Latency and SoundBlaster and DXi Synths

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vicevursa

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Ok, I have intended to post a question about how I couldn't get the latency below 10ms and even then I couldn't do anything worthwile with 10ms. After doing a search, I think I have come to these determinations.

1) I will never achieve latency lower than 10ms with my soundblaster.

2) I do need another soundcard - which hopefully I will have within the next few months (I gotta wait until after the holiday bills have ben paid :D)

Questions I still have...

1) If I have the latency set to a useable number 20, 30, 40ms (sounds crazy, huh?) will it matter that I don't use softsynts live? I record using my regular outboard synth through my midi inputs and then change the sounds to either soundfonts/softsynths as needed. I know that method seems the long way around a problem, but I'm trying to make sure I'm not shooting myself in the foot...

I guess I just need a little confirmation.


Thanks,
Vice
 
vicevursa said:
If I have the latency set to a useable number 20, 30, 40ms (sounds crazy, huh?) will it matter that I don't use softsynts live? I record using my regular outboard synth through my midi inputs and then change the sounds to either soundfonts/softsynths as needed. I know that method seems the long way around a problem, but I'm trying to make sure I'm not shooting myself in the foot...
Click to expand...
It doesen't matter what you set the latency to, if you don't play your softsynths "live". Sonar compensates for the latency during playback. :)

The way you mention is the normal workaround for softsynths with high-latency soundcards, so that's no problem. But once you've tried a low-latency card, it is a must-have... (at least for me it was ;) )
 
Thats the way I have to do it with my soundblaster also. I use a sound font thats similar to the sound I`m after and use my keyboard as a controller to get the data in a track, then I switch the outputs over to a softsynth. As Moskus reflected earlier, I don`t have many problem with playback 'cause Sonar takes care of that. THe latency shows when monitoring the audio while recording. I'm recording more audio now and playing my real bass, I have to go up to about 130 or better sometimes to overcome the latency but Sonar will take care of that to a point as well. I`m stuck with my sblive for a bit, till I got the extra change for one of those cards with the wires hanging off it, but I`ll still keep the sblive to play soundfonts.
 
Do you find yourself constantly changing the latency slider when working on different projects or as a project grows in tracks/plugs/softsynths? Is that normal?


Vice
 
I leave it alone, until I have to change the latency... but that's just me. ;)
 
I'm with moskus. I keep my latency set fairly high (200-300 ms from memory, I'm not near my DAW at present). The only time I change it would be to raise it if I get any dropouts. This does not happen often, but sometimes it will toward the end of a project (with a high track count and a lot of plugings). Usually in those cases, though, the higher latency setting doesn't help much anyway.

Note, however, I do not do anything that really requires low latency - such as input monitoring or playing live synths. Therefore as long as I can tolerate the latency while mixing, I'm fine.
 
I appreciate the posts Toki, moskus, and Dachay. I'm going to set it [latency] until I need it... I am now reassured. Thanks!



Vice
 
Man... I like this thread cause there's so much I want to ask. I know almost anything about how Cakey works but this latency on Sound Blaster issue kills me on almost every unpredictable time. I can get "normal" latency behavior okay most of the time. But yesterday, when I work with big soundfont files, it started kills me. I record piano part using my N364 as a source & output. Just record the MIDI part. Edit as necessary, and decided about to verify better sound. So I look Soundfont, and have the good time with one comes from Steinway. It's a big file anyway. 80MB for single file. The sound is very good for it's nature (it's soundfont anyway...). Play the track so beautifull. Then I convert it to audio. Set the record input, and record to audio just fine, decent level, decent quality... but hey... after about 1 - 2 minutes, it becomes slightly more and more. The distance was getting far and faaar away... 15 ms to 30 to 40 to... and finally I got almost 1 secon delay from the original timing. Do you think the more the size of Soundfont, and the more we attach SF files, will cause more latency issue ? I didn't get that much with Win98SE running Cakey Pro 9. But now with XP Home running Sonar 2 XL I get a bunch of latency... what the... ? Do I miss sumthin' here ?





PS When I said Cakey, it means SONAR 2 XL.
SB Live! DE 5.1
 
How much RAM is in your machine? 256 Mb?

I had (nearly) the same experience when I used the SB Live (I had 256 Mb RAM at the time). Got better when I added another 256 Mb RAM, but didn't go away completely. So when I recorded midi to audio, I'd record 1 minute at a time (of the track), crossfading the different sections into each other. Worked fine for me... ;)
 
Yup, I got 256, but the MB has only 2 RAM slots. Think I gotta buy 2X256 and dump the 2X128... I've tried take a capture for 30 seconds, and tie 'em one by one, but what can I say, some track is never stop track. Like drum part which take amost every single tick in the song. Cut it every certain time will cut the release time... I tried also record 00:00 to 00:40, and record again from 00:35 to 01:15 in next track, then I combined 'em in most possible time between 00:35 and 00:40, but doesn't work. There's gotta be a better way to do this... hmmm... Thank's for replies buddy... keep goin'.

:cool:
 
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