Trying to pick-up where I left off some months ago....

Want to record bass and fiddle parts to go with guitar and vocal audio I record.

Tried to use my keyboard with TTS, SI-Strings, etc., but the delay between key press and sound
was so great there was no point.

I tried adjusting the buffers, but that made no marked difference. Maybe I didn't try enough combinations?

I have the keyboard running to PC via a USB 2.0, not to the M-Audio Fast Track Pro with MIDI In/Out cables.

Since I haven't been successful with the keyboard, I'm starting to use/learn PRV, which seems easier than a keyboard anyway.

Two questions: What can I do to make the keyboard work? What synth (Cakewalk or other) could I use to get some good old country or bluegrass fiddle going?

Thanks.

I find that I get MIDI delay if I have a bunch of EFX active, If I use the global Bypass of EFX bins,  the delay is gone.
 
I tried both the MIDI and the USB of my Axiom 25, No noticable differance. So I use the MIDI.

I have a lot to learn about this gear.
 
Thanks.
 
 

Okay, got it. One, I recently connected the controller and the Fast-Track Pro via a powered USB hub. Ditched the hub. Two, I don't fully understand midi yet nor all of the functions of the controller, so, uh, pressing every dang button on the thing is not a good way to troubleshoot. Spent a little time with the manual - again. Three, I reinstalled the drivers for both Fast Track Pro and Axiom-25.

Here are current settings.

Driver: WDM/KS (no change)
Audi Driver Bit Depth: 24 (no change)
Sampling Rate: 44100 (no change)
Buffers: 2 (no change)
Buffer Size: 11.6ms / 512 samples (changed, no delay)

Thank you.

If you just installed the drivers, then why are you using WDM and not ASIO??

Buffer size 11.6ms / 512 samples.

I would lower that. Latency will be noticable when using soft synths at that setting. I never go higher than 256 samples. That's about the highest setting I'll use where latency isn't an issue. Go lower if you can. You can always bump it back up when you start mixing.

Well, uh, in regard to drivers, I re-downloaded from M-Audio's web site and installed/updated driver for Fast Track Pro and Axiom-25.
 
In Sonar, ASIO is not listed and WDM is (and MME I think).  Should I be downloading another driver like ASIO4All and telling Sonar to use that for the Fast Track Pro instead?
 
For the Axiom-25, Sonar handles it automatically when I plug in and power on the keyboard.
 
As for buffers/samples, I have the slider in Sonar as low as it will go.  Now, I can open the M-Audio Control console on the desktop.  I did notice that changing the slider in Sonar does not change the M-Audio Control Latency setting.  Maybe I need to set the M-Audo Control latency first, and then launch Sonar?
 
As you can tell, much to learn.  But, hey, the Axiom is working and I have been able to use it to record midi.
 
Appreciate your time and help.

Well I had both the Fast track pro and the Axiom 25 but I just gave them to my son a while back, so can't double check, but,

For sure the drivers for the Fast Track ( and all M Audio interfaces) are ASIO, not sure how the drivers for the Axiom work as it's not a audio device, it is a MIDI controller so this is a seperate item. 

First you need to set Sonar and the Fast Track up using the correct ASIO drivers, ASIO4all is only used when there are NO drivers for a device and is actually a WDM driver. ASIO is the best mode for good performance and lower latency.  

 I'm not a X1 user so cannot give clear direction there, but if things are the same then it's a matter of disabling your on board sound card, Installing the M audio 64 Bit drivers for Windows 7. Opening Sonar and turning on ASIO mode in the audio options dialog.  

Not in 'studio' so can't check just now, but searched and saw a thread which mentioned need to disable onboard sound card in order for the ASIO option to even appear in Sonar, so I'll try that.
 
I just grabbed the M-Audio's Win 7 (64) driver, don't think it specified ASIO or not....

These are steps that fixed the problem.  Perhaps they will be of use to someone else.
 
1.  Verified the on-board sound card was disabled.
2.  Opened the M-Audio Control and set latency to lowest setting.
3.  Launched Sonar X1.  The ASIO and ASIO4ALL drivers appeared in Device Driver drop-down.
4.  Chose ASIO, but after 'Apply', it was the ASIO4ALL driver that was checked.
5.  Unchecked ASIO4ALL, selected ASIO, but after 'Apply' got error message.
6.  Closed Sonar.
7.  Uninstalled, then reinstalled Win7(64) driver from M-Audio.
8.  Launched Sonar.  Selected ASIO as before.  Done.
 
Now in Sonar the 'Asio Panel' button is active (it launches the M-Audio Control).  The 'Buffers-In-Playback-Queue' text box and the 'Buffers-Size' slider are inactive.
 
Thanks again for your help!!!!