Lag issues....

grrr

I updated my soundcard to an external Soundblaster live 24bit card… And N to the 24bit version… But now I am having lag issues… I am running the current version of N… Any ideas?

Explain what you mean by “lag”.

Do you mean that when you record a new track along with an existing track, that the two don’t line up – the new track “lags” (or leads) the previous track? I call this a “sync” problem.

1) Make sure you’re using the latest drivers. IIRC, there are several drivers to choose from for SB cards; hopefully someone here will clue you in which are best for your purposes.

2) Make sure both boxes in “Preferences -> Options -> Use system timer for” are UNchecked.

3) Which driver type are you using: ASIO, WDM, or MME? Try them in that order for the best bet.

4) Try both settings for “Preferences -> Audio Devices -> Advanced -> Keep devices open”. While you’re there, make sure that “Compensation” is set to zero. (If it’s not, this is probably the real problem.)

lag is often the term used for latency between a computer and server in video games… so do you mean latency in recording? like not hearing your guitar part immediately. or do you mean sync issues, where one track is not lined up with another?

It is a sync issue. I usually use a click track to keep myself in time… but lately, after about a minute, I can hear the audio start to slowly get out of sync.

Aha, forgot about the 48k issue. (I always forget SOMETHING.)

Also, if you’re using a MIDI click, go to “Preferences -> Midi Settings” and set it to use “Wave timer”.

When sync drifts off as you get further into the song, it means that different channels are using different timers. One case of this is using system timer for MIDI and soundcard (wave) timer for audio. Another case is when using two soundcards at the same time, without some sync signal between them.

BTW, this IS also called “lag”. Just making sure we’re talking about the same thing.

Yes… I am familiar with LAG as a gaming term… (for example, getting your stupid self shot in the head then typing LAG!, haha) And also familiar with it as a recording term, which I believe means pretty much the same same as sync issue… (feel free to correct me if I am wrong.)

But thanks for the advice guys… I fixed all my preferences and will let you know how it works after I have some time to record some stuff this weekend…

The gaming term I’m most familiar with is “FRAG”, as in “You Mu*******ing a**hole, you fragged me AGAIN!” I heard this a lot back when I was gaming … :wink:

But I think that kind of lag is more like what we call “latency”: when you play a note but don’t hear it until after a delay. Sometimes latency and sync are unrelated. What I call sync problems, some others call latency – it makes sense but I try to avoid that to help communication. “Lag” is often used to mean either, so it’s a good term to start out with when you don’t know which it is!

Sometimes the same problem can cause both, or the solution for one can minimize issues with the other, but I think that’s a minority of cases.

OK… so I UNchecked the “Use system timer for” boxes… and i set the sample rate for 48000. I just recorded one rough guitar track to a click track, and it sounds as if my problem has been solved… In a bit here I’ll actually try to record a song, then we’ll see for sure. Thank you so much guys!:)