Recording latency vs monitoring latency

dbowers01

New member
Hi

I'm new to the forum, and just a bit embarassed by this newbie question (I feel really dumb....). I am using Audacity for recording acoustic instruments - specifically, a guitar and hammered dulcimer, both mic'd. I have a Xenyx 1202 FX mixer, running into an M-Audio M-Track USB interface. When I initially installed the M-Track USB driver, all worked well.

I recently developed a problem which I can't figure out. Initially, I tamed recording latency for overdubs by doing a latency test with the click track in Audacity, and adjusting latency correction appropriately - all good. Initially, all worked fine - I have headphones running out of the M-Track, and when I went to record an overdub, I would hear the first track through the headphones with NO latency when I played the overdub. FYI, the headphones would not go 'active' until I began to record the second track.

This morning - for reasons I can't explain - the headphones appear to monitor all the time (even when not recording) - and there is a significant delay in the headphones when I play the acoustic instrument. When I attempt to overdub a second track, I can no longer play in sync with the previously recorded track. Yet there still appears to be no latency issue when I do a 'click track' latency test. I would appreciate any guidance from those who understand my confusing post, on where I might look to adjust a setting to remove the (new) monitoring delay.

Thanks,

Dennis
 
Firstly, I would check the Preferences and make sure that you're using the correct driver (ASIO) for the M-Track.

However, I would seriously look into getting a better tool for the job. Audacity is an audio editing suite. It's not really designed for multi-track recording, even though you can use it in such a way. You'll have a lot less issues with a dedicated program.

Reaper is free to try and cheap as hell to buy if you like it. (Even after the 30 Day Trial you can continue to use it, uncrippled) You should give it a go.

:thumbs up:
 
The M-Track appears to have a simple analog input monitoring setup, which means that using it will result in absolute zero monitoring latency. If you're getting latency then you're monitoring through the software. I would be looking at settings in your software.

But getting Reaper would be a good idea. It's designed to record multitrack, which Audacity is not.
 
I will give Reaper a go - and thanks very much for the quick response. I'll let you know how things turn out....
 
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