• SONAR
  • HELP WITH SLIGHT VOCAL LAG/DELAY IN X2 PRODUCER
2013/04/08 22:40:03
DJ CEASE
I am a former Cakewalk Sonar 1.0 user and just installed X2 Producer (64bit) today.  I have a new laptop (Windows 8 )with a Intel Core i3 2.4ghz processor and 4GB Ram.  I use a Creative Sound Blaster usb X-Fi Go! Pro sound 'card'. 
 
Anyway, my question is this.  When I record vocals, I have a very slight lag/delay.  What should I do to fix this?
2013/04/09 00:05:07
chuckebaby
well its called latency and there are a few things you can do to improve it but I strongly suggest the sound card to be the routeof your main problem.
the X fi go isn't really aimed at running extremely audio intense programs such as sonar.

you might want to begin by lowering your buffers a little bit to see if this helps.
if its doesn't I would look into ASIO4ALL:
http://www.asio4all.com/

your soundcard is more geared toward gaming then digital audio creating. (that's not dig either, only a fact.)

download asio4all and you can still use the SoundBlaster's inputs.
2013/04/09 00:26:29
AT
Chuckebaby has the answer - but answer this question.  Is the lag during recording or is the recording lagging.

If it is the former, that happens because of what Chuck said.  It takes time to process in the digitial world.  If your latency is small enough, you can't hear it.  Sound travels at about a foot a millisecond.  a guitarist can play w/ 10 ft between him and his amp - no problem.  For most music, anyway.  Many drummers get messed up w/ latency.  If the sound of your recording is messing up your timing, deselect the "tru" button.  That should kill the output of the track you are recording.  One of the advantages of a "real" music card is there is usually a soft mixer associated w/ the hardware and lets you route the incoming signal directly to the output, skipping all the computer delay.  It is called low-latency, and should be a ms or less (since the converters still have to do their job).  I don't know if the Soundblaster has such capabilities.

I do know that old soundblasters used emu chips that ran natively at 48 KHz.  It resampled on the fly but w/ artifacts if you used 44.1.  I don't think that is still a problem these days but I would check that fact.

If your recording is behind the rest of the song, SONAR should be able to measure your latency and adjust the new tracks to the old ones.  It should be automatic, but stuff happens.  Use help.  Or just use the sync head ... no wait ... that is on an analog tape machine. Nevermind ;-)

@
2013/04/10 17:47:43
DJ CEASE
Thank you guys. It works great now!
2013/04/10 19:40:20
DJ CEASE
I downloaded ASIO4ALL_2_10_English.  Simply installed it, and I thought it fixed it, but after playing with it some more there is still an ever-so-slight lag.  After I installed it, did I need to do something within SONAR X2 to make it work? (for example, within the Edit/Preferences page?)  Thanks in advance for your help again.
2013/04/10 19:52:54
jb101
Just a thought, are you using any effects on this project on any of the tracks or busses?
 
Certain effects can cause latency - hit the "e" key on your qwerty keyboard (to bypass all the effects), and see if the latency disappears.  It's worth a try.  This will at least rule that out.
 
I don't have any experience with asio4all, so cannot comment on that.
2013/04/10 20:06:23
John
ASIO 4 All is a wrapper and can not lower the inherent latency of a wrapped driver. All it is meant to do is allow those with sound devices without an ASIO driver to bs able to have an ASIO driver. The reason is some DAW software will only use ASIO or the MME driver and no other. This is pointless with Sonar because it supports all Windows audio drivers. ASIO 4 All is useful only if you have Cubase and do not want to use an MME driver.
2013/04/10 20:55:23
Cactus Music
I don't know if that audio card is the same heritage as my Audigy II but no matter what you try, that is exactly what the results are going to be with Creative Lab audio drivers,,, The recordings do not line up... I went through every possible attempt ( years ago) and nothing worked with Sonar. 
It worked fine with non multi track software like Wave lab for transferring old tapes. But Sonar would not line up. It was just a little bit and by random amounts.  
 
I too tried ASIO4all. There is no point as it is no different than using the Creative drivers. 
You want to use Sonar, you need a proper audio interface with proper drivers. 

2013/04/10 21:52:52
chuckebaby
the creative drivers are not ASIO drivers, so there not quite the same.

DJ cease, I suggest you read the 5 page manual that comes with ASIO4ALL.

its one of those things that by not buying the right soundcard you kinda need to do the leg work to tweak it in.
trust me it will work.

its not something I would use permanently but it will get you by till you can afford a good soundcard.

just make sure its select under drivers and what ever you do, make sure MS Microsoft synth is unselected as well as your onboard soundcard.
you will have a conflict with enough power to give you a small migraine.
 
I have used it before with great results while in between devices.
as a matter of fact danny danzi was one of the people who told me how well it worked.
and he's right.
2013/04/10 23:30:12
AT
ASIO4ALL didn't work for me Charlie.  Performance was worse on a Presonus FirePod, and in fact screwed some things up.  Most people have success w/ it, but it ain't a panecea.  Or maybe it was me, proving ASIO4All isn't idotproof.

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