at several hours, the method Marco described places the wave that far in the project timeline. When that happens using several waves and aligning the corresponding videos with them, and grouping it all together so it stays aligned, how do I drag it all to the start of the timeline (and keeping the whole group all synced, of course)? I mean, yes, I can drag it with a mouse, but when there are hours of empty space before it all, is there some simple keypress or mouseclick that would remove all the empty space from the event that is the earliest in the group, while moving everything else in the group with it still synced?

I thought I was able to remove all empty slack in front of an event in the past, but for the life of me I cannot remember how.

In the 'Time Format', (right-click time display) just change the "Set time at Cursor" prior to importing. So the head of the timeline starts at, or just prior to the files' TC.

In the 'Time Format', (right-click time display) just change the "Set time at Cursor" prior to importing. So the head of the timeline starts at, or just prior to the files' TC.

Wow, I didn’t know you could do that. Alas, it still leaves all the leading empty space in the project, it just assigns negative time to it. What I’d like to do is remove the leading empty space from the project.

Oh, wait, you said before importing... OK, sounds good, but that assumes I know the starting time code before I import. Let me try to figure that out, but it sure complicates everything. I would just like to import it and then delete all the leading empty space. I thought there was a way to do that (I seem to vaguely recall that from one of those Gary Rebholtz [I think that is his name] tutorials).

Hi,

if you manage to know the timecode before import, you can set the ruler start time in the project properties (Properties --> Ruler). That avoids the negative timecode in the timeline (and empty space). And you preserve the original timecode in the timeline if you need that for your workflow.

To delete the empty space you can select a region of the timeline and enable auto-ripple (Ctrl+L) and press delete. Don't forget to disable this option afterwards.