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Difficulty with latency

S

Seigi

Jul 3, 2005
150
1
36
seigi.deviantart.com
#1
It's gotten to the point where I've completely given up on being in a band and I want to record my own material. As such, I must be able to play both guitar and bass on one recording. I recently bought this contraption: Invalid Link Removed

I recorded a basic guitar riff with my recording software (MAGIX Studio 10, because I have nothing else), and that came out fine. I even used a click track to make sure I was in time. When I recorded the bass track, though, I began having troubles. I recorded the bass track while playing back the guitar, making sure everything I was playing followed the guitar's progression. When I played back what I recorded, though, the bass was lagging behind the guitar (enough to be noticeable). I had bought this interface to get rid of this problem, and it clearly did not work.

I give up trying to figure out how I can monitor other tracks and eliminate latency at the same time. Does anybody here have any advice?

By the way, buying new equipment is completely out of the question, as I'm going to be living in a small college dorm room and my setup is pretty much limited to my laptop, my recording interface, and my axes.
 
#2
I drove myself insane with the same problem for over a year - and nobody seemed to be able to tell me a very simple thing... hope your problem is the same.

Forget the click.

If you want to use a click, record one and use that - do NOT use the midi click.

Hope that's the end of your problem.
 
#3
Have you tried different recording software? Switching to Sonar solved my latency problem.

I had terrible latency problems with Cubase (the lite one) and my Echo Mia card. I went back and forth for weeks with techs from both and got nowhere. I rebuilt the machine (fresh XP Pro install, etc.) and still got nowhere until I switched to Sonar 3 (and now 4). There's an open source package (sorry, can't remember the name) available now too so you can try for free.
 
#4
Baleen said:
Have you tried different recording software? Switching to Sonar solved my latency problem.

I had terrible latency problems with Cubase (the lite one) and my Echo Mia card. I went back and forth for weeks with techs from both and got nowhere. I rebuilt the machine (fresh XP Pro install, etc.) and still got nowhere until I switched to Sonar 3 (and now 4). There's an open source package (sorry, can't remember the name) available now too so you can try for free.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll give that a shot. I have a friend with a similar setup who uses Sonar, and he has no latency problems at all. Wish I would've thought of it. :D
 
#5
Use the UX2's ASIO drivers in Sonar and you'll be rockin'.

If you try to play thru VST plugin Amp-sims using the UX2, you'll likely experience high (but constant) latency... due to the UX2 being a USB device and having high round-trip (input to output) latency. But if you stick to playing in realtime thru the included processing/models (tone-direct) you'll be absolutely fine.


Jim Roseberry
www.studiocat.com
[email protected]
 
#7
ok here's the thing:

In cubase, the output of MIDI lags if it's connected to an active (currently recording or recording armed) input. If the MIDI out is just coming from somethin recorded, no lag. The input doesn't lag for MIDI whatsoever but it sounds lagged when recording. For that reason, I have click turned on but disable the output of the MIDI track I lay down, and use the click along with the synth included in my keyboard which I use for MIDI input. Solves my problems there

As far as audio lagging behind the MIDI, if it's still at the same tempo, but at a different starting place (like say it still moves at oh 96 BPM but is a half second behind) then make the starting point of the track a half second earlier.
 
#8
Jim Roseberry said:
Use the UX2's ASIO drivers in Sonar and you'll be rockin'.

If you try to play thru VST plugin Amp-sims using the UX2, you'll likely experience high (but constant) latency... due to the UX2 being a USB device and having high round-trip (input to output) latency. But if you stick to playing in realtime thru the included processing/models (tone-direct) you'll be absolutely fine.


Jim Roseberry
www.studiocat.com
[email protected]
Click to expand...

My friend gave me a copy of Sonar and I can't figure out how to get the UX2 to work with it. It just won't record; the monitors show no levels and the recording button is actually greyed out. :help:

EDIT: Nevermind, I figured it out.
 
#10
ASIO is not the answer to all latency problems, merely a means to an end.

Buffer size is what latency directly corresponds to. You'll find this in your audio device control panel, it will have a dropdown menu with choices like 128, 256, 512,1024.

This is the latency, in milliseconds, that you will hear. Smaller buffers have less latency, but consume more CPU cycles. It's a compromise. Larger projects with plugins and virtual instruments may not play back without choking your laptop at lower buffer settings.

A great, easy to use yet powerful DAW is Reaper. It's unexpiring shareware, so you pay for it only if you like it. It's very easy to set up, and comes with a large number of quality plugins. Reaper is constantly being improved and the forums at http://www.cockos.com/forum/ are a great place to learn.

You can get it at http://www.reaper.fm/
 
#13
He doesn't need ASIO4all because the toneport interfaces have asio drivers. ASIO4all is a band-aid for people who have consumer grade soundcards.

While I agree that Firewire is a better way to pass audio information, it is possible to get low latency with the Toneport provided the PC can run low buffer settings without puking.
 

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