Cakewalk issues

[Markubus]

Hey guys, here's the problem. I have sonar 5 studio edition, and a soundblaster live external sound card. the problem is that i'll record a drum track, and everything seems fine and then i'll record a bass or guitar track, and i'll play it in time, but during the playback they start out in time, but as the recording goes on they faze out of time. I've tried lots of things to remedy this, but so far nothing has worked. Has anyone had a similar problem?

thanks,
Mark

 

[OhSh1rt]

It's most likely the latency with the soundblaster, try using ASIO drivers to get the best out of your hardware.


-jeffrey

 

[rayc]

Does sound like latency - though I'd have thought it was out to begin with rather than getting progressively worse.
Soundblaster isn't a good option for a card - borrow another brand/type of card & try it to see if you have the same rec/play back issue with it.
Even a santa Cruz would be a BIG step up.
Cheers & good luck
rayC

 

[AlChuck]

"Latency." Boy, this is fast becoming the most over-used word to apply to any problem with computer recording. "Must be latency."

What you descibe does not sound like latency. Latency is a delay between the time the audio data comes in to the interface and when it comes out, and is always present in any system. Problems occur if you attempt to monitor the output (say, in order to hear the plug-in delay in real time as you record) rather than the input when you are overdubbing, or when you try to play softsynths in real time. If this lag is greater than, oh, 10 ms or thereabouts, it becomes noticeable and hard to work with.

If the tracks start out together and then shift relative to each other then there's a timing issue.

What's your timing reference set to? Are you talking about MIDI drum tracks and audio bass and guitar tracks, or what?

From the SONAR help system:

When SONAR is used alone, or with an external device that does not have its own clock or timing signal, you use one of two clock sources: Internal or Audio.

When the clock source is set to Internal, SONAR uses the clock built into the computer or the computer's MIDI interface as its timing source. If your projects contain only MIDI (no audio), this is the most efficient method of playback.

If your projects contain MIDI and audio, or only audio, you should set the clock source to Audio. This lets the sound card clock determine the correct speed for audio playback and automatically synchronizes MIDI playback to match the audio. For more information, see System Configuration. You cannot use the tempo ratio controls when using the audio clock, because the audio playback speed is determined by the audio clock.

 

[Markubus]

I'm using all audio tracks for drums, bass, and guitar. After doing some test, the timing isn't a standard offset. if i allign things at the begining, by the end their off and vise versa.

If it is a sound card issue, as some people have told me it might be, could anyone recomend a better alternative to soundblaster.

Thanks for all the help, i really appreciate it

 

[AlChuck]

What's your clock set to?

The SoundBlaster is not the greatest card and is much-maligned here at homerec, but the fact is that it should work perfectly fine. If you have a timing problem with it, then the likliehood is that you'll have the same problem with anything else.