Latency with UX2 - interpreting RATTV3 results

Realtek will never have low latency because it does not have low latency drivers nor is it designed with that in mind. It is a general purpose audio device for playing MP songs and windows sounds.  If you want low latency you will need an audio device meant for that purpose. 

Why do think there are so many add on cards for this?

Right, I appreciate the Realtek onboard card is not suitable. I don't use it for making music, I mention it only because RATTV3 said that it (along with USBPort.sys and atapi.sys) were causing latency problems, and have BIG numbers (micro seconds?) associated with them. If I'm just trying to generate some music within Sonar I use the M-Audio card, I just use the UX2 when I want to add my own guitar playing. But that's when the problems start. Its all set to ASIO, I have tried various buffer sizes and sample rates, but the sound dropouts remain. If I use the DPC Latency tool, I can see the graph frequently going into the red when I use Sonar via the UX2. :(

The guy is not clear about what he is doing.

To the original poster, you have MULTIPLE drivers specified, and it is not at all clear WHICH one you use.

Please pick ONE interface, and get everything set to that interface, and THEN talk about what issues you are having.

You CANNOT use 2 devices and ASIO at the same time, so unless your driver mode in Sonar is changing to something other than ASIO, you cannot have both the M-Audio and the Line 6 interface connected AND using ASIO.

So, please make it easy on yourself, and on us, by picking ONE and then let's get that working.

Since the Line 6 has ASIO drivers AND 1/4" inputs, why not take the M-Audio completely out of the equation by removing it altogether from your system for the moment?  (leaving the Line 6 interface using ASIO mode and the ONLY interface specified in Sonar and the default device in Windows).

THEN tell us what problems that causes you.

Thanks - just too many things going on at the same time for no understandable reason, 

Bob Bone

I have noticed my laptop has been a PITA since turning it on for music again the other week. it used to be fine.. so I can only put it down to software updates.

I noticed once I did update a few drivers (including a realtek HD one) it improved a fair bit..

*BUT* here is something I saw from focusrites site.. it might be to do with you usb ports.. and if it's using a generic hub

 http://www.focusrite.com/...en/article.php?id=1127

Guys, apologies - I seem to have confused everyone with my ramblings. The facts:

My problem is when I configure Sonar to use the UX2 (for my guitar parts) it becomes unuseable because of dropouts. I've been using the tools DPC latency checker and RATTV3 to try and track down the problem. RATTV3 generates a report that points to RtkHDAudio sys, USBPort.sys and atapi.sys as the drivers that are causing the biggest delays in my system - BUT I'm not using the realtek at the time, just the UX2.  


Sorry for the confusion, I'm pulling my hair out over this, (and I can't even format my text with carriage returns!)  :)

Thanks.

Thanks for the reply. I disabled the M-Audio and Realtek in Device Manager, checked the UX2 was my default sound device and ran DPC Latency checker. It started off a bit all over the place but after a couple of minutes with the system idle, rumbles along at 21us. I then played an mp3 file using Windows media player (No Sonar involvement) and it was horrible with lots of dropouts, and DPC showed a continuous latency of around 5000us. Then I ran Sonar and played some music I'd produced with it, and its up around the 3000 us mark, sometimes peaking every 3 seconds or so. I have tried various settings but currently the UX2 settings are 512k buffer, 16 bit - bit depth (44100 Hz).

Darn, I thought you might say that.  :)


I am a bit out of my comfort zone pulling bits out of my pc, and my eyesight doesn't help.... but okay, I will give that a go (and thanks for your continued interest). Will you be on the forum over the weekend, or shall I do this on Monday morning. The earliest I can attempt it is this evening (Friday).


Thanks again.

A few things to consider

First The UX2 is USB 1.0 and that will have an impact on your latency depending on the amount of tracks you are playing back.

Second For this reason you should get a better latency from your m-audio device. As an experiment try to record a few tracks using your m-audio card and use Pod Farm or Gearbox as a plug-in. If your latency problem is still there then it is the system and not the UX2. If your latency issue is gone then the problem is the UX2 itself

Make sure that the M-audio device is selected in sonar and everything else is not selected. Use ASIO drivers only. Those drivers will only allow you to use one device at a time. You will still need to leave your UX2 plugged in to unlock Gearbox or Podfarm so you can use it as a plug-in.


To use Pod Farm or Gearbox as a plug-in copy the dll files from the default line 6 folder into the default cakewalk vst folder

This should address your issues and you will still be able to use Pod Farm or Gearbox on your guitar tracks. If you still want to use your UX2 then the default settings are 512k buffer 16 bit 44.1 sample rate for lower latency. Use Pod farm or Gearbox outside of Sonar and not as a plug-in if you are plugging in through the UX2.

Disabling a device in device manager should turn it off. You should not need to pull the card. go to the control panel and open up your Sound icon (assuming you are using windows 7). If you see your m-audio device in there then it is not disabled. If it is not in there then the M-audio card is disabled. 

_Angus_

...I have ordered a pci usb board.

If you need a USB expansion card, get PCI-e not PCI, unless it's only to connect less-critical devices like mouse and keyboard.

What was the UX2 connected to before you added the expansion card? It's normally best to connect it to a regular USB2 port on the back of the computer.