Major MIDI Delays when Recording from keyboard

GeneT

New member
Lately my MIDI sequencers have major delay when I'm playing into them from my keyboards.
I have been recording in sequencers I think since the beginning of MIDI.
I did not always have this problem.
The faster and more intense my CPUs get the more unusable my live MIDI keyboard input has become.
This not what I expected.

My systems are just now beginning to tolerate live analog audio I've installed to replace the old tape stuff (Four Tracks and the like)
Why would a faster CPU have such problems managing something with such a low overhead compared to direct to disk blended environments like Sonar?
 
The obvious answer is that it doesn't have to do with the CPU...more information may be necessary, but I would think something changed in your software. New VSTi? New DAW? Something. Correct in assuming the small data stream that an Apple IIe or 8086 processor could handle should not bog down the system.
 
What midi device gets your data in to the computer. Many audio devices that also offer MIDI have a separate set of MIDI drivers, and you may have upgraded your audio, but now are using an ancient MIDI driver. My 8x8 MIDI interface sometimes needs two driver updates, rather than one. No idea why, but it always has. I'd update your drivers. You're using the Tascam?

Nowadays the midi in to midi out delay should be small enough to discount. I assume you play on one keyboard, then it goes in via the Tascam, and then out also my the Tascam, to another synth? Presumably you only have one midi output and you're using the old one device per midi channel approach? What have you changed apart from the computer, anything?

I suspect the software. Are you certain you haven't changed any of the midi processing? Accidentally adding in midi effects? I did this once by accident, adding in midi delay as an effect, and then using this song as a template for another, forgetting the delay? Easy to do in cubase. Midi channels have plenty of effects, and in a busy mixer window, it's easy to miss.
 
I just pulled my MIDI interface history records and noticed the more began to drift away from bus based interfaces like Music Quest and MPU 401 ports and began to rely on USB MIDI Interfaces the more delay I have encountered. OS faze out of support for bus based interfaces has forced me into USB MIDI support. I just regained the use of my Roland UM1 interface when I migrated from XP to Windows 7. Windows 7 and Windows 10 have both had MIDI input lag from USB so far.

Are there any USB MIDI interfaces that are good in staving off MIDI input delay.
I literally have to time shift all the MIDI events entered live via keyboard to correct the delay.
 
I tend not to use effects on MIDI events. I tend to apply my effects on playback at my mixer on the outboard.
I started out mostly analog and some MIDI; Yamaha MT1X 4 Track cassette syncned with a Yamaha QX5 8 Track sequencer.
I moved to mostly Cakewalk 3.1 for initial capture; then I import into Cakewalk Sonar to add audio.
 
I haven't noticed any USB-MIDI input lag in Windows 10 with my Yamaha keyboards, but they have built-in USB-TO-HOST ports and I have the latest Yamaha USB-MIDI driver installed.

It looks like the Roland UM-1 interface is a discontinued product, so I'm guessing that Roland might not have an updated UB-MIDI driver available for it. Is the Yamaha QX5 the source of the MIDI events you're having trouble with? If it is, then you might want to get a Yamaha UX16 interface and install the latest Yamaha USB-MIDI driver for Windows 10 64-bit or 32-bit, whichever you have.
 
Are there any USB MIDI interfaces that are good in staving off MIDI input delay.
I literally have to time shift all the MIDI events entered live via keyboard to correct the delay.

The best MIDI interfaces are and have always been the Opcode stuff running on an old Mac. Not just near-zero delay, but look-ahead functions to ensure timing is dead on. Trouble is, it's not the USB you want. It's the old Mac Serial, which is basically spot-on.

USB has no particular timing metric and has always been a big source of controversy when using USB. The thought that "midi is so nothing that USB can easily handle it" has mostly served well, but, as you're learning, USB also doesn't command top priority, either. So when things DO get loaded up with what you intend and what you don't, the USB interface suffers.

I run 35 modules on an old Mac G4 and two Studio 5LX units. Full sequencer and editor/librarian integration. Even then, it still does 40 channels of audio on top of very dense MIDI. 'Course, that's without FX or a lot of VST traffic. With even light FX, it gets crowded fast, but the setup chases MIDI first so there's no problems there, at least. When i want heavy VST/FX, I trigger through a PC dedicated to that mission.

MIDI is old. Computers are cheap. Old Macs are dirt cheap and do MIDI better than any PC and always have. Been doing this a long time and have found that I've always been ahead to dedicate my platforms. I don't do word processing, internet, graphics, CAD, FEA, or movies on my music computer. Got PCs for that stuff. I just found the best MIDI hardware/software that there was (Opcode StudioVision with Galaxy Editors) and went from there. It's limited in that they don't have editors for new stuff -- it kinda stops at Kurz K2000 or so, but it's good for my work.

I hate messing with computers! I want them to work, not pout and throw a hissy fit. And i simply can't countenance a setup that misrepresents itself. If it says it's supposed to do something, it does it or it gets tossed. The old dirt cheap Mac stuff delivers.


Ponder5
 
Couple fo things to check. Keep in mind where you are plugging in your MIDI USB. Try to stay away from hubs would be my first inclination to reduce data lag.

But more importantly, the sound module you are using which produces sound through the sound interface would play a larger role. This is where you would have to set your ASIO buffers lower when recording live, since the sound is coming from the computer/through the interface.
 
For my Keystation 88 I had to download a special USB driver from the manufacturer's website to get rid of the lag when I pressed a key.
 
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