Question to the recording-people: Latency problems

[micha]

Hi folks,
I'm having quite a lot of troulbe with latencies during recordings lately...
I always used to plug my V-Amp into my X-Fi soundcard, activate the line in and record.
It was really easy that way... I always did multitrack recordings, never got any pro results, but it always was good enough for my purpose.

Now I have this new PC....

I have it since end of july or something, and I just wanted to do some recordings once again last week.
Same software, same amp and mixer, but now I have latencies as hell.
Feels like I'm my own delay, so I get slower and slower to somehow stay in grove with what I hear through my headphones. And playing in sync in a Multitrack is impossible.
It just doesn't work that way.

I thought, well maybe this Asus Xonar DX just wasn't made for recordings as much as your old X-Fi or SB-Live were and got myself a Behringer UCA202, which is a cheap, simple USB audio interface, in hope to get rid of this latency.
Arrived today, nothing happened. Same shit, different Audio source.

Now I have no idea what else could cause problems like this.

Someone has got an idea?

The System is a WIN7 64Bit, Phenom 2 X6, 4Gb RAM and mentioned soundcards.
for Software I use CoolEditPro2 which is the older version of what's now called Adobe Audition.

I'd be glad for any ideas since this gets on my nerves heavily.

[jackson1]

Start by running the DPC Latency checker and see if your machine is ready for realtime audio (download and install):
http://www.vista4beginners.com/DPC-Latency-Checker

[micha]

Hey, thanks for your reply.
Everything's low and green as it should be in the programm.
I'm usually around 170 micro seconds.

[dg]

Micha, are all of your software settings the same in the new installation, like bitrate, buffer, and driver settings? IIRC, there are also some checkboxes like "Correct for Drift" or "Correct for Sync" in Cooledit that you may or may not want checked, depending on your new setup.

[Axewielder]

I'd be careful categorizing it as the "same shit". The two audio cards could have latencies for two unrelated reasons. I assume you are running that latest 2.8.40 64-bit ASIO driver? Personally I would steer away from USB solutions. I sort of chuckle when these USB audio interfaces tout "zero latency". It is really impossible. Are you plugged directly into a USB port on the PC? Don't go through a hub with that thing.

[Axewielder]

Also that is a USB 2.0 device. Ensure you are plugged directly into a USB 2.0 port and not a USB 1.X port. It would work if you did, but run slower.

[dg]

Pretty sure Cool Edit didn't support ASIO until after it became Audition. It might be time to start fresh with software that's able to take advantage of newer hardware, ASIO, etc. At this point, there are freeware programs that'll run circles around CEP. Also, I just did a little googling, and there seems to be quite a few compatibility problems with CEP and Windows 7.

[micha]

Yes, I didn't change anything actually. It's a plain setup, no tweaking anywhere...
But I think I solved it.

My soundcard (Behringer UCA202) was just too slow, I had to feed the programm with a multitrack latency to compensate this effect.
I recorded a couple of clicks from my metronome using my chat-microphone, connected the UCAs OUTs with the INs and recorded a second track.
Looking at the multitrack view in close zoom showed a delay of 51ms (what the hell? ).
I entered that into my Recording Device Settings and everything seems to be alright now.

Maybe not a professional way to do it, but it worked somehow.


But I'm kind of disappointed of my hardware. The Xonar wasn't able to give a realtime playback of the Line In at all, it was around 120ms (based on metronome, bad maths and feeling) and now my so called "ultra low latency" Audio Interface still has got over 50ms delay...
Well, anyway. All's well that ends well.

Thanks for the input guys!

[micha]

Wow, I should stop using old browsers for replies.
Sorry, didn't read anything newer than dgs 3:18 entry....

@ axewielder:
Yes, I do indeed run the unit thru an USB-hub. Not a good idea?
Actually I was just too lazy to get under the table before I knew this thing is working.
I will have a look at that.

So Audition works well with WIN7 64 Bit?
I did give Audition a try, but it didn't run very well on my system, that's why I stayed with CEP.
But that's years ago...Maybe I should have another look. This ASIO stuff I read about everywhere lately seems to be quite important, isn't it?

Is it a lot different to CEP in handling?

[Axewielder]

@ axewielder:
Yes, I do indeed run the unit thru an USB-hub. Not a good idea?

Terrible idea. It adds latency, and may even drop you down to USB 1.X depending on how old the hub is.

[dg]

Hopefully, Axe just solved the main problem. As far as Audition, it looks like version 3 is compatible with W7:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/windows-7/en-us/Details.aspx?type=Software&p=Adobe%20Audition&v=Ad obe&uid=3&l=en&pf=0π=0&s=audition&os=64-bit

[micha]

Alright, un- and re-plugging one of my USB-hubs just gave me the first blue screen I've had with 7 so far.
Now my chat-mic is gone, so I guess I'll have to get some more of the internal USBs available first before I can attach that many USB-devices.
So far it's 5 HDDs, mic, keys, mouse and the UCA202. Out of four USB slots this might be just too much.

I'll have a look at your hints once I got this solved.
Thanks a lot so far!

[micha]

It's working like a charm now!
I got some more USB jacks for the PCs rear end, plugged the UCA in directly and switched to Audition3.
I had to define which Hardware I wanted to use and my system speed, and now the ASIO driver says I have 5ms for output and 2ms for input, which is totally awesome with me.
Everything's in time perfectly and the new software looks really familiar.

I don't know which of these steps finally made it, but the result is really satisfying.
Thank you very much for your advise!

[jackson1]

Axewielder and dg!

[dg]

I'm betting it was the hub, but you should have a much better time with the newer software. Glad you got it fixed!