I know many people have posted about latency and I have done much searching and am still having issues. I can have two or less tracks and have latency problems with both MIDI and audio. I will test first and find zero latency, but the moment I arm a track or either try to "preview" or record on a new track that's when the latency appears. I tried some test project where things went not too badly (using several tracks soft synths), but a project where I have only one guitar track the latency is impossible to work with. the panel reports a 10.5 msec roundtrip, which is probably what it is before I hit record, but after... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HP Pavilion dv7 Notebook PC 7-2630QM CPU@2.00GHz 8.00 GbRAM 64 bit O/S, m-Audio FastTrack C400, Roland JV-80 controller, Trapkat v.3.0 with an Alesis DMPro, Sonar X1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- my gear is not old and crappy, it's vintage! Me, on the other hand...

10.5 RTL is about right for a fast track. You need to monitor BEFORE your signal goes into the computer for input. Very few interfaces have real low ( 4ms) latency, yours is about normal. You just have to monitor directly and not after the fact.
 Your computer is not as much the issue, It's the M audio drivers. Also if you are adding any plug ins and listening to the output of those it will be worse. Track with your efxs bins bypassed. 

What are your bit rates set at for record and playback?

Are you using ASIO, WDM, MME ?

If you are running FX or any plugins like John said, select the [F/X] button on the control bar in Console View and that will bypass them all.


Also you can try selecting the [PDC] button on the control bar as well.

Dont forget to select everything back after you record

Yes...recording at 44100 (unsure what playback is at?) and using ASIO. FX are being bypassed. The PDC "trick" seemed to help abit...thank you so much. Also, not clear on how to monitor before the signal goes into the computer for input. Doing some searching on how that looks, most of the results I'm finding seem to be related to hearing audio FX when I search for input monitoring. Again, I do want to thank both you gentlemen for your help so far! Al

OK al,

Hit P on the keyboard and Preferences window should pop up 

Under "Audio" Select "Driver Settings"

Set your Audio Bit Driver Depth to 24 or what ever you prefer

Check the 64-bit Double Precision Engine


Under "Audio" Select "Sync and Caching

Under "File System" this is where you will see Playback I/O  &  Record I/O settings

the greater the number, the more latency you will hear.  You will have to work it up to a lower figure while trying to maintain a stable system.
Id start it off at 512 or 1024 and work your way to 256, 128 etc...  on both until your are happy


Let us know what you come up with

I must apologize,

This is for X1 but I think 8.5 is very similar on this process if not the same.  Its been a while since Ive had 8.5 up and running.

Still keep us posted please

Thanks again Cactus Music and Mike! I have the bit depth at 24 and have the 64bit box checked. I have 200ms for both playback and record and things seem to be responding much better :)

Great!

What were your settings on this part

Under "File System" this is where you will see Playback I/O  &  Record I/O settings  the greater the number, the more latency you will hear.  You will have to work it up to a lower figure while trying to maintain a stable system.  Id start it off at 512 or 1024 and work your way to 256, 128 etc...  on both until your are happy 

You will have to scroll down through the different option there to find it but you will know when you see it.

This will make a huge difference in your latency you are hearing if its to high

Input monitoring is just like the title implies. You monitor your input signal. 
Using either headphones or the monitors. The fast track has a dial to select between Computer and Input,   it mixes the 2 together  so to listen to both your playback and the input you set it halfway. 

If it was set to computer then you will hear what is coming out the "back end" and it will be delayed by your system latency. Changing those settings will improve this but it will still throw your timing off so I don't bother. 
Buy mixing in the input you are now hearing the playback and your new signal you wish to record. Disable input echo or you will here the delay again,  it's the Purple ))) icon on each track.