MIDI Latency in Windows ME..

[Venesectrix]

I just recently bought a Yamaha DD-55(drums), and a joystick to MIDI cable. Is there a way I can cut down some of the latency? (Keep in mind I'm just casually recording in my home, so I can't really spend any money) I've got a HP pavilion mx70 and I'm running under Windows ME.

Thanks.

 

[James Argo]

Can you explain more specific and detail? What application you use, how, what's your goal, how do you describe latency, etc...


Jaymz

 

[Venesectrix]

Ok, here we go..

1. I have Voyetra Digital Orchestrator(came with my MIDI cable)

2. I plug my DD-55 straight into the joystick port and use D.O. or whatever program.

3. My goal? I'm a guitar player. I can play drums, but I'm not a drummer. What I want to do is be able to add in drums to my guitar and vocals. And with the use of MIDI, clean up mistakes or add in some accents.

4. L...atency: Okay when I plug in my drums, open up a program that recognizes them, I can hit a pad, and a few milliseconds(?)
it comes through the speakers. Problem with this, is that I want to record a guitar track and then add in my drums, so I know when a fill would be appropriate ect. But I'm not really sure how it's possible to listen to what I recorded and play along if there's a delay.

Ok and here's another problem I just encountered. How can I get the sound samples on the drums to play on my computer? Cause right now my computers using the "Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth" and everything sounds completely different. My snare sounds like your hitting a stick on a metal pole.

Sorry about all this.

 

[AlChuck]

The latency you are experiencing is probably because of the Microsoft GS Wavetable synth. It's a softsynth, and these usually have a certain amount of latency in responding to real-time MIDI commands. Of course, when a MIDI sequence plays, this is not noticeable...

I'm not sure if Voyetra Digital Orchestrator supports ASIO or WDM drivers, or can act as a VST or DX host. You could get better results if it does by using a VST or DX instrument and if your soundcard has decent ASIO or WDM drivers. You can also use the DD-55 as a drum module -- send the MIDI commands out to it rather than to the softsynth.

To get the DD-55 sounds on the computer, you have to record them to as audio -- which you have to do at some point anyway if you want to mix it all to a CD in the end. You can record the MIDI data and use that until mixdown, and then arm a track and record the output of the drum box while it's playing back in response to the MIDI messages.

Either way, if you record the MIDI drum part in the sequencer and then record your guitar over it over it, everything should be fine. The inherent delay in the audio stream is compensated for, so as long as you don't monitor the input after it's been digitized and processed, there will be no delay to worry about.