Latency? Sound Advice Needed

[reflexa]

I've been going through the posts and a minority of you get insulted when us Newbees or soon to be Newbees post questions on some boards. The reason we post is for your experience and answers to questions which may be simple to most of you but concern some of us when considering what to purchase. With that statement I offer two (what some may find moronic) questions in regards to computer recording. Here Goes! Try not to laugh 1. What is the major cause of Latency? PC performance? Audio Prog? Input Capability? Etc. 2. This next question will show you how much I don't know. I'm gonna buy a powerful PC which comes with a Soundblaster Audiology Card. I would like to record at 24bit 96khz but the sample depth for recording through the Soundblaster is 16bit. If say I get a Motu or Tascam through another USB (not the input on the SB Audiology Card) will I be able to record using 24bit depth of these i/o devices. To complicate this question more, will the Audio Progs such as Sonar, Emagic, Cakewalk, Cubase etc. (Haven't decided yet and that is a whole other question) recognize the input from the USB at 24 bit or will the signal be routed to Soundblaster and be recorded at 16 bit. I will upgrade the soundcard but not right away, so if I buy a 24 bit/96khz input device I would like to maximize it right off the bat. Thanks For Your Help!!!! This is No. 2 in what I think will be a series of questions until I buy this stuff. Then maybe I can talk about the details of recording. Right now I will stick with the BR8 and drive myself crazy with that little display. Pete

 

[j]

what kind of latency are you talking about?

 

[Top20Burnout]

I have a Tascam US-224 (usb) and a SB Live Platinum in my machine, for MIDI. I've tried demos of just about every software out there. Cubase, Nuendo, and Sonar work very well with the Tascam, with latency in the <50 milliseconds range, according to all the meters and buttons.

I bought Sonic Foundry Vegas a couple of years ago, but have had problems using it with the Tascam - recording only produces noise. Sound Forge and Wave Lab both work with no problems.

Each program will allow you to choose the sound card it's supposed to use (as long as the drivers are compatible), so you'll be fine with most any additional sound cards or A/D converters you add later. The signal is not routed through any device other than the ones you choose, so if you record at 24-bit through a Tascam, you'll get a 24-bit file on your disk.

 

[Seanmorse79]

I've been going through the posts and a minority of you get insulted when us Newbees or soon to be Newbees post questions on some boards. The reason we post is for your experience and answers to questions which may be simple to most of you but concern some of us when considering what to purchase.

...easy there big fella. Usually we're only insulted (or irritated) when there is a barage of questions with very complex answers that are addressed every couple of days or so. Some folks don't know how to use the search function on the site - fair enough - so we usually direct newbies to use that first before answer the same identical questions over and over and over.

Basically, latency is the amount of time it takes a signal to get all the way through your computer from input to speakers. Like j said, there is more than 1 kind of latency.

-Latency caused by recording audio is most easily diverted by using a zero-latency sound card (which routes the signal right back out before it even goes into the computer) and doing some creative routing (usually with a mixer) so that you can hear everything properly. Then it doesn't matter how much actual latency your card has - it's all accounted for and adjusted automatically between the card and the audio app, and you never hear it.

If you can't get an audio card with zero latency, you can always turn off monitoring what you're recording. This allows you to hear what's already recorded, but not what you're recording now. I did this for years, and it works fine for recording vocals or anything mic'd. Recording direct requires a bit more creativity.

-Latency caused by soft synths is minimized (in a nutshell) by using a fast computer and a good audio card.

And Top20Burnout's answer to your second question is correct. Any good audio app will allow you to select which card you want for recording, playback, and MIDI.

 

[neirbo]

I've been going through the posts and a minority of you get insulted when us Newbees or soon to be Newbees post questions on some boards

Reflexa,

Welcome to the forum.

I agree that some folks here get a little pissy sometimes. But, it is almost always when someone comes in and obviously has not taken the time to browse around or perform searches to get up to speed before asking questions that have been asked many times. If someone says "I've been looking around and have figured out this thing a little, but still don't understand ...." then that person will generally get a very positive response.

Your questions, for example, I think are good and reasonable. You didn't just ask "what sound card should I get, I don't know anything." You didn't expect to be spoon fed the most basic info, but at least took the time to try to figure out what latency is etc. The result is you got good answers.