Ableton Forum

I'm relatively new to the world of digital recording and have only been using Live for about a two months. However, I think that I am picking up the tricks pretty fast which has allowed me to record my musical ideas.
Unfortunately, I have not been able to record my guitar to sound anything like it should. Lately, I can't seem to get rid of an annoying delay when I either strum a chord or try to riff. It seems like every note or chord that is strummed or picked is a split second off. I always double check to make sure that one of the Live devices (i.e., delay) is not engaged and I still hear the delay.
Any suggestions?

CAP

what's your audio card? internal sound? you probably have a high latency... (sound has to get in your computer and out again. this takes time to compute... some audio cards/systems handle this better than others).

if your compyter can handle it, turn down the buffer size and latency in the audio pref. menu, or if you have to, just turn it down when you want to record, then back up again to edit so your computer doesnt run so hot...

the other answers are correct, but just to give a little background, this delay occurs because your computer needs time to process the audio - guitar>interface in>usb/firewire>CPU>usb/firewire>mixer/speakers.

You will never get rid of the delay when playing live if you want the signal to go through the computer, but you can get it under the human perception threshold. I think this is around 11 ms.

Your other option is to use an interface with a "direct montor" feature, where the signal goes right through the interface and back to the speakers/mixer. Good luck.

Thanks to all of you who responded so expeditiously.
I will try all all of your suggestions (especially turning down the buffer size and latency). I did increase them dramatically and didn't reset them back to normal.
Forgive me for my ignorance. But, what is "human percetion threshold"?

Thanks again,

CAP

its the point where you are no longer able to percieve the latency. I guess that depends on how good your ear is - sometimes even at 11ms it'll sound chorusy or phasey. I usually just do my monitoring through a mixer, and shut the monitoring to off in Live.

Since you can only record one channel at a time in Live, I think leaving your buffer at a low setting will be ok. Its not like you are dumping in 16 tracks at 96khz - probably just one at 48 tops. The processing bar on the top right will let you know if you are going to have a meltdown!

BTW - this is my first post here!

for guitarplayers even 2 ms feels like latency. voices the same. only for synths you can use lots of latency.

I would simply suggest to put the direct monitoring on if your sound card is capable to do this. put the monitoring in Live Off, only use the direct monitoring of you soundcard. if you need reverb while recording just 'for the right feel', you can always add a little send-effect. you won't mind the latency of send-effects like reverb or delay.

Thanks for the great suggestions.
I followed your instructions-decreased the buffer size and latency-and my guitar sounds fine. I was even able to record three guitar tracks. They sound fine.

Once again, thanks and keep jamming.

CAP

P.S. Does anyone know how to add/use Bomb Factory as one of the VST plugins for Live?

Carl Peterson wrote:P.S. Does anyone know how to add/use Bomb Factory as one of the VST plugins for Live?

Bombfactory plugins are owned by Digidesign and only work in Pro Tools. I suggest trying Antares Tube or IK Multimedia Amplitube. If you want to get real serious and drop $500, go for Native Instruments Guitar Rig.

Thanks Mark for the quick response.
I have Protools LE 6.7 but prefer using Live. I can't seem to open Amplitude up in Live. Any suggestions?

CAP