Line-in to Windows Desktop...

[eastcoasteddie]

I hope this is in the correct section...

So I have never used my computer for recording, and decided to try it out.

I was able to get a mono-to-stereo adapter for my instrument cable, then another adapter from 1/4" to 1/8" in order to plug into the line-in Jack of the sound card.

Issue I'm having is that sound coming from the speakers has about a 1/2 to 1- second delay when playing live. Why is this and how can I get it to not delay?

Or do I still need to get some kind of gadget in between the instrument and computer?

This is a 6-month old Dell XPS 8700 series with Win 8.1...

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[seamonkey]

Try ASIO4ALL

Some daws can and will use WDM/KS drivers and get really low latency (cakewalk for one), unfortunately many expect ASIO drivers to do it. ASIO4ALL gives ASIO to daws that need it.

In either case you set the buffer sizes from inside the DAW. It's usually a trade off on sample rate and buffer size versus performance. So tune-up the PC

To tune up your PC, Take a look at DPCLatency checker DPC Latency Checker

 

[Joebarnes]

+1 for ASIO4ALL, but get yourself a decent USB interface. They really aren't expensive (Around $50 for a cheap one) and will often come combined with a light version recording program like Cubase or something like that.

You will be much happier than trying to jury-rig something just to get a really poor sounding recording.

 

[eastcoasteddie]

Hmm...
I downloaded Asio but can't seem to get it to open or anything....i have the instructional .pdf and in that it says I should have an icon and a tray...but don't...

 

[seamonkey]

Bring up a DAW that uses ASIO and in the preferences select ASIO4ALL, then in your DAW pick the show ASIO panel button.
ASIO4ALL will start up and you'll see the control panel for it.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

Hmm...
I downloaded Asio but can't seem to get it to open or anything....i have the instructional .pdf and in that it says I should have an icon and a tray...but don't...

You need to get some kind of Audio Interface.
I had the same problem.
Just recently, I got on sale PreSonus AudioBox USB 2x2 USB Recording Interface.
It also came with the DAW - Studio One 2.
No more latency issues, but now I need to learn how to properly use that Studio One, and, what's more important to me,
how to get a good bass sound (that pleases me) in the computer.

 

[seamonkey]

Presonus has their own ASIO drivers, no need for ASIO4ALL, unless you want to combine multiple interfaces into a single ASIO instance.

Buying a separate interface will sure be easier. Especially if you can contact their support when/if you have any problems.
Interfaces are great if you need all the extra jacks/levels/mic inputs, etc.
Studio One Artist thrown in is worth the price of the interface itself. It's a great DAW.

But you don't always need an interface. PC's have shipped with high quality built in audio for years now. Seriously good audio. If you only need a stereo pair it works, it's one less thing to carry around. In fact I can start and run Studio One 2 directly with WDM/KS at 10ms round trip latency without ASIO at all. YMMV of course. There's a learning curve either way.