NOOB latency issue?

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
dkamm101
Posts: 48
Joined: Tue Nov 03, 2009 1:34 am

NOOB latency issue?

Post by dkamm101 » Sun Jan 08, 2012 8:08 pm

I have about 20ms of latency right now with midi playback. In a perfect world what do i want my settings in ableton to alleviate this issue? thanks for the help

Derek

jestermgee
Posts: 4500
Joined: Mon Apr 26, 2010 6:38 am

Re: NOOB latency issue?

Post by jestermgee » Mon Jan 09, 2012 1:49 am

Uh....

20ms is pretty slim... You shouldn't notice any delay between playing a note and hearing it really.

How much to you want to alleviate it? Do you want less than 20ms? Less than 10ms? Less than 5ms.... 0ms?????

The latency is directly linked to how quick your sound card can process the maths of the sound and create the audio output. You can adjust the audio buffer size in Abletons settings or use an ASIO compatible soundcard but if you adjust the buffer too low then you may start to hear clicks and pops when playing sounds especially when using extra CPU.

dkamm101
Posts: 48
Joined: Tue Nov 03, 2009 1:34 am

Re: NOOB latency issue?

Post by dkamm101 » Mon Jan 09, 2012 5:53 pm

I would like 0 and am willing to invest into the BEST soundcard. What do you suggest? Also... I am running my rig on a macbook pro presently, and I am getting a new one in 2 weeks suped up. ANy thoughts would be helpful...

thanks

Derek

simmerdown
Posts: 3761
Joined: Wed Oct 26, 2011 3:36 pm
Location: Northwest Nowhere

Re: NOOB latency issue?

Post by simmerdown » Mon Jan 09, 2012 5:59 pm

20 ms is significant jester, try setting a track delay to 20ms and see how fuct it sounds

i prefer 0 too

have you gone in and adjusted the preferences? for my asio4all is working so well, but some here will tell you its crap...

i would try a lot of tweaking before getting a new soundcard, unless you just want one

jestermgee
Posts: 4500
Joined: Mon Apr 26, 2010 6:38 am

Re: NOOB latency issue?

Post by jestermgee » Tue Jan 10, 2012 12:01 am

I guess it depends what you are trying to do.

If you hit a key on a MIDI keyboard and you have a 20ms delay, can you really hear the delay that bad? That is 0.02 seconds from hitting a key to hearing the sound. If you are talking in respect from one track playing to another then yes you can hear the difference slightly.

Using on-board sound and Asio4All (many years ago) I operated with about 35ms delay and it didn't affect much at all. Using a Firebox and dedicated ASIO drivers I now operate at about 9-15ms depending on how much time I need to give Ableton to process a full project

Now, you do actually realise that 0 latency is impossible since it takes time for your machine to do maths and produce a sound? Unless you are talking monitoring of live input which is achievable via "live monitoring" and not running sound through the software, latency will always be present when playing a MIDI instrument. Additionally, if you decide to place heavy processing plugins in the audio chain, these can also introduce extra delay outside of the latency setting. Mastering plugins such as Ozone are a good one for this.

newboss
Posts: 82
Joined: Sat Nov 19, 2011 5:07 pm

Re: NOOB latency issue?

Post by newboss » Tue Jan 10, 2012 12:37 am

jestermgee wrote:I guess it depends what you are trying to do.

If you hit a key on a MIDI keyboard and you have a 20ms delay, can you really hear the delay that bad? That is 0.02 seconds from hitting a key to hearing the sound. If you are talking in respect from one track playing to another then yes you can hear the difference slightly.

have you guys all your wisdom from books or are you sometimes feel motivated to try stuff out?

20 ms on keyboard sounds is no fun..You definitely get that while playing and its already not easy to adapt to that...maybe the border of one still can manage really. In practice everything above 10 ms is too much really..maybe 12 ms..
When i recall it right the latest beta allows to play plugs with half latency..

when you play a hardware synth the sound usually will be there within 1-3 ms... only some older midi expanders can take up to 9 ms but many analog synths do it ultra fast within micro seconds..

simmerdown
Posts: 3761
Joined: Wed Oct 26, 2011 3:36 pm
Location: Northwest Nowhere

Re: NOOB latency issue?

Post by simmerdown » Tue Jan 10, 2012 4:45 am

whatever book you think everyone is reading, i havent read a book in years

just say what you want to say, no need to shit on every thread up here

newboss
Posts: 82
Joined: Sat Nov 19, 2011 5:07 pm

Re: NOOB latency issue?

Post by newboss » Tue Jan 10, 2012 4:56 am

simmerdown wrote:whatever book you think everyone is reading, i havent read a book in years

just say what you want to say, no need to shit on every thread up here
no books? now thats a surprise
you are a prototypical troll.. can you maybe just shut up? you appear to stupid to understand a thing.. and because iq52 is not allowed on the internet you are probably just acting stupid => trolling

newboss
Posts: 82
Joined: Sat Nov 19, 2011 5:07 pm

Re: NOOB latency issue?

Post by newboss » Tue Jan 10, 2012 4:59 am

dkamm101 wrote:I would like 0 and am willing to invest into the BEST soundcard. What do you suggest? Also... I am running my rig on a macbook pro presently, and I am getting a new one in 2 weeks suped up. ANy thoughts would be helpful...

thanks

Derek
rme or motu and when money dont plays an rolex the metric halo stuff is nice.

simmerdown
Posts: 3761
Joined: Wed Oct 26, 2011 3:36 pm
Location: Northwest Nowhere

Re: NOOB latency issue?

Post by simmerdown » Tue Jan 10, 2012 5:07 am

have you guys all your wisdom from books or are you sometimes feel motivated to try stuff out?

this^^, why make such a comment, just give your advice or whatever

who is 'all you guys'? you make a lot of assumptions

newboss
Posts: 82
Joined: Sat Nov 19, 2011 5:07 pm

Re: NOOB latency issue?

Post by newboss » Tue Jan 10, 2012 5:10 am

simmerdown wrote:have you guys all your wisdom from books or are you sometimes feel motivated to try stuff out?

this^^, why make such a comment, just give your advice or whatever

who is 'all you guys'? you make a lot of assumptions
the claim that one cant hear 20 ms delays is most defently not out of this world.. and your statements and reaktions are aswell better than any intelligence test.. like a tatoo on the forehead

maybe leave it to the op wheter he finds my input usefull or not

simmerdown
Posts: 3761
Joined: Wed Oct 26, 2011 3:36 pm
Location: Northwest Nowhere

Re: NOOB latency issue?

Post by simmerdown » Tue Jan 10, 2012 5:14 am

read my first post in this thread

what did you add exactly..0

newboss
Posts: 82
Joined: Sat Nov 19, 2011 5:07 pm

Re: NOOB latency issue?

Post by newboss » Tue Jan 10, 2012 5:16 am

simmerdown wrote:read my first post in this thread

what did you add exactly..0
i dont read your posts..was just answering the op

Muzik 4 Machines
Posts: 769
Joined: Thu Oct 22, 2009 9:35 am

Re: NOOB latency issue?

Post by Muzik 4 Machines » Tue Jan 10, 2012 5:22 am

jestermgee wrote:Uh....

20ms is pretty slim... You shouldn't notice any delay between playing a note and hearing it really.
mmmm 20 ms is HUGE, i get 14 n my live setup and using the kaoss pad needs re adjusting my playing technique compared to 0 latency analog mixing, so 20 ms is huge in a live situation

simmerdown
Posts: 3761
Joined: Wed Oct 26, 2011 3:36 pm
Location: Northwest Nowhere

Re: NOOB latency issue?

Post by simmerdown » Tue Jan 10, 2012 5:25 am

newboss wrote: i dont read your posts..was just answering the op
but, you read that one...how bout this one

and 20 ms is huge, so noticeable

Post Reply