MIDI latency

beats me · Post by **beats me** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 4:17 pm

I'm having MIDI latency issues that are most apparent when controlling Battery 3 with the Padkontrol on even the simplest tapped beats, although I've noticed it slightly on softsynths as well. I'm using Live 6 on a Macbook Pro. Is there a fix for this?

Thanks

Amaury · Post by **Amaury** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 5:03 pm

Hi,

the latency you experience is the time it takes for the computer to output a sound from your plugin. You could try to set a lower latency value in the Preferences, CPU tab: 'plugin buffer size'.

Also, make sure there are no additional effects on the audio path of the track you've Battery on (typically, the track itself and the Master track). That would add to the latency.

Regards,
Amaury

beats me · Post by **beats me** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 5:14 pm

Thanks. I changed the buffer size and it did make a difference but it's still not dead on. Guess that's just the nature of the beast.

yleh8k · Post by **yleh8k** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 5:16 pm

is it really "the nature of the beast"?
i wonder, can anyone get absolute realtime playback from midi instruments?
i've seen some demo vids where the composer plays stuff and composes on-the-fly, but it seems like it'd be impossible with latency.
as it is, i just play stuff with monitoring off, listening to the midi through its own speakers. however, this sucks because its always a much different sound from what ableton is processing.

drb · Post by **drb** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 10:24 pm

How low are you setting the latency to?

I can get 6-8 ms, and it seems to be ok.

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 10:51 pm

yleh8k wrote:is it really "the nature of the beast"?
i wonder, can anyone get absolute realtime playback from midi instruments?

for that to happen the computer and associated hardware must be able to predict what you are about to play, and then play it before you do. That's not going to happen any time soon

beats me · Post by **beats me** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 12:50 am

I don't know if I am doing this right but under the CPU tab on the preferences I put it on 32 which is the lowest number it allows (don't know what "as audio buffer" means).

I can play keyboard parts square enough but when the problem really comes through is when I am banging away on pads for drums. Doesn't seem to even stay in time with a basic bass-snare-bass-snare 4/4 beat at 120 bpm. Anything beyond that is a bigger nightmare. I may not be a trained drummer but I'm not THAT bad.

drb · Post by **drb** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 1:38 am

beats me wrote:I don't know if I am doing this right but under the CPU tab on the preferences I put it on 32 which is the lowest number it allows (don't know what "as audio buffer" means).

I can play keyboard parts square enough but when the problem really comes through is when I am banging away on pads for drums. Doesn't seem to even stay in time with a basic bass-snare-bass-snare 4/4 beat at 120 bpm. Anything beyond that is a bigger nightmare. I may not be a trained drummer but I'm not THAT bad.

try
preferences / audio / hardware setup

beats me · Post by **beats me** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 1:53 am

I'm using Ableton 6 on a Mac and under prefrences/audio there is no "hardware setup". Plus I think Audio latency and MIDI latency are 2 totally different issues. I could be wrong. Seems like they wouldn't be related.

drb · Post by **drb** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 6:31 am

beats me wrote:I'm using Ableton 6 on a Mac and under prefrences/audio there is no "hardware setup". Plus I think Audio latency and MIDI latency are 2 totally different issues. I could be wrong. Seems like they wouldn't be related.

you are using Battery, so it's audio latency you are getting. There isnt noticabkle MIDI latency.

beats me · Post by **beats me** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 1:22 pm

Oh ok, now I get it with that simple explanation. I thought the lag was going from the time I hit the note on the pad to the time the computer recieved the data, not from when the note was recieved to the time the audio signal was produced. I'll screw with th audio buffer when it's not 6 in the morning.

Thanks!

yleh8k · Post by **yleh8k** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 7:38 pm

Machinate wrote:
yleh8k wrote:is it really "the nature of the beast"?
i wonder, can anyone get absolute realtime playback from midi instruments?
for that to happen the computer and associated hardware must be able to predict what you are about to play, and then play it before you do. That's not going to happen any time soon

i see what u mean, u may be right, but the signal only has to travel thru a few feet of wires. and it can do that at lightspeed (or really, really fast anyway) so i still really hope there is a way to reduce latency to below-humanly-noticeable levels.

drb · Post by **drb** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 7:56 pm

yleh8k wrote:
Machinate wrote:
yleh8k wrote:is it really "the nature of the beast"?
i wonder, can anyone get absolute realtime playback from midi instruments?
for that to happen the computer and associated hardware must be able to predict what you are about to play, and then play it before you do. That's not going to happen any time soon
i see what u mean, u may be right, but the signal only has to travel thru a few feet of wires. and it can do that at lightspeed (or really, really fast anyway) so i still really hope there is a way to reduce latency to below-humanly-noticeable levels.

If you are getting latencies that make you work this way, you are not configuired correctly. With a decent sound card, 5-10ms is pretty normal, and thats fast enough to be playable.