Hello all,
 
I have tried everything 10 times to avoid having to come here and add yet another thread on MIDI latency issues. But I cannot figure out what to do and am at the point of banging my head on the wall. I'll try to post all the facts and make this easy to read.
 
I have Sonar 8 Producer Edition.
I have a Yamaha P105B digital piano.
I am connecting the P105B directly to my computer via a USB-to-host <--> USB 3.0 connection.
I am using ASIO.
SONAR detects my keyboard strokes, just .5-1 seconds delayed.
I have adjusted the buffer size settings in both ASIO4ALL and in SONAR (Options > Audio > General, as documented in the Sonar Knowledge Article).
I have the most recent Yamaha digital piano drivers installed.
I am running Windows 8.1.
 
Nothing works. I've given up and submit myself to power of the forums. Oh wise council, please help me understand why this doesn't work. I just want to record my music with some decent quality in the comfort of my bedroom.
 
 
Edit: added [Solved] to the subject - scook

First, understand that most "MIDI latency" ultimately turns out to be audio latency. Unless you're saying that MIDI notes are being laid down late in the timeline when you record against SONAR's audio metronome...? Assuming that's not the case, the key question is what synth are you echoing the MIDI to, and if it's back to the Yamaha, as opposed to a soft synth, how are you connecting and monitoring the Yamaha's audio output?
 
Also what are you using for an audio interface with what buffer size, and what is SONAR reporting for Input/Output latency? If you're using ASIO4ALL, chances are you're going to need to get a dedicated interface with native ASIO drivers to get the low latency performance needed for live performance of soft synths and input monitoring of your Yamaha.
 

brundlefly
First, understand that most "MIDI latency" ultimately turns out to be audio latency. Unless you're saying that MIDI notes are being laid down late in the timeline when you record against SONAR's audio metronome...? Assuming that's not the case, the key question is what synth are you echoing the MIDI to, and if it's back to the Yamaha, as opposed to a soft synth, how are you connecting and monitoring the Yamaha's audio output?
 
Also what are you using for an audio interface with what buffer size, and what is SONAR reporting for Input/Output latency? If you're using ASIO4ALL, chances are you're going to need to get a dedicated interface with native ASIO drivers to get the low latency performance needed for live performance of soft synths and input monitoring of your Yamaha.
 

Thanks for replying. I'm using Sonar's Microsoft GS Wavetable S/W synth for audio output.
 
I'm not using an audio interface, the digital piano is connecting directly to my PCs USB 3.0 port. This digital piano has a USB B port as opposed to a 5-pin midi port.
 
I own an M-Audio Fast Track Ultra 8r interface and have tried recording by using the Line Outs on the digital piano and plugging into a Line In on the interface - this method works but I feel like the sound quality just isn't that great (to be fair, it's OK. but it is definitely not great).  I have to crank the gains up really high and the overall sound quality is bleh to me, not at all comparable to other YouTube pianists who also use digital pianos. I really wanted to try MIDI to see how that can sound.
 
That said, I'm still not really sure which way to go is best (MIDI vs DI using my audio interface). I am lost. I spent like 4 hours messing around with everything yesterday.
 
 

GS Wavetable is your soundcard's onboard synth which is presented as a MIDI port to SONAR. GS Wavetable always has horrendous response time, exacerbated by poor audio output latency, not to mention horrible sound quality. i recommend you uncheck it in MIDI devices, and don't use it.
 
Try inserting a soft synth with audio track, and redirecting the output of the MIDI track tot hat soft synth (or inseret it with the Simple Instrument option which combines MIDI and Audio functionality in one track). The overall response should be much faster, although audio output latency may still be noticeable.

What audio EFX have you running in the Sonar Project?

Completely remove ASIO4ALL and reboot.
Download the latest firmware and driver and use the ASIO driver for that.

Try connecting your piano to a USB2 port.

Also note your audio interface... USB 3 is at least not supported on Win7.

http://avid.force.com/pkb...Track-Ultra-8R-Drivers

Also update your keyboard firmware and drivers.

Run windows update.

Then get tweaking if necessary.

The main thing is to avoid ASIO4ALL.

brundlefly
GS Wavetable is your soundcard's onboard synth which is presented as a MIDI port to SONAR. GS Wavetable always has horrendous response time, exacerbated by poor audio output latency, not to mention horrible sound quality. i recommend you uncheck it in MIDI devices, and don't use it.
 
Try inserting a soft synth with audio track, and redirecting the output of the MIDI track tot hat soft synth (or inseret it with the Simple Instrument option which combines MIDI and Audio functionality in one track). The overall response should be much faster, although audio output latency may still be noticeable.

Hmm, noted. The Sonar knowledge article said to use >_<. I will give what you said a try when I get home.

joden
What audio EFX have you running in the Sonar Project?

None. I created a new, blank project for testing purposes. Single track, no effects.

Doktor Avalanche
Completely remove ASIO4ALL and reboot.
Download the latest firmware and driver and use the ASIO driver for that.

Try connecting your piano to a USB2 port.

Also note your audio interface... USB 3 is at least not supported on Win7.

http://avid.force.com/pkb...Track-Ultra-8R-Drivers

Also update your keyboard firmware and drivers.

Run windows update.

Then get tweaking if necessary.

The main thing is to avoid ASIO4ALL.

So this comes back one of my big questions initially... should I be going for a MIDI connection directly from my digital piano to my computer? Or should I be going through the audio interface?
 
If your answer is "through the audio interface", then I have another question. Should I be connecting my piano from the Line-Out on the piano to the Line-In on the audio interface (which I mentioned above, I am able to do but have not been satisfied with the sound quality).
 
Or should I try to be doing a MIDI connection through the audio interface? The problem I'm having here is that my digital piano only has a USB to host. Actually, I don't even know if that's a problem. It's just that nearly every tutorial I find online shows the keyboard using a MIDI port, not a USB to host.
 
To summarize, the worst part for me now is that I simply do not know how I should be connecting to my computer for the best results. DI or MIDI?? I see 3 options:
 
1) Digital piano (usb B) to computer (usb a) - this is a MIDI connection

 
results - latency issues 
 
2) Digital piano (Line Out) to Audio Interface (Line In) to Computer (USB) - this is a DI connection, not MIDI
 
results - this works, but the sound quality is only ok. Same thing as if I plugged a guitar directly into the audio interface and recorded. The quality would be thin and mediocre.
 
3)Digital piano (usb b or Line Out??) to Audio interface (...Midi?) to computer (USB) - this would be a MIDI connection
 
results - none, i don't know how to get this to work because my keyboard uses usb b instead of a midi port.
 
 

user508
so this comes back one of my big questions initially... should I be going for a MIDI connection directly from my digital piano to my computer? Or should I be going through the audio interface?

If you want to record the audio directly from the keyboard, use the audio interface (via jack leads or whatever). That's the only way to do it if you want your exact keyboard sounds.
 
If you want to play through MIDI, you basically want your keyboard to play a soft synth in Sonar.
Connect via USB, start Sonar, insert a soft synth in Sonar (VST or whatever). Get your MIDI keyboard triggering that soft synth in Sonar.
 
Before you do all this check post #6.
 
Cheers...