Struggling with Latency

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Michaelg510
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Feb 17, 2019 6:25 am

Struggling with Latency

Post by Michaelg510 » Sun Oct 27, 2019 1:13 am

Hello!
I would kindly appreciate some help from you all.

I’m having consistent issues with Latency in Ableton Live Lite. If I lower the buffer size too much I get audio distortion. If I raise it there is Latency. There really isn’t a sweet spot with an acceptable level of latency. The least I can get is about 60 ms of latency, which requires me to go back and drag the clip into place in the song.

I’m using a HP laptop 14 with 12gb ram, 128 gb storage. I have a focusrite Scarlett 2i2.
I tried downloading focusrites ASIO drive for windows and still had issues. I tried the ASIO4ALL and same problem.

Is there anything else I can do? Is this a normal issue? Any ideas?

Your help would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you,
Michael

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

Re: Struggling with Latency

Post by jestermgee » Sun Oct 27, 2019 3:08 am

Firstly, check/confirm your laptop power settings are not set to "balanced" or "power saving" and instead set to "high performance". Check that your CPU is set to 100% all the time and USB power settings are set to OFF. You may also have some power saving and CPU stepping in your BIOS to disable.

What sample rate are you trying to run at? Be sure to start at 44Khz if you are having issues.

TLW
Posts: 809
Joined: Thu Aug 23, 2018 2:37 am

Re: Struggling with Latency

Post by TLW » Mon Oct 28, 2019 3:06 pm

Another suggestion - try going into device manager and disabling any wi-fi adaptors. Sometimes wi-fi drivers grab Windows’ attention for so long it allows the audio buffer to empty then you get crackling or drop-outs..

If you’ve not done so, download latencymon.exe. It’s a useful tool for finding out what might be the cause of latency issues.

https://www.resplendence.com/latencymon
Live 10 Suite, 2020 27" iMac, 3.6 GHz i9, MacOS Catalina, RME UFX, assorted synths, guitars and stuff.

jonljacobi
Posts: 887
Joined: Sat Dec 30, 2017 3:36 am

Re: Struggling with Latency

Post by jonljacobi » Mon Oct 28, 2019 3:20 pm

Remove or disable any and all software running in the background. If this is a new HP laptop and you haven’t done that, there could be a lot.

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

Re: Struggling with Latency

Post by jestermgee » Mon Oct 28, 2019 11:17 pm

ShelLuser wrote:
Mon Oct 28, 2019 10:32 pm
And in addition to all the above: you might also want to consider an external dedicated sound card (USB). In combination with asio4all that might also make a difference.
He is already using a focusrite Scarlett 2i2.

Also has mentioned he tried ASIO4ALL tho my recommendation is to NOT use ASIO4ALL with a decent audio interface that provides its own specific ASIO drivers as it's far more reliable.
Michaelg510 wrote:
Sun Oct 27, 2019 1:13 am
I’m using a HP laptop 14 with 12gb ram, 128 gb storage. I have a focusrite Scarlett 2i2.
I tried downloading focusrites ASIO drive for windows and still had issues. I tried the ASIO4ALL and same problem.
@OP:
- What CPU model / Laptop model do you have?
- What tracks (instruments) do you have loaded?
- Using the ASIO drivers for the audio interface (not asio4all) what is the lowest buffer setting (samples) that runs smooth?

Could be that there is just too much going on in the project for the computer to handle at a lower buffer. My guess is it would be a mobile i5 processor (1.5Ghz) and the model of laptop is more aimed at students and basic web browsing/documents etc. It's probably just not a suitable laptop for real time audio is my guess.

jlgrimes
Posts: 1773
Joined: Mon Jan 22, 2007 1:55 am
Location: Atlanta, Ga

Re: Struggling with Latency

Post by jlgrimes » Fri Nov 01, 2019 12:59 am

Michaelg510 wrote:
Sun Oct 27, 2019 1:13 am
Hello!
I would kindly appreciate some help from you all.

I’m having consistent issues with Latency in Ableton Live Lite. If I lower the buffer size too much I get audio distortion. If I raise it there is Latency. There really isn’t a sweet spot with an acceptable level of latency. The least I can get is about 60 ms of latency, which requires me to go back and drag the clip into place in the song.

I’m using a HP laptop 14 with 12gb ram, 128 gb storage. I have a focusrite Scarlett 2i2.
I tried downloading focusrites ASIO drive for windows and still had issues. I tried the ASIO4ALL and same problem.

Is there anything else I can do? Is this a normal issue? Any ideas?

Your help would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you,
Michael
focusrite have a guide for tweaking Windows 10. I suggest you follow that.

The High Performance power plan and the Background processes are probably the biggest two tweaks though.


Also it helps to have the Scarlett plugged directly in the PC and if your PC has multiple built in USB Hubs to use one with nothing else plugged into it.

TLW
Posts: 809
Joined: Thu Aug 23, 2018 2:37 am

Re: Struggling with Latency

Post by TLW » Fri Nov 01, 2019 5:57 am

jlgrimes wrote:
Fri Nov 01, 2019 12:59 am
Also it helps to have the Scarlett plugged directly in the PC
Good advice, audio interfaces often don’t like being connected to external hubs, especially ones like the 2i2 which get their power from the USB bus.

If the PC is a tower or desktop with expansion slots it can even be worthwhile to add a PCI USB card purely for connecting the interface.
Live 10 Suite, 2020 27" iMac, 3.6 GHz i9, MacOS Catalina, RME UFX, assorted synths, guitars and stuff.

oratowsky
Posts: 156
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2007 12:09 am
Location: la

Re: Struggling with Latency

Post by oratowsky » Sat Nov 02, 2019 12:12 am

do you have delay compensation on ?

try turning it off

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