Cure to midi latency while recording in SX

pseudojazzer · Post by **pseudojazzer** » Thu Aug 25, 2005 1:54 am

I hope this is not a repeat of previous threads, it probably is cos there is so much info here on Z but i thought i'd share my findings.
Basically i'm using a usb keyboard and i found that there was no latency while playing along with the basic tracks - the midi on light flashes at the right time in scope and sx, however as soon as i pressed record, although my playing was in time and i could hear it in time the midi notes appeared in the sequencer about half a bar late - its been driving me nuts - and while i could cure it by moving the part afterwards, i knew there must be a simpler way.
All i had to do was disable direct draw acceleration from the dxdiag menu. (run - dxdiag)
Hope thats helpful to someone else, its just a silly thing but could be useful...

marcuspocus · Post by **marcuspocus** » Thu Aug 25, 2005 3:34 am

thanks, that's a good one if it effectively work.

Not that i had this particular problem, but it's still usefull if encountered.

It's at least a hint for somewhere to search when midi problem occur in SX

ChrisWerner · Post by **ChrisWerner** » Thu Aug 25, 2005 5:08 am

Oh yes, I have the same problem, all midi events are recorded/written up to 0.3.0 bars later then I play them, sometimes not.
Very galling....

I´ll try your hint, thanks.

LHong · Post by **LHong** » Thu Aug 25, 2005 5:02 pm

It's true! Usually, it causes by start and stop (recording/Playback) latency!

Another trick is:
At very first time when you start a project, using the Audio Master timing instead of MIDI Timing. Even you do not have the audio track in the Sequencer yet.

Try this one you might surprise how precise it is! This has about same latency on the scope setting (about +/- 2 to 13/1000 of a second, for example).

suthnear · Post by **suthnear** » Mon Aug 29, 2005 11:15 am

On 2005-08-25 18:02, LHong wrote:
At very first time when you start a project, using the Audio Master timing instead of MIDI Timing. Even you do not have the audio track in the Sequencer yet.

Where is this setting? Is it under Transport/Sync Setup... or somewhere else?

t.i.a.

suthnear · Post by **suthnear** » Wed Aug 31, 2005 11:30 pm

Nedver mind - my timing is rock solid in 3.1...

ARCADIOS · Post by **ARCADIOS** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 8:37 am

LHONG can you be more specific about audio master setting?
Thanks

LHong · Post by **LHong** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 11:40 pm

Try this:
Under the Transport -> Sync Setup and Time Code Source to select VST System Link, instead of MIDI timecode.

Hope this helps,
LongStudio

pseudojazzer · Post by **pseudojazzer** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 5:28 am

LHong, don't you need two computers to use VST system link as a time source? I thought that VST system link was used for networking two or more computers, and that you would have to activate it in the VST audiobay (in device setup) for it to work as a timecode?
I don't have two computers so havn't tried but if you don't need two then i will!
Cheers

LHong · Post by **LHong** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 2:21 pm

No, you do not need 2 PCs for doing that.
Your PC as the Master timing. The difference is it always used the Audio timing Master instead of MIDI time code.

LongStudio

[ This Message was edited by: LHong on 2005-10-23 15:22 ]

pseudojazzer · Post by **pseudojazzer** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 1:36 am

Nice one, i'll tweak again!

Herr Voigt · Post by **Herr Voigt** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 12:44 pm

Very useful tip, pseudojazzer!
I'm a newbie with XP, the problem didn't appear in 98se. Today I recorded many MIDI tracks with overdubbing and I got crazy with the big latency!
Now I've read this thread, disabled DirectDraw, and voilà! It works.
Thank you very much!

PS: I work with VST 5.1, the problem seems to be the same as in SX 3.

[ This Message was edited by: Herr Voigt on 2005-10-25 13:56 ]

[ This Message was edited by: Herr Voigt on 2005-10-25 13:56 ]

ali · Post by **ali** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 12:42 pm

edit:

Wired · Post by **Wired** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 3:02 pm

what menu in nuendo or cubase is dxdiag under to disable it?

wayne · Post by **wayne** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 5:30 pm

Not in Steinberg, methinks - windows utility.

Start-> Run-> dxdiag

gustav · Post by **gustav** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 2:36 am

I tried this 2 tweaks to see if it would be a solution for my sx3 & sts5000 problem (window hangs) - but my hope was deceived...

Only to be sure to understand really this sync-tweak :
I click on VST-Link (was on internal time code before)
but this is all. Sync stays not activated ?

pseudojazzer · Post by **pseudojazzer** » Wed Nov 08, 2006 3:55 am

Stardust, i'm using SX 3, i've been thinkitg of upgrading to the new one - but am not sure, i'll probably wiat til they iron out the initial bugs and get it sometime next year when i need a technology purchase fix!!

BTW another tip...

I'm still getting latency albeit sometimes very small..
and whats wierd is that i only get it sometimes, sometimes lots of latency sometimes none.. wierd, cant seem to work out why.. but here is a good workaround... hopfully it can help...and should work on any sequencer

so,
1) create your midi track as normal (routing etc to fave synth blah blah....)
2) in scope route the audio of this synth back into cubase/sequencer...
3) create an audio channel under the midi channel and have the input of the audio channel as in (2) i.e. this track will record the audio of the midi you are playing. [make sure that direct monitoring is OFF on the audio track - otherwise you will get feedback!!]
4) when you record, make sure that the audio and midi are both recorded at the same time.
5) once you've finished your part, zoom in as much as needed on the first note, Do the audio and midi first notes match up? if not drag the midi notes backwards so that they line up with the recorded audio and then they should be in time.
You can then delete the audio and continue to work on the midi (quantising etc..) knowing that the latency has been removed.

Important note: this is not always completely safe.. for example is you are playing a synth with a very slow attack, the audio and midi notes may not "match up", but is can help if you are using a synth with a reasonalbly fast attack, and for people with a lot of latency it should be a good guideline to get more stable timing, even if its not prefect.

Hope thats helpful to someone.
Cheers,
Tom

Wired · Post by **Wired** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 12:52 am

i had an instance where the midi notes were bouncing way over to the left or the beginning of my recording. i'll try these tips listed here

Music Manic · Post by **Music Manic** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 7:55 am

Maybe this is why DirectX has been droppes in version 4?

Wired · Post by **Wired** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 5:35 pm

i use external clock thru spdif instead of cw as master, is that an issue for midi always recording too late?, ...i am sending midi via a mo6 and the midi is all late , all of the time, ...it doesn't matter if i use master or slave, same result, ..do you have that ignorefilter, i don't have it in my nuendo

PlanetZ forums - scopeusers.com

Cure to midi latency while recording in SX

where

midi notes bouncing to the left

latency