KTsMusic
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Latency
I am on a Sony Vaio with MC5.
A few months ago, I had issues with getting sound to play through MIDI. Somehow, I have fixed this problem, I am getting the sound fully. MY problem is now latency. I do not have this problem with my microphone (Sampson C01U USB). I'm using a M-Audio Uno 1x1 MIDI cable. When I press a key when recording, it takes 1-2 seconds for me to hear it, which makes it impossible to do multitrack recording without going off the beat. I've gone to the audio tab and lowered the latency rate, but alongside that, It made the quality awful. I am running through my computer's sound card, which may be the source of my problems. I am completely computer illeterate, so I may have a hard time understanding what certain things mean, so you might have to put things in dummy terms for me. (Hey.. I'm only a teenager). I know I will eventually need to purchase a soundcard, but I need to make do with what I have right now. Any suggestions? Thanks ~ Katie
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Tap
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Latency is a problem that many here who are starting out with have problems with. The real solution is to purchase an adequate sound interface. The sound card that comes with most computers was not designed to work with DAW ( Digital Audio Workstation) software.
It may be possible to adjust the latency settings in the Audio properties to get better results, but there is a limit as to how fast you can adjust the internal sound card to run before it starts to stutter and drop out.
Some people on this forum have had some improvements by using ASIO4ALL or WASAPI drivers with their internal sound cards. I haven't ever used these, but perhaps these might provide some improvement before purchasing a good sound interface.
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57Gregy
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What MIDI keyboard are you using?
When I first started I listened to the MIDI keyboard while recording, not through a soft synth and not using the Microsoft GS Wavetable synth on the sound card. No latency at all.
And it is your sound card that's the cause.
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KTsMusic
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I'm using an old casio CTK-519. I've set the latency back to "normal" levels, but now I am getting dropouts. I'll click record and less than a second later get a dropout.
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57Gregy
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That is odd. Have you closed and re-opened MC and still get dropouts?
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Kalle Rantaaho
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Your problem might be related to your USB microphone (?). They are known troublemakers, and not at all recommendable for multitracking. Your computer sees it as an independent soundcard, and it's clock doesn't sync with your other soundcard..
Did you try ASIO4ALL or WDM drivers?
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Beagle
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+1 to what Kalle said. the USB mic is very likely your biggest problem - and a lack of a recording soundcard. (I understand you don't have money for one right now). try ASIO4ALL it might get you to where you can record until you can afford a recording soundcard. but - please come back and ask questions before you buy a soundblaster or turtle beach thinking that's a good soundcard!  (in fact - just remember to look at my website when you're ready to look for a soundcard!)
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KTsMusic
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How is my microphone a problem? It works perfectly...
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Beagle
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Re:Latency
2011/05/10 17:38:17
(permalink)
☄ Helpful
hi Katie - well, actually it doesn't work perfectly or you wouldn't be here! you just don't realize that the mic is part of your problem!
your microphone is a problem because it's not just a microphone, it's also a soundcard, even tho it's only one way, it's still a soundcard as far as windows and MC is concerned. it's the "USB" portion that makes it a soundcard. for your case the USB mic causes problems in several ways:
1) you're trying to use 2 different soundcards at the same time and they don't have the same clock. but MC must choose one of them to be the master clock to follow because only 1 can be "master" and the other must follow along as best it can. but since they're not the same clock, they're not sync'd with each other and you'll start to get tracks that will drift apart from each other when you start recording more than just short takes. if you record the entire 3+ minute song with the USB mic, you'll very likely be out of sync by the end of the song and not know how you weren't singing along with the beat!
2) USB mics don't have the best drivers. most of them require MME driver mode just to operate, and MME driver mode is the worst protocol possible for recording. it's very high latency - latency is what you're experiencing when you press a key on the keyboard and don't hear the sound from MC/softsynths until much later, making it nearly impossible to record unless you're only playing quarter notes at 50bpm! even if the usb mic works in WDM driver mode, it's still high latency drivers and you're still dealing with 2 soundcards (see #1!)
check my website - I've got lots of info about soundcards, mics and preamps there. and on my website I strongly recommend against USB mics - but I'm in favor of most USB soundcards! ;-)
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KTsMusic
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Ah, I see. Do these effects happen if only the MIDI cable is plugged in and the microphone is not plugged in.
And I was thinking this too, could the latency be caused by the MIDI being plugged into a USB hub, instead of directly into the computer?
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Beagle
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nope, on both counts! sorry! your onboard soundcard's hardware and especially its drivers are also very high latency because it's not designed to be a "recording" soundcard. that's why it's advisable to get a "recording" soundcard like from the list I have on my website. it gives you low latency for softsynths and real time monitoring FX as well has higher quality 24bit (most of them - the ones I recommend anyway!) converters and the USB and firewire ones come with built in preamps for mics! and the USB hub has nothing to do with latency, nor does any part of the USB system in iteself with regard to MIDI. MIDI transfer speed is only 31.25kbps while USB2 transfer speed is 480Mbps! there's plenty of room for MIDI to pass thru USB and won't cause a problem with timing! no, the problem is trying to monitor your MIDI messages with softsynths in the computer due to the round trip latency from input to output and 90% of that is controlled by the soundcard and its drivers.
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Robomusic
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When you sing into the mike it has to send the signal thru the USB cable to the Motherboard buss, to the Class compliant driver for USB, to the software (MC5) and then out of the software to the sound card to be converted from digital audio to analog audio, and then to the speakers, and from those thru the air to your ear. Each of these steps take a certain amount of time to be accomplished. Add to that the fact that the USB mike is doing it's thing on it's on internal digital clock system, and the sound card also, both of these are trying to figure out the sample rating of the driver and the sample rate of the software setting and do this all in sync. Simply not going to happen since neither of them are actually in sync. It is not that USB mikes are bad in themselves, some work quite well, it is that they sometimes rely on badly written class compliant drivers, and even the ones that have really good drivers can't compensate for the time difference with the computers built in card. So when folks say get a USB interface it is because that device will rely on it's drivers for both input and output of the signal, so it can compensate properly and sum or monitor the signals at it's driver software. What i suggest for now until you can upggrade if you so desire it to download ASIO4All drivers to run the built in card, and see if t hat makes it close enough for the time being. http://asio4all.com/ I hope this stuff helps. I remember well my early delvings into this world it was a practice in patience and fortitude.
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Guitarhacker
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As has been said the USB mic is the issue here. It is possible to use a USB mic for stuff like pod casting and it will work perfectly well. Put it in a recording setup and it shows it's ugly side.
Get a nice recording interface like has been suggested and your latency problems will be a thing of the past. Then you can get on to recording.
Oh yeah, a real mic would be a nice addition too.
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KTsMusic
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Does it make a difference that I didn't install the driver that came with the microphone?
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Beagle
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it might but I seriously doubt it. I have yet to see any USB mics that have good drivers. and even if they do - you still have the problem of using 2 soundcards! you can't overcome that problem unless you have a USB mic that has an output on it.
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