Any new software solutions with recording latency issues?

Fred Glave · Post by **Fred Glave** » 6 Mar 2015 10:12 am

I want to upgrade from Audacity... and wondering if there are any recording software programs out there that deal with latency issues better than others? Thanks!

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 6 Mar 2015 11:00 am

From what I see on recording forums, its not the DAW software (recording program) but the sound devices (recording interface units) and the drivers.

If you are using the PC audio, those are known for bad latency. A separate USB connected recording interface will do much better. An upgrade from the PC audio to a "real" recording interface unit such as the Focusrite 2i2, Roland Duo-Capture (or Quad-Capture) and others will do much better.

Trying to make some device work in ASIO by using ASIO4ALL is a bad idea. ASIO4ALL is a crap shoot on getting some non ASIO driver device to work - works for some, does not work for others and can even corrupt other PC audio devices.

I have a Roland Octa-Capture and I get 4 to 6 ms Latency (very good). But not all recording interface units have great latency. Before the Octa-Capture I had a Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 (Firewire interface) and 11 ms was the best I could do for reliable recording.

Fred Glave · Post by **Fred Glave** » 6 Mar 2015 11:38 am

I use the Behringer USB interface that came with Audacity. I still get latency. I was just wondering if any new recording software has come out recently that eliminates the problem.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 6 Mar 2015 12:37 pm

The Behringer could be the problem. They don't normally supply good ASIO drivers. Just plug and play drivers. I've seen posts about some of the "lower priced" Behringer interface devices.

I'm not "anti-Behringer" as I have several Behringer devices in my recording studio, including an 8 channel headphone distribution amp.

Howard Parker · Post by **Howard Parker** » 6 Mar 2015 12:51 pm

FWIW,

I made the leap to the full Cubase 7.5 and switched from a Presonus firewire I/O to the Steinberg (USB) UR series. Steinberg writes Cubase and the UR is tightly integrated into the software in sort of a "native mode". Latency is not an issue.

There is also quite a bit of DSP functionality in the interface itself. In my setup it makes monitoring sound glorious.

I'm using a perky i7 workstation w/ 16GB of RAM so performance is quite nice.

As always, ymmv

h

Bill Liscomb · Post by **Bill Liscomb** » 6 Mar 2015 1:56 pm

I'm using Cubase 7. When I track, I make the buffer as small as possible and turn off all effects. No latency. If I turn all the effects back on and forget to make the buffer larger I get popping and other interesting artifacts… I'm using an embarrassingly powerful Mac Pro,12 X 2.6ghz processors with 20gb of RAM. Got it for HD video editing. I also run it on a Toshiba netbook.
I settled on Cubase a while back, mainly because it has the smallest system requirements of all the DAW software I looked at, and it works on both PC and Mac. I started out with Pro Tools, but when Apple changed their processors I didn't want to shell out another $600.

John Macy · Post by **John Macy** » 6 Mar 2015 2:18 pm

I use ProTools and keep the buffer at 64 samples and have no latency issues and am running some effects while recording on my smaller systems. My studios use Pro Tools HD and there is no latency at all running everything under the sun (and for the price there better not be any...)....

Rick Schacter · Post by **Rick Schacter** » 6 Mar 2015 5:11 pm

Fred Glave wrote:I use the Behringer USB interface that came with Audacity. I still get latency. I was just wondering if any new recording software has come out recently that eliminates the problem.

As Jack said, the Behringer might be the problem.
I use a Presonus Audiobox 44VSL.

I've used it with Cakewalk Sonar, Presonus Studio One, Garageband and Logic Pro X.
No latency issues at all.

I also use to use a Line 6 UX2. Again, no latency.

**You might also check the buffer size.
It should be set as low as you can get it without popping and clicking while tracking.

Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 7 Mar 2015 9:48 pm

I monitor my sound "on input". I set up the interface so that I hear my sound before it hits the recording software. No latency problems at all. I think any semi pro interface would have that option. Worth a try.

Mark van Allen · Post by **Mark van Allen** » 7 Mar 2015 11:10 pm

Bob, what do you do if you need to track to already-recorded tracks or punch in? I'm always curious about the workarounds when using an outboard desk or input-only monitoring when it comes time to overdub.

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 8 Mar 2015 2:18 am

Each quality DAW software package has, or SHOULD have, buffer settings as well a CPU usage % which can be set by the user. THIS is how you control latency which is an artifact of the interface.

http://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/art ... -computer/

I am reminded by what Luther "Suitcase" Simpson says in the Jesse Stone movie series ...

"The information is out there all you have to do is let it in "

Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 8 Mar 2015 9:43 pm

Mark van Allen wrote:Bob, what do you do if you need to track to already-recorded tracks or punch in? I'm always curious about the workarounds when using an outboard desk or input-only monitoring when it comes time to overdub.

It hasn't been an issue for me. I do remote sessions pretty often.

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 9 Mar 2015 1:29 am

gentlemen and ladies , when we acquire software and it comes with an interface , please know that this is a marketing bundle. Many of us have been down this road with similar issues such as latency. My own experience was Cubase with a Tascam USB Interface sold as a "recording on your PC is easy as pie " package. well..NOT. I fought the latency thing more than I was recording...

A quality software package (DAW) and a quality Interface are two absolute required elements for a home or studio package.

IF latency is an issue, the very first thing to do is look at your DAW buffer preferences, if they are proper for recording, you now gotta look at the interface, because ..drum roll please...if the interface is the heart of the matter you can adjust things all day long but you ain't gonna resolve it.

yes Input Monitoring is a solution, no argument. But the simple fact of the matter is that a quality interface used with a quality DAW on a PC that is appropriately configured will leave these latency issues in the dust. Configure the DAW buffers for recording and away you go.

Now I will be the first to state that on my XP system with PT 8, the max ram I have is 4 g which is really 3.5 in the real world. So I have to be cautious on loading up the effects bin for tracks, or using programs which are really memory heavy such as EZ drummer.

Learn how to use BUSSES and assign...

I am considering upgrading the PC at some point in the near future, WIN 7 with a bunch of ram and solid state drives, one for programs the other for storage. I have no plans to upgrade PT8 or the M Audio Delta 6x6 Interface at this time, no reason to change right now.

Les Cargill · Post by **Les Cargill** » 9 Mar 2015 2:56 pm

I have a Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 USB 2.0 interface. That gets me to 16 in/16 out. It can be used with an Acer netbook to record live shows, 16 tracks.

At home, I use an inexpensive P5 dual-core 3.0GHz desktop I bought at Sam's in 2011.

It has two options - you use "Scarlett MixControl" to run the mixer that is internal to the Scarlett ( with "zero" latency )

- or -

you use something like REAPER as a "mixer". REAPER reports about 3 msec latency. You can load it up with as many plugins for EQ, compression, reverb, other shaping as you like and that you have CPU for. I use many plugins this way, and it eats very little CPU.

The USB drivers use much more than REAPER.

The MixControl ... controlled mixer inside the Scarlett has no reverb or EQ. The Scarlett has S/PDIF I/O so a reverb that supports S/PDIF could be used as a reverb - but no EQ nor dynamics in foldback.

*In addition*, I can run another DAW for recording purposes. And I do. So long as I keep the Ethernet port turned off, there are no clicks or pops.

It all works very well. If I had spent more on a computer, I am sure it would work even better. But it saves the space of a mixer. And there is a "zero" latency solution with just the MixControl mixer.

Michael Hibner · Post by **Michael Hibner** » 17 Mar 2015 3:49 pm

Bob Hoffnar wrote:I monitor my sound "on input". I set up the interface so that I hear my sound before it hits the recording software. No latency problems at all. I think any semi pro interface would have that option. Worth a try.

Yeah, you want the signal of the track you're recording to be pre-mix. You're not going to hear any of the effects and plugins like reverb, compression, or eq that you have applied with your DAW. It's pretty much a raw signal but there will be zero latency which is essential for accurate timing of your performance. Most interfaces allow either pre or post monitoring. Post monitoring will be where you will get the latency.

I hope y'all didn't mind me chiming in.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 18 Mar 2015 2:26 am

Most recording interface units have zero latency when monitoring the inputs. Latency comes in when you want to record with existing tracks that have been recorded.

My Roland Studio-Capture has built in reverb that can be used for monitoring only. It is not for recording, just for input monitoring. Many singers think they can do better if their voice has some reverb on it.

Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 20 Mar 2015 4:56 am

I don't use any plug ins and generally keep everything as simple as possible when I record at home. The RME interface I use does have a nice selection of outboard gear built in that does not effect latency at all if I was into that sort of thing.

I will sometimes use plug ins when I mix but I generaly leave all that to a real engineer.

Charlie McDonald · Post by **Charlie McDonald** » 5 Apr 2015 3:00 am

For similar purposes, my friend--longtime Phillip Glass technical director--recommended
M-Audio M-Track Two-channel Portable USB Audio/MIDI Interface for $69 shipped. He is very pleased with his.

John Booth · Post by **John Booth** » 5 Apr 2015 4:04 am

I had bad latency issues until I switched to my Audiogram (Yamaha) interface, then it tightened up very nicely.

Charlie McDonald · Post by **Charlie McDonald** » 5 Apr 2015 4:30 am

John is the Audiogram similar in uses to the M-Audio? This is brand new stuff to me.

John Booth · Post by **John Booth** » 5 Apr 2015 4:44 am

It's just a cheapie yamaha interface, simple but it works better for me than my M-Audio did in Cubase

Dale Rottacker · Post by **Dale Rottacker** » 5 Apr 2015 5:34 am

Fred, this is what Iâ€™m using...

http://www.presonus.com/products/FireStudio-Project

They claim â€˜0â€™ Latency with their included software... Iâ€™m not using their software but instead am using it with Garageband in my Mac... Unless I donâ€™t know what Iâ€™m listening for, I havenâ€™t experienced any issues in that regard while Iâ€™ve recorded... here are some samples done just recently.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFIlyfi ... VHl6OkHZBa

Hope you're solve your problem, either with what youâ€™re currently using or by going in another direction.

Stephen Gambrell · Post by **Stephen Gambrell** » 5 Jun 2015 5:29 am

I got a Tascam US-1200 interface, and a 1 Terrabyte, 7400 RPM external hard drive, running Presonus 1.2. Works pretty good.

Miguel Saldana · Post by **Miguel Saldana** » 22 Jun 2015 12:17 pm

As has been inferred, issues with latency are more of a hardware resource issue than a software issue. That said, I have experienced that some software requires more resources for its base operating state than others.

I don't have any documentation, but Audacity as a fairly lean software likely doesn't consume as much processing/memory/drive resources as a more feature rich software like ProTools/Logic/Etc. Another compact recording software is Reaper.

In practical use, problem solving with latency comes down to balancing hardware resources with the task at hand. Bouncing/Freezing tracks that have already been recorded, closing unnecessary programs, turning off wi-fi, disconnecting unnecessary hardware or USB hubs, using a secondary drive for recording, and some system configuration can all be part of reducing latency to a satisfactory level.

The Steel Guitar Forum

Any new software solutions with recording latency issues?

Any new software solutions with recording latency issues?

You might need a better interface.