Interfaces and latency

[Lefty Geek]

I just setup my laptop to do some simple home recording. All I want to do is run EZDrummer and record some song ideas on top.

I setup Reaper to use the EZDrummer VST and I get delays when recording simple guitar. I am just using the mic/line-in with a guitar plugged in. I don't care about sound quality. There are no VST running on the audio track. Even with monitoring off, there are delays.

Would using a USB/Firewire device solve my latency issues or is it an issue with my computer/software? I am using my intergrated soundcard's ASIO driver. Set the input buffers down to 512, but that's it.

[meev992]

Don't use the mic-in, use some sort of interface. In the dorms, my roommate was trying to mock my computer interfaces by downloading open-source software and using the line in...never worked well enough to compete with me.

[bluestarbass]

Theres always going to be some sort of latency. The sound has to go into your computer, be processed then come back out. Its not an instantaneous process. Ive found that firewire is MUCH better than USB when it comes to latency. Also some software, and im not sure if reaper has this feature, will let you use low latency monitoring. It also has to do with how fast your processor is. If you have a slow computer your dead in the water no matter what. I can run pro tools with 512 buffer with a fair amount of plugs fine.

[pogipoints]

You may also try using ASIO4ALL which can help get your built-in sound card's latency down quite a bit.

Edit:
Just re-read your post, seems you're using ASIO drivers already. Does it work well with the buffer set to 256?

[hunta]

If you get even a simple 2 input USB box you will get much improved latency over your built in sound card. On my brand new laptop I have like 700 ms latency with the onboard sound, with my Focusrite firewire interface i get like 5 ms (just set it up yesterday so might be able to get it even lower). USB will be just as fast, if you're not going to be recording several tracks at once there's no reason to get firewire. Also, many laptops have problems with firewire interfaces, USB is pretty much guaranteed to work.

[meev992]

if you wanted, you can have two outputs:

Monitoring sound from one system, and the recording onto another.

It works for me.

[seamonkey]

I don't use reaper, but I'm sure it has a latency compensation soft switch. If you're not using ASIO you might have to adjust this manually.