Yet another MIDI latency nightmare

S

Spillenger

New member
I know this is a common problem, and evidently a little complicated to solve, because the solution is different depending on the setup, but here goes...

Here's my system:

Dell Pentium 4 (Dimension 4600) running at 3.06 GHz, with hyperthreading technology; 1 gig RAM; 120-gig HD; secondary 250-gig hard drive for audio media; Windows XP Home 5.1

Sound Cards: Soundblaster Audigy 2 for Midi; Aardvark DirectPro LX6 for audio (ASIO drivers)

Mackie Micro Series 1202 12-channel mic/line mixer (for recording); Behringer 1202 mixer (for monitoring); Sonar 4.0.2 SE; Tapco monitors

Edirol PCR-80 keyboard/controller

Sonar 4 is working great for me, by the way -- for audio applications, which is what I mostly do. But then I wanted to see how MIDI was working. I plugged my Edirol into my computer via the USB 2.0 option. Sonar immediately recognized the keyboard as a MIDI input and I was getting sound out of the thing -- except there was that sickening delay between my hitting the key and sound coming out of the speaker.

The Aardvark LX6 is supposed to be extremely low-latency, and I'm pretty sure I have the latest drivers they put out before the company went belly up.

Just to be sure, I unplugged the USB cable, and set the keyboard up with a regular power cord and a MIDI cable. But then Sonar didn't recognize the Edirol at all and I got no sound out of it.

So, the bottom line is: I've got a fast computer, a good sound card, a good piece of audio software, and a good MIDI interface -- and I still can't get the notes to play when I play them. What is up with this?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Paul S.
 
What is actually generating the sound? A soft synth? Sonar itself? (I'm not familiar with Sonar, so I don't even know if it has a soft synth built in.)
 
Good question. I had to go do an experiment. When Sonar is not running, I get no sound. I have to start Sonar, open a new project, and choose EDIROL PCR1 - Omni as the input in order to get sound. There is no DXi synth loaded into the track, so somehow Sonar is generating the sound itself, looks like.
 
My guess is that it is triggering the hardware (or software) synth that is part of the Audigy 2. If this is the case than, the latency is caused by the Audigy, and not the Aardvark. Try loading up a DXi, and set the MIDI output on the track you have selected to the DXi you just loaded and the same channel. Also be sure that you have your low latency drivers assigned in the Options panel, and that the optimal buffers were detected (hint: Sonar usually doesn't set up the optimal setup by default, and almost never assigns ASIO drivers by default. Also, I know a lot of people have had better luck using WDM drivers with Sonar).

As far as stand-alone MIDI goes (Through the Audigy), You probably have too manually assign the Audigy External In, via the MIDI input section of the track you have selected (Make sure the track inspector is showing all info). Sonar obviously recognizes the Edirol because USB tells Sonar there is a new device when you plug it in, Whereas the Audigy is always there even when not used, so Sonar more or less ignores, unless you manually assign it. These are just best guesses. Hope they help.
 
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