Latency with Edirol PCR-80

[Spillenger]

I have just plugged in my Edirol PCR-80 midi controller/keyboard. I am getting substantial delay between hitting the key and hearing a note (latency). Here is my setup:

Aardvark DirectPro LX6 sound card
Behringer UB 1202 mixer
Sonar 3.1.1 SE

Dell Pentium 4 (Dimension 4600) running at 3.06 Ghz, with hyperthreading technology
1 gig RAM
120-gig HD
Windows XP Home 5.1

I am connecting through USB 2.0. I have enabled no soft synths.

For all my audio needs, I use the Aardvark sound card, but this has no onboard synths, so I am going through my internal sound card. I have a SoundBlaster Audigy 2 installed, but I disabled it because it was causing me problems – including latency with midi. I had also read that for some reason SB Audigy and Aardvark don’t do well together.

My input midi device is EDIROL PCR 1 (EDIROL PCR MIDI IN and EDIROL PCR 2 don’t work).

Of my various output midi options, only Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth gives me any sound at all.

The Edirol web site says that latency depends on the sound card and drivers.

So, since it appears to be true that the Aardvark LX6 will be of no use to me in playing midi; and since the SB card appears to be a bad option as well; and since the Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth is apparently not a low-latency option …

What do you recommend I do in order to be able to play midi with as close to no latency as possible with this keyboard?

Thanks.

Paul S.

 

[AlChuck]

Your main issue is the latency of the Microsoft Wavetable synth. You need a DXi or VSTi that can be hosted from within SONAR. It comes with several, including the Roland Virtual Sound Canvas. You also need to be using WDM or ASIO drivers with the Aardvark. The MIDI interface iteslf and the keyboard should be totally irrelvant to the situation. The problem is that only DXi or VSTi softsynths under low-latency drivers can respond fast enough to the data coming in the MIDI interface.