Hello all, here again with yet another new problem. This time it is midi lag while working from the midi keyboard. Being a former and sometimes, still, Reason user, I have never had any lag issues before now. But, now, while using just Sonar, I am getting lag so bad that even the quantize feature can't fix it. I have changed the buffer and was already using ASIO drivers but still the same lag.
 
Does anyone know something that may be causing this lag? If so, I would appreciate any help or ideas you can provide so that I can try to rid myself of this lagging.
 
Thanks for your time,
 
bob

So what is your lag / latency Asio buffer size currently set to ? What plugins are engaged in your project ?
Is this latency a VST synth inserted ? . .  or a Hardware external synth ? More info regarding that please.

# 1 cause of midi latency is having certain effects active like the LP64.. 

Do you have tempo changes? Try to play while looping? Are you using DX instruments (f.e. TTS-1) ?

most often I find it is delay compensation that causes the lag.
Try clicking on the PDC button on the console which will disable delay compensation on the live inputs 
You can also try clicking on the FX button in the console which will disable all plugs & reduce latency and system load.
 
Chuck

Thank you all for your responses, I do appreciate them!
 
Noynekker, I just responded to your other reply to me about the stuck program. I am not currently at my DAW, but the buffer is set at the mark right before the smallest amount. It is a vst not hardware. I believe it is called "Sonar Sound Center" or something like that. I am trying to use the standard "bells" for a riff and its basically impossible to do, even with looping and quantize. I have never had a problem like this to this degree before. Also, I am using quite a few plug-ins which are of your standard type, e.g. compressors, EQ (LP-64) reverb, channel tools and a few more which are used sparingly here and there. From what you said on the other post, it sounds like the LP-64 must go since this lag problem is on a different song. Thanks, and I hope that you have enough info now, if not, I'll try to give you some more when I am at the DAW.
 
Cactus Music, Azslow3 and Synaptic, I appreciate your responses and they all seem to say the same thing more or less, which means I need to take a closer look at the whole deal. With Reason, I had not one instance of a lag-ever. Not that I m bragging about that, but I just never did anything more than play and record-it always worked. Apparently, Sonar is a more complicated thing than Reason. I will see what I can do with your suggestions and hope to resolve the issue.
 
By the way, as I mentioned up above here, I think I am using Sonar Sound Center with the "bells" patch. I have no tempo changes in this particular loop, Azslow3.
 
I wondered about those things that you mentioned, Synapic, and will be nervously pushing those buttons that you pointed out. I hope it works because it certainly sounds like it should do something in the way of fixing this. It would be really cool if it did anyway!
 
Thank you guys, I  be back soon with a report and let you know which method solved my problem-maybe all of them?
 
bob

Hi - there is nothing 'wrong' with the LP-64 or Perfect Space, or any other plugin that adds lots of DPC Latency to projects.  It is a matter of understanding WHEN those plugins should be used.
 
The plugins I listed above, and others like them, are not meant to be used during the recording phase of a given project.  Due to what they are doing, and how they do it, the added latency for those and other similar plugins is expected and needed.  These types of plugins are meant to not get loaded into a project until all the recording is done and you have moved to mixing/mastering.
 
When you are recording, you need a low latency in order to be able to play and hear sounds with no delay, so to do that, if using ASIO drivers for whatever audio interface you have, you want to adjust the ASIO Buffer Size to be small enough to where there is no audible delay between playing a note and hearing the note play, but the buffer size shouldn't be brought down too low, as that too can cause audio issues.
 
Once you begin mixing, you no longer need to worry about the latency, and in fact, you will want to jack the ASIO Buffer Size way up, to provide buffers large enough for plugins I mention above with enough buffer for them to do things like look-ahead processing (reading ahead in order to know how to process the audio data).  Having a larger ASIO Buffer Size is needed for these kinds of plugins, and the caveat is that with this large ASIO Buffer Size, the latency WILL be such that you wouldn't realistically be able to continue to record, and THAT is why you don't want to load such plugins until after all of your tracking/recording is finished.
 
For the rest of time, in any given project, you want a reasonably small ASIO Buffer Size during recording, and a huge ASIO Buffer Size once you begin mixing - you will need to set the ASIO Buffer Size appropriately when beginning a new project and doing recording, and again once you start mixing.
 
For MY system, I choose to set my ASIO Buffer Size to 128, which with my audio interface running ASIO, produces just under a 10 ms total round-trip latency, which is a good balance, and I never have latency issues this way when recording.  If I need to add effects plugins, I make sure that any plugin I add during recording is NOT one of the ones that adds a bunch of latency, even if that means I will swap one or more plugins out for more robust effects once I move on to mixing.  So, instead of using Perfect Space while recording, I will use a reverb plugin that doesn't incorporate look-ahead processing.
 
Once I finish recording and move to mixing, I first adjust the ASIO Buffer Size from 128 all the way up to either 1024 or 2048.  NOW, I can load in plugins like LP-64 or Perfect Space, or Boost 11.
 
For a project that is experiencing delays/lags, if you have some of these kinds of plugins loaded in, you can easily test playback/recording with plugin-induced latency by hitting the letter 'E' on your computer keyboard, which will toggle all effects processing to either On or Bypassed.  So, if you are trying to record and having latency problems, try doing it again after toggling the effects off - ('E').  IF you have bypassed effects and your latency/lag goes away, then it confirms that one or more of your loaded plugins for that project are causing the lag, and you can take a closer look at the plugins to see if you have accidentally inserted a plugin that shouldn't be added until Mixing/Mastering.
 
 
 
Bob Bone
 

Hello guys, I sent a reply to this thread and all your answers yesterday but it isn't here for some reason! I will have to re-state everything I suppose.
 
In the ol nutshell, what I said was  that I really appreciated everyone's help on this. I no longer have any lag at all (at least on this particular song) and I think that it was a combination of 2 things probably: the PDC button that Synaptic told me about and dumping the LP-64. It works perfectly for now anyway. Also, thanks to Mr. Bone for a very well presented explanation on buffering and not needing to dump the aforementioned LP-64. I am grateful for your insight and will put it all to good use because its just good advice from someone who knows firsthand. I intend to follow your wisdom about mixing and buffering and see where it leads me. Thanks so much!
 
I am good for now guys but stay tuned on the big board for more questions because you guys are good.
 
Thanks,
 
bob

I've had no luck with the piano roll working with midi data playing in time in windows 10pro. Splat 16 6