Latency issues...

TelePaul

I feel like such a n00b asking about latency but with my new cdrums and ezdrummer on the way, it could be an icnreasingly important issue for me.

Anyways, I'm using the Alesis IO 26 with what I presume are the most up to date drivers. I've a Pentium Dual Core, 2.2ghz with 2 gigs of ram, Windows XP Home, SP3. I've used the sticky to optimise it for audio, no internet, no antivirus.

Now, the minimum buffer size I can use is 128 and this yields an input latency of 4.5ms and an output latency of 4.8. Even though I can't get a workable sound out of the minimum buffer size of 64, this would still give me an input latency of 3.5ms and an output latency of 3.0ms.

So a couple of questions. Firstly, is this latency abnormally high for a Firewire interface? Is it just that the interface is pretty cheap (for one with 8 pres)? And is this too much latency to track V-Drums with through a VSTi?

That last question had me thinking; when I play guitar, I stand anything from six to ten feet from my amp (I've a big awkward pedal board). Wouldn't that give me 6-10 ms of latency? Same when I drum, I'm right on the kit, so lets say, for arguments sake, there's zero delay between striking a head and hearing the sound. The guitarist in my band might be ten feet away...so from a recording p.o.v, from his perspective, the drum sound is delayed by 10ms, no?

i57dwun4yb1pt8

im using buffer 128 and have a round 4 ms latency over firewiire and it records dead on time with SDdrums and roland v drum.
i dont think firewire will get you any lower than 4 ms or 128 buffer

but you have to make sure all VST are turned off except SD drumsvst when tracking - and dont use any processing in SD drums mixer.


regarding guitar - you should be recording guitar with headphones on
this mean same latency as above .

but live - the drums and guitar amps are usually beside each other so the drummer is in time with them .
and the guitar mics are in time with the drummer as they are practically next to him

the frontmen are usually same distance from the drums and guitar amps so they are in time with them - ie they hear all the drums and guitars 10 ms later then the drummer but are in time with them as the sound arrives at the same time .

for vocals you need monitors anyway so they are covered.
and bigger stages always have full monitors so no timing issues occur

if you play live without monitors for vocals you can have timing issues on acoustic sets where no amps are used as the drummer is at the back- drummer can lose time .


think of time zero as the time the sound leaves the speaker cone or the drum
your guitar / pedals and amp casue latency but you compensate by playing the strings slightly ahead of time and the sound leaves the speaker at the correct time - same as drumming - you are moving to the next note before the time needed- not on the time needed.

if you are hearing the guitar from 10 feet away and also the drums from 10 feet away - they are in time to you
and the drummer hears the drums from 3 feet away and the amp from say 3 to 5 feet away - hes also in time.

TelePaul

DaDumTish wrote: »

im using buffer 128 and have a round 4 ms latency over firewiire and it records dead on time with SDdrums and roland v drum.
i dont think firewire will get you any lower than 4 ms or 128 buffer

but you have to make sure all VST are turned off except SD drumsvst when tracking - and dont use any processing in SD drums mixer.


regarding guitar - you should be recording guitar with headphones on
this mean same latency as above .

but live - the drums and guitar amps are usually beside each other so the drummer is in time with them .
and the guitar mics are in time with the drummer as they are practically next to him

the frontmen are usually same distance from the drums and guitar amps so they are in time with them - ie they hear all the drums and guitars 10 ms later then the drummer but are in time with them as the sound arrives at the same time .

for vocals you need monitors anyway so they are covered.
and bigger stages always have full monitors so no timing issues occur

if you play live without monitors for vocals you can have timing issues on acoustic sets where no amps are used as the drummer is at the back- drummer can lose time .


think of time zero as the time the sound leaves the speaker cone or the drum
your guitar / pedals and amp casue latency but you compensate by playing the strings slightly ahead of time and the sound leaves the speaker at the correct time - same as drumming - you are moving to the next note before the time needed- not on the time needed.

if you are hearing the guitar from 10 feet away and also the drums from 10 feet away - they are in time to you
and the drummer hears the drums from 3 feet away and the amp from say 3 to 5 feet away - hes also in time.

Ah cool, cheers, so you're saying it's not a deal breaker?

i57dwun4yb1pt8

no . its great
and its the single best thing you can do to increase home recording quality

studiorat

You won't notice any difference until around 30ms.

Did you try hitting it?

TelePaul

studiorat wrote: »

You won't notice any difference until around 30ms.

Did you try hitting it?

I did but Thomann havn't delivered EZDrummer yet and i dont trust my ears as much as I should.

kfoltman

TelePaul wrote: »

I did but Thomann havn't delivered EZDrummer yet and i dont trust my ears as much as I should.

You can probably use something free like MDrummer Small for testing?