Huge latency even though buffer set at 128 samples

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
Post Reply
keyman_sam
Posts: 28
Joined: Fri Mar 23, 2012 6:59 am

Huge latency even though buffer set at 128 samples

Post by keyman_sam » Mon Sep 12, 2016 2:11 am

There's something really odd happening in my setup.

For some reason, even though my RME HDSP 9652 buffers are set to 128 samples, there's a ~8 ms delay in everything I play. This is in Live 9.6.2. It sounds like the buffer was set to 1024.

Also, my MIDI CC messages aren't coming through but the keys are working perfectly fine. So no CC learn, etc.

What the heck is going on here? 8O

annadyne
Posts: 258
Joined: Thu May 02, 2002 5:37 pm
Location: Asheville, NC, us
Contact:

Re: Huge latency even though buffer set at 128 samples

Post by annadyne » Mon Sep 12, 2016 4:27 am

Having same problem here. Set to 128 samples.

Tried turning off all plugins.
About 9 tracks used. Mostly Abelton plugins not that many either.

Do not seem have the latency with a fresh project - no previously recorded audio clips.

Stromkraft
Posts: 7033
Joined: Wed Jun 25, 2014 11:34 am

Re: Huge latency even though buffer set at 128 samples

Post by Stromkraft » Mon Sep 12, 2016 7:37 am

Any MIDI processing adds to latency as well. I'd look at that first.

Best way to check stuff like this is to save as a new project first (Important!) and remove devices — turning them off isn't enough — and possibly even remove tracks until the problem is gone, then undo and try to isolate what causes this issue.

So in short, follow the signals!
Make some music!

Stromkraft
Posts: 7033
Joined: Wed Jun 25, 2014 11:34 am

Re: Huge latency even though buffer set at 128 samples

Post by Stromkraft » Mon Sep 12, 2016 7:39 am

keyman_sam wrote:there's a ~8 ms delay in everything I play. This is in Live 9.6.2. It sounds like the buffer was set to 1024.
How do you know this as exact? On my RME Babyface overall latency is 7.23 ms at 128 samples 44.1 kHz. At 1024 it's 47.9ms. So what were you expecting? Which MIDI controllers?
Make some music!

annadyne
Posts: 258
Joined: Thu May 02, 2002 5:37 pm
Location: Asheville, NC, us
Contact:

Re: Huge latency even though buffer set at 128 samples

Post by annadyne » Mon Sep 12, 2016 5:01 pm

Stromkraft - thanks for your kind input!

My problem was with recording usb mic audio, not controlling/recording external MIDI gears (so far).
To investigate, I opened empty project and noticed little latency for audio recording.
Then opened up current project with lots of audio clips.. .turned off all plugs (including Max for Live) & still got icky latency at 128 samples - argh. Turned on Reduced Latency When Monitoring - nope.

Then I remembered to turn off Delay Compensation (which includes turning off Reduced Latency when Monitoring) and voila! Latency got properly itsy-bitsy at 128 samples. :)

keyman_sam - hope you were able to get this sorted out!

Still need to play with 'sample' and Live's Options to understand what works best for specific setup and for when I finally get back to recording Blofeld and Phatty takes.

Cheers!

keyman_sam
Posts: 28
Joined: Fri Mar 23, 2012 6:59 am

Re: Huge latency even though buffer set at 128 samples

Post by keyman_sam » Tue Sep 13, 2016 4:19 am

annadyne wrote:
Then I remembered to turn off Delay Compensation (which includes turning off Reduced Latency when Monitoring) and voila! Latency got properly itsy-bitsy at 128 samples. :)
THANK YOU! That worked. But ofc the vocals were all out of sync, due to the various plugins used.

So, workflow is to turn off delay compensation when recording midi and then turn it on after you're done.

Really surprised Live can't work in a proper manner with delay compensation. 8O

Also, I still havent found a solution to my second problem: none of my midi CC gets registered.

chapelier fou
Posts: 6258
Joined: Mon May 15, 2006 12:15 pm

Re: Huge latency even though buffer set at 128 samples

Post by chapelier fou » Tue Sep 13, 2016 5:34 am

keyman_sam wrote: Also, I still havent found a solution to my second problem: none of my midi CC gets registered.
Did you enable your midi device in the remote input preferences ?
MacBook Pro 13" Retina i7 2.8 GHz OS 10.13, L10.0.1, M4L.
MacStudio M1Max 32Go OS 12.3.1

yur2die4
Posts: 7266
Joined: Sat Oct 03, 2009 3:02 am
Location: Menasha, Wisconsin
Contact:

Re: Huge latency even though buffer set at 128 samples

Post by yur2die4 » Tue Sep 13, 2016 6:31 am

You should probably check and reply to earlier posts you've made:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=223114

Stromkraft
Posts: 7033
Joined: Wed Jun 25, 2014 11:34 am

Re: Huge latency even though buffer set at 128 samples

Post by Stromkraft » Tue Sep 13, 2016 8:42 am

annadyne wrote:
My problem was with recording usb mic audio
Turn on PDC again and turn off monitoring on the track when recording. This affects how Live places audio on the timeline. Live assumes if you have monitoring active on the track that what you hear is what you want. With it off it places audio as it comes in, which is delay compensated to everything else (as that is when you hear it). As this is incoming acoustic audio you already have real time monitoring.
Make some music!

tintala
Posts: 480
Joined: Mon Nov 29, 2010 5:37 pm

Re: Huge latency even though buffer set at 128 samples

Post by tintala » Tue Sep 13, 2016 4:46 pm

Stromkraft wrote:
annadyne wrote:
My problem was with recording usb mic audio
Turn on PDC again and turn off monitoring on the track when recording. This affects how Live places audio on the timeline. Live assumes if you have monitoring active on the track that what you hear is what you want. With it off it places audio as it comes in, which is delay compensated to everything else (as that is when you hear it). As this is incoming acoustic audio you already have real time monitoring.[/quote

this confirms one needs to be an engineer to properly monitor and record in Live with low latency. Ive tried for yrs to no avail. Im also monitoring direct thru a mixer to lower the latency, this ^^is the first i've hear this before.

is this suppose to be common knowledge?? :?

Stromkraft
Posts: 7033
Joined: Wed Jun 25, 2014 11:34 am

Re: Huge latency even though buffer set at 128 samples

Post by Stromkraft » Tue Sep 13, 2016 5:28 pm

tintala wrote:
this confirms one needs to be an engineer to properly monitor and record in Live with low latency. Ive tried for yrs to no avail. Im also monitoring direct thru a mixer to lower the latency, this ^^is the first i've hear this before.

is this suppose to be common knowledge?? :?
No, I disagree. many people successfully make music with Live. However, it's odd this is not clear from the manual as far as I can see. Maybe it's not intended to work like this or is simply undocumented? It should be common knowledge and made more clear in the GUI. I wonder if there is a feature request for this at Centercode already?


Please fix your quote of me. Thanks.
Make some music!

Post Reply