midi latency in sonar question (Jaymz?)

[deemic]

I just purchased a terratec 6fire audio card. It has midi plugs on the front of the breakout box.

I'm using an Oxygen 8 controller to trigger soft synths in Sonar.

The Oxygen 8 is set up to plug into the USB port or standard midi plug in.

I used to use an Audigy 2 (sold it) for midi and it worked pretty well in so much as there were no latency issues.


My questions are:

Is there any way to lower my latency now that I'm using Sonar soft synths?
Am I better off using the USB plug in on the PC or the midi plug in on the Terratec breakout box?

Also, are there any dedicated cards that I can run in conjunction with my current set up, that are for midi purposes only?

 

[AlChuck]

Is there any way to lower my latency now that I'm using Sonar soft synths?

Depends. Does the Terratec have WDM or ASIO drivers? If so, you have a fighting chance.

Am I better off using the USB plug in on the PC or the midi plug in on the Terratec breakout box?

Well, again it depends. If the Terratec is already up and running, I'd use that, unless I have other external MIDI devices I want to use (like a drum pad controller).

Also, are there any dedicated cards that I can run in conjunction with my current set up, that are for midi purposes only?

I always thought those Terratec cards had synth chips on them... oh well. You could have keot the Audigy, But getting two cards o co-exists is a bit if a crapshoot and is not guaranteed, I have a Delta 66 and a SoundBlaster Live and they coexist fine together, but it took some doing.

As far as I know there are no cards that are synths or synths+ MIDI interfaces only, oddly enough.

 

[deemic]

Yes, the card has WDM and ASIO 2.

Latency is pretty much unacceptable at this point when using midi though. Maybe time to upgrade my mobo and cpu..... kt7-1.2ghz athalon.

 

[James Argo]

Hmm, not so hurry to upgrade. If your previous setup with SB Audigy has been running fine, then there must be an issue with the new card or the driver have you tried to play around with the buffer setting ? Options --> Global --> MIDI tab --> Playback buffer. Raise it to somehow extreme value than the original (ex. 2000ms or 4000ms), restrat SONAR, and see if this helps you out.

Some DXi are heavy ones, so they *could* be the problem of latency you mentioned. If this is the case, then you may want to consider system upgrade. Check it with rather "mild" one (Like edirol VSC), it's not that heavy for your system, I think.

I'm not actualy familiar with your setup, but you may try either one (USB or MIDI port) to hook your Oxygen and see which one suite your need. I have several MIDI port in my PC, and they all works good. Nothing works better than another IMHO

 

[deemic]

To show what a moron I am, I have to reply....

First off, thanks for your help Jaymz..... Had you not mentioned Edirol VSC, I'd have been at a total loss.

I didn't realize that the WDM driver doesn't kick in until you use the softsynth plugin

So that's why I wasn't able to achieve a lower latency, I was using the MME drivers with the GM synths instead of WDM drivers with the plugin synths.

It's up and running now, I'm absolutely blown away by the soft synths in Sonar..... damn near up there with the synths running several hundred or even a thousand dollars that I had played on at guitar center. Latency is hangin tight at between 7-9ms with 15-20% cpu load.

Thanks again man.
I've been doing this------> for about 2 hours now.