Help with latency issues using Delta 24/96, AA 1.5

hawk

hawk

New member
When I record a track to a metronome then play it back, the timing is slightly off between the two. Also when I record a second track and play along with the first, the second track is slightly behind the first. I assume this is due to latency correct?

So I have 2 quesitons.

1. What settings should I change, either in the Delta Control Panel, or in AA to make the latency as low as possible? I know I can never get it to zero but I just want to be sure my settings are optimized to get as little latency as possible.

2. How can I measure how much latency I am getting? I have seen people post their latency so I'd like to do that and see if I can improve it.


Here is my setup:

acoustic guitar --> condenser mic --Behringer UB802 mixer --> delta 24/96 --> Windows 7 64 bit --> Adobe Audition 1.5
I have the delta buffers set to 64 and the bit rate to 44.1

Thanks
 
In Audition, make sure that you're using the Delta ASIO drivers as your input/output device, and not WDM or whatever the other choices are. I'm not familiar with Audition, but there will be some device-related setting under the options where you can set this.

I use your device's bigger brother, the Delta 44, which I believe uses the same configuration panel. 64K seems kind of small for the buffer size, and I can never remember which way the scale tips as far as buffer size and the relationship to latency versus CPU drain. I think I have my buffer size set at 1024, and I don't have issues with latency. I may have bumped that down to 512K, but I'm not in front of my machine to check at the moment.
 
Tadpui said:
In Audition, make sure that you're using the Delta ASIO drivers as your input/output device, and not WDM or whatever the other choices are. I'm not familiar with Audition, but there will be some device-related setting under the options where you can set this.

I use your device's bigger brother, the Delta 44, which I believe uses the same configuration panel. 64K seems kind of small for the buffer size, and I can never remember which way the scale tips as far as buffer size and the relationship to latency versus CPU drain. I think I have my buffer size set at 1024, and I don't have issues with latency. I may have bumped that down to 512K, but I'm not in front of my machine to check at the moment.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately from what I've read, AA 1.5 doesn't support ASIO drivers. I went ahead and installed ASIO4ALL anyway, but it doesn't show up as an option in AA.

With regards to the buffer, I read that the lower the better unless you get pops and clicks in which case you have to take it up. At 64k I don't hear any pops so that's why I have it set to that but am open to trying anything that would help!
 
Can you update to a more recent version of AA? It looks like 3.0 supports ASIO devices. But I'm not sure if a person can still get that version...it looks like they've totally changed their product line since I last looked at Audition.

I think that the WDM or Windows sound drivers are most likely the source of the latency that you're experiencing. They're just dead-ass slow in my experience. ASIO is where it's at when it comes to low-latency audio drivers.

If you're worried about the cost of new DAW software, give Reaper a try for free from the Cockos or Reaper website. It's not crippled in any way, and only has a 5-second nag screen. Heck, it's only $60 for a license anyways...I can't recommend it enough. I went through the same thing when I was clinging to Cool Edit Pro years back, and it took me several years to find something cheap, easy, and powerful. It's tough to migrate from something that's tried and true for your own purposes, but things have come a long way since AA. It's worth looking around at the DAW options currently available!
 
Don't think this is a latency issue per se...

Bobbsy is yer man for AA, I just dabble but look at "Options>Pre roll &Post Roll settings>
Also look at all other settings including MIDI triggers.

In Samplitude you have something called "Record Offset" which I think delays or advances the "write" function so that backing tracks and dubs end up on the beat.
Cubase also has something similar but my son was the expert at building tracks and he is not here!

He/we have used a 2496 for 5 years or so and you will not have any latency issues with one and ASIO drivers. He found the "fastest" combination was the 2496 and Cubase LE6.

My NI KA6 is AS fast as the PCI* card but it has really only been in the last 2 years or so that external AIs (that we could afford!) have caught up with PCI and that includes bloody Fussywire!

*I have 3 2496 cards, two in this old PCWorld XP P4 and I am presently searching for a MOBO/CPU/ram bundle to replace it so I can run Win7/64. Any ideas gratefully received.
I do not need blistering speed and want to keep under £100 or so.

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
In Samplitude you have something called "Record Offset" which I think delays or advances the "write" function so that backing tracks and dubs end up on the beat.
Cubase also has something similar but my son was the expert at building tracks and he is not here!
Click to expand...

This. In Sony Vegas it's also called Record Offset. In Reaper and others it's called Record Latency. It's not the same thing as input monitoring latency.

I bet the best solution is to use an actual DAW instead of an editor for multitrack recording.
 
I will look for a similar setting in AA. Anyone know the answer to the other question about measuring latency? If I knew it was always a certain amount, like 10ms, I could move the second track over by 10ms to compensate.
 
When I tested my Delta's latency, I did this:

- record a click track, or something with a nice, sharp transient (whack something with a stick, or record your DAW's metronome...)
- route that track out of one of your card's analog outputs
- turn down your monitors/headphones/speakers just in case some weird feedback loop is created by the next step
- connect that analog output to one of your analog inputs
- play back the click track and record it to a new track

You'll see a difference in timing between the original click track and the newly recorded "feedback" click track. Depending on your DAW's options, you can view your track timeline in samples, milliseconds, etc. and get an idea for how long the signal takes to go round-trip through your analog output/input. This should give you a pretty darn close idea of what kind of latency you're dealing with.

When I did this test, I found that my sound card was already accurately reporting my latency to Reaper, and Reaper was compensating almost perfectly.
 
Great thanks tadpui I will give this a try. I might download the trial of Reaper too. I just hate the new learning curve since I'm already very familiar with AA. I tried Audacity but it doesn't support ASIO unless you compile it yourself which looks like a major pain.
 
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