Question about latency

[gr00ver]

I am new to Ableton so please bare with me

I am recording drums over a drumless track. The way I had it setup to record was to have ableton record the music playing through my headphones (loopback off itunes) as well as the inputs from the microphones on the drums.

There is part of the song that I want to redo. I erased that section of the song and am trying to re-record it. The song playback is now being sent out from Ableton rather than my iTunes and it seems as though there is this latency issue now, anything I record ends up being slightly off when I listen to it.

So is there a way to reduce the latency or adjust something to make this work right?


tl;dr, I am re-recording a section of a song but now theres a lag between my mics and the playback of the song so in ableton it sounds off.

[simmerdown]

for me asio4all is essential for recordin ginto Live, i cant seem to get as low a latency with Lives internal buffer/bitrate settings....but you can try that, in preferences/audio

[Tone Deft]

I recently posted this to help a user. read between the lines since you're jumping into the middle of the conversation. this is a crucial setup if you're recording from a mic and the manual glosses over this step.

http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php? ... 7#p1368087

I'd add that there's a punch in/punch out feature in Arrange view that you might like.

also, the higher your sample rate is the lower the latency will be but it will drive your computer harder. smaller buffer sizes also reduce latency but can lead to crackles if set too low.

hth, Monday AM, I'm a bit hazy...

[pale1]

Dublicate the track(s), adjust track delay on newly recorded piece.
cheers

[gr00ver]

I am using a MAC so I think I have to use CoreAudio.

I dropped my buffer size down to 14 samples and it seems to be working fine. 3.31 ms input/output latency. I am not hearing any echoing between my preamp and my daw so that is good news. Also it seems to be on time now, I just tested it again against a quarter note click, sounds way better. now I need to fix a part of the song as a result of me re-recording ehh. i think il just leave it lol.

here is the result...

http://soundcloud.com/chris-gavarian/fo ... -with-solo

[gr00ver]

I recently posted this to help a user. read between the lines since you're jumping into the middle of the conversation. this is a crucial setup if you're recording from a mic and the manual glosses over this step.

http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php? ... 7#p1368087

I'd add that there's a punch in/punch out feature in Arrange view that you might like.

also, the higher your sample rate is the lower the latency will be but it will drive your computer harder. smaller buffer sizes also reduce latency but can lead to crackles if set too low.

hth, Monday AM, I'm a bit hazy...

thank you I will read it. So I want a low buffer size and a high sample rate? I am using a quad core macbook pro and don't mind driving it crazy
I was listening for crackles and did not hear any so I think I am ok there.

I am aware of the Punch in/out feature, learned that yesterday!

[gr00ver]

Dublicate the track(s), adjust track delay on newly recorded piece.
cheers

I did read this somewhere, I will give it a try, thanks.

[Tone Deft]

Dublicate the track(s), adjust track delay on newly recorded piece.
cheers

you really should look into setting the delay compensation. in the past I've done what you're doing but you're really missing out on a much better recording experience.

[gr00ver]

Dublicate the track(s), adjust track delay on newly recorded piece.
cheers

you really should look into setting the delay compensation. in the past I've done what you're doing but you're really missing out on a much better recording experience.

Ok, il try that first.

thanks again

[gr00ver]

alrighty, just tried it.

this is my sound card


I took a guitar cable, plugged one end into the headphone out. the other end plugged into input #2 on the front.

I put a kick drum sample into track 1, set it's monitor to Auto.

I trimmed the start of the kick drum sample so it's a nice clean rising edge waveform.

I set track 2 to OFF and enabled record on it. its input is Ext In and input 2. (the input # Live refers to doesn't have to be the same number printed on your sound card. hit the drop down box to see the meters for the inputs, play the sample and see which meter goes active.)

at the top of the screen I hit record on the transport then hit play.

I had to turn up the volume on the sound card to get a stronger signal.

the recorded signal was delayed by 2ms. so I entered -2 in the delay compensation box.

one thing I forgot, for delay compensation to work the recording track's monitor has to be set to OFF and the delay compensation option has to be ticked in the Options menu.


FWIW to do this quickly you can just hit STOP, tap PLAY twice to reset the transport, then hit RECORD-PLAY-STOP to do the recording. then ctrl-comma to open the preferences. then try again.

I also didn't put my kick drum sample at the very start of time, I set it in 100ms so I can definitely see the start of the recording.


hth it's not as hard as I'm making it out to be. I'm writing quick because I should be playing with some new toys.

tell me if this is correct based on your post.
1. plug a quarter inch cable from an output to and input on my saffire pro board
2. create some kind of sound for ableton to play
3. turn the input channel off in ableton (the same channel that the quarter inch cable is plugged into), and enable record on track 2.
4. play the track and mark the delay between when track 1 players and when track 2 listens
5. adjust the delay compensation in preferences

[gr00ver]

also im not getting it to work correctly

I have my Live at 48000 and 15 samples. The delay is almost non-existent so I think thats why I am not seeing a difference.

How would I trim a sample like you said to make it start with a sharp edge? I cant seem to do that correctly.

[Tone Deft]

1 any output to any input with any cable that can go between them.
2 use a sample
3 turn the recording channel's monitor to OFF, delay compensation is only enabled with OFF is chosen
4 yep
5 yep



trim the sample, I'd want to have Live in front of me to lay it out. IIR turn grid off (right click in the notes area, I forget the key command), put the marker on the sample where you want it then ctrl-e to cut it. this is one of those things you remember and your fingers just do it but when asked specifically how to do it you can't recall.

as I wrote, my latency was 2ms. so, yes it's possible yours is also nearly 'non-existent.' technically speaking it's literally impossible for there to be ZERO latency, but a few milliseconds is fine.

[H20nly]

the latency you posted is fine. great even. don't nit pick it.

[gr00ver]

Yea i think its pretty good as well.

[Hermanus]

Great setting tip when time comes to play gig with real instruments and/or singer.