Sudden Latency Issues
Sudden Latency Issues
First time poster but couldn't find anything on this. I'm running Ableton Live 10 Lite and I've recorded about 6 songs so far. I've tracked each song on my own with no issues, listening to playback through headphones. Recently, I tried to record a buddy on bass on a track. We managed to be able to listen to the track live while he recorded his part, but when we listened back, the track had significant latency. We were able to slide the track over on the grid to get it to match up, but I'm not sure why I'm experiencing the latency suddenly when I hadn't before. I've adjusted various setting for latency according to the manual, but hasn't fixed the issue. I even created a new track with a click on an acoustic guitar and then tried to lay electronic drums to it later and wouldn't sink up due to latency. Also, tried bouncing down 2 vocal tracks on a previously recorded song to a new track today and also experienced the same type of latency. I've done this many times before and haven't had this issue. What's the problem? Of my 6 songs, each has about 10-12 saved mixes. Could it be those are eating up too much space on my hard drive? Not a technical guy and new to home recording so any help is greatly appreciated!
Re: Sudden Latency Issues
The keyword here is: audio latency. THE main problem when making music with a computer.
You need an audio interface with an ASIO driver that gives you low latency. The decisive factors here are properly programmed drivers, good driver support and a suitable computer.
On the one hand, you have an output latency (always). The question is how high this is. This input latency means that you hear the audio signal a little later, which is always in the millisecond range. To make matters worse, there is also the input latency (always). This means that what is played in arrives a little later. These two latencies now add up and you have an offset in the tracks of X milliseconds.
The solution when recording instruments with pickups that you have to listen to yourself: the output latency can be eliminated by direct monitoring, i.e. the signal on your headphones does not go through the computer, but directly into the headphones.
The above-mentioned good audio interface is helpful when recording. In addition, every modern DAW should have built-in latency compensation. You could also move a track back a little manually.
You need an audio interface with an ASIO driver that gives you low latency. The decisive factors here are properly programmed drivers, good driver support and a suitable computer.
On the one hand, you have an output latency (always). The question is how high this is. This input latency means that you hear the audio signal a little later, which is always in the millisecond range. To make matters worse, there is also the input latency (always). This means that what is played in arrives a little later. These two latencies now add up and you have an offset in the tracks of X milliseconds.
The solution when recording instruments with pickups that you have to listen to yourself: the output latency can be eliminated by direct monitoring, i.e. the signal on your headphones does not go through the computer, but directly into the headphones.
The above-mentioned good audio interface is helpful when recording. In addition, every modern DAW should have built-in latency compensation. You could also move a track back a little manually.
Re: Sudden Latency Issues
Thanks for your response! And yes, so far, my quick fix solution was to slide the track manually to sink up. But your comments on an ASIO driver reminded me of something. Previously when recording, under the Menu bar > Options > Preferences > Audio Device - I use to have three options - No audio, MME/DirectX, and ASIO. (I use a Focusrite Scarlet 2i2) Both of the last two options use to give me both Audio Input and Output Device options to choose from. I use to have to switch between MME and ASIO ever other time to switch between hearing playback through my headphones while tracking and through my monitors to hear the room mix. However, around the time my latency issues started occurring, I noticed when I selected ASIO as my driver, there were 3 input options (Focusrite Thunderbolt, Focusrite USB ASIO, and Realtek ASIO - USB is what I used) there were no audio output options for it. So I had to stay on MME for the input, and flip between Analog 1 + 2 DX and Analog 1 + 2 Wav and then choose 1 of 4 options for audio output (the DX and Wav of my computer monitors and the same for Focusrite USB Audio).
I hope I'm describing that clearly. But is there something I may have done where I no longer have audio output for ASIO input option?
Thanks again for your assistance!
I hope I'm describing that clearly. But is there something I may have done where I no longer have audio output for ASIO input option?
Thanks again for your assistance!
Re: Sudden Latency Issues
You should definitely use the ASIO drivers from the audio interface manufacturer: Focusrite ASIO. Anything else will not work satisfactorily in terms of latency.
The settings for this ASIO driver must first be made in the manufacturer's software (Focusrite): Sample rate and buffer size.
Sample rate would be 44.1, 48, 96 or 192kHz. I recommend 48kHz to start with. If you need a higher resolution recording, then 96kHz. A higher sample rate puts more strain on the CPU as more data has to be processed per time unit. The critical value in the settings is the buffer size. This has a decisive influence on your latencies. The smaller the buffer size, the lower the latency! But ... the smaller the buffer size, the higher the CPU load! If the buffer size is too small, there will be artifacts in the audio signal (cracking and clicking). I would recommend a buffer size of 128 samples to start with. Then test the playback of a standard project in Ableton Live. If the playback is error-free: leave everything as it is! If there are artifacts, increase the buffer size to 256 samples and test again and again. From approx. 512 samples, or even 1024, you will notice a latency during playback and the whole thing will become quite unusable.
The settings for this ASIO driver must first be made in the manufacturer's software (Focusrite): Sample rate and buffer size.
Sample rate would be 44.1, 48, 96 or 192kHz. I recommend 48kHz to start with. If you need a higher resolution recording, then 96kHz. A higher sample rate puts more strain on the CPU as more data has to be processed per time unit. The critical value in the settings is the buffer size. This has a decisive influence on your latencies. The smaller the buffer size, the lower the latency! But ... the smaller the buffer size, the higher the CPU load! If the buffer size is too small, there will be artifacts in the audio signal (cracking and clicking). I would recommend a buffer size of 128 samples to start with. Then test the playback of a standard project in Ableton Live. If the playback is error-free: leave everything as it is! If there are artifacts, increase the buffer size to 256 samples and test again and again. From approx. 512 samples, or even 1024, you will notice a latency during playback and the whole thing will become quite unusable.