Latency / workflow question

[jbucks]

I humbly request your expertise! I'm fairly new, sorry for the basic question.

I'm running Live 8 on a Macbook Pro through a firewire audio interface, and I have a hardware drum machine going into one of the audio inputs. After doing the latency test and updating the driver compensation settings as instructed through the Live 8 help, there is still noticeable latency; for example, if I play a 4/4 kick using impulse in Live, and a 4/4 kick on my drum machine, you can hear that the drum machine is playing behind Live in terms of timing. However, if I send the drum machine directly to the audio interface and not into Live first, there's no latency.

After some Googling, I know that latency is unavoidable. So if I write a track using both Live and my drum machine, how can I record it properly so that everything starts at the same time? And apply effects in Live? More generally, how do you deal with latency in your own workflow to do recordings?

Any advice is appreciated, thanks!

[mattadms]

It doesnt matter that much if latency is below 10ms (correct me if im wrong),
but still: if latency is too high, you can always set the "Track Delay" in Ableton to a negative value according to the latency
and surpass any delays.

Thats at least how I'd do it if I ever came across huge latencys which hasnt been the case so far.

[Khazul]

Try using the External Instrument device - may help in getting the latency compensation better.

[jbucks]

Great! I have an External Instrument in Live which sends MIDI to my hardware drum machine, and then I've set the Track Delay to compensate for latency. This fixed it, so thank you both for your help!

[lucas@lucasowens.com]

Use the midi clock offset to your drum machine. As long as the drum machine is running on its own sequencer being clocked from live you will be able to dial it right in.

Luke