What can I do to improve my Input/Output/Overall Latency?

Cell 2Dee

Bloody Fingers
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 110

I don't know why the buffer is so high, I've never changed it to be honest. What do you suggest it should be set to? And no, I haven't optimised my laptop, I'll check them links out. Thanks.
 

LDB

Banned
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 73
There's alot of tweaks you can do to your computer to make it run better and faster especially if you're running windows.

You should set your buffer size as low as you can without the sound dropping out with no clicks and pops. It won't be very low because you're using the stock computer sound card but you may get it to respond a little faster.

Your only real option to get latency good enough to make music is getting another external or internal sound card geared toward music production(depends on if you're using a laptop or desktop). A couple hundred dollars should get you something stable with lower latency. If you can get your buffer size down between 512 and 256 and your latency down to 11ms or lower you'll be good to go.
 

Cell 2Dee

Bloody Fingers
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 110
There's alot of tweaks you can do to your computer to make it run better and faster especially if you're running windows.

You should set your buffer size as low as you can without the sound dropping out with no clicks and pops. It won't be very low because you're using the stock computer sound card but you may get it to respond a little faster.

Your only real option to get latency good enough to make music is getting another external or internal sound card geared toward music production(depends on if you're using a laptop or desktop). A couple hundred dollars should get you something stable with lower latency. If you can get your buffer size down between 512 and 256 and your latency down to 11ms or lower you'll be good to go.

I see. Thanks for the advice.
 

Cell 2Dee

Bloody Fingers
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 110

MagnaOpera

Comes Equipped...
ill o.g.
*sigh* Some people's parents...

a.) I did not literally mean I have no latency, I meant I have no noticeable latency.
b.) I don't know where people get off assuming I have "no gear".
c.) The point I was trying to illustrate is that I'm running with very little latency, a very shitty soundcard, a small amount of ram and I find that I have no noticeable latency.
c.) If you're going to talk shit, grow a pair of balls and come holler in real life.
d.) Little Drama Bitch, considering that you posted twice in this thread about me being a "dumbass" (are you 12? 13?), POSTING DIRECTLY AFTER ME, FLAMING, CONTRIBUTING NOTHING TO THE THREAD and then have the audacity to call ME a STALKER? Nigga plz. You're just mad because I'm stylin' on ya. Man up or fuck off.

kthxbai.
 

LDB

Banned
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 73

aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

This stupid S.O.B actually typed "styling on ya", if that means "flaming" me in threads homo...you're right...you do that well.

U got no latency because you don't do shit musically. We go by what you type pubic hair in mouth. Nobody's a mind reader here. U typed some stupid shit and got called on it...by more than me at that and your excuse still doesn't make sense. We're suppose to know what you meant...haaaaaaah.

Post a picture of your gear, drop a beat in the showcase....hell draw a picture of your shit cause right now all you're doing is typing out your ass.

I'm more worried about getting stung by a Malaria carrying mosquito than of you harming one hair on my nut sack, yo! and if the stalker dress fits wear it in red pumps. I really don't have shit to say to you or about you but you keep finding away to type nonsensical bullshit while quoting my post. But that's that "styling shit right"? (dying laughing)

You man up wet one and mind ya business and I'll do the same.

Seek me out and comment about me in threads and I will continue to torch u...simple as that. If you got something to say about me use pm's transsexual. If you seek me out in threads I'm right back at you Mr. Styling. (this mf actually typed styling...whoa)
 

MagnaOpera

Comes Equipped...
ill o.g.
aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

This stupid S.O.B actually typed "styling on ya", if that means "flaming" me in threads homo...you're right...you do that well.

U got no latency because you don't do shit musically. We go by what you type pubic hair in mouth. Nobody's a mind reader here. U typed some stupid shit and got called on it...by more than me at that and your excuse still doesn't make sense. We're suppose to know what you meant...haaaaaaah.

Post a picture of your gear, drop a beat in the showcase....hell draw a picture of your shit cause right now all you're doing is typing out your ass.

I'm more worried about getting stung by a Malaria carrying mosquito than of you harming one hair on my nut sack, yo! and if the stalker dress fits wear it in red pumps. I really don't have shit to say to you or about you but you keep finding away to type nonsensical bullshit while quoting my post. But that's that "styling shit right"? (dying laughing)

You man up wet one and mind ya business and I'll do the same.

Seek me out and comment about me in threads and I will continue to torch u...simple as that. If you got something to say about me use pm's transsexual. If you seek me out in threads I'm right back at you Mr. Styling. (this mf actually typed styling...whoa)
Hop off your high horse pal. Again, I don't know where you're coping all these feelings from. I commented on your eggcrate foam nonsense ONCE. I let it die. You, on the other hand, seem to be obsessed with your childish vendetta against me. Keep running your mouth, little boy. It takes a real man to talk some real bullshit on the internet tough guy. I only wish I lived in your shithole back-water state so there'd be some remote chance I'd see you in real life.
 

Kontents

I like Gearslutz
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 5
DROP THIS SHIT RIGHT NOW.

LDB be cool your a Vet here and you stand way taller then this.

Magna let it go. Dont post a comment with one line that provides no real contribute to the thread itself and expect people to understand what your saying.



BACK ON TOPIC.
 

elementsrtyte

ILLIEN
ill o.g.
yea foo, your computers definitely alright. i'm running the same exact. t7100 hp centrino duo w/ 2 gigs of ram. i use protools all day w/ little to no lag and thats probably the biggest test to pass. the trick to a laptop is having a fast harddrive. all you need to do is upgrade to a 7200rpm harddrive, which you can get a 320gb for 90$ online. definitely reccomend it.

well before that you NEED to upgrade your soundcard. you get hindered compltely unless you have it. it eliminates all the lag (5ms) from midi recording. AND it takes some of the workload off your pc trying to process everything. so i'd recomend getting just a $200 dollar fast track pro so you can get pt m-powered up and running and it comes w/ 2 inputs.

so w/ 300$ you have a dope setup and your ready to go. if you have a firewire input in your laptop, get the firewire410. its decent and the bandwith is a lot more stable than any usb can offer. but thats jjust me.. i do a lot of recording vocals and stuff so I need the extra bandwith, but if your just dropping beats you really don't need anything but an usb soundcard. cop one off of craigslist, no specific brand needed. i'm sure you can get one for less than $75 easyy. all it needs to be is asio-compliant and your setttt
 

Cell 2Dee

Bloody Fingers
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 110
yea foo, your computers definitely alright. i'm running the same exact. t7100 hp centrino duo w/ 2 gigs of ram. i use protools all day w/ little to no lag and thats probably the biggest test to pass. the trick to a laptop is having a fast harddrive. all you need to do is upgrade to a 7200rpm harddrive, which you can get a 320gb for 90$ online. definitely reccomend it.

well before that you NEED to upgrade your soundcard. you get hindered compltely unless you have it. it eliminates all the lag (5ms) from midi recording. AND it takes some of the workload off your pc trying to process everything. so i'd recomend getting just a $200 dollar fast track pro so you can get pt m-powered up and running and it comes w/ 2 inputs.

so w/ 300$ you have a dope setup and your ready to go. if you have a firewire input in your laptop, get the firewire410. its decent and the bandwith is a lot more stable than any usb can offer. but thats jjust me.. i do a lot of recording vocals and stuff so I need the extra bandwith, but if your just dropping beats you really don't need anything but an usb soundcard. cop one off of craigslist, no specific brand needed. i'm sure you can get one for less than $75 easyy. all it needs to be is asio-compliant and your setttt

Good to hear from someone with the same sort of spec as me. Just last night I was looking at the Fast Track Pro haha, I think I'm definitely gonna get that. I need a new hard drive aswell to be honest, so thanks for the feedback on that. Good post dude.
 

subvertbeats

Beatmaker
ill o.g.
lmao... harsh, but deintiely the fuckin truth... muthafuckas needa quit usin themselves as example when they runnin the point and click method... shit worthless to erybody... u need a better computer cell2dee... not hatin on u man, i kno how it is where u at music wise... but ur wastin ur time unless u willin to upgrade to a better computer with better sound card. IT will never sound good without em. Not hatin on u man, its a lesson we all learn. but its true. UPGRADE

Sorry, but this is not sound advice.

Cell

Your PC is more than adequate for you to track at low latency.
Latency isnt really an issue during mixing.

The problem you have, as others have noted is the internal soundcard, and its drivers.

Almost any USB2 or Firewire external soundcard with ASIO drivers will get you up and running.
Feel free to reply with your budget and I'll suggest a few alternatives for you,
 

subvertbeats

Beatmaker
ill o.g.
Cell, this is mainly good advice from element, with a few caveats.

yea foo, your computers definitely alright. i'm running the same exact. t7100 hp centrino duo w/ 2 gigs of ram. i use protools all day w/ little to no lag and thats probably the biggest test to pass. the trick to a laptop is having a fast harddrive. all you need to do is upgrade to a 7200rpm harddrive, which you can get a 320gb for 90$ online. definitely reccomend it.

Unless you are recording 8+ tracks of audio concurrently, which I doubt, you wont *need* to upgrade to a faster HD.
It will help, and hard drives are dirt cheap these days, so if you have the £ lying around, look into it.

well before that you NEED to upgrade your soundcard. you get hindered compltely unless you have it.

Very true.

it eliminates all the lag (5ms) from midi recording.

two areas where latency will affect you:

1) the time it takes for you to hear a sound after triggering it (eg via MIDI). If that time is too long you cant play naturally
2) Monitoring live signals (eg listening to your vocals in a heaphone mix whilst tracking)

Both have exactly the same root cause and would be solved with the new audio interface.

AND it takes some of the workload off your pc trying to process everything.

Unless you have a completely DSP based audio platform (e.g. ProTools HD) then your processor will still be processing all the audio.
The difference will be in the drivers. Well written ASAIo drivers are far more efficient and hence require less overhead on your CPU.

so i'd recomend getting just a $200 dollar fast track pro so you can get pt m-powered up and running and it comes w/ 2 inputs.

If you really want to use PT M-Powered then its an acceptable option, but other lower end DAW packages are far less crippled than PT M-Powered or PT LE.
M-Audio hardware generally sucks balls, and their drivers arent the most stable.

so w/ 300$ you have a dope setup and your ready to go. if you have a firewire input in your laptop, get the firewire410. its decent and the bandwith is a lot more stable than any usb can offer.

Bandwidth and stability are completely unrelated here.
By the way, USB2 has more bandwidth than FW400, and at this level you wont notice much difference in performance or stability all other things being equal (i.e. driver support).
Stay away from any USB1 audio interfaces tho. USB1 bandwidth is many orders of magnitude less than FW400 or USB2 and you will almost certainly find bottlenecks here

but thats jjust me.. i do a lot of recording vocals and stuff so I need the extra bandwith, but if your just dropping beats you really don't need anything but an usb soundcard. cop one off of craigslist, no specific brand needed. i'm sure you can get one for less than $75 easyy. all it needs to be is asio-compliant and your setttt

USB2 or FW400 - stay away from USB1 altogether.
And importantly not all ASIO drivers are created equally....

As per my last post, if you let me know your budget for an interface, Ill recommend a few that I know from first hand experience will work well for you.
 

subvertbeats

Beatmaker
ill o.g.
Well I can't be spending too much money yet, so when I get my shit together I'll be saving for it. Probably anything up to £250-£300. Thanks dude, appreciate it. Good posts.

Do you want to record vocals, and if so do you have a separate Mic Pre?

If so, then all you need is something solid and simple like this:

http://www.echoaudio.com/Products/FireWire/AudioFire2/index.php

Its here for just over £150

http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/shop/flypage/product_id/15610/

You can get cheaper interfaces but I know from experience this is a solid piece of kit with good sounding converters. Bang for buck its a good buy.
We used one a lot for the pepa records live shows. Its compact, stable, and sounds like it should be more expensive.
It has a MIDI interface built in so you can control your soft synths etc via a controller keyboard connected to this box.

If you want to record (eg vocals) and dont have a separate mic pre, this wont do - you'll need an audio interface with a mic pre built in.

If you dont need a MIDI interface built in, then the presonus inspire is a good buy: Ive not used one personally, but a producer whose tracks I mix uses one, and has had good experiences with it. Presonus drivers are generally very solid.

http://www.dv247.com/invt/34295/

Pretty much a bargain.

If you want to spend a little more and get a decent sounding I/F with MIDI I/O, Mic Pres, and Analog IO, check out either of these two.

http://www.dv247.com/invt/24334/

http://www.dv247.com/invt/32963/
 

savage_g

ILLIEN
ill o.g.
Well I can't be spending too much money yet, so when I get my shit together I'll be saving for it. Probably anything up to £250-£300. Thanks dude, appreciate it. Good posts.
Get this. http://www.dv247.com/invt/33410/
Great interface, clean sound, really sweet preamps, midi in/out. Took a while to choose this and it really punches above its weight for that kind of price.
You won't be looking to upgrade for a while after getting the Saffire. Focusrite have got a great rep for putting together decent products too.
 
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