VST and MIDI latency...

[bean 123]

I use a SB extigy right now, and use both Cubase SX and Reason 2.5. I have adjusted Reason to the point the latency is tolerable (around 69ms) but cannot seem to adjust SX at all. I've searched this forum, the manual endlessly, and experimented for hours, and I'm still unable to get the latency down....I am using the monitor feature ( which also has latency w/ audio) and the only conclusion I can come to is that I must get a new soundcard... the words " zero latency monitoring" sounds VERY appealing in the product descriptions....Is this my only choice??

[Bass Master "K"]

Have you adjusted the buffering for your SB to lower the latency?

In general though, SB's are not great for recording, but some people do make it work.

[dafduc]

Zero-latency monitoring is a process where incoming audio is shunted directly to the monitor to avoid latency - doesn't even pass through the cpu. It does NOT apply to monitoring VSTi's.

If Extigy has an ASIO driver, use it. You should get your best latency there. If not, you'll want to find a box that does do ASIO. M-Audios are good if you're on a PC.

Your other option (I do this, 'cos my PC's old and a bit slow) is to monitor your outboard synth directly, record the midi, then point it to a VSTi (with full latency offset). This can make for better timing than you get in a barely-tolerable latency situation - you don't want to do the full offset, because you were adjusting your playing to compensate, but there's not usually any one value that will get you good clean timing. This wouldn't be an issue, of course, with latency under 6 or 7 ms...

Daf