Lag problems...PLEEEEEEASE help!

I posted here last year about some lag problems I was having with NTrack. I tried all of the suggestions given, to no avail. I am pulling my hair out over this (well, not literally, but…).

To recap, I had been using version 2.0.9 of NTrack for years with absolutely no problems whatsoever. Sometime last year, I started to get the lag problem that many NTrack users seem to have.

I have tried every conceivable combination of fixes. I’ve tried checking and unchecking the system timers, played around with buffering, tried different wav devices…I feel like there’s a REALLY simple fix somewhere that I am missing. I got it to a point where the lag wasn’t SHOWING, but it was still quite audible. I even downloaded the new shareware version to try it out and that one doesn’t work either.

NTrack is absolutely perfect for what I need it to do…I would really like to get this program up and running again! If anyone could help, I’d greatly appreciate it!

Explain “lag”. Are tracks out of sync with each other? The first thing to try is unchecking “Keep devices open” in your audio device preferences.

If your sound card supports the ASIO driver, I would use that. I was having sync problems with the MME driver; having to do the same thing you’re having to do: select and de-select the timing for recording and playback. Now I don’t have to do any of that.

Even now if I get that annoying machine gun interrupt during recording, the take that was potentially affected doesn’t seem to show any signs of being affected.

Hope this helps.

Jeff

SB Live or similar? Try recording at 48kHz.

Quote (Bubbagump @ April 04 2006,10:53)
Explain "lag". Are tracks out of sync with each other? The first thing to try is unchecking "Keep devices open" in your audio device preferences.

Yeah, tracks are out of sync and seem to slow down a tad and speed up. It's not just the overdubs, either. It seems like the lag happens from the very first track.

Oddly enough, I can still play and mix old tracks I've recorded without a problem. The problem is only with new songs I try to record.
Quote (jsmyers24151 @ April 04 2006,12:10)
If your sound card supports the ASIO driver, I would use that.

Can you explain what that is? How will I know if it's compatible?

What soundcard?

If I remember correctly (I’m so used to doing this myself, I do it without even thinking about the path, much), select “preferences” then “audio devices” then “advanced” then select “show ASIO devices” (or something like that), click “okay” then “okay” again. If your input VU meters change to a series of 8 stereo inputs (I have a EWS88MT sound card so that’s what happens with mine), and you don’t get some error message saying that the sound card may not be compatible, then you should be okay.

I think the number of inputs you have is the number of inputs that will show up. I used to think this was kind of crappy, but I like it now (having the 8 stereo inputs up all at once, that is).

Hope that helps.

Jeff

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To recap, I had been using version 2.0.9 of NTrack for years with absolutely no problems whatsoever. Sometime last year, I started to get the lag problem that many NTrack users seem to have.

So, nothing changed, not even the n-Tracks version or the soundcard drivers, and the lag started to happen? If the answer is yes then it’s not an n-Tracks or soundcard or audio driver problem.

How much space is left on your hard drive? Is it defragmented properly? I’ll go out on a limb and say the lag is caused by the hard drive searching for data and or or places to write it…assuming nothing has changed and it just started happening after working for years.

Another reason could be that your hard drive is getting ready to go bad.

If it not that then it’s time to think back and remember what has changed.

Hello,

My first post here for a long time. Just rushing into this thread…

I’m having similar lag problems as described above with my laptop and Soundblaster Live External (USB) setup. It’s not a big problem during recording, but the lag is there.

Last weekend I did some testing with a simple click track (wav), just connecting the line out into the line in on the soundcard. Usually the new recorded track lags about 400-500 samples compared to the first track, sometimes a bit less. The lag seems however to be fairly constant throughout the track. I’ve been using both WDM and MME drivers, with about the same results (the figures above refers to the WDM drivers). So far I’ve not been able to use the ASIO drivers.

I’ve also done a quick similar test on my other computer with a Audiophile 2496 (PCI). With ASIO drivers the lag was about 10 samples, which by all means is negligible.

I’ve tried a lot of things to hopefully solve this problem:

Buffer size
Sampling rate (44,1/48 kHz)
System timer/wave timer
Latest n-track build
Updated soundcard drivers

But no success so far…

So, any ideas are welcome… :)

Quote (Bubbagump @ April 04 2006,10:53)
The first thing to try is unchecking "Keep devices open" in your audio device preferences.

^That
Quote (Bubbagump @ April 05 2006,08:46)
Quote (Bubbagump @ April 04 2006,10:53)
unchecking "Keep devices open" in your audio device preferences.

Yeah,
and why is this not the default setting? (unchecked).
I have realized that many users (including myself) experience lag problems with the "Keep devices open" setting just like the "System timer" which in many cases also causes lag problems.
Kind regards Henrik
:cool:

I’ve tried unchecking the “Keep devices open” option as well, but it doesn’t seem to have any effect at all in my case.

Tonight I tried the same test described in my previous post with the laptops built-in soundcard (SigmaTel Audio), and the lag seemed to drop to less than 10 percent of the value I got with the Soundblaster card. That I don’t understand cause the SigmaTel card is no good for recording. Perhaps there is some trouble with the laptops USB ports/drivers. Hmm…

AH – soundblaster: are you running it at 48k rate? You have to. Well, you said you tried it, but you need to use 48k so give up on 44k and focus on 48k, and then experiment with the other settings.

Also, make sure the “Compensation” field is blank – however, it should be by default.

Also, most folks using SB use the “kx” drivers. I don’t know where to get them, perhaps you can google, or else ask on a new topic.

kx is tailored for SB cards , just be aware that it needs 48 KHz projects for using asio inputs (internal sampling frequency )

Quote (phoo @ April 04 2006,18:19)
To recap, I had been using version 2.0.9 of NTrack for years with absolutely no problems whatsoever. Sometime last year, I started to get the lag problem that many NTrack users seem to have.

So, nothing changed, not even the n-Tracks version or the soundcard drivers, and the lag started to happen? If the answer is yes then it's not an n-Tracks or soundcard or audio driver problem.

How much space is left on your hard drive? Is it defragmented properly? I'll go out on a limb and say the lag is caused by the hard drive searching for data and or or places to write it....assuming nothing has changed and it just started happening after working for years.

Another reason could be that your hard drive is getting ready to go bad.

If it not that then it's time to think back and remember what has changed.
Yeah, absolutely nothing changed.

This is a 120 gig hard drive and is only a few years old. I started experiencing the lag when I had about 40 gig left. I just defragged recently.
Quote (learjeff @ April 04 2006,16:40)
What soundcard?

My soundcard is NVIDIA nForce Audio. In input and output devices, I have always used Wav Mapper for recording because it has always worked well. The other ones cause static and skips.
Quote (Bubbagump @ April 05 2006,08:46)
Quote (Bubbagump @ April 04 2006,10:53)
The first thing to try is unchecking "Keep devices open" in your audio device preferences.

^That

I have an old version, so the only "keep audio devices open" option I have is in the MIDI settings. I just looked at it and it was indeed checked. Could that have been affecting the wav devices as well?

I haven't tried it yet...

is your computer set to give higher priority to background tasks ?