Hey there
I have this song, made in 2008 with Sonar Producer 8 on Windows XP machine. At that time I was not using any software synths because I had severe latency issue- would take significant time for synth to respond when pressing the keys. This song only uses hardware synths, and has about 70 audio tracks. All midi tracks removed by now. At that time I noted different issues with the song, for example, my Yamaha Motif XS drum pattern would get recorded with delay- I could not match anything to those drum tracks.
So today I am trying to fix the song and manually move all the audio tracks at the beginning of the measure to start exactly on time, and it gets cleaner, song sounds ok. Now days I use Windows 8 computer, Sonar PX3 and huge collection of software synths. I do not have any audible latency issues with software synths. So I insert soft synth in to this song, and- have huge latency delay. The synths not responding on time just as it was back on the old system. Almost in panic, I open one of the recent songs, insert the same synth, and it sounds perfectly on time. Testing it in this old song- it has latency. Very audible delay- can not miss it. Checking all the settings- can not find anything.
 
My question is, what could cause latency in this particular project and how do I fix it? It was recorded in Sonar P8, had latency issue on old computer, and now opened in Sonar X3, sounds fine, but latency issue persists, but not an issue with any new projects made on this 2013 Windows 8 64 bit computer. The old song was in 16/41.4, now it set to 24/41.4. All MIDI clocks activated. What do I miss- what is going on? Is it some kind of wiring issue of old Sonar 8? How do I make it go away? I need to update the song and use some newer sounds from software synths. Thank you.  
 
 

Dollars to donuts there's a plugin using a look-ahead buffer (e.g. convolution reverbs like Perfect Space, SONAR's Linear Phase plugins, Transient Shaper, etc) that's causing SONAR to apply Plugin Delay Compensation to all the other tracks to keep them in sync with the delayed output of the track/bus with the plugin. You can bypass this on live input monitored tracks, but the best course of action would be to remove the plugin from the project (possibly substituting something else that doesn't need PDC) until after all the audio and MIDI has been recorded and the added latency won't matter.

I COMPLETELY agree, concur, flat out go along with, and think it to be so, what Mr brundlefly has posted.
 
What happens if you load this project and hit 'E' on your computer keyboard?  (This has a key binding to toggle 'Bypass All Effects' off/on).
 
If your latency issues clear up immediately after bypassing the effects, then one or more of them is likely meant for mixing/mastering, and will require the ASIO Buffer Size to be set WAY higher.  In addition, these kinds of plugins make it just about impossible to use while tracking (recording), because of the need to crank up the ASIO Buffer Size to accommodate them.
 
Some folks have to turn their ASIO Buffer Size up to 1024 or even higher, depending on the plugins used during mixing/master, but that is fine, since you aren't concerned with recording at that point.
 
Soooo, low latency through a small ASIO Buffer Size and lean plugins during tracking, and then high latency through a large ASIO Buffer Size and look-ahead processing plugins (and CPU-hungry ones) during mixing/mastering.  You will for the rest of time be adjusting your ASIO Buffer Size back and forth, as you switch back and forth between recording and mixing/mastering.  It is the nature of it.
 
Bob Bone
 

Thank you for your reply. I suspect it has to be some kind of compensation delay, also I did not look at my buffers settings... Back on old system I had to have pretty large buffer settings for the FireWire audio mixer to work properly. But Buffers are global settings, it is not per project setting, right? The Sonar X3 on the new computer with Presonus StudioLive 24 is set to low buffer, like 256 or 512 at max. It is interesting idea about forward looking plugin... I do not see any "Mastering" plugins, other than Multiband Compressor on Vocals- the old one that came with Sonar and can be found under Direct X. When I stop audio, I still have tale from reverb audible for a second and the Stop operation feels slightly delayed. I can try to get rid of Multiband Compressor- the only one considered to be Mastering plugin...
 
I do not have that many effects- may be 10 or 15 Compressors- not multiband- the regular once that came with Sonar. Audio is not delayed. When I press Play, Audio starts right away. I find delay in recorded audio tracks when I use microscope- I can see that recording started and then spikes on wav image appear- slightly later, so I had to manually drag all the drum tracks to the beginning of the track. I thought that it must be related to long audio cables and Yamaha Motif's sequencer playback response time. That is separate issue from the new problem of software synths that I insert today and that have 3 seconds delay. I open another project in the same Sonar program with the same global settings and these same software synths working perfectly, but in this one song (and possibly other old songs recorded with Sonar 8- did not test it yet), I have delay in plugins response. So it is not Audio playback that waits for plugin. Audio starts, plugin sound responds late.

have you tried ASIO4ALL?it fixed my onboard ASIO latency issues... www.asio4all.com -Shawn

1.  ASIO Buffer Size needs to be small when you are recording, in order to avoid latency issues and dropouts.
 
2.  ASIO Buffer Size usually needs to be changed to be really big when doing mixing or mastering.
 
3.  Yes, the ASIO Buffer Size is a global setting.  It will need to be changed from small to large as needed when working on either recording or tracking, and this will ALWAYS be the case, forever.  If the project you are working on right now is still having tracking (recording) being done, then avoid the presence of plugins that use Look-Ahead processing, and keep your ASIO Buffer Size SMALL.  If the project you are working on right now is finished with recording and now in the process of being mixed, go ahead and add whatever Look-Ahead plugins you want, and adjust your ASIO Buffer Size to be as big as is needed until the playback does so without dropouts.  This ASIO Buffer Size at this point may be 1024 or even higher.
 
4.  I asked you to do a test, where you toggle 'Bypass All Effects' by hitting the letter 'E' on your computer keyboard, to see if your effects plugins are what is causing you trouble.  If dropouts go away whe effects are bypassed, then one or more effects is causing the dropouts, due to its requirements needing a larger ASIO Buffer Size than was specified.  This usually occurs during recording, when a plugin that uses Look-Ahead processing is loaded while recording is still occurring.  If this is the case REMOVE the plugin and swap it for something else, just until the recording is finished.  Once mixing begins, the plugin can be loaded back into the project, and with adjusting the ASIO Buffer Size upward until playback works properly, it should be fine.  BUT PLEASE DO THE TEST and post back.
 
Bob Bone
 

shawn@trustmedia.tv
have you tried ASIO4ALL?it fixed my onboard ASIO latency issues... www.asio4all.com -Shawn

ASIO4ALL is at best a band aid for systems that do not have a dedicated audio interface, and would not apply here, as she has a nice audio interface.  Her issues appear to be really a matter of which plugins she is using, and what settings she has for her ASIO Buffer Size.
 
Bob Bone
 

Start tasking one thing out of the signal chain at a time until it stops. This is a great way to troubleshoot your problem and it will only take a few minutes to do.
 
CJ

One thing out of the signal chain? You mean, effects?
 
Robert, thank you for the "E" suggestion and your detailed post. You saying to just press E to bypass effects? I have to try that. If I press E again, it will turn them back on?
 
The issue is not dropouts or delay in audio. Yes, I am in mixing stage, but I want to add few parts from softeare synths. It is not recording of audio, it will be recording MIDI notes. I do not know how to tell which plugins use forward looking anything. But note that no other projects have this issue. These same plugins work fine in mixing, recording and doing whatever I need in other projects. No need to change the buffers.
 
This project was using pitch shifter and few Cakewalk reverb instances- Reverbs are gone due to switch from 32 bit to 64 bit system. There was something wrong with this project- it's MIDI clock and triggering of Motif's sequencer and the turn around from the  time MIDI sequencer was triggered a pattern by note to the time Audio gets recorded- it was like Motif's sequencer would start playing but by the time it goes over audio cables, it appears slightly behind. It makes sense to me that something would affect the software synths tho. How can effects on the tracks affect software synth latency if it has enough memory? I used to have latency issue in all projects on old system, this is why I could not use soft synths when everybody started to use them. Now that problem is gone, but it persists in this one project. In fact few weeks ago I was mixing one of the old projects with new software synth and there was no latency. It is just this one project, and latency is overwhelming- when I play  MIDI note on MIDI controller, I can count to 3 before I hear the sound. I will try E trick but I have feeling that it must be something else. Think more. :)  
 

One thing out of the signal chain? You mean, effects?

Yea, and if there is anything else, do those also. 
 
Just take one thing out at a time until it stops and you have solved your issue
 
CJ