problem with delay in mic and synth

[festal]

hello guys...there is a very annoying delay between the pressing of the keys in my synth and ableton audio channel which basicly makes me unable to work..also the same thing happens with my mic..how can i fix that?is it a problem of ableton which i have to correct inside ableton or from my sound card (maudio firewire 410)?
Thanx, Bill

[H20nly]

I think you are referring to latency. It depends mostly on your soundcard/drivers and how fast your CPU is.

Make sure you are using your M-Audio 410 in Live's Preferences (Audio tab). There will be a section that states the amount of latency. You want to try and lower that number. You could change to another ASIO driver but I would try to use your 410's until you've exhausted its options.

If the 410 has any kind of user control panel you should be able to set the bufferthere. Its probably on or around 512 and can be lowered to say 192 or even 128. Everything depends on your system and what you're trying to do. Its a balance. If you plan on creating Projects with 20 or 30 tracks in them you might need to leave the buffer higher...

[glamourboy]

you can also change the sample rate to 96000Hz. this will drastically lower latency and increase your cpu usage.

[H20nly]

you can also change the sample rate to 96000Hz

He's right, but one thing to consider there is your existing projects. You can't just change the sample rate on them as far as I know (unless everything is 100% MIDI maybe). Since you're talking about a MIC I doubt that... On new tracks though, 96kHz could definitely make a difference.

[festal]

hello guys and thanks for the reply...i tried and changed the buffer size in my maudio control panel window to 128 and also the in/out sample rate in ableton to 96000 and tested the mic and the latency was for sure shorter just a couple ms to be perfect.havent tried my synth but when i do ill post the results but im sure there will be improvement there..
is there a possibility for this latency problem to occur not from the start of using ableton with synths but to appear for no reason?i have the impression that when i used my moog lp(has been a while since i used it to record live)that the latency was ok..but im not sure...
also i read what h20 wrote about increasing the buffer size when i have a lot of tracks...is it possible to lower the rate just to do my recording of vocals or synth, close ableton increase the rate form my maudio control panel reopen ableton and work with a lot of tracks?
Thanks guys..

[H20nly]

You can totally do that. You just need to work with Audio first (or earlier on rather). Get it recorded and into your track and then you can deal with the layering up in the MIDI world.

For me the latency with keys etc. is non-existant, but I hear it in the headset when I record vocals. It messes with me and causes me to rhyme slower. Because of this I don't monitor myself when I record (in Live, Cubase works great). I set the beat up in my headset at a good level that will cause me to be loud, without yelling or strainnig then I record while I listen solely to the beat. Some people wouldn't do that, they need to hear themselves. I am more concerned with the finished work though so if it helps me record a better track...

I use an Alesis mixer. I can change the buffer rate there without closing Ableton Live. Try it. You just have to wait a second while the change kicks in. You may see a slight flicker on your screen. It takes about 2 or 3 seconds in my setup. During that time if I get click happy it will cause me to have to close Live but if I'm patient (and 3 seconds isn't asking much) then I can continue on with no issue and without having to close and open the software.

[H20nly]

One more thing to look into if you're using a lot of MIDI tracks is a feature called Freeze Tracks. It will allow you to free up your CPU.

Check it out in the manual or help files.

[festal]

lots of thanx h20..ill try what u said...!!!