Issues with Latency that I SHOULDN'T be having!

first thing I'd do is suggest that you disable the Radeon's software and run just basic windows graphics.

Both of my systems are less powerful than yours and I have the Firestudio Project as well, I always record audio tracks monitoring thru software with no noticeable latency.

I don't have to disable my video card, just the internal audio card. You should have no problem with that. Is your FW chip Texas Instruments or VIA?? If not, that could be the cause..

Oh, btw, maybe I should've included this before -- but everytime I switch buffer settings via the FS Universal Controller, Sonar throws up a window that says my Audio Engine has stopped.  It's no big deal to click the button that re-starts it, but maybe that's also a symptom of what's going on? 

Sonico


I don't have to disable my video card, just the internal audio card. You should have no problem with that. Is your FW chip Texas Instruments or VIA?? If not, that could be the cause.. 

I checked my FW card and it's a IOCREST.  I ordered it, but I've never heard of it.  How can I find out if it's the problem?  Actually order the TI or VIA and see if the problem is solved??

Are you using ASIO drivers?  Do you have the correct audio device set for the timing master?  

Just a couple of ideas.  I hope it helps. 

ASIO doesn't have anything to do with MIDI itself, but ASIO has everything to do with latency of softsynths triggered by MIDI, which is what musmin2415 stated in his original post, so gbarrett's questions/ideas are very relevant.

the advice about the video drivers and the ASIO drivers are good things to check.  they may not be what your problem is, that's why the forum is such a great place - the community of users have different experiences and different angles of advice.  Goddard's advice of asking in the Sonar forum is not poor advice - you might find more answers there to help. 

I edited it because I felt I was being too harsh.  If you want a public apology, then I do so publicly apologize.

however, if you really want to help the OP why didn't you post this information earlier instead of just discounting other responses?  I fail to see how that helps the OP. 

and no, even tho HDMI was included in my Radeon drivers, it was already disabled during the problems I was having before I disabled all of the Radeon software to get the "workaround."  So, there's no need for me to check it because that was disabled as soon as I started having problems.  thank you for your thoughts, tho. 

Goddard


Beagle, no apology necessary, I'd just happened to see your initial post but by the time I got some time to respond you'd already edited it. 

ok.   

I'm not posting here out of any obligation to spoon feed anybody anything. I'm happy to help if and when I can, but anyone needing help should first at least make an effort on their own to RTFM, check the info and FAQs on the Sonar site or their hardware or software vendor's site and use any forum search facilities first, and only then if they still can't find a solution, post a forum request with all necessary info.

I guess personally I don't mind spoon feeding sometimes - that's just me, I don't expect others to do the same.
 
but you're right they do need to post all necessary info.

Btw, as far as I can see, the OP has not even indicated what piano softsynth is being used, only some details of the hardware in use (but not the motherboard?), and nobody has yet bothered to even ask about that. Hmm.

you are correct there as well.
 
we could use more info from the OP in order to help.
 
cheers.

musmin,

I read the manual and still can't figure stuff out.  DAWs and such are so darned complex, it is like trying to spell a word w/ a dictionary but having no idea what letter it starts w/.

The forum is a helpful place, but many times OPs don't know the first thing about recording, or computers, or music.  You can write a long post and when they answer you realize that didn't have that first letter.  Or get offended because they do and think a helpful poster is talking down to them.  Take nothing personal.  One of the hardest things is figuring out how much the OP knows.  Although I've got a lot of posts, sometimes I find myself asking a basic question because I can't remember it.

later,

@

Taking some advice from another thread, I ran 2 programs to check latency & firewire chipset compatability.

Here's the results of ohciTool.exe:

OS: Microsoft Windows 7 64-bit Service Pack 1 [6.1.7601]
CPU(s):
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3770K CPU @ 3.50GHz
Physical: 1
Cores: 4
Logical: 8
L1 Cache: 32 KB (
L2 Cache: 256 KB (4)
L3 Cache: 8192 KB (1)
Installed RAM: 16345 MB

Microsoft 1394ohci.sys [6.1.7601.17514]
Microsoft ohci1394.sys [6.1.7600.16385] ????
Microsoft 1394bus.sys [6.1.7600.16385] ????

Looking for OHCI 1394 Host Controllers...

1:
Vendor : (104C) Texas Instruments
Chipset: (823F) XIO2213
Revision: 01
Status : Active
Details:
Subsysten VendorId: 3412
Subsystem DeviceId: 7856
Max # isoch Rx contexts: 4
Max # isoch Tx contexts: 8
Max 1394 Speed Capability: S800
Support: Compatible, no known issues.
2:
Vendor : (1106) VIA Technologies
Chipset: (3044) VT6307/VT6308
Revision: C0
Status : Active
Details:
Subsysten VendorId: 1458
Subsystem DeviceId: 1000
Max # isoch Rx contexts: 4
Max # isoch Tx contexts: 8
Max 1394 Speed Capability: S400
Support: Compatible, no known issues.

The next test was for DPC latency (http://www.thesycon.de/dpclat/dpclat.exe), and the graph came back showing that mine was consistently in the 'yellow' at around 1100us (& peaked around 1189us).  I'm assuming this is high.

Should this tell me anything I don't know besides now I can rule out chipset incompatbility?

Goddard:  I'll check on the miditimestamp values, and begin sifting through the other thread.  I believe one of those I already came across, and it'll come as no surprise to anyone that I was confused.  But I'll dig deeper.

AT:  I'm very thankful that someone can resonate with me at least a little, because it's EXACTLY like you said -- trying to look up a word in a dictionary and not knowing what letter it starts with.  Believe it or not, I dig putting in the hard work (no matter how long it takes) when I can narrow down what I'm actually looking for.

musmin2415, as Beagle said, you want to use the "T.I. XIO2213" Firewire (which I assume is your IOCREST FW card) for connecting your Presonus Firestudio Project interface, not the "VIA 6307/08" (which is the onboard FW controller on your motherboard). See this info:

http://support.presonus.c...st-for-Firewire-cards-

Avoid using the onboard VIA FW (if possible, disable it in your BIOS setup). It is a PCI FW chip using a "bridged PCI" connection (because your Gigabyte Z77 motherboard only supports PCI Express and "bridged" PCI, not "native" PCI) which can cause performance issues. 

The T.I. XIO2213 chip on your IOCREST PCI Express FW card is better in that respect, and is listed as compatible with your Presonus interface.

If your IOCREST card only has FW800 ports, you'll need a 9-pin to 6-pin FW cable for connecting your Presonus interface, but I'd guess it probably has a 6-pin FW400 port you can use (if you aren't doing so already?).

Regarding your DPC issue, try running Latencymon:


http://www.resplendence.com/latencymon

which offers more detailed info than Thesycon's DPC checker (I'm confident you'll read the info on that site including the FAQ for guidance on how to use it).

Have faith, help is at hand!

Goddard


musmin2415, as Beagle said, you want to use the "T.I. XIO2213" Firewire (which I assume is your IOCREST FW card) for connecting your Presonus Firestudio Project interface, not the "VIA 6307/08" (which is the onboard FW controller on your motherboard). See this info:

http://support.presonus.com/entries/21766827-Is-there-a-Firewire-Compatibility-List-for-Firewire-cards-

Avoid using the onboard VIA FW (if possible, disable it in your BIOS setup). It is a PCI FW chip using a "bridged PCI" connection (because your Gigabyte Z77 motherboard only supports PCI Express and "bridged" PCI, not "native" PCI) which can cause performance issues. 

The T.I. XIO2213 chip on your IOCREST PCI Express FW card is better in that respect, and is listed as compatible with your Presonus interface.

If your IOCREST card only has FW800 ports, you'll need a 9-pin to 6-pin FW cable for connecting your Presonus interface, but I'd guess it probably has a 6-pin FW400 port you can use (if you aren't doing so already?).

Regarding your DPC issue, try running Latencymon:


http://www.resplendence.com/latencymon

which offers more detailed info than Thesycon's DPC checker (I'm confident you'll read the info on that site including the FAQ for guidance on how to use it).

Have faith, help is at hand!

Now THIS makes sense to me - I'm actually starting to understand! :-) I'll check everything out and get back to yall.  Thanks so much for your patience, man.

Do you mean HDaudBus.sys?
If yes, have you disabled your internal audiocard, which can be done your Gigabyte motherboard BIOS. 



How are the DPC reading? I see you have about 1100us (which is high) but is is stable at that level or do you have high/low peaks?

kristoffer


Do you mean HDaudBus.sys?
If yes, have you disabled your internal audiocard, which can be done your Gigabyte motherboard BIOS. 

Yes that's what I meant - sorry.  And now that I think about it, I did turn off some of my internal audio card functions just through Windows and chose my Presonus FS as default, but all the processes won't be disable completely until I do it through the BIOS.  Correct?

kristoffer

How are the DPC reading? I see you have about 1100us (which is high) but is is stable at that level or do you have high/low peaks?
 

Well, since I stopped running "Speccy" and made some other changes that I mentioned above, the readings have been better.  (I can't tell you what right now, because I haven't been able to get down to my studio for about a week now.)  But I still want to make sure I'm making the changes mentioned in this thread in order to optimize my midi performance --- disabling all unnecessary process/software, checking all the internal audio settings, etc.

You should run this handy little app. It will show you if you have interruptions. Try it with your wireless card on,,, you'll see what we mean about all this. 

http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml