live monitoring not working

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 1:05 am

I purchased a M-audio MobilePre USB unit a few weeks ago and it came with Ableton Live free version 2.

I have ZERO experience when dealing with such software but i had heard that the free versions of these recording softwares have "foils" in them.....like not being able to save settings or burn what you've recorded to a disc or whatever so i went ahead and just purchased Ableton Live version 3.

Here's what happens:

When i plug an instrument like a guitar into the MobilePre i can see the signal is live and i can even hear the guitar if i plug earphones into the MobilePre device.

So Far so good.

Then from the MobilePre to my PC (Pent 4 XP) via USB i can see in Live 3 through the "bus view chooser" the Signal being picked up in INPUT.

Still good.

Then when i select a track i want to record on and click the metronome on and arm the track and click the Mic icon for "monitoring" i can see the live instruments signal being picked up by the track in "track volume".
"LIVE IN" "MobilePre" and "MASTER" are selected.
It will even record and i can play back the recorded track and hear it fine.

BUT at NO time can i EVER hear my guitar in it's live state.
In fact i've NEVER been able to hear a live instrument on my speakers through Live 3.

I don't know much but i know you should be able to HEAR your instrument BEFORE you record it.How else can you set the gain?

I have read through the manual and experimented with endless different configurations but nothing i do can make a live instrument audible through any kind of "pre listening" or monitoring.

On page 68 of the user manual it states:
"Notice that monitoring is suppressed if the monitor input preference is off"

In my Live 3 preferences under "AUDIO" my "INPUT DEVICE" is set to "M-Audio MobilePre DX"

What am i missing?

frisky_rabbit · Post by **frisky_rabbit** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 1:38 am

FINALLY.......it's a miracle but i figured it out.

In preferences i didn't have "Monitor through Live" checked to YES.

I had a feeling it was going to be something stupid like that.......BUT

You know there's always gotta be a BUT.

I'm getting latency something fierce.

It's about a one second time delay but it's more then enough to throw me off if i'm trying to play something and listen to what it will sound like.

ARRGH.

hyerstay · Post by **hyerstay** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 1:49 am

Latency should be adjustable in your prefs as well. Buffer size is proportional to latency. Take it as low as you can until you start to hear glitches in your sound. As long as it doesn't glitch, you have chosen a good setting.

jason

frisky_rabbit · Post by **frisky_rabbit** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 3:06 am

Hey Jason i adjusted those buffer settings to the following but i still get unacceptable latency.

INPUT BUFFER SIZE 20ms/448 samples

and

OUTPUT BUFFER SIZE 20ms/448 samples

That's about as low as i can go with out making the sound break up and even then it's a bit shakey sometimes.

My sound card is a SB Audigy Audio [DF80] DX and the drivers appear to be the most current ones out.

In control panel/sounds and audio properties/performance/audio play back the hardware acceleration is set to "FULL" and the sample conversion quality is set to "BEST".

Could it be my sound card causing this latency?

If not i don't know what else to do.

hyerstay · Post by **hyerstay** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 3:29 am

When recording yourself playing live, you should use the zero latency hardware monitoring in your m-audio device. This means you are monitoring the input directly through the mobile pre, rather than after it has gone in and back out of your computer. Check your mobile pre manual for how to set it up. You may have to turn off monitoring in Live so you don't hear two signals. You should also read up in the Live manual on how to figure out the total latency of your computer so that you can properly synchronize your computer-played stuff with the stuff coming in through your mic.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 12:41 pm

ok.
Let me see if i understand this correctly.

Are you saying i should plug my ear phones directly into my MobilePre to listen to my signal?

Wouldn't that be a tad bit awkward?....Like i'd have to have one earphone on and the other off to hear the click track coming from the PC......and.....what about vocals?
How would i sing into a microphone that's live while my speakers are in the background blasting music or a beat?

Or are you saying that in control panel/sound and audio devices i should set my PC's audio playback to the MobilePre?

I understand what you are saying about a live signal picking up latency by having to route through your pc and Live and what not but isn't that the most logical way to record live?....After all Live 3 is a recording device of sorts that's modeled to look like a real multi-track recorder and that's how it would work through a real multi-track recorder.
i'm i just severly confused?

Perhaps i'm just too stupid to use this stuff? i don't know?

I'm just a musician and a songwriter and i just want to play.....i don't want a degree in sound engineering.

All i know is that i've spent about $400 so far between the MobilePre and Live so i can record songs and TWO WEEKS later i still have yet to record ANYTHING because i spend ALL of my time just trying to figure out how to get this stuff to work.

hyerstay · Post by **hyerstay** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 6:31 pm

Your speakers and headphones should be plugged into your Mobile Pre and it should be selected as your audio device for input and output. The mixer inside the Mobile Pre will be able to combine the output of Live with the input signal of the Mobile Pre, so you can listen to both at once. For the signals to line up, you need to type in the correct value in the editable Overall Latency Compensation box in the Overall Latency section of Live's Audio Preferences. You will be accounting for your interface's input latency and output latency, as well as any other latency from your computer's processing. Live will play ahead of you a certain number of samples, so that the output at the Mobile Pre lines up with the input at the Mobile Pre and you get to hear an accurate click track or prior recordings while recording new material.

Relevant sections of the Live 3 manual: 48-53, 80-83 and 90-92.

Looking at the Mobile Pre manual, page 25 covers direct montioring:

http://m-audio.com/images/en/manuals/Mo ... Manual.pdf

Basically, you are turning up the record channel in your M-Audio control panel, so that its input gets mixed with Live's output and sent directly to your speakers and headphones.

Don't worry if this takes some time to figure out. Recording is not trivial or easy until you have done it several times.

Good luck,

jason

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 12:30 am

Ok that's good stuff to work on.

That makes a world more of sense now.

Sorry if i came across pissy in my last post.

Thank you very much for the help and encouragement.I do appreciate it LOTS.

Time to hit the books.

frisky_rabbit · Post by **frisky_rabbit** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 2:11 am

Oh yeah it's working now.

Quincy Jones i ain't tho' haha.

But i can work with it from here now...thanks again for the help.