Newbie... REAL newbie. Trying to upgrade my sblive! 24bit to get lower latency.

  • Thread starter Thread starter torrencito
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torrencito

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Hello my fellow sound enthusiasts.

I like to throw whatever musical scores or drum solos are in my head to FL Studio, but I only have a low budget sound blaster Live! 24bit pci card. It is compatible with ASIO4ALL, and can get about ...12ms of latency (512k samples from asio4all panel). Even so, I get some choppy sounds.

Also, I have a Yamaha DD65 digital drumset with standard midi interface (5pin). I have a cheapo midi-usb cable that can get some of the work done, but when it is time to use Ezdrummer or any vst, latency gets unbearable.

I was about to buy a Tascam us-600 usb interface, with native asio support, but with some reading arround here, there is no good news about usb interface latency. Is it a good choice to buy this interface to get better response?

You have my deepest gratitude for any useful reply.

Thanks!
 
What do you mean "choppy sounds"? Have you tried adjusting your buffer rate?
 
ASIO4ALL is an after thought. You will get a lot of latency for what you are trying to do. Not sure about latency with the Tascam unit but it will be better than ASIO4ALL.

However, record your midi as usual, but try to use the drum module sounds for monitoring and not the sounds from EZD. Then you don't have to worry about latency. Just record the midi data and then run it through EZD later. Figure out how to listen to the click track of your DAW and the drum module at the same time.
 
You mean buffer size? yeah. But that means more latency
 
Chili said:
ASIO4ALL is an after thought. You will get a lot of latency for what you are trying to do. Not sure about latency with the Tascam unit but it will be better than ASIO4ALL.

However, record your midi as usual, but try to use the drum module sounds for monitoring and not the sounds from EZD. Then you don't have to worry about latency. Just record the midi data and then run it through EZD later. Figure out how to listen to the click track of your DAW and the drum module at the same time.
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Thanks, but that kind of defeats the purpose of getting the best of combining ezd with the drumset to get realtime feedback. About tascam... is there a noticeable difference between ASIO4ALL and native ASIO? I was searching for some information but there is little out there.
 
torrencito said:
Thanks, but that kind of defeats the purpose of getting the best of combining ezd with the drumset to get realtime feedback. About tascam... is there a noticeable difference between ASIO4ALL and native ASIO? I was searching for some information but there is little out there.
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Well, you already have a huge deficiency by using the soundcard. If you want to eliminate the latency, then you've got to compromise on "realtime feedback" and go with some form of direct monitoring. You'll get the EZD sounds when you mixdown your song after recording and tracking is complete. Part of being an artist is to envision what will be when it hasn't happened yet.

I tried ASIO4ALL a long time ago just to try it and it was really bad latency. I'm sure the Tascam will perform better, but I have no direct comparison to say it will.
 
torrencito said:
Hello I was about to buy a Tascam us-600 usb interface, with native asio support, but with some reading arround here, there is no good news about usb interface latency. Is it a good choice to buy this interface to get better response?
Click to expand...

The US-600 has been discontinued, but if you can find a used one at a good price go for it - just know that there probalby will not be any mfr updates (Win 10 drivers for example) in the future. You might want to look at hte Scarlett 2i4 or the Tascam US 16x08.

Not sure what you read about USB interface latency - it was an issue with old USB 1.0, but not a factor at all with USB 2 or 3.
 
The latency problem with USB interfaces was (still is with many!) almost all down to the drivers. Mike B is almost right! USB 2.0 AIs are better but even the USB 1 M-Audio Fast track Pro was pretty slick when I plugged in a dumb MIDI keyboard and used a VERY low spec' laptop.

I have not read of any latency issues with the Steinberg UR22. However, since you already have a PCI setup and are, presumably quite used to it, you could look for a better soundcard? There are few better than the M-Audio 2496 (well, the 192 is better! We won't mention RME!). Trouble is they are becoming hard to find.

But! There is an AI that beats them all hands down for latency, drivers and in almost every other parameter. The Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6. You will not find a better AI for its £160ish and maybe 3 times that money.

Dave.
 
If you're trying this to play live you're probably screwed. I doubt you'll ever get to the point where you can play your vdrums and monitor ezdrummer samples while playing, with low enough latency where it doesn't mess up your playing. You can detect 10 ms easily and probably less (even if subconsciously), and it throws you off. I spent a good long time trying to accomplish 'real time' and it's never quite good/fast enough.

For recording, I've resolved to monitoring the vdrum module drums sounds and recording the midi. Explain to drummers those aren't the drum tones that'll end up on the mix, there will be 100% replacement. They think it's awesome when I can play back their playing and click thru a bunch of different drum sets, and they can pick their fav drum tones after a rough 'faders up' mix.
 
Woah. Great responses! One thing I forgot to tell is that I live in Argentina, and being that international purchases are limited to 2 items per year (yeah), most posibilities end up in the 2nd hand national market. The Tascam us600 is an available option, thus the question.

Suprstar and Chili made it very clear. I will monitor default sounds and then do the conversion. Thanks. You have been very kind. I hope to get back here with good results.
 
torrencito said:
I hope to get back here with good results.
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Looking forward to hearing it.

I've been to Argentina and we have business associates there. I hear about the problems involved with imports and exports and it makes it very difficult for us to support customers there. Still, a truly spectacular country to visit.
 
I've always direct-monitored myself, and latency is not a problem. It should never be--do you need to monitor software "live?" Why?
 
TimN said:
I've always direct-monitored myself, and latency is not a problem. It should never be--do you need to monitor software "live?" Why?
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Err? if you wanted to add computer generated effects, reverb, guitar distortion....

If you needed to play a software instrument especially if dubbing to an existing track.

Dave.
 
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