MIDI keyboard problem with Sonar 6

[Phil]

Pareng Kit,

I've been having this problem with my MIDI keybpard M-Audio  49e ata yon. Everytime I record a keyboard track parang may delay...like 1 second delay...when I hit the keys...after 1 second lalabas ang sound....the other tracks sounds okay...just the midi track.

Help?

[starfugger]

ive had the same problem in the past with my behringer umx.  it's actually a soundcard issue as Kit told me.  what sound card do you use? maybe you can adjust the buffer size para mas mabilis ang labas ng tunog.  hope this helps.

[supacow]

had that issue too with the UMX, fixed it by adjusting the latency. and it really is a sound card/driver issue.

[starfugger]

ako din supacow.  i could feel that my arranger was getting quite frustrated yesterday because of the latency.  hindi sya maka gulong ng maayos (i have a separate midi rig in the living room and refuse to write songs inside the studio.  those four walls arent good for me, haha).  i had no choice but to get a pro audio interface for the midi rig (cheapest m-audio available, 2496).  latency problem solved   and as fringe benefit, i got better headroom now than the ucf 200 that came with the controller.  that one was quite easy to distort.

[supacow]

thinking of getting that M-audio too. it will really be better than the thing that came with the controller. the only thing that's stopping me is that I might not be able to use it when i go Mac? are there any other alternatives to that other than the external ones?

OT: parang i heard you on NU ah, parang you joined a contest? hmm you name pa and from fairview?

[starfugger]

haha! OT: im not into contests so i prolly can't claim the 1M 

a firwewire interface might be a better investment for you.  mejo mas mahal.  around 13-16k bnew

[KitC]

Phil, what are you trying to control with the M-Audio? I assume it's a softsynth, but try to avoid using the Microsoft GS synth. It has a fixed latency of about 350 ms, no matter what your latency setting is. I suggest using Cakewalk's included TTS-1 synth as it has better latency performance. (For you Cubase users out there, try to look for the Universal Sound Module (usm.dll) in your Cubase directories. I think there is an option to install it when Cubase asks you to install Cubase 5 plugs.)

I generally prefer to use asio drivers with Sonar as I get better latency figures with it. Insert the TTS-1 into the Instrument Rack in Sonar and adjust your latency until you can play it without audio breaking up. I've found 5 - 10 ms to be very unnoticeable (I can go as low as 2 ms but cpu usage increases).

One of the reasons I've retained my midi modules and synths is because of latency, though I'm increasingly finding myself going virtual with my sounds during mixdown. It's still sometimes easier to noodle around on a keyboard  while recording it's midi output then fleshing out the ideas when the creative phase passes. I thought you were going to get that Roland G-70 workstation, Phil?

@supacow - You can use the M-Audio controller on a Mac. There are downloadable OS9 and OSX drivers. Some USB controllers and audio interfaces are so completely compliant with the USB spec that they don't need drivers and the OS readily recognizes them (not all devices but there are a few out there).

[Phil]

Phil, what are you trying to control with the M-Audio? I assume it's a softsynth, but try to avoid using the Microsoft GS synth. It has a fixed latency of about 350 ms, no matter what your latency setting is. I suggest using Cakewalk's included TTS-1 synth as it has better latency performance. (For you Cubase users out there, try to look for the Universal Sound Module (usm.dll) in your Cubase directories. I think there is an option to install it when Cubase asks you to install Cubase 5 plugs.)

I generally prefer to use asio drivers with Sonar as I get better latency figures with it. Insert the TTS-1 into the Instrument Rack in Sonar and adjust your latency until you can play it without audio breaking up. I've found 5 - 10 ms to be very unnoticeable (I can go as low as 2 ms but cpu usage increases).

.....gne of the reasons I've retained my midi modules and synths is because of latency, though I'm increasingly finding myself going virtual with my sounds during mixdown. It's still sometimes easier to noodle around on a keyboard  while recording it's midi output then fleshing out the ideas when the creative phase passes. I thought you were going to get that Roland G-70 workstation, Phil?

well that synth plan was interrupted when I got a Gibson ES335. hehehehe.... gitarista kasi eh.
yeah...I gotta get those synth na lang...I hate this midi keyboard stuff. I can get it used pretty cheap. Thanks, Kit.
gotta get that... upgrade to the Tascam FW 10 82 and get a pair of KRK monitors.....haaay.... endless talaga.

[stilljey]

i use M-Audio oxygen 49 controller, before  i have latency problem, dati  i use TTS-1 to play it in real time talagang late, one thing i do is di ko inilagay sa TTS-1 until after the recording track is done then i put TTS-1 or roland g.synth ok sya, then later to be sure ,the buffer was settled to 10 msec, no problema.