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  3. Very large latency (1/3 second) with standalone VE on Vista Ultimate with MIDI keyboard

  • Very large latency (1/3 second) with standalone VE on Vista Ultimate with MIDI keyboard

    R
    R

     I configured VE standalone on my Acer Aspire 8920G running Vista Ultimate SP2, 32-bit, 4 Gb RAM, Intel Core2 Duo CPU at 2.5 GHz, configured with minimal number of processes (no Aero stuff, no sidebar, all unnecessary stuff eliminated, etc.). Input for VE is my MIDI keyboard (= my Viscount Prestige I organ), through an Edirol UM-1EX USB 2.0 interface (driver from Roland website, version 1.0.0 for Vista 32-bit). VE has about 8 instruments loaded (in my case different registers of the Konzerthaus organ). Output is the analog speaker output conncected to external amplifiers. The sound card is the built-in Realtek High Definition Audio (driver version 6.0.1.5582). All processes for VSL and audio are given highest priority, or real-time when possible.

    Despite all these optimisation efforts, the latency between playing the keyboard and hearing the Konzerthaus organ sounds is very considerable: when playing 16th notes at even modest tempo (60 bpm) the sound is lagging behind more than one note, making it for me impossible to play (some organists can do that, I can't, unfortunately).

    Notes:

    1. when I use the piano interface on the VE player, sounds come immediately (i.e. latency is negligeable). I conclude the problem must be at the input side.

    2. changing the buffer size in VE doesn't have any effect.

    3. changing the sample output rate and bit length hasn't any effect either

    4. I read on internet fora that internal sound cards in laptops are not really the best choices for serious audio work, and that some models may cause quite substantial latencies (250 ms and more).

    5. When I play the keyboard, CPU load varies between 3 and 6% charge (apparently depending on the number of simultaneous notes played). The notes are played correctly (i.e. chords sound simultaneously, the rhytm is correct), but everything is way too late.

    Would it be a solution to add a PCI sound card with MIDI interface (I have an empty slot), and to disable the internal one? If yes, do you have suggestions for brand name and type? (I do have a Soundblaster Extigy external card via USB, but I don't see how that may help to diminsh the delay on the input MIDI signals).

    Any advice or similar experience sharing will be appreciated.

    (By the way, the sound samples from that Konzerthaus Organ are great and really impressive!)
  • R
    R
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    While searching on internet, I found the site www.asio4all.com , where a nice utility can be downloaded. It installs an ASIO interface, which can be used instead of the normal audio ports (in my case the Realtek High Definition Audio speaker outputs). Just install, start up your audio application (in my case VE), go to Preferences to configure your inputs and outputs, and a new "ASIO" output is available. Connect the master bus to it, choose a small buffer size (64 samples works for me), and ... the Konzerthaus Organ is at your fingertips, without latency! Great experience!

  • C
    C

    yes, I think a PCI-e soundcard would help. I don't know that you have to disable the realtek.  I think you do not have an ASIO (low-latency) driver, is the whole problem. Don't bother with the audigy... RME is reliable as far as a brand..