2 Qs : latency & MAYA44

[ChorazaiM]

I know bugger all about midi (mostly mess around with audio HD recording), so hopefully someone here can help. I considering picking up a MAYA44, but need clarification on two points

1) latency - I know this has an effect on "real time" playing of DXIs, but does it have any effect on non-real time scenarios (ie: playing back a midi track via a DXI)? I assume not as the crappy SB card I have now has 40ms latency yet plays midi drum tracks (from SONAR to BATTERY) without any noticable lag...

2) MAYA44 - this card has no midi capabilities - ok, so no onboard midi sounds, and no midi ports, but this wouldn't affect my being able to play DXIs as described above, correct?

Excuse my ignorance, but the entent of my midi experience started and ended with synching up two ensoniq EPS units in the 80s ;] Well, that and playing back programmed midi drums via BATTERY. Thanks in advance...

 

[James Argo]

1. Yes. It wouldn't give you any noticeable latency on playback. If you don't have any driver & setting issues, then it will run just fine.

2. Yes. It wouldn't affect you being able to play DXIs. That's why DXi's there. One of it purposes is being virtual MIDI devices for your "un-MIDI-ed" soundcard.



James

 

[moskus]

The Maya44 (I use the Inca88, Maya44s Big Brother) is great for playing DXi's. You should be able to push the latency down to 1.5 ms, and run stable at 2.3 - 5.8 depending on your system. I run Sonar perfectly with lots of tracks and effects and an efficient latency at 4.4 ms.

Go for it!

 

[ChorazaiM]

Thanks guys - guess the MAYA44 it will be - unless I can find something even more affordable (read: cheap) that does basically the same thing (low latency card). Even a MAYA44 is slight overkill for me as I've no need for 4 in/out (never record more than one track at a time), but it's still the lowest priced low latency card out there as far as I can tell :]

 

[moskus]

The other card I would suggest would be the Audiophile, and that's a higher priced card...

And just wait. You'll need more than one input soon enough.

 

[ChorazaiM]

Audiophile is nice yes - but as you said, it's more expensive. It's not like the extra inputs/outputs are going to burden me in anyway ;] Just means I'll have to figure out some clever way of routing everything if I decide to stick my Behringer MX1804 into the chain...actually, not really - the Behringer will act as a pre-amp/DI box/etc and I'll just not route the signal back into it..or something like that ;]

 

[moskus]

I have the Inca88 (8 ins & 8 outs) and I use it with my Spirit Folio F1 mixer. It's a great combination! Does the MX1804 have Direct Outs? If not, that's not a disaster.

My mixer hasn't Direct Outs, but I connect the 8 ins with the 8 inserts on my mixer, which allow me to record 8 tracks simultaniously.

 

[ChorazaiM]

The Behringer has a TSR (or whatever) system - so they can be used as direct outs easily enough - but to route back in with the MAYA44 woudl require creative cable combinations seperating the tip from the sleeve etc...hence my thinking of just using the Behringer as a pre/DI. Of course, I suppose I could just send otu channels 1-4 on the Behringer to the inputs on the maya (using Y cables) and then the out on the maya into channels 5-8 on the behringer (again using Y cables), but there's really no purpose to doing that unless I was planning to pysically mix down from SONAR to 4 channels on the mixer and then resend back to SONAR for a 2 channel mix controlled by the board versus software. Seems kinda excessive and not very useful ;]