Latency??

Caruso wrote on 10/19/2004, 2:48 AM
Can someone explain what's going on for me?

I record a metronome sound on an audio track.
I play that while recording some simple melodies in track 2 and accompaniment in track 3 (all from my keyboard).

When played back, all tracks start in sync, but after about 90 seconds, it appears that tracks two and three gain tempo on track one (or perhaps track one slows down in relation to the other tracks).

It also appears that tracks two and three remain in sync with respect to each other.

Of course, I'd love to have everything constantly in sync.

My equipment: Computer - Pentium IV 3.0 gHz, 512 mb RAM, 800 mhz FSB, plenty of HD space, one internal drive, six external firewire drives - two of them could be interfaced via usb if I chose.

It seems that Vegas doesn't care if I record to the internal drive or the external ones.

Anyone who could offer tips to help me understand the cause of this problem and some suggestions on how best to deal with it is welcome to comment.

Thanks in advance.

Caruso

Comments

Caruso wrote on 10/19/2004, 2:50 AM
Oh, I forgot to mention that I'm running WinXPPro SP2 with Vegas5
Caruso
heinz3110 wrote on 10/19/2004, 4:04 AM
...And you forgot to tell us what soundcard(s) you use ;-)
(Sorry,feeling a bit jolly today :) )

Type of soundcard, applied buffersettings etc. can make a difference.

Gerard.
Cold wrote on 10/19/2004, 4:19 PM
Make sure to use the asio drivers
Caruso wrote on 10/19/2004, 8:32 PM
Oops, sorry. The sound card is a Creative SB Audigy. I don't know if I'm using Asio drivers or not. Checking the sound card settings, my current choices are MME-WDM Microsoft Sound Mapper or MME-WDM Creative SB Audigy LS.

I've tried both of those, and they don't correct the problem. How do I engage Asio drivers?

Thanks for your help.

Caruso
Caruso wrote on 10/19/2004, 8:33 PM
Buffer settings are set at 6/16384.

Caruso
wobblyboy wrote on 10/21/2004, 6:09 PM
Whats on track one? Is it your click track? My guess is that you are speeding up when you are playing. I don't see this related to latency.
snake_pro wrote on 10/22/2004, 8:33 PM
hi i have a similar problem, i run vegas 4 on mi pentium 3 1000 mhz 512 ram 100 gb hd, and y have a serius latenci problem recording audio, a frien tel mi vegas need a patch for this problem but i dont know y have a suond blaster mp3 external audio card and the vegas 3 version run perfectly some body to help mi to
Caruso wrote on 10/26/2004, 2:28 AM
"Whats on track one? Is it your click track? My guess is that you are speeding up when you are playing. I don't see this related to latency."

Wobbly:
The recording process I described earlier in the thread is one example cited to illustrate the problem. In reality, I may have a rhythm track recorded on track one, and want performers to listen as they play and I record track two.

It's definitely a problem in my setup - not the result of irregular tempi on the part of the performers. I've checked it several ways. If I were to make separate tracks of electronically produced rhythm only, I would get the same result.

Something seems to be shortening subsequent tracks as compared to the original.

I can make splits on the subsequent tracks and re-sync the bad sections - so it's not as if the tempo is changing, necessarily - perhaps something is somehow shortening those files - I don't know, but the problem is annoying.

Any suggestions welcome.

Caruso
heinz3110 wrote on 10/26/2004, 4:07 AM
Have you experimented with different buffersettings allready? Also,what samplerate do you use? Might help if you switch form ,say, 44k to 48k (or vice versa,or,or)


Also,there is a pretty amount of Audigy -related topics on this forum if you do a search.
Might give you some more insights why things works and some don't with the audigy.




adowrx wrote on 10/26/2004, 8:06 AM
search ASIO4all or kx something or other. One of these offers a better driver for audigy.........I remember reading a lot about this, but as I've never used audigy, I don't really pay too much attention. Good luck.

-jb
pwppch wrote on 10/26/2004, 1:09 PM
Two things:

- Work at 48 kHz with Wave/WDM drivers, as this is the only sample rate the hardware actually supports. That is, the Audigy/Windows will resample on the fly when working with anything other than 48 kHz. This can cause all kinds of problems when with latency and offsets, as well as affect performance.

- Get the ASIO drivers from Creative for your Audigy. These will provide lower latency and better accuracy when recording during playback.

Peter
Geoff_Wood wrote on 10/26/2004, 3:16 PM
Hi Peter,

Nice to have you back. Now if people can just restrain themselves from getting too intense, maybe we'll retain the benefit of his participation...

geoff
Caruso wrote on 10/31/2004, 12:52 AM
Heinz/SonyPCH: Your suggestions concerning sample rate were right on. I was busy recording (and overcoming timing problems last weekend) to sign on and am just reading your comments this morning, but have tried sampling at 48, and that cures the problem completely. I'm heavy into an audio only project now, but, when capturing or working with DV on this machine, should I also keep my hardware set to 48 khz?

Thanks again for the fine advice, and also to all who responded.

Caruso
Geoff_Wood wrote on 10/31/2004, 2:49 AM
Golad it's sorted.

FWIW I'm pretty sure the problem was purely related to SB's 48K fixation, not any failing of Vegas.

geoff
Caruso wrote on 11/1/2004, 2:14 AM
Geoff:
No question that this was other than a software problem - I use Wavelab 5 in addition to Vegas, and the exact same problem was occuring when recording through that package.

I had a five hour session yesterday that invovled use of WL montages previously recorded at 44.1. I recorded the new tracks at 48. WL complained that mixing two different sampling rates would cause the latter to be played off pitch. I simply re-rendered those to 44.1 and they worked perfectly, and all was in perfect sync.

Caruso