Subject:Is there a way to reduce MIDI delay .....?

Posted by: carmellose sodique

Date:9/4/2005 4:37:55 AM

Hello,

i'm having a huuuge delay between my keyboard and the MIDI output sound in ACID. Even with simple VSTi such as softsynth i get like 0.5 sec delay between the key i'm typing on my keyboard and the sounds that comes out..

The weird thing is that there's a delay in ACID, while there isn't with MIDIOX (a small program to play midi from a keyboard). So .. is there a way to reduce the delay in ACID ?

cheers

Subject:RE: Is there a way to reduce MIDI delay .....

Reply by: JohnnyRoy

Date:9/4/2005 8:16:24 AM

> is there a way to reduce the delay in ACID ?

The delay is called latency. It’s not the MIDI data that is being delayed, (which is why you don’t see it in MIDIOX) it’s the time it takes the VSTi to respond to the data and send a sound to your sound card. You want to get your latency below 11ms to sound as if the notes are playing immediately.

How you fix this problem is dependant on your sound card. The best way is to use ASIO compliant drivers. I see in your profile that you have a SoundBlaster Live. Unfortunately, Creative didn’t create ASIO drivers for the SoundBlaster series (only the Audigy has them). There is an independent driver for the SBLive cards from KX Project. It is not easy to configure but it’s cheaper than buying a new soundcard.

You might also want to try a universal ASIO driver like ASIO4ALL. This is what I use on my laptop when I only have the motherboard sound. It does a pretty good job of reducing latency. I would try this one first before KX Project just because it's easier to use. Pretty much just install it, open ACID, go to Options > Preferences > Audio tab, and select ASIO4ALL as your Audio device type. Then go make some great music. ;-)

~jr

Subject:RE: Is there a way to reduce MIDI delay .....

Reply by: carmellose sodique

Date:9/9/2005 3:28:34 AM

hi JohnnyRoy,

thanks for the tip,

i have installed the ASIO driver but it doesn't work quite well : i'm having a huge lag when i play my track and a lot of crackle sounds .. i tryed to check the hardware processing options and increase the buffers but it doesn't seem to help that much unfortunably ...

BTW, i'm having another problem with midi VSTi when i render my track : i'm using TRILOGY and BATTERY2 which eat a lot of memory .. and when i render my track the output is not correct : the song only records some of the sounds in my project : i'm missing some beats, basslines etc ....the only thing i've found is to convert all my midi tracks to wav tracks..but i loose all the dynamic poosibilities i have with midi : for example if something is not right (liek i wanna refine some velocity or add some beat) i can change that in my midi track, not in my wav track ..


cheers

Subject:RE: Is there a way to reduce MIDI delay .....

Reply by: Iacobus

Date:9/12/2005 9:04:02 AM

The Sound Blaster line is notorious for not living up to the hype Creative eschews. Consider upgrading to a pro-level sound card (such as those from Echo or M-Audio).

The Audiophile 2496 can now be had for $100 USD and it's leaps and bounds ahead of what Creative offers. (Even their new fancy-schmancy Audigy 4 and "X-Fi". You want a card that's lean and mean, not bloated with features that you'll never use.)

Iacobus
-------
RodelWorks - Original Music for the Unafraid
Buy Instant ACID by JohnnyRoy and mD!
mD at ACIDplanet

Subject:RE: Is there a way to reduce MIDI delay .....

Reply by: carmellose sodique

Date:9/17/2005 6:52:49 AM

hello,

Thanks for the info, unfortunably i've just bought a SB audigy 4 pro (i could have it for cheap)....

The thing that i don't understand is that it (the new soundcard) doesn't accelerate anything in ACID. When i use the asio, ACID keeps being very slow and crackles everywhere. Is that normal ? What should i upgrade in my computer to avoid this slowlyness as soon as i add two or three midi tracks (battery, trilogy, etc) ?

thanks by advance,

cheers